Some people 90/100mph on dual carriage ways around our way and no one dies horribly.

However to assume you will get no benefit from a course makes me think that you are the type of driver who thinks they are an awesome driver

At 83 in a 70 I doubt you’ll be offered the course anyway so it’s probably a moot point.

I’ve done 3 courses. Found them broadly useful. Always good for a few simple reminders of practices to keep your speed down. Even things like thinking about your fuel consumption.

85mph is the cut off for speed awareness course in a 70mph limit.

There is no standard cut-off, it varies by police force. 10%+9 in Lancashire (so I was wrong (pre-coffee) earlier when I said it was unlikely to be offered), other forces may differ.

A lot of it is, because it’s aimed at those “average” drivers I just mentioned. The attendees in my group variously admitted: to knocking over a cyclist (waits for everyone to laugh); to only knowing the six road signs that he needed to memorise to pass his test; to not knowing the speed limits in NSL areas (pretty much everyone); to not actually knowing the difference between a single- and a dual-carriageway (again, pretty much everyone); to only ever using the middle lane of the motorway because changing lanes is dangerous; I could go on.

Bits of it were interesting and useful, but mostly it’s Noddy stuff. The folk who come away going “well, I learned tons!” either went on a different course from me or really should be considering refresher lessons.

OP ime any offence that starts with SP30 that didn’t result in a ban makes no difference to the insurance

83 in a 60 you’re looking at 5 points and £300

They cover the actual speed limit on a NSL dual carriageway on the course…

Some do, some don’t.

It’s not a question on the compare the market sites, but it is in the small print when you click through to a lot of them, in fact the only one I actually got a sensible quote out of (and had no question or small print) was quotemehappy.com. Some didn’t ask the question on their online forms, but it was still in their list of assumptions that you’d not been on one so had to call them to tell them about it.

This was quite a convincing part of the course for me.

You’re not exactly setting a very high bar there, jam bo!

Mean, median or mode?

Clearly we’re talking about driving safely on public roads here, so mentioning people who are good racing drivers but drive poorly on public roads is kind of strawmanny. As Cougar points out, the general standard of driving is so poor that you don’t have to be a driving god to be above average – I’d expect everybody posting on this thread or similar ones is probably an above average driver, simply because they are actually thinking about the standard of their driving, not something most people do.

A lot of it is, because it’s aimed at those “average” drivers I just mentioned.
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Which is exactly why I’d not expect to get much out of one – not given I have a decent working knowledge of the HC and the law (and will go and check if I find something I’m not sure about), and as mentioned above try hard to do things which contribute to safe driving such as anticipation and leaving decent gaps, and always stick to speed limits in towns (I often drive below them where I feel it’s necessary).

Exactly – when I got nabbed, the camera was a forward facing one trained at the horizon, so by the time you spotted it, even if you have excellent vision and are using most of your attention looking for speed cameras, it’s too late. Looking ahead and “spotting the sodding cameras” often makes no difference.

Take the points.

When i rode a motorbike i was caught a few times, always informed my insurer, but my premium never increased. It didn’t seem to matter how many points i accumulated (was sitting on 10 at one point*). This was long before the speed awareness thing was introduced so things may have changed. Maybe check with your insurer first?

* Should have been banned really as passing an unmarked police car at 125+ is seen as a little reckless by the courts – the fact that i already had 6 points at the time didn’t really help 😛

p.s. Cheers Cougar 😀

I presume you’re missing the alternative interpretation that doing a course would cost him £600?

They are but sometimes, you just happen to be looking the other way.

I do also wonder about the emphasis on keeping an eye out for cameras, or even having a heightened awareness for them. It strikes me that someone who is more likely to spot a camera may be less likely to true hazards. e.g. gorilla experiment

If you mean you drive slowly, then no, you don’t.

No one earning £1000 per day does a job they enjoy.

Did he start of being gittish when he phoned up to find out why you didn’t take up the opportunity to do the course, which in general improves driving intentions and behaviour or was it after you told him about your £1000 pound a day job?

It’s clear there are some people here who would not benefit from the coures at all, but perhaps not for the reasons they imagine