I've been offered the opportunity to go on a speed awareness course by the nice people in West Mercia Constabulary. It's £80, and I guess if nothing else it's a good excuse to go to Cannock Chase.
Does anyone have any experience of what they are like? Worth doing, or should I just take the points and add them to my collection (a paltry three at the moment) ?
Thanks!
Luke
Go with an open mind and you will definitely learn quite a bit. If you go just to save yourself some points then you probably won't learn as much but will still save the points. Then there's also the cost of works holiday or day off.
I think you'll find the eighty quid will be a lot less than the extra insurance premiums for the next five years. And, as Doug says, keep an open mind. You'll learn a lot.
I learnt a lot, met some nice people, had lots of free coffee.
I did mine in Stafford, whats not to like?
I'm surprised they let you do it with 3 points.
I've got mine in March with Brizzle cops. Criteria for mine was "less than 20% over speed limit, no convictions within last 3 years and no previous speed awarness course within last 3 years". It's 3 hours long, only £60 down here and apparently full of lots of car crash pictures. I might take my IED photos from Iraq and see how we compare. Top trumps stylee.
Well the previous three points didn't stop you being blase about speeding so why not give the course a chance?
I've done it with work as they run them in our area. They're actually good courses. As above, leave your prejudice and preconceptions at the door.
I did one 2 weeks ago, apparently the courses are different depending on which police area course you attend. In Lancs you do 2 hrs in the classroom, 2hrs out in a car with an instructor. mine was all in the classroom. It was quite informative and I learnt some stuff which I didn't know. Like said above, just don't be one of those twonks who turn up and know everything and/or constantly go on about their 'incident' and how aggrieved they are about it. There was one of each on my course and everyone else was rolling their eyes at each other after an hour.
OK, sounds worth doing. I'll leave the prejudices at home and bring the bike instead 
I've done one.
Worth it to avoid the points but be on your guard for preaching and twaddle about speeding.
Speed is dangerous - no argument. However it is not the cause of all the accidents and deaths. The main cause of accident and death is human error.
I did mine to avoid the points but it took all my strength not to argue with much of what was said that morning.
I am a cyclist; road commuter and mountain bike rider but also an Engineer within the Automotive industry.
The main cause of accident and death is human error.
Oh Jeebus 
Does speed have any effect on the consequences of that error do you think? You being an engineer an' all dat loike...
I have to agree, as an engineer I would aslo say it isn't the speed that kills, it's the conversion of that speed into kinetic energy. What we need is less kinetic energy. Now given the KE= 1/2MV^2, you can see that the V term is going to have the greatest effect as a variable as it squared. V is velocity which is a vector quantity, this isn't speed you understand. Its rate of change of distance with time on a vector. If we act to reduce this then kinetic energy will be reduced. Best way is either use the brakes or accelerate less. Speed doesnt come in to it in any way.
I've done one.
and this is why it was shit and didnt work:
Worth it to avoid the points but be on your guard for preaching and twaddle about speeding.Speed is dangerous - no argument. However it is not the cause of all the accidents and deaths. The main cause of accident and death is human error.
I did mine to avoid the points but it took all my strength not to argue with much of what was said that morning.
I am a cyclist; road commuter and mountain bike rider but also an Engineer within the Automotive industry.
Think I got snapped by a sneaky b*d in a van this morning, about 36mph in a 30 zone so hopefully I'll get offered a course as it's my first time in 16 years of driving.....
do you already know that speeding is forbidden, potentially more dangerous (to you and others) than going slower and that getting caught is expensive and inconvenient ?
I haven't been on a course but I'd be amazed if it changed my perspective significantly
(agree the points mightn't look good on your licence - do you have to declare getting done and NOT taking the points (ie will you still effectively get a conviction anyway) ?)
What they should do is operate some kind of multiplier - second offence within 12 months doubles the penalty or something. Second offence after a speeding course means you get the original points "awarded" plus the multiplier for the 2nd offence. At some point (at least after any ban) I'd also oblige these drivers to take a re-test (I'd do the same for anyone involved in more than X crashes in Y months)
I did one years ago, although mine was for careless driving rather than speeding. It was when they were trialling the scheme, it was run by traffic police and driving instructors, and was a real eye-opener. Definitely changed my driving for the better, and I'd recommend it to anyone over taking the points.
I have heard that recent speeding courses aren't run by actual coppers, but by glorified traffic wardens, who can be preachy and annoying. Still got to be better than points, though, and you might not get the choice next time.
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