Driver awareness course - isisalar
I have been offered the opportunity by the Hampshire Constabulary of attending a 'driver awareness course' for £74.The alternative is £60 and 3 points .(37mph in a 30 mph limit).I live in north London so about 160 miles of diesel 3-4 hours on the course and say 3hrs travelling.
My last speeding conviction was about 10yrs ago for a similar offence and I have driven at least250,000miles since then.I have a clean licence.
Is it worth going on the course?
Any input would be gratefully appreciated.
Thanks
Paul
Driver awareness course - Dynamic Dave
See if they'll let you attend a course that is nearer to you. A colleague got done for speeding while on holiday in Devon last year but lives in Newbury. Upon contacting them they changed the venue for him from Devon to one in Swindon.
Is it worth going on the course?


3 points or go on a course and still have a clean licence. No brainer surely?

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 10/11/2008 at 21:01

Driver awareness course - The Melting Snowman
I wouldn't bother. You're clearly a good driver, just unlucky on this occasion. Most insurance companies won't increase their premium for a minor speeding offence but you should always tell them to be on the safe side. I would rather do that than go on some patronising course.
Driver awareness course - Ian (Cape Town)
Patronising?
Well, if you go on a course and learn ONE thing, then it isn't a waste of time.
Maybe it will make you a better driver - isn't that the point?

As the expression goes: "You've passed your test, now you start learning to drive."

While the speed limit and camera issue has been debated here ad infinitum, no matter how we look at it, the law remains the law, and in this case it was broken.
What the constabulary is doing is commendable, IMHO: You broke the law, we aren't happy with you, let's offer you an opportunity to redeem yourself by attending a course where we explain to you 1) WHY we enforce the law the way we do; and 2) what the consequences can be if you break the law.

74 quid v 60 quid? for 14 pound difference, it is, as they say, a no-brainer.
that's just over a quid a month.

Driver awareness course - isisalar
Thanks for your replies.
I was wondering if anyone has been on one of these courses and could tell me what they entail?
Driver awareness course - Alby Back
Well strangely enough......

I went on one 2 or 3 years ago. Very cynically to be honest. £60 and a day out or £60 and 3 points didn't seem to be too difficult to decide.

Have to say, I actually enjoyed it in the end. It was not done in a finger wagging or patronising style. It was pitched very much at the level of education and advanced driving techniques. Some of it involved fairly sobering film clips and photos but that element was not laboured. In my case the course was not conducted by police officers but by a couple of retired driving instructors who made a very good double act.

Like many people who have driven a lot and over many years I was reasonably confident that I had little to learn. I was wrong. I learned quite a lot and have put into practice a number of techniques I had never heard or thought of.

In short, I would say that if your course is as well run that it could be viewed as beneficial and reasonably cheap training..
Driver awareness course - isisalar
Thanks Humph
I probably will go. You can't buy a clean driving license after all!
Not one to avoid education,in fact a day without learning something is a day wasted in my book,so Hampshire here I come.
Thanks
Paul
Driver awareness course - bathtub tom
I haven't had a speeding ticket since - -erm - -1965.

I've had a recent driving assesment at work, which picked up a couple of bad habits, but feel a driving awareness course would be to my benefit.

Can I get on one without breaking the law first?
Driver awareness course - Ian (Cape Town)
I've had a recent driving assesment at work which picked up a couple of bad
habits but feel a driving awareness course would be to my benefit.
Can I get on one without breaking the law first?


I'm sure the Institute of Advanced Motoring or somebody similar could point you in the right direction - and you'd probably get a discount on your insurance to boot.
Driver awareness course - deepwith
Tom, Dorset County Council's road safety team is offering a free driver refresher course consisting of a three hour theory session followed by a 90 minute practical, offered to any age/experience driver.
Maybe your County could be persuaded to offer one too?
Driver awareness course - L'escargot
I probably will go.


Very commendable.
Driver awareness course - martint123
You can't buy a clean driving license after all!


You can but it will cost you considerably more than £74 either from that well known and highly paid solicitor (not ours!) or from some shady character in a shady part of town.
Driver awareness course - reevsie
Isisalar - did you go on that driving course in the end and if so what was it like? I have been offered the course by Hampshire constabulary and wondered if it was any good.
Driver awareness course - Peter D
I'd take the course as if you don't and you collect 3 points with perhaps no effect on your insurance , you could collect another 3 in a couple of months time and suddenly you have an insurance hike for 5 years. Regards Peter
Driver awareness course - Mookfish
I'd second what Peter D says, because if there is a next time they might not offer the course and your stuck with 6 points, you'd be kicking yourself for not taking the course.
Driver awareness course - reevsie
I'm doing it anyway, just wondered if I have to sit through 3 hours of the usual 'speed kills' diatribe. Still, according to the letter I am given the opportunity to explain my reason for speeding - should be an interesting debate....
Driver awareness course - zookeeper
i went on one about 5 years ago, it was £60 the same as the fine would have been not £74 . seems to be a bit of a scam going on there, but its worth doing ,can i add i was in a group of 20 people we had all been clocked doing 36 in a 30 and out of the 20 in the group 16 were women, sheilas wheels ...dont get me started
Driver awareness course - Peter D
You are only offered a SAC if you have not had one in the last 3 years. Regards Peter
Driver awareness course - concrete
The company I worked for 25 years ago arranged a driver awareness course with Essex Police, just for our own benefit. It was really very good. Nearly everyone went from 'You can't teach me anything' to ' I never knew that' within a few hours. I still use the basic techniques to this day and feel safer for using them. Even if it corrects one bad habit then it is worth it. You seem like a good driver already, so be a better one. Good luck. Concrete
Driver awareness course - Westpig
you can tell someone his wife looks less than comely, you might even get away with telling someone his kids are brats...you cannot tell them their driving skills could be better
Driver awareness course - Robin Reliant
I was an instructor on the courses for a few years. Nearly everyone who took part were positive about having benefited much more than they expected, but whether they slipped back into old habits a short while after I don't know.

I sometimes got the impression the police offered these courses when there wasn't really much chance of a prosecution had the miscreant decided to fight it in court.
Driver awareness course - zookeeper
it worked for me RR, the course does work , but then you have to have been on the course to know
Driver awareness course - vmturbo

Yes well a colleague went on a driver awareness course and the tutor who was driving had a head-on with a Ford XR3i which ruined his whole day. Fortunately the course vehicle was a Vauxhall Senator with plenty of safety gadgets. The XR3i which was going like a bat out of hell became airborne on a humped back bridge and landed on the wrong side of the road. No matter how aware you are you can't do much about that. It turned out that the two men in the Ford had just robbed a building society and had a holdhall containing about £50,000 and a shotgun. It was no use to them however because they were both brown-bread. I think there were a couple of broken legs with the Senator passengers so it does show that size matters. Apparently with a head-on if one turns the wheel hard just before the impact a lot of the kinetic energy gets spun away - but would you ever remember to do it?

Driver awareness course - Nodrog
You would think after 10 years a verbal warning would be justified. I live in Poole and have to attend the course near Dorchester. Distance not too bad!
I have never had any offense, not even a parking ticket since I started driving at 16 years of age. (polish my halo!). I am 76 years old now so have 60 years experience of driving in 10 countries, some with horrendous traffic conditions I was traveling on a road often during the last 15 years,which I knew had a camera. Probably my mind was on the way for radiation therapy for cancer at the time, but was photographed at 36 miles per hour. I broke the law so deserve this 3 hour + course at £70 .
I thought I may get a wrap round the knuckles for a first time, especially after looking at "Road Wars" on TV where Policemen seem to let so many off with bad offenses, with a warning!
Nodrog
Driver awareness course - ifithelps
Gordon,

Od uoy syawla etirw ruoy tsrif eman sdrawkcab?
Driver awareness course - PhilW
Can you do these if you have a NIP for "running" a red light or is it just for speeding? As posted before - I have been done for this (red light) after having a clean licence for 40 odd years and would gladly sign up if it kept my licence clean - bit ashamed of the 3 points I will get. I live in Leics.
Phil
Driver awareness course - Cliff Pope
It's surely still a conviction for a driving offence, just with a different penalty imposed. So you'd still have to declare it to your insurance company ?
Driver awareness course - Bromptonaut
Cliff,

No conviction and no points on the licence. It might be a "relevant fact" that ought to be declared though.
Driver awareness course - vmturbo

Yup I've got one too but I'm inclined to tell them to stuff it. I live in the Cornish Outback but had been up-country basically shopping. In particular I was keen to buy H2 double-hump safety rims to upgrade a trailer that I own as the prospect of tyres deflating on potholes is not one that I would relish. (The double-humps do help the tyres to stay on the rim.) The supplier was on the A3024 Maybrick King Road in Southampton. I'd been struggling with glare as I'd been driving into the sun, however the excellent dual carriageway was almost empty at the time. I assumed that such a grand road almost like a motorway would have a speed limit of 40 mph but later a nasty letter dropped into my letterbox accusing me of doing 36. Now here is the $64,000 question "If the Safety Camera Partnership" wants people to travel at 30 WHY DON'T THEY GET "30" PAINTED ON THE ROAD? Oh can't do that it would cut off the money supply and we'd lose our cash-cow. I've been motoring for over 45 years and everywhere else where they have dual carriageways like that, the speed limit is 40. I consider it to be entrapment and fraud particularly as they are using Truvelo cameras (no lines on the road to give the game away)

The letter that I have had does not appear to offer fixed penalty. It appears to be court or course. Furthermore the letter states that the course must be done in Hampshire. Is this legal? Can we sue Chief Constables for excessive travelling expenses? (Allegedly government guidlines are that it should be possible to attend courses in ones home area) This country gets more like Zimbabwe every day and several years ago an elderly German lady informed me that Hitler's Gestapo had nothing on this lot and she really meant it.

Driver awareness course - ifithelps

You were legitimately caught speeding and have been offered a 'get out of jail not free' card in the shape of a £90 course.

By all means tell them to stuff it and embark on a one-man crusade to change the system.

But there will be two results, you will fail, and be left with a stiffer penalty.

Apart from anything else, you appear to object to travelling to Hamphsire to do the course, so how is travelling to Southampton for an appearance in the magistrates' court any better?

If you wish to sort this to your advantage, rather than disadvantage, I suggest you contact the speed awareness course people and ask them politely if you can attend a course closer to home.

I am surprised there is no conditional offer of a fixed penalty, there usually is.

That gives you the option of paying a £60 fine and accepting three points on your licence.

Not brilliant, but you can do that without leaving the house.

Driver awareness course - vmturbo

By the way I did write a polite letter pointing out that the road was built like a motorway (anti-crossover concrete central barrier and all) I pointed out that if they really did want people to travel at 30 they could paint "30" on the road or put up "30" signs.

Their reply was that it is ILLEGAL to put up "30" repeater signs! If this truly is the case then councils all over the British Isles (except Hampshire) are breaking the law.

Please will you sign my e-petition that proposes to repeal the law that states that it is illegal to erect "30" repeater signs? If 100,000 signatures are obtained the subject might be debated in Parliament.

It does seem that Hampshire are the only council that uses this law to scam motorists. I saw the cameras quite clearly but thought "it must be 40 along here" and that's the trick! Its what one might expect in Zimbabwe or in the fictitious Hazzard County.

Driver awareness course - Superjaz1

Just found this thread as I'm going on the driver awareness course this week. I have to drive from North Cornwall to Hampshire which is better than having points for 3 years. But anyway vmturbo, I was caught by that exact same speed camera! It's A3024 Maybray King Way and here it is:

maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=maybray+kingway&;...1

or click here if link doesn't work

I was on the westbound side on my way back from France at the time with family. Lady driver in front of me all of a sudden slows down to approx 20mph! Obviously I was a bit peeved and confused because I had to slow for no reason, but anyway I quickly overtook her but I think I was concentrating on what happened so much that I missed the 30mph signs and my brain must have automatically thought that because it was a dual lane, clear road i.e no houses, no paths etc I thought it was 40 so I was clocked at 40mph. A genuine mistake, although I admit I should have paid more attention to the road :-( Anyone else think this particular stretch of road is a bit deceptive?

First driving "offence" ever in 11 years! Oh well, I might aswell make a weekend of it and it sounds like the course will be interesting.

Edited by Superjaz1 on 02/11/2011 at 15:49

Driver awareness course - Superjaz1

Just to add to the above, here's a similar road in Birmingham I use quite often, notice the speed limit of 40mph

Driver awareness course - vmturbo

Interesting that that they have speed camera warning signs on that road BUT NO "30" UNDER THE CAMERA LOGO as in other parts of the country. I can only call them thieving scum.

Driver awareness course - changing location - filbert

> I have to drive from North Cornwall to Hampshire

I was able to do the course in a more convenient location. They are run all over the country. When I agreed to the course, the acknowledgement letter I got sent me to dors.police.uk/ where I could log in and search for a local course. All I had to do was tell the original provider that I had booked elsewhere.

Incidentally, we were told on the course that all the fees go to the org running it - in my case the AA. That doesn't seem impossible as the cost is similar to commercially provided training courses I have been on in for work.

More than £60 but better than 3 points on a clean licence :(

Driver awareness course - Bathmark

I went on one of these course about 2 years ago in Somerset. I was slightly sceptical as I thought it would be a some police men patronising me, How wrong I was! The course was really well run with great instructors who went through the problems caused by speeding particularly in built up areas. I notice somewhere earlier that someone mentioned that you were an experienced drive and wouldn’t learn anything. I have been driving for over 20 years and I certainly did learn something! From a purely practical view not having those 3 points on your licence will make future insurance renewals cheaper. You certainly won’t lose anything from attending the course and believe it or not you might become a slightly better driver!

Driver awareness course - Barontufsap

It's better than collecting 3 Penalty Points which will affect your insurance premium for five years (compensating for fuel cost to course venue) and friends who have attended the course say they have picked up one or two useful tips . Sometimes courses include a driving lesson with a qualified instructor. You also get the oppoortunity to say what you think of the money-making racket of speed cameras - they are also obviouysly making a good profit on the Speed Awareness courses if some 40 people attend one course and pay about £3,000 - it doesn't cost that even with two insructors and the hire of a hall.

Driver awareness course - Red&Bold

"A3024 Maybray King Way"

I live in southampton and this stretch of road is notorious for catching people out. Signs are small and few and far between and hard to spot If you didnt know the road to begin with. you just have to google the road and you will see many a forum and conviction record come up. I have heard a rumour of a petition to be set up to change the speed limit to a 40 or atleast better signage.

Driver awareness course - Superjaz1

Yeah tried a google earlier and found loads of cases of people being caught unaware. Although one guy on his bike doing 74mph was crazy! I'll have a read up about the petition but if you find it, let me know where and I'll sign!