Speed awareness course

[RickRack]

3 hours ago, jeff oakley said:

What you will find shocking is how many on the course haven't got a clue about anything. I went on one and basic highway code they got wrong speed limits for vehicles, road markings etc.

 

I am told the usual one is where they show a picture of a road with two lanes of traffic one way and ask the limit most say 70mph assuming dual carriage way, it is 60, it always gets people going.

 

There was two lecturers as basically they are lecturing you to their view. Any dissent they can throw you off and you then get the points anyway and no refund for the course.

 

My advice is sit quietly don't offer an alternative view smile sweetly and it will be over.

 

As for Terry's view The awareness course I was on there was 25 people in the room, they did one in the morning one afternoon, we all paid £120 for the privilege and got a cup of tea and a biscuit. 

The room costs £250 a day as I had hired it before so even if they paid the lecturers £200 each that was £5350 a day. Even with cost to send letters etc hard not to see it any other way than a pretty good cash machine.

 

What I particularly hate about this is when I got my ticket, I was driving in Shropshire the limit change sign was badly overgrown, no street light down to 30mph. I enquired about challenging this once I had the picture and was told you can but it will fail and you will then be hit with a larger fine, costs and a victim surcharge. It is the only law in the UK where you are presumed guilty and have to prove your innocence against a very determined machine that exists to generate money which is shared between stakeholders, whereas if you get a fine that goes to the treasury. 

My understanding (from a Police mate) is they don’t like people challenging, a straight £100 fine is taken up by less than 2 hrs works & therefore if there’s a risk of loosing the case will normally reject the initial & issue a “stern letter”. 
I have successfully appealed 4 or 5 with technicalities including being caught in Luton on a fixed camera at the same time I was parked in the NCP airport car-park 

you loose nothing for appealing and still have the same time to pay-up, take the course or the points 

I’d also add, my NOIP’s have been 10/15% above limit on dual/motorway and never outside a school. 
I’ve done 2 x awareness courses in 10 years  & zero points whilst doing 40K miles a year - I still say 80mph at 6:30am on a Saturday morning on M6 at Stoke is not a serious motoring offence & purely a cash cow

Poor lighting, overgrown foliage & timing of alleged incidents all give cause for appeals & it’ll cost a hour of time & £1 for a stamp & ensure no increase in insurance premium got to be worth it. 

[Rob Hunter - Club Secretary]

I've been driving 35 years and only been caught three times.... twice were very marginal, in the early hours on the motorway (they were obviously bored) so I got away with a telling off/lecture. The third time, 10 years ago I was sweating a little waiting for the inevitable letter.....

 

Not wanting to incriminate myself, but I was "getting a bit of a wriggle on" down an A-Road in my twin turbo BMW overtaking a line of trucks. The throttle had been pinned for a while before I spotted the camera van.... I'd hit the brakes that hard the photo that dropped through the door showed my hazard lights on 😂

 

Given the speed that I may or may not have been at before hitting the brakes, I was VERY VERY happy and relieved to get the course.

 

Some parts were interesting and I learned a few things. The single most interesting thing was the amazing lack of knowledge of some other drivers in the room.... scary stuff!

 

Anyway, I've learned my lesson and I now drive like Miss Daisy 😇

[RickRack]

1 hour ago, Rob Hunter Derby & Notts AO said:

I've been driving 35 years and only been caught three times.... twice were very marginal, in the early hours on the motorway (they were obviously bored) so I got away with a telling off/lecture. The third time, 10 years ago I was sweating a little waiting for the inevitable letter.....

 

Not wanting to incriminate myself, but I was "getting a bit of a wriggle on" down an A-Road in my twin turbo BMW overtaking a line of trucks. The throttle had been pinned for a while before I spotted the camera van.... I'd hit the brakes that hard the photo that dropped through the door showed my hazard lights on 😂

 

Given the speed that I may or may not have been at before hitting the brakes, I was VERY VERY happy and relieved to get the course.

 

Some parts were interesting and I learned a few things. The single most interesting thing was the amazing lack of knowledge of some other drivers in the room.... scary stuff!

 

Anyway, I've learned my lesson and I now drive like Miss Daisy 😇

That’s brilliant Rob, I know what amazed me at the last course I did was a number of attendees didn’t have English as a first language, with the only measurable outcome being for full time attendance and with little engagement in the course, I’m unsure if some gained anything from the course. 

[Captain Colonial]

My favourite experience on that front was long ago in California.  I worked my way through a knot of freeway traffic and saw the road at the front was wide open, and as I was driving a 1966 Shelby 350 GT, it would have been rude not to stick my toe down.

 

As I did, I discovered why the road was open - a CHP car on the right, which I only noticed after I blew his light bar off the roof.

 

Instant disco of course, and I pulled over straight away like a good boy.  Eventually, he walked up to my window and said, “Nice car.  Do you know you were doing 80mph?”

 

I looked him straight in the eye and said in all seriousness, “That’s impossible.  I haven’t even been out for an hour.”

 

He looked back at me, blinking his eyes a few times before finally responding, “Nope - not heard that one before.  Slow down.”, then returning to his car and driving off. 😎

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

2 hours ago, Rob Hunter Derby & Notts AO said:

Anyway, I've learned my lesson and I now drive like Miss Daisy 😇

 

unfortunately, Daisy Duke, rather than the old lady!

 

[dvd8n]

One time I didn't show down quickly enough entering a 30 zone.  There were two police hiding in a bus shelter, one with a hand held speed gun.  One zapped me and flagged me down. 

 

The other came up to me and said "Does sir know how fast sir was going?" I made a non-committal answer about slowing down for the 30 zone, which I was (it was probably about 40-ish when he zapped me). 

 

He said "Well, it might interest sir to know that sir was going..." and turned to his colleague with the gun to fill in the number.

 

His colleague looked at the gun, looked puzzled then started slapping and shaking it furiously.  Finally he quietly said "It's gone."

 

He rolled his eyes and said "Well, it looks like sir has had a lucky escape.  Be more careful in future."

 

Phew!

 

D

[Robin Parker (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO]

I have a friend who was caught going through some temporary roadwork traffic lights somewhere in Scotland. He went through on Amber  but the police, who were halfway along the roadworks said it was impossible due to the timing of the lights and he must have gone through on red. After an appeal he was fined, don't think he got points, but could pay monthly. 

Each month he received a letter saying his payment was due, then another letter for the payment with a prepaid envelope, then a receipt when paid. The cost of the 4 monthly letters and the administration must have been more than the fine.

[evosteve]

Just another cash cow called a road safety measure!

[Captain Colonial]

6 hours ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman said:

 

unfortunately, Daisy Duke, rather than the old lady!

 

Great - now I’ve got a mental image of @Rob Hunter Derby & Notts AO dressed as Daisy Duke.

[Rob Hunter - Club Secretary]

58 minutes ago, Scott Young (Captain Colonial) - Club Secretary said:

Great - now I’ve got a mental image of @Rob Hunter Derby & Notts AO dressed as Daisy Duke.

 

How did you find out what I wear on a Friday night!?! 😂

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

8 hours ago, Rob Hunter Derby & Notts AO said:

 

How did you find out what I wear on a Friday night!?! 😂

Because it's the same as Mon-Thu, nights 😉 

[Blatman]

Done two and I agree with Jeff. Sit quietly and move on, and I would have except... One of mine was taken by a driving instructor who was flat out rude to the entire crowd and I called her out. 10 mins of robust discussion later and we scored a mild victory where she agreed to stick to the facts rather than venture opinion. 

 

The other was equally funny because in the preachy "it's always the drivers fault" way, they showed a picture and described an accident that I had actually witnessed 'cos I watched it unfold from my front garden, about 20 meters from where the incident occurred! Talk about a gift, especially for a big mouth like me! I was able to bring facts, which did not sit well with the guy trying to describe something he had never seen and did not have any notes for other than "this is an example to use to prove a point". Made my year. He had a bad afternoon... 😄 

 

And oh yeah, one of them had TWO people who thought a 3 lane motorway was 70mph in lane 3, 60 in the middle and 50 in the left. I said no it's 70, 69, 68 and asked them to show me where they learned this information, and then asked what they knew about 4 lane motorways... Unbelievable, BUT if that's what people are thinking then we're in real trouble. And that got me thinking about fake driving instructors, people taking tests for other people (two stories about that recently) and whatever else may be going on.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-62083896

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65889217

 

[MR.C]

Guilty as charged your Honour.

[Arm]

It’s a good refresher course. So why arnt we sent on them before breaking the law ?

[corsechris]

Is it just me that finds it disappointing that very few people seem to actually learn their lesson on these courses? Evidenced by the number who have done more than one.

 

(only slightly tongue in cheek by the way!)