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Speed Awareness Curse

I don't want to worry you, but, a friend has just told me that she recently went on a Speed Awareness Course in Flint, North Wales for speeding and she was told that the police no longer give any latitude i.e. 30mph means just that. The course was 4 hrs long, but in Birkenhead I am told it is 8 hrs long and includes driving on a selected route. I think that we require a campaign to standardise the whole thing, but an Awareness Course is better than 3 points.

Asked on 23 January 2010 by D.L., via e-mail

Answered by Honest John
North Wales was until recently run by a hard-line Chief Constable, Richard Brunstrom. Brunstrom's police even prosecuted Med Hughes (his successor as ACPO Head of Road Policing) for speeding, leading to Hughes resignation. But now North Wales has a new, hopefully more enlightened Chief Constable Mark Polin. And, of course, since all speedos over-read by between 5% and 10%, at a true 30 your speedo will say you are doing between 31.5 and 33mph, so a margin of error is built in.
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