Speeding course and room of denial.

[Drago]

In the pandemic there was a bloke on their online SAC who thought it would be OK to log on
while he was driving. When the examiner saw the moving background, he was immediately disconnected and presumably given a fine and 3 points.

Like the guy in the US who was late for court so he Facetimed the Judge while driving. Unfortunately, he was a disqualified driver so the judge sent him on a cosy holiday with Bubba.

 

[sheddy]

Anyway, this is not the point of my post. The other day came across a series of three count down signs, warning of approaching speed limit and cameras. I don't think that I've seen them before. They were certainly new on this section of road.
(BTW, the road used to be called "Death Hill").

If these signs had been in the location where I was caught, I would probably have slowed down in time

Are these countdown signs rare or common?

I first saw something like this maybe 20 years ago, possible erected because of a school on the edge of a village.

 

[gbb]

I did one mmaybe 5 to 10 years ago.
The course givers were quute up front, get awkward argumentative or disruptive, you'll be off the course immediately and given the points.
Not surprisingly, everyone was attentive, actually joined in the discussions in a constructive way and I thought it was very good.
Most attendees seemed knowledgeable on speed limits and why, signage , road markings etc
I seem to remember maybe one guy mentioning cyclists , not so much a rant, but it would be a pointless exercise, we're not here for that. Might as well moan about traffic, pedestrians potholes, anything you can think of...pointless.

I thought I was going to get chucked off before it even began. As they ran through the dos and donts, they were going to check everyone's photo id / license, without ID, you cannot proceed
. Errrr, I havnt got photo ID and only an old paper licence I'd stubbornly held onto. It was no problem as it happened...

 

[raleighnut]

Not being a driver I think these courses are a bit meh, give em a hefty fine and points they might get the message a bit quicker.

 

[templehead]

One chap fell asleep in the one I went to... the instructor bollocked him but let him stay and complete, which surprised me! Can't say as I blamed him though, it was pretty dire. At one point the instructor started banging on about how great and utterly safe smart motorways were - this being after the announcement that no more were to be built after they were pretty much discredited. I did think about saying something, but I figured the less anyone interrupted the sooner we'd all be out of there.

I was busted by the camera I've ridden past many times at the end of my village. How did I manage this? By riding past the day I'd gone up from my old 250cc scooter to a 700cc bike; turned left onto the main road and opened the throttle like I used to on the old bike. Whereas the asthmatic old Majesty would be doing nowhere near 30 when we reached the camera, the new bike had apparently made it to 36mph... ho hum.

 

[PaulSB]

Yeah, I was caught. Basically not observant enough. Travelling along a 40 mph section and without road conditions changing that much, entered a 30 zone, at the same time as the road was going down hill. I usually take my foot off the gas and gradually slow down, but the cameras were too quick

Anyway, this is not the point of my post. The other day came across a series of three count down signs, warning of approaching speed limit and cameras. I don't think that I've seen them before. They were certainly new on this section of road.
(BTW, the road used to be called "Death Hill").

If these signs had been in the location where I was caught, I would probably have slowed down in time

Are these countdown signs rare or common?

I have seen them but would say they are a rarity. I think they're a very good idea and should be far more widespread.

 

[gbb]

Not being a driver I think these courses are a bit meh, give em a hefty fine and points they might get the message a bit quicker.

For some, I suspect they're not going to change for anyone, do the course and stick two fingers up.
But personally, it reminded you, educated you as to consequences, particually survivability of someone hit at speed at 10 20, 40 mph it's a bit sobering at times. I suspect im not so unusual (and definitely not perfect either) and plenty of other drivers actually get something positive from the course.

 

[Bristolian]

If that was the case she wouldn’t be offered a course.
You can only do one every 3 years.

I think this depends when it was and also whether the courses were in the same police force area, or not. Going back quite a few years my son got tickets for speeding in two different force areas about twelve months apart and he was offered courses by both. These days I suspect there's a central register so that wouldn't happen now.

 

[Alex321]

Speed awareness courses were common and had been in effect in England for years, I was on holiday in Scotland and they were a few years after England with setting these courses up. I had to tell them about the single conviction for speeding on the forms when I was in renewal time. So I am not sure about this. I would have thought that in some areas getting caught is so unlikely that the one actual case of being caught would be more significant indicator or higher risk.

Like I said, the time when they said you didn't have to tell them about one speeding conviction was before Speed awareness courses, if yours was at a time when they were common in England then it was much later.

 

[Alex321]

Yeah, I was caught. Basically not observant enough. Travelling along a 40 mph section and without road conditions changing that much, entered a 30 zone, at the same time as the road was going down hill. I usually take my foot off the gas and gradually slow down, but the cameras were too quick

Anyway, this is not the point of my post. The other day came across a series of three count down signs, warning of approaching speed limit and cameras. I don't think that I've seen them before. They were certainly new on this section of road.
(BTW, the road used to be called "Death Hill").

If these signs had been in the location where I was caught, I would probably have slowed down in time

Are these countdown signs rare or common?

Quite common in some places, rare in others.

 

[Jenkins]

I was caught out by having a rare clear run on the approach to the Dartford Tunnels and missing the change from 60 to 50mph so opted for the course.

Glad to say I was the only one who noticed the potential move from a cyclist as a hazard and the lady who was having a large glass of breakfast red 🍷(at 09:30!) was quietly spoken to during the break by the course taker.

 

[Drago]

Police forces are slowly moving across to a software package called NICHE, mainly for crime recording and case building but also for intelligence purposes.

One benefit for the dibble is the interoperability of the data between forces on the system.

The rollout isn't nationwide yet, but certain collaborate 'regions' have it in full.

Formexample, get a course in Northants now and you won't then be offered one in Leicestershire or Derbyshire (within whatever time limit) because they'll know you've been on one already.

 

[rogerzilla]

I was on one ten years ago and thought it was excellent.

There was only one eejit on the day, who persisted that his powerful car just couldn't be held back! It didn't like going at 30, 45 was the minimum!

One of the tutors got a round of laughter when he asked how the eejit managed in multi-storey car parks at 45 mph!

Back in the day, I could drive around the old Basingrad multi-storey in third gear. This was at 9pm after an evening shift, and it was empty. Cars are bigger these days and I don't have the reflexes I did when I was 17.

I was explaining to a friend who's just passed his test at 35 that you become a lower-risk driver with experience and age, not because you have better car handling skills - you'll never beat a 17 year old at that - but because you get better at spotting hazards. I can usually tell when another driver is going to do something moronic before it happens, based on road position, speed, type of car, amount of crap dangling from rear-view mirror, etc.

I've never been done for speeding, by the way, although I can occasionally understand why it happens - in Shropshire last weekend, a lot of the signs are missing or obscured. On a couple of occasions, I was doing 30 and wondering why I had a queue behind me - it's because there was no visible NSL sign at the end of the limit. Some 40 or 50 limits have no visible commencement sign and the first sign you see is a small repeater. Never had that issue in Wiltshire.

 

[pawl]

I was clocked doing 34MPH in a 30 zone,i had turned off a main road and had accelerated back up to30 to30 when I was flashed..I had pressed a bit to hard on the right hand pedal.I received the letter inviting me to take the Speed awareness course or take the points.I attended the course and found it informative.and I think I became more aware of instance’s were my driving wasn’t without fault

I don’t know what today’s course’s are like.as I attended ten years ago.I haven’t been caught speeding since perhaps because I don’t break speed limits.The ten percent over indicated limit can lull drivers int a false sense as 33MPH easily becomes 34 MPH

 

[Alex321]

I was clocked doing 34MPH in a 30 zone,i had turned off a main road and had accelerated back up to30 to30 when I was flashed..I had pressed a bit to hard on the right hand pedal.I received the letter inviting me to take the Speed awareness course or take the points.I attended the course and found it informative.and I think I became more aware of instance’s were my driving wasn’t without fault

I don’t know what today’s course’s are like.as I attended ten years ago.I haven’t been caught speeding since perhaps because I don’t break speed limits.The ten percent over indicated limit can lull drivers int a false sense as 33MPH easily becomes 34 MPH

That is unusual. Normally they won't send out a ticket until 35 in a 30.