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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not go on a speed awareness course

303 replies

sPJPPp · 08/04/2015 09:51

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.

OP posts:
SummerHouse · 08/04/2015 11:06

... Oh and one thing I did get from the course was that every single person had an excuse. You realise as they go round the room that yours is as invalid as everyone else. Mine was I was going down a hill. Next to me it was going up a hill!

Original poster
sPJPPp · 08/04/2015 11:07

Driving in 3rd at 30? Sounds like that would waste a lot of fuel over my 10000s of miles each year tbh.

Like the tip about tailgater's but I live ruraly if I had to stop every time to let some tailgating dick past I'd be stoping every few mins.

OP posts:
manchestermummy · 08/04/2015 11:10

I haven't done a speed awareness course, but have been on a traffic signal awareness one. There were some complete muppets on the course which made for a really irritating evening tbh but had they not been there it would have been a better experience.

Where I did the course had a very dark car park and dreadful lighting round the site. I did make a comment about that afterwards.

But, my licence is still clean. Easy choice to make really and I am much more careful these days!

MamainMilan · 08/04/2015 11:10

I was caught doing 60 in a 50 zone, however it was an empty a road at night

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

Oh dear, OP.

For your own sake, and anyone who travels with you, and for other road users, please go on the course.

Snottybiyatch · 08/04/2015 11:11

Dick? Cunt?

Admit it OP, you're having fun with us aren't you? Not much

BitOutOfPractice · 08/04/2015 11:12

sPJPPp again, more excuses. Of course you wouldn't be stopping "every few minutes"

You need to build more time in for your journeys I think

fearandloathinginambridge · 08/04/2015 11:15

I wasn't speeding deliberately, had just inadvertantly crept slightly above limit while trying to work out where I needed to turn in an unfamiliar area

There's a bit of minimising going on here. There are thresholds below which you won't get collared. You were obviously over the threshold and therefore not "slightly" above the limit. The thresholds are usually 10% over the limit plus 2mph so:

Speed limit: 20 mph
ACPO charging threshold: 24 mph
Summons: 35 mph

Speed limit: 30 mph
ACPO charging threshold: 35 mph
Summons: 50 mph

Speed limit: 40 mph
ACPO charging threshold: 46 mph
Summons: 66 mph

Speed limit: 50 mph
ACPO charging threshold: 57 mph
Summons: 76 mph

Speed limit: 60 mph
ACPO charging threshold: 68 mph
Summons: 86 mph

Speed limit: 70 mph
ACPO charging threshold: 79 mph
Summons: 96 mp

I got busted doing 37mph in a 30mph zone and its fair enough. I was closer to 40mph on a small road in a residential area - houses either side, cars parked both sides. Really too risky. If I had been doing the limit or under and hit a pedestrian the risk of me seriously injuring would be lower than if I were doing 37mph or 40mph.

I did the course and I have to say there were an awful lot of pompous twats sitting around sneering and saying it was beneath them - we're good drivers and we don't need to be reminded about the rules of the road etc. The arrogance and ignorance was was quite startling. Also, the young guy delivering the course was very good, not judgemental or patronising just conveying the facts. It made me realise how much information I had forgotten since I passed my test in 1990.

QOD · 08/04/2015 11:17

Just as a boring aside ... points ate on your licence for 3 yrs but you have to disclose back 5 yrs for most insurers ... Deffo "cheaper" to do the course.

Silvercatowner · 08/04/2015 11:17

The most powerful thing for me was the modelling of a multi vehicle pile up on a motorway, in fog. It was utterly chilling.

Beth2511 · 08/04/2015 11:17

I had to do one after being caught out on the average speed cameras. I resented it to start with but it was actually really useful, our instructors were more concerned about those caught speeding in 30s/20s than higher speeds as they seem to have the biggest consequence and I was horrified at some of the stories we were told! Definitely a real eye opener.

Weirdly I was the youngest one there, was expecting a lot of younguns but it was actually more middle aged drivers. Also hadn't realised that people are actually taught different things now, things I was taught a lot of people there had never heard of!

EightAce · 08/04/2015 11:19

OP - as has been said, you REALLY need to go on this course. I went on one a year ago for the first time in 150k miles driving and found it really helpful.

Bear in mind that most speedometers over-read by about 10%. This means your 60 mph recorded could have been an indicated 66mph, in a 50 limit. You KNEW you we re going too fast so accept it and learn something .

EponasWildDaughter · 08/04/2015 11:20

Tailgaters are a nightmare round here (rural) and the best thing is to just slow down a little and ignore. They might overtake, or they might realise they aren't going to push you up the road and faster and drop back a bit.

There's a pattern I find that male drivers are more likely to drive up y'bum and then actually overtake, while female tailgaters in their shiny white 4x4s just drive way too close for miles and miles and then - surprise! - when there's room to pass they wont do it. They drop back in fact, until the road narrows again, then there they are back up your arse Confused

EponasWildDaughter · 08/04/2015 11:21

Oh, and yes, go on the course OP.

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 08/04/2015 11:23

Like the tip about tailgater's but I live ruraly if I had to stop every time to let some tailgating dick past I'd be stoping every few mins

So what do you do now OP? Drive at the limit and put up with it - and I'm the first to say it's infuriating and stressful, see my pp - or put your foot down like you did when cunt bitch was behind you?

Icimoi · 08/04/2015 11:27

Seriously, with the attitude to driving that you are displaying here, OP, you need to go on that course. And if it's the money that concerns you, the excess on your licence will potentially continue for 5 years so it's definitely worth it financially.

Original poster
sPJPPp · 08/04/2015 11:27

I didn't put my foot down when I got caught, I just failed to notice the change from 50 to 60 and it was going down a hill so the speed did creep up. I just stay where I am with tailgater's. It is very distracting having some nob with fog lights on tailgating at night though.

Anyway I'm doing my Sums and will go on it. Can't think the whole four hours will be useful, I really can't concentrate for that long. Thank GOd I can start work early and do it in the evening, will be zonked out by then.

OP posts:
Anniegetyourgun · 08/04/2015 11:28

I passed mine in 1977, and have a lousy memory anyway. I dread to think what I must have forgotten, let alone what has changed.

I have on occasion thought that drivers should be MOT'd at regular intervals - not annually like cars, perhaps once every five years? It would be an irritation at first but society would get used to it, and it would pay for itself both directly and indirectly. It's not just the bad habits people get into, but an extra opportunity to check for, eg, sight defects that they might not have reported or even noticed. (XH was apparently driving for several years with a cataract that made him pretty much blind in one eye. He turned up with an eyepatch and explained he'd just had the cataract removed. He hadn't told anyone "in case they stopped him driving". Argh!) It makes no sense at all that you can pass your test at 17 and then drive for the next 63 years - or worse, not drive and then decide to take it up again 63 years later - without any more evidence of competence than that you haven't run somebody over yet.

Whiskwarrior · 08/04/2015 11:32

Oh behave yourself, OP. You're on a wind-up. You're deliberately making provocative comments about how the speeding wasn't your fault and how the course is a waste of time.

Why not talk to some people who've lost someone due to speeing and then see how amusing it is to be a prick about these things.

gallicgirl · 08/04/2015 11:32

fearandloathing
35 in a 30 zone as it happens. I'm not minimising or being arrogant. I am more than aware of consequences had I hit someone and know I was at fault.
I really wanted the course to be good and learn useful tips but it was mostly patronising. I even made the point of asking the leader how to avoid the situation again but his response wasn't helpful. It was after the course that I saw the rospa thing.

twofingerstoGideon · 08/04/2015 11:33

I'm happy to learn something useful, but not paying 100 for the privilege and loosing a free day tbh

Actually, you should consider it a privilege to be offered the opportunity to avoid some well-deserved points.

Original poster
sPJPPp · 08/04/2015 11:34

I'm not making excuses, I accept I went to fast just giving the reasons why I think it happed.

Having a go at some dick with their fog lights on is hardly provocative!

OP posts:
ReallyTired · 08/04/2015 11:35

Can't blame the op. A speed awareness course is nothing more than a detention for naughty adults. It's designed to be a punishment and being bored shitless in stuffy room with people you never ever met is part of the punishment.

raspberryshake · 08/04/2015 11:35

A lot of insurers now ask about Speed Awareness courses as well as convictions/points. If they ask you have to disclose it. Tbh I'd do the course and not have the points.

gallicgirl · 08/04/2015 11:35

Annie I think that's a good idea. A refresher test when you renew your driving licence perhaps?