Speed awareness course

[Christmassydecs]

I’m so upset to have received notice in the post that I drove at 43mph in a 30mph zone. No excuses, I did it and I’m thoroughly ashamed. It wasn’t a built up area but a country road in Cumbria I’ve never previously driven on and I missed any 30 sign. I’m normally a very careful driver and reached age 69 trouble free.

Has anyone attended a speed awareness course as an alternative to licence points and is it a theory test or more listening to talks? I’m not sure if I’ll be eligible to take the course option as from what I’ve read the cut off point is up to 42mph in a 30 zone. I was recorded doing 43mph. Does anyone know if the 42mph is set in stone or if there is room for discretion?

The human driving hasn’t advanced at the same rate though. And as far as I know my mother’s unadvanced Kia picanto could be on the road at the same time as an XC90 so that is why there’s a limit for everyone rather than limits based on the technical advances of one model vs another.

Waze is brilliant. Crowd-sourced and generally much more up to date than google, TomTom or Apple Maps. Although very temporary speed restrictions don’t show up.

OP, I think you’ve done well to get to 69 with no points of fines. It’s a numbers game. more time on the road, more likelihood of points and/or a fine. no-one is error-free and occasionally we all speed inadvertently. When you’re feeling really bad;l, remember an astonishing %of people (well, men, actually) have proper criminal convictions. 3 points on a licence is not a hanging offence.

Waze will also show the location of speed cameras and spot police checks.

i am not in favour of speeding, nor using technology to reduce the prospect of being caught and don’t drive like a dick even when the route is clear of cameras, hazards and roving patrols.

I just think speed traps and cameras are where they are for a reason, so having a heads up that one or other is upcoming is really useful. It makes you mindful of potential hazards and black spots.

I knew I'd get picked up on that! To be fair, I've been driving for 50 years so in that context it isn't that bad. Like most other posters, I've only ever been just over the speed limit (say 24 in a 20 zone for example) and never deliberately.

It does but if you're not looking at the screen and concentrating on the road, you'll get a verbal warning at 300 yards (I think it's that) when they can see you for 1km so they've already caught you by the time you hear the warning.

Well, with compulsory speed limiters on new cars, there will be (quite rightly) be a slow ratcheting up of penalties for speeding.

I have a limiter and have never been able to get on with them. When I had a Kia, it was great because it really was the limit but all other cars I've had, if you put pressure on the pedal it goes over anyway!

I've never accidentally overridden a limiter. And I've had 3 cars with them.

Whether they were engaged or not (can be pulled from the vehicles onboard logs) in an accident might become a factor in prosecutions and insurance payouts. I know I was working on pulling telematics from cars 10 years ago for one insurer. They won't miss a chance to pay out less if they can.

The difficulty with the limiter is that I have a stretch of road near me, no more than 3 miles where the speed goes 30, 40, 30, 40, 30, 20. Conditions along it barely change except if you don't clock a switch from 30 to 40 the wombat behind starts flashing.

That was like the road I was snapped on. 30/40/30/40/30/40

Usually you can't get up to 40 as the traffic in front extends to a car in the next 30 zone (which makes me question the environmental impacts of a useless 40mph zone and the carbon footprint of having to make and fit signs for it. I heard rumours there's a climate emergency).

As always: it's a limit not a target

@SerendipityJane I have had a limiter and it's gone over but I've noticed straight away and not continued to use it so not caught me out per se. I prefer cruise control but probably habit over substance. I pretty much always use it, particularly in 30s where I'm paying more attention to dangers. One less thing to watch.

Whether they were engaged or not (can be pulled from the vehicles onboard logs) in an accident might become a factor in prosecutions and insurance payouts. I know I was working on pulling telematics from cars 10 years ago for one insurer. They won't miss a chance to pay out less if they can.

@SerendipityJane can you expand on this please? I used to work in claims but never experienced much on limiters. Was a few years ago. So if you have a limiter set at 50 but the limit is 40, that could go against you?

My son’s friend attended one and said it was just a bloke reading out the Highway Code 🤷‍♀️

I was trying to forget my time with underwriters.

Be assured anything - any data whatsoever - that an insurer can use to reduce their liabilities they will. I was working on a massive dataset from a black box company to provide speed records to be matched against claims. Apparently the deep learning was - wait for it - people who speed are more likely to have accidents.

Anyway, if you have an accident, and speed is a factor and it can be shown that (a) you were exceeding the speed limit and (b) you had switched off your mandatory speed limiter, then it's not much of a stretch to suggest that maybe your payout should be reduced proportionately.

It's the same logic that reduces your payout if you were stupid enough to not wear a seatbelt.

Given mandatory speed limiters aren't yet a year old, it's a work in progress.

Despite the snark upthread, I really can't think of any reason why a correctly set speed limiter should ever be disabled. Or rather, I could, but they are all so contrived as to be risible.

is there a difference between the mandatory speed limiters and a normal speed limiter? Mine is a turn on / opt in kind of thing. My cars 73 plate. Saying that my colleague has a 24 plate that’s also a different brand and it was beeping at him the other day. He said it was the limiter as he was doing 31 and it was a new requirement. Mine is Feb 24 but I’m wondering if I just missed out. The posted speed on the car is still often wrong so I don’t think they should be applying any rules to it yet.

im so glad they conducted that hard hitting study. Shocking findings! To be fair, we always stuck with only excessive speed being an issue. Not 10mph over or anything. I was always shocked to see them payout on cars without MOT with just the cost of the test deducted.

as contrary as I may appear, I can’t abide any dangerous driving which very much includes speeding. So many people don’t seem to understand how they could be a problem despite the rules being extremely well thought out and consistent.

is there a difference between the mandatory speed limiters and a normal speed limiter?

Starting July 7, 2024, all new vehicles sold in the UK must be equipped with a speed limiter, also known as Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA):

How it works
ISA uses GPS, satellite navigation, and road sign recognition to automatically limit a vehicle's speed. If the vehicle is traveling over the speed limit, the system can reduce engine power to slow the vehicle down.

Why it's required
The goal of this law is to improve road safety by reducing the number of accidents caused by speeding.

Retrofitting
Vehicles that were manufactured before July 2024 but are not yet sold must be retrofitted with ISA before they can be sold.

Drivers can turn it off
Drivers can turn off the speed limiter, but it will be enabled again when the engine is switched on.

Sounds great.

I have to fiddle about with mine. Resetting it as the limits change!

My car was registered in 2019.

Honestly! I think that sounds quite dangerous as the technology simply isn't there. There's a road near me that's 30, national and then 40. All cars I've had show 60 in the 30, 30 in the national and reset to correct in the 40. If a car cannot get to that 60 but the one behind it can them they'll probably be impatient and try to overtake or tailgate and the poor driver at the front can't do a thing apart from turn this legal requirement off!

Honestly! I think that sounds quite dangerous as the technology simply isn't there.

Well, that's the law now

www.autotrader.co.uk/content/news/mandatory-speed-limiters-on-eu-cars-from-2024

www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/all-new-cars-sold-in-europe-required-to-be-equipped-with-speed-limiters/

According to auto trader and the RAC, the UK isn't adopting this and it won't be law. The RAC says the manufacturers are unlikely to produce cars without it specifically for Britain.

www.parkers.co.uk/car-advice/speed-limiters-what-they-mean-for-you/#:~:text=From%207%20July%202024%2C%20all,up%20to%20it%20post%2DBrexit. But Parker's say the UK did sign up to it.

I didn't say whose law ...

No, I think it's more about people who have decades of driving experience and are able to drive according to the conditions of the road.

Yeah getting caught speeding shows excellent situational awareness

I missed a sign. It's not an excuse, just an explanation of why I happened to pass a camera at a higher speed than legally allowed.

As it happens, the course providers I went to emphasised that all of us, including those who'd never been caught, are subject to periods of inattention.

And that it's useful to reflect on why you weren't paying as close attention and learn how to bring your attention back to the road.

Most of us make driving errors that we're not even aware of, and there are not obvious consequences.

If it's the case that all people are subject to periods of inattention, why punish people for something that is human nature then ?