Speed Awareness Courses

[fowler9]

100mph+ is an automatic 6 month ban.


Speed has it's time and place, but lots of people in this country are unable to judge when it is or isn't appropriate*, so things have to be set at the lowest common denominator to cater for that.


*people doing 80-90mph on a motorway in heavy rain, for example, or pootling along at 35mph on an NSL dual carriageway in perfect conditions, or doing 40mph everywhere, and so on and so forth.

Indeed. I used to work at Vodafone in Birchwood. A lad offered to give me a lift home and decided to try and catch up with a girl who left earlier. He did over a tonne down the M62 until he saw a police car going the other way. He went an interesting shade of white. Never got in a car with him again, he was prone to spouting the "Tax on the motorist" rubbish. Motorists always know best.

 

[Butts]

He was not "grassed up".
His employer, as the registered vehicle keeper, is legally obliged to inform the Police of who was driving the vehicle at the time of the offence. If they fail to do so then they can be prosecuted and have to pay the fine.

And from some of the comments on here, some of you need to consider taking an advanced or defensive driving course.

I like this option

 

[AM9]

100mph+ is an automatic 6 month ban.


Speed has it's time and place, but lots of people in this country are unable to judge when it is or isn't appropriate*, so things have to be set at the lowest common denominator to cater for that.


*people doing 80-90mph on a motorway in heavy rain, for example, or pootling along at 35mph on an NSL dual carriageway in perfect conditions, or doing 40mph everywhere, and so on and so forth.

Speeding fines are really a pratt tax, and there's nothing wrong with that. If a driver takes the option of a speed awareness course I think that if they are caught speeding again within, say, 12 months, they should get the 3 points that they avoided by going on the course loaded on top of the latest penalty because clearly they didn't take much notice of the course content.
I'm by no means a perfect driver, but I never (intentionally at least) speed in a 30mph area, and rarely on other roads. Most of the time I engage cruise which on a car with an auto DVT gearbox, means that the speed is also held down when descending a steep hill. Watching other drivers go faster and slower past average speed cameras is a laugh! It also takes most of the pressure off me to let my speed creep up when there is a pratt tailgating me who thinks doing so will cause me to raise my speed.
One thing that I do find annoying is the limited signage on fully lit roads with speed limits over 30mph. Repeaters are small, few and far between and frequently dirty/hidden by untrimmed foliage.
On the subject of village speed limits, when driving on cruise at 30mph, I find some of the speed warning signs a joke, especially those set to about 25mph. Do they really think that setting the trigger level lower than 30mph will make everybody go slower? Who controls these?

 

[tony_mac]

100mph+ is an automatic 6 month ban.

No, it isn't. The only 'automatic' ban you get is for reaching 12 points (and only about half of those people actually do get banned).

The Magistrates guidelines for 100-110 are to disqualify 7 – 56 days OR 6 points. In England, 6 points is most likely for just over 100. (95 will usually see 3 points)

 

[90019]

No, it isn't. The only 'automatic' ban you get is for reaching 12 points (and only about half of those people actually do get banned).

The Magistrates guidelines for 100-110 are to disqualify 7 – 56 days OR 6 points. In England, 6 points is most likely for just over 100. (95 will usually see 3 points)

Fair enough, I was just going in what I'd been told previously, as I've never been stupid enough to get caught doing over 100. :P

 

[Johnuk123]

Doing 143mph didn't get this bloke banned.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.u...mph_escapes_ban_as_he___s_off_to_Afghanistan/


[

A SOLDIER caught driving at 143mph has been allowed to keep his licence so he can train for a life-saving role in Afghanistan.
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineer Kameron Edmondson admitted going twice the speed limit on the M40 in his Ford Focus ST, believing he was being persued by a Subaru Impreza.
He said did not realise it was an unmarked police car.

 

[cjmillsnun]

GPS would soon reveal the offset, either in a few seconds or maybe longer to make sure.

I also have a Vodafone drivexone attached to the engine management (with its own GPS) so it transmits my location and speed, and let's me monitor its location when parked, so that also gives me speed info. The dash cam is also nice and accurate, even measuring turns and G force for braking and accelerating.

I'm sure all that data will be used against me in court one day!

GPS is also not 100% accurate in consumer applications. The difference is lower than a lot of speedos, however it can be plus or minus.

 

[jon0844]

It's accurate enough. It should easily show you how much your speedo is out (offset) by.

The point is, once you know if it's 2 or 3mph, you can feel pretty secure doing that bit more (or just going by the GPS) and being within the margin of error the police give.

Now if you use it to go faster but keep within a perceived trigger point, knowing the cops and cameras are calibrated then you're taking a gamble!

 

[cjmillsnun]

The speedometers on vehicle have been set to over-read for a number of years. This is following an agreement between the Society of Motor Manufacturers and government. Remember too that as your tyres wear from new there will be a slight reduction on your true speed. People often don't realise that this when they up the wheel size on their cars. Buy a car with 16" wheels and put 19" wheels on for that boy racer look and your speedo is all to pot.

A complete myth. There is no agreement, instead there is law.

Specifically schedule three item 19 of The Motor Vehicles (Approval) Regulations 2001 (NB this clause was in previous regulations going back to the 70's)

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/25/schedule/3/made

1. The vehicle shall be fitted with a speedometer capable of indicating speed in mph at uniform intervals not exceeding 20 mph at all speeds up to the maximum speed of the vehicle and capable of being read by the driver at all times of the day or night.

2. For all true speeds up to the design speed of the vehicle, the true speed shall not exceed the indicated speed.

3. For all true speeds of between 25 mph and 70 mph (or the maximum speed if lower), the difference between the indicated speed and the true speed shall not exceed—

V/10 + 6.25 mph

where V = the true speed of the vehicle in mph.

The important part of this law is part 2. For all true speeds up to the design speed of the vehicle, the true speed shall not exceed the indicated speed

In other words, if you are doing 50MPH. The slowest speed by law that your speedo can indicate is 50MPH.

However it is allowed to read up to 10% + 6.25 MPH faster than you are going, so at 50 MPH, it can read up to 61.25MPH.

The reality is that no manufacturer wants to fall foul of the law (except maybe VW on emissions!). So they play it safe and normally set it up to an over read of 5%. This can increase with tyre wear as you say.
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It's accurate enough. It should easily show you how much your speedo is out (offset) by.

The point is, once you know if it's 2 or 3mph, you can feel pretty secure doing that bit more (or just going by the GPS) and being within the margin of error the police give.

Now if you use it to go faster but keep within a perceived trigger point, knowing the cops and cameras are calibrated then you're taking a gamble!

Yet people take that gamble...

 

[Butts]

"The Scottish Government supports the general principle of driver education as an alternative to prosecution,where appropriate. At present,prosecutors may offer diversion from prosecution courses in relation to careless driving, however there is no equivalent diversion scheme in relation to speeding."

It goes on to say they are looking into the merits of it based on input from Plod,Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service with the Lord Advocate having the final say - why not bell the CPS in Berwick or Carlisle ?

The interesting aspect to me is that you can swerve a careless driving prosecution in Scotland by attending a course but not speeding

BTW this was the reply from my MSP asking about the prospect of Speed Awareness Courses in Scotland.