Pay the fine, appeal or do the course?

[whatadrain]

I have a speeding fine. First one ever! I'm mortified as I would never normally speed.

Last Sunday, I was driving myself to an out of hours appointment at the nearest hospital. I had 30 minutes to get there and it's a 25 minute drive. The only (sensible) route that I can take is shut, so I had to take a diversion (adding about 15 minutes to my journey through country lanes.) Basically, I was running late and very unwell-So unwell I had to have a biopsy two days later. I finally got on to a regular stretch of road and I picked up a bit of speed - 48 in a 40 - where I was caught by the police speed camera.

I know I was wrong to speed, but I don't know what to do about the ticket. I realise that I am highly unlikely to 'get away with it' so should I pay the £100 fine and take the points or spend £87 and 4.5 hours on a speed awareness course?

Calvaise, whilst I appreciate the sentiment behind your post it is totally unrealistic (obv aside from the drunk part).

We don't live in a perfect world where I can phone the school and say "DC won't be coming in today as I'm very tired and don't think I should drive". It just doesn't happen.

No, it doesn't. But it should. Driving your dc while you are tired is the most dangerous thing you will ever do to them.

Ok, slightly hysterical post no?

Do it during the Christmad holidays. That's when I did mine. It started at 8 and was done by lunchtime.

Unfortunately it is unrealistic to never drive when you're tired, I'm shattered after a night shift but have no choice but to drive home.
Everyone makes mistakes when driving, tired or not. Anyone who claims they don't is lying.
There are occasions when I've gone through a red light on the way home from work (at 6.00am with zero traffic) it's not deliberate but it is wrong and I would accept the penalty if I got caught. After a night of legally driving fast and through red lights it takes a while to change mind set, I've learnt to have a strong coffee and concentrate really hard on the way home to avoid those errors if at all possible. The saving grace is that I've been trained to do it as safely as possible.

Thanks everyone. Of course, you are all quite right that 'I shouldn't have been driving' is no defence! I knew I was being unreasonable, I think I just needed someone to tell me who isn't DH! I would actually quite like to do the course but unfortunately I don't think I can fit it in. Points it is!

You can wait for ages to do the course, I was offered dates almost six months later. Have a look at what they offer before you make the decision.

Do the course then you'd realise it was silly to drive when you shouldn't have been....

Dh did the course on a Saturday and was able to choose the date to suit. He found the course really good too.

You can opt for the course and then still take the points if you can't get time to do it. Surely you can fit 3 hours into your schedule in the next 4-5 months?

I did the course on a bank holiday, and they were running it three times over the course of the day! Honestly, it's really easy to find one to fit in, they're run over weekends too. As others have said, it's actually really interesting, and really makes you think about how you drive on a day to day basis.

My speeding offence last year was in a different county. I was offered a wide choice of places to go and take the course. I opted for the town nearest to home, and it was only £60/70 as opposed to £90 . So costs vary, as do opening hours at various centres.

The courses here run on saturdays as well, and months ahead.....very good course imo!!

It really is worth taking the time to do it if you can - I learnt loads of stuff.

Do the course , it's all done an a couple of hours and it's really very interesting

Do the course, I have and it really makes you think, very informative