I was driving the company van a few months ago , a little cargo van , restricted to 60 mph.
I was clocked doing 56 in a 50 zone and was offered a speed awareness course instead of the points.
I took mine in my home town ,leicester.
there was 27 people on the course and we did a few basic highway code exercises.
national speed limits car, only 9 people got them correct, I was one of them.
National speed limits coaches only 5 people got them correct I was one of them.
National speed limits HGV only 1 person got it them correct. I was that person !
I was also the only HGV holder in the room but it shows that even though we have all passed the tests , not many of us retain or remember the information.
Someone thought the national speed limit was 30 an all roads ! and i think we have all been behind him , how did he get done for speeding?)
Just thought id share !
I think everyone should go on one, even without the speeding offence in the first place. (maybe it should be sponsored by the insurance companies & the government & be compulsory every 10 years)
They open your eyes to the ignorance on our roads, I learnt stuff on the course that I attended a few months ago. Seemed to me that around 50% of the people on my course didn’t even realise how much room a HGV needs when making turns & on some roundabouts, one even thought that because we are big then we must be fast
Some even didn’t know to slow down when its icy.
They showed us the big Hungerford Pile up-(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_M4_motorway_crash) from a few years ago, all happened within 19 seconds in the fog & 10 people died, much the same as the pile up a few months ago near Sheerness (but luckily no one got killed)
I did one about a month ago. The course was full of van drivers caught doing 70 on dual carriageways. One candidate, who drove artics occasionally, had no idea what the driver CPC was and how it would affect his license.
Im on the course 2mrw nr Southampton 8.30-1230…
Got caught doing 55 in a 50 on a road I drive in my car everyday, shame the camera van isn’t there everyday or I would’ve been prepared
Hiya…a dear old lady who walks her dog on the same landfill as i do was telling me she goes on Wednesday
for her awareness course. she’s 73, she got nicked for 35 in a 30 zone. quick question is do you do a written
exam or is it just a verbal lecture with some driver participation■■?. she’s panicing like mad and had her
head in the highway code all weekend. i told her i didn’t think it was that bad. what is it like so i can tell her.
NO its not me id just take the points and go.
cheers John
You can’t actually fail the course, just attending is enough, you have paid for it anyway, its not actually a course, few videos, photos, q&a, tea n biccies then home. Mostly just chat.
They showed a video of a light turning amber. When they asked us what we would do in that situation every one all said " i’ll get through" hahahah
■■■■■■■ the course was actually there for doing that, she went through these lights 35mph so she was on speed awareness and the Traffic light awareness course
I went on one a few years back , and to my surprise I found it very informative and interesting .the two guys running the show were very natural at what they were doing (if that makes sense) which helped . I still have a sneaky feeling its a chance to turn a £60 fine into a £120 though.
^^^^^^^ £100 fine now, but you’re right they are informative and with the right person giving the spiel quite amusing too. Did one two years ago at Newark, it was run by the AA.
fastlad21:
Do you have to do one of these courses in the area you were caught speeding? Or can you do one more local to your home location?
Depends on where you get caught. Hampshire Police aren’t signed up to the national agreement, so if you’re caught there ( like I was ) that’s where you have to do your course. I think a few other forces haven’t signed up to it too, but not many.
Sir +:
You can attend a course at the nearest centre to your home.Choose your date carefully though.You can change it,but they’ll charge the full fee again!
depends on where you get done-i live in north herts and got done for 46 in a 40 at gerrards cross,so thames valley police.nearest course to me was ealing!!
I got caught opposite the belfrey golf club in Warwickshire. On the letter they sent through the post only gave 2 options of venues I can do the course at. But on another page there is a list of other county’s that run the course. Would I be better to ring Warwickshire council and ask them if I could do it in Essex?
fastlad21:
I got caught opposite the belfrey golf club in Warwickshire. On the letter they sent through the post only gave 2 options of venues I can do the course at. But on another page there is a list of other county’s that run the course. Would I be better to ring Warwickshire council and ask them if I could do it in Essex?
Sir +:
You can attend a course at the nearest centre to your home.Choose your date carefully though.You can change it,but they’ll charge the full fee again!
depends on where you get done-i live in north herts and got done for 46 in a 40 at gerrards cross,so thames valley police.nearest course to me was ealing!!
Oh,ok .So it depends on locality .I got done in Liverpool and got a very local one in N Wales. Sorry for generalising.
EDIT It also seems that some areas/providers will not allow you to change the date.All very confusing.
Hiya…thanks for the info lads…i’ll tell her tomorrow. as it happens she lives in north wales she,s going to
some hotel, I’ll tell her not to worry.
John