to not go on a speed awareness course

[sPJPPp]

The course will be 97 and the fine is 100.

I would get three points and my insurance will go up by about 40 next year.

The course is 2 hours drive away and will take 4 hours. So the best part of a day taken away.

Aibu to just take the points as 40 to loose a day off is just not enough.

Sandy

I went with exactly your attitude OP. The reason I decided to go was that I'd had a clean licence for 25 years and I wanted to keep it that way but also, that the 2nd 3 points is a much bigger issue - the clean licence give room for a silly "mistake" like that one that gave me the opportunity to attend the course.

Anyway, I found the course very interesting. It taught me that many of the people I know who think they're better drivers than me are wrong and why and that I've being doing it right all along, with the exception of my "mistake"

TBH I don't want to know anyone who's attended that course and not been able to gain anything from it. It was very well done and had some important messages.

Oh and summerhouse - sorry you course was bad.

BUT the point they were supposed to be making is: speed doesn't kill. But lack of observation/awareness does . So if you got caught speeding, that means you were not observant enough - so what else might you not be observing? (That group of idiot public school boys who ran across a very busy dual carriageway, in dark clothes just after dusk the other week - I did spot them, but they scared me.)

No they don't Bakeoff. They give lots of disturbing statistics but no gory pictures. They simply explain the kind of driving that causes accidents, teach you how to be a better driver and most interestingly for me, teach you how to manage other drivers driving badly around you.

Are you sure there isn't one nearer? They are all over the country. Are you sure they are £97 as well, only recently they were £87.

I recommend you do the course. Some things are more important than money and a day off work.

Thanks Discounted, that does sound helpful.

I was caught doing 60 in a 50 zone, however it was an empty a road at night, I don't think the signage was adequate tbh so am apealing it.

I regularly do 40k miles a year and have been driving for 15 years. Never had an accident that was my fault and first time I've ever been caught speeding. I know some who said the course was good and others that said it was a waste of time. The people that found it a waste of time are good drivers like me, the ones that found it good were bad drivers in my experience. Hence my reservations.

I did one last year, was a complete waste of my time.

There's always one, isn't there?

I'm going to be hideously sanctimonious here and say "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime". This is not to claim that I've never gone over the speed limit myself, mind you. I did it on purpose sometimes when I was younger and I do it now sometimes because I can be a bit dozy, but if/when I ever get caught I shall be absolutely furious with myself. Like the couple of parking fines I had from the council during a particularly distracting time, one for forgetting to pay at all and one for not noticing the ticket was face down. Annoying, but ultimately no-one to blame but myself. (I do excel at self-flagellation. And I don't even enjoy it!)

As other posters said I was able to do two because they were spaced out. I think the second one was three years after the first. Anyway the days were good and quite practical. I am much more careful especially in 30mph zones and have learnt to ignore tailgaters (bastards).

That's what I thought OP. The speed limit was stupid and unnecessarily low for the traffic conditions. They explained why I was an idiot! I think, if you did the course you might find you're not quite as good a driver as you think. They were lots of small things that I considered normal/correct that I learned are actually pretty stupid.

Good luck with the appeal OP.

Not sure where to start with your last paragraph though.

"never had an accident that wasn't my fault" I'm sure that's true but the course also teaches you to avoid situations where others' driving might cause an accident.

There's a disgusting attitude in this country that driving crimes are somehow different from other types of crime...and therefore don't count. Cars can kill people ffs.

Well I know exactly why I speeded and it was the stupid cunt behind me that for the last 20 mins had their fog lights on when it was totally clear. This really distracted me and I bet that stupid bitch doesn't have to attend the course.

Anyway I take responsibility as I should of pulled over in a layby and let her pass.

The best thing you can do to tailgaters is ignore them. They absolutely hate that.

£87 in my county at least. (Just googled it.)

I went on one, I found it useful. However it was scary to see two older men on the course who drove for a living, who did not have a clue about what the national speed limits were on different roads. It was a real eye opener for me, I always assumed that people employed as drivers would at least know the highway code.

Ah so it was the person behind you's fault. Right.

The people that found it a waste of time are good drivers like me, the ones that found it good were bad drivers in my experience. Hence my reservations

My husband is the best driver I know and rarely speeds. He has been driving for 25 years and never had an accident. He's extremely considerate and careful as a driver. He stillbenefited from the course, and has enough humility to accept that he made a mistake and can always improve his awareness and driving skills.

I'm struggling to say this in a way that doesn't sound rude, but you do sound rather arrogant about this. It's probably drivers who think they are 'good drivers' and thus have nothing to learn, that would benefit the most.

Just cross-posted with yours of 10:30:14 OP and I have to say, man, you really need that course.

I went on one and it was a load of bollocks much like the experience of the poster above.

The attitude of the presenters was that we all sped on purpose because we were selfish bastards.
There was almost as much emotional manipulation as a Michael Moore documentary.
I know I shouldn't speed. I'm aware of the potentially cstsstrophic consequences. No amount of patronising twaddle is going to change my driving habits or obsrrvational skills.

What I needed was practical hints and tips to improve my driving and there weren't any.

So what was it? Bad signage or you making a bad decision due to someone else's bad driving -- which more than one poster has said is something they found the course helped them with?

LOL. They teach you how to deal with that on the course

I always thought I slowed deliberately just to annoy tailgaters, but it turns out that's the best thing to do. If they're not allowing stopping distance, you need to allow double.

I'm sorry, but I don't think anyone who is actually a good driver (rather than thinks they are) would use the excuse that someone else made the do it.

Every single person on my course thought they were a good driver. We all learned something though. It's quite arrogant to assume there is nothing you can learn.