Caught Speeding

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smutchin

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
The Velvet Curtain said:
I'm sorry that you think that I and the many others are stupid, but please carry on in your smugness until the day that you make a mistake too.
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I think you're being over-sensitive. And not reading the post you're replying to properly. Which just goes to show that not paying attention can lead to the kind of mistake that makes you look a bit silly...

It's entirely avoidable and pretty stupid to get caught out doing it. And even clever people do stupid things occasionally. The fact that speeding offences are broken down into different categories shows that the law recognises the difference between being carelessly a few mph over the limit and recklessly ignoring it.

You also have to accept that being distracted when driving is no excuse. In your case, a moment's distraction led to breaking the speed limit. In many other cases, a moment's distraction has led to people dying. That's all it takes sometimes. You can't afford to make mistakes when in charge of several tonnes of fast-moving metal.
 
T

TVC

Guest
smutchin said:
I think you're being over-sensitive. And not reading the post you're replying to properly. Which just goes to show that not paying attention can lead to the kind of mistake that makes you look a bit silly...

It's entirely avoidable and pretty stupid to get caught out doing it. And even clever people do stupid things occasionally. The fact that speeding offences are broken down into different categories shows that the law recognises the difference between being carelessly a few mph over the limit and recklessly ignoring it.

You also have to accept that being distracted when driving is no excuse. In your case, a moment's distraction led to breaking the speed limit. In many other cases, a moment's distraction has led to people dying. That's all it takes sometimes. You can't afford to make mistakes when in charge of several tonnes of fast-moving metal.
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I think I did in my post, You repeat that it is 'stupid' to do it. Well there are a lot of stupid people about, including those posting in this thread, making a mistake is not stupid.

The woman who put me in hospital made a mistake, she acknowledged that mistake, I accepted that was a mistake and she certainly, isn't a stupid person. Please don't tell me about the consequences of distraction because I carry the scars of somebody else's error.
 
smutchin

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
The Velvet Curtain said:
making a mistake is not stupid. ... she certainly, isn't a stupid person.
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You're not differentiating between a stupid act and a stupid person. To repeat myself, even clever people do stupid things occasionally. Heck, I'm the cleverest person I know and even I got caught out a couple of weeks ago.

Breaking the speed limit is a stupid kind of mistake to make. It's stupid because it's easily avoided and because of the possible consequences. We all do stupid things occasionally. If you can accept that your speeding offence was a mistake, you can also accept that it was a stupid mistake.

I'm sorry if you felt my comment was insensitive, given your experience, but it does rather prove my point.
 
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TVC

Guest
smutchin said:
You're not differentiating between a stupid act and a stupid person. To repeat myself, even clever people do stupid things occasionally. Heck, I'm the cleverest person I know and even I got caught out a couple of weeks ago.

Breaking the speed limit is a stupid kind of mistake to make. It's stupid because it's easily avoided and because of the possible consequences. We all do stupid things occasionally. If you can accept that your speeding offence was a mistake, you can also accept that it was a stupid mistake.

I'm sorry if you felt my comment was insensitive, given your experience, but it does rather prove my point.
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I now understand your reading of the word 'stupid', my initial response was to the phrase "a tax on the stupid" which is different and what I took exception to.

To take the discussion on, there were twenty people on my course, and there were two courses running that afternoon, there were also two courses running in the morning, so 80 people in just one day, and the course runs five days a week and is full. That is just one centre of so many. Everyone seemed to be in a similar situation to me, an error, inattention, distraction, nobody was there because they were happy to flout the law. So I fully support this way of doing things.

I found the course very interesting, it was constructive and informative and in no way finger wagging. I came away from it thinking that perhaps all drivers should do a similar course every 10 years, because things had changed in the thirty odd years since I passed my test - there was nothing about dealing with cycles and non motorised transport/pedestrians in those days, and advice does change.
 
smutchin

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
The Velvet Curtain said:
my initial response was to the phrase "a tax on the stupid" which is different and what I took exception to.
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Noted, although I don't think @I like Skol really meant it that way, and I also note that he only said he 'has some sympathy' with that view, not that he agreed with it entirely. It doesn't take a very close reading of his post to understand that he has probably been stupid a few times himself.

Everyone seemed to be in a similar situation to me, an error, inattention, distraction, nobody was there because they were happy to flout the law. So I fully support this way of doing things.
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The thing that bothers me is that words like 'mistake' and 'accident' are used to absolve (or at least mitigate) blame, but I'm very strongly of the opinion that we're far too tolerant as a society of mistakes and accidents committed behind the wheel of a car.

I'm guessing that will be one of the messages they put across in the speed awareness course, and I'm wholly in favour of that. I had feared that it would be more like the time I did jury service, and was exposed to the worst prejudices of my fellow members of society, but the more I hear about these courses, the more I think they sound like a good thing.

I came away from it thinking that perhaps all drivers should do a similar course every 10 years
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I think that sounds like an excellent idea.
 
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swansonj

swansonj

Guru
The Velvet Curtain said:
.... nobody was there because they were happy to flout the law.
....
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Except you were all happy, not to deliberately and specifically flout the law, but to drive with a level of care and concentration such that breaking the law is a real possibility. Doesn't that also constitute "flouting the law"?

Declaration: I have never had a speeding ticket but I fully recognise that there has been an element of luck in that in that my respect for speed limits is not 100%, so I include myself in the above characterisation.
 
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smutchin

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
swansonj said:
Except you were all happy, not to deliberately and specifically flout the law, but to drive with a level of care and concentration such that breaking the law is a real possibility. Doesn't that also constitute "flouting the law"?
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Yes, it's a reflection of the cultural status of breaking the speed limit. Most drivers consider themselves law-abiding. Most drivers break speed limits.

If Speed Awareness Courses help to break this deep-rooted dissociative disorder we have as a society, they can only be a very good thing.
 
U

User33236

Guest
Like most people that drive there have been periods over the years that, looking back, would be considered foolish or, worse, reckless. Fortunately never had a speeding fine.

Worst example for me is around 17 years ago when I drove the 250 miles from the edge of Liverpool to Greenock in Scotland in just over 2 hours 20 minutes. Left at just after 2am in the morning and spend most of the drive in the inside lane matching speed with three other cars.

Nowadays I drive less than 3000 miles per annum and do try my utmost to comply with speed limits.
 
swee'pea99

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
The Velvet Curtain said:
Everyone seemed to be in a similar situation to me, an error, inattention, distraction, nobody was there because they were happy to flout the law.
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I'm pretty sure it was hereabouts that someone once posted about going on one of these courses and finding a fellow coursee was a woman of about 112 who bitched and moaned about how she shouldn't be here and it was all a mistake and she'd been a law-abiding driver for 87 years and many etcs, and then on his way home he was passed in the fast lane by an open top Merc doing about 90 miles and hour, and who should be in the driver's seat but...
 
T

TVC

Guest
swee'pea99 said:
I'm pretty sure it was hereabouts that someone once posted about going on one of these courses and finding a fellow coursee was a woman of about 112 who bitched and moaned about how she shouldn't be here and it was all a mistake and she'd been a law-abiding driver for 87 years and many etcs, and then on his way home he was passed in the fast lane by an open top Merc doing about 90 miles and hour, and who should be in the driver's seat but...
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If that really happened and she was caught then she should be dealt with appropriately, I can only comment on the people I met.

The point of the course is education, I found it valuable, so did others, there must be those who have been on similar courses and disregarded everything they had heard as soon as they walked out the door..
 
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T

TVC

Guest
swansonj said:
Except you were all happy, not to deliberately and specifically flout the law, but to drive with a level of care and concentration such that breaking the law is a real possibility. Doesn't that also constitute "flouting the law"?

Declaration: I have never had a speeding ticket but I fully recognise that there has been an element of luck in that in that my respect for speed limits is not 100%, so I include myself in the above characterisation.
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If you want me to change 'flouting' to 'wilfully and with intent disregarding the laws of the land and the safety of other road users' then I will :okay:
 
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