A few weeks ago I inadvertently broke the speed limit (37mph in a 30mph area) on the outskirts of Salisbury. Shortly afterwards the Wiltshire Police gave me the option of a statutory fine of £60.00 and three points on my licence or paying a £60.00 fee to attend a Speed Awareness Course with no points and no further questions asked.
Yesterday I went on the course which took place in a non-descript building in Swindon, six other speeders attending, with two trainers taking us through what the rules are, the connections between speed and accidents, how to be a better (ie slower) driver and so on.
One of many interesting points made during this really excellent three hours was that it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to change people’s habitual driving styles which are often learnt from their parents. Another was how rarely people check out changes in the law after they have passed their test – a test incidentally which the instructors suggested was pretty low standard.
The best that could be hoped for was that we, the speeders, would leave the session more aware of the needs of, and the risks to, others in the road, particularly pedestrians. It seems – which surprised me – that most accidents happen in 30 mph urban areas because that’s where the vulnerable pedestrians are – children, old people, shoppers. It also seems that activities like drinking water, hands free phones, Satnav adjustments, changing a CD often involve drivers taking their eyes off the roads for two or three seconds. That’s six to ten car lengths. That’s time enough to cause injury or death to someone.
Listening to this I remembered an incident as a twelve year old when I stepped in front of a lorry on the way home from school. My French master pulled me back onto the pavement and saved my life. Thinking about it yesterday I realized for the first time that had I died then six children, two grandchildren, and the imagined worlds of eighteen novels would not exist; and you wouldn’t be reading this. You can debate the same question for yourself supposing you had died at twelve.
‘Ah, but that’s hypothetical,’ you might say. ‘You didn’t die…’
True, but every day something like seven people do die on the roads and that’s not hypothetical. It’s every day. Meaning that every day, as I drive my car, I might be the one who wipes out the young lad who had he lived might have fathered six lovely children, grandfathered two adorable grandchildren and penned eighteen novels…
Now that has made me think.
I’ve never been a fast driver, nor a reckless one.
I’m courteous to other drivers, as to pedestrians.
Aggression is not part of my driving style.
I’m a nice chap.
I wouldn’t harm a fly.
But the hard fact is that ‘inadvertently’ as I put it at the top of this post I drove at 37mph in a 30mph zone. As the trainers pointed out, that’s 25% faster than I should have or, put another way, the equivalent of 85 mph on a motorway.
Makes you think doesn’t it? It certainly makes me think.
Final tips from the trainers…
Drive up to the speed limit, not at it.
Plan journeys ahead, not once you start.
Have water, tissues etc easily to hand but, if you can, pull over every time you want to do anything in a car other than drive it.
Finally, always leave early not late if an important appointment involves you driving a car.
…and remember most of those drivers who kill those seven people a day are just like you and me: they wouldn’t hurt a fly, they’re nice chaps and chapesses and they think that 37mph in a 30mph isn’t much over the limit really, is it?
I hate to admit it, but it is. Way over the limit.
Did the course work? For me, it did. I’m more aware and that makes me a lot more culpable if I ever break the speed limit again. I can never again say I didn’t know…
LINKS: Two good links on this subject are www.dft.gov.uk/think – the government departmental website which is the internet portal for driving safety and awareness in all its variations; and the excellent Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents site www.rospa.com which has very good material on driving and its dangers. Be warned … if you google ’speed awareness courses’ you get some spoof sites which, in fact, are touting other sites which are the opposite of what they seem, seeking to show you how to avoid speed traps, fines and so on. Rather nasty. However Greater Manchester Police, which offers these courses locally, has a good, simple site which explains the courses well: http://www.drivesafe.org.uk/index.php/home/speed-awareness Some ferreting around may turn up something in your area.