Speed awareness courses?

Buchanan0204 · 22 Nov 2011 at 06:54

My friend got stopped the other day. He was doing 48mph in a 30mph zone. It was late at night and there were no kids or houses around, so not the crime of the century.

He got an on the spot fine of £60 and 3 points. He passed just over a year ago and this is his first offence. I was wondering if there was any way of him doing a speed awareness course in place of the points? Do they still do that and if so how do you go about it?

Cheers.

Lashout_UK · 22 Nov 2011 at 06:56

No, he was going too fast.

neoglow · 22 Nov 2011 at 07:09

I dont know the circumstances for doing the course, I dont know if you need a certain number of points on your licence to do one but a friend of mine did the course a while back, he said it was a load of crud but if you can shed 3 points off your licence by sitting through a few hours of boredom then I'd do it!

Buchanan0204 · 22 Nov 2011 at 07:14

neoglow said:
I dont know the circumstances for doing the course, I dont know if you need a certain number of points on your licence to do one but a friend of mine did the course a while back, he said it was a load of crud but if you can shed 3 points off your licence by sitting through a few hours of boredom then I'd do it!

Definitely! However. I think the guy before you is correct. I can't find anywhere it says the cutoff speed. It just states, slightly over the limit, although this is only someones perception, no figures were given on any website I've looked at.

However as it was still a fixed penalty notice and not a summons...??

panthro · 22 Nov 2011 at 07:28

Going too fast, speed awareness only applies if you're caught doing 36mph and under IIRC.

Buchanan0204 · 22 Nov 2011 at 08:05

panthro said:
Going too fast, speed awareness only applies if you're caught doing 36mph and under IIRC.

Pfft. 36mph and under, you shouldn't even be stopped IMO. 37-38mph... then yes.

Suppose the whole... you will kill at 35 and not 30... it's 30 for a reason bull and all that. I think the speed limit should depend on your cars stopping distance. A manky 1.2 1999 thing will probably stop in the same distance doing 30mph than a classy M3 would going at 50mph. I have a feeling I might be alone in these views. But hey... who's to argue. Just stick a big sign on top of your car. "I can do 46mph in a 30 because my cars cooler than yours."

magicroundabout · 22 Nov 2011 at 08:12

it's 30 for a reason. if your car can stop better at 30 than the next guys then thats great. it means you wont hit the object/person that has gone in front of you. it doesn't give you the right to go 6 - 8 mph faster because your car can stop better.

what a pathetic point of view

s0ck · 22 Nov 2011 at 08:16

panthro said:
Going too fast, speed awareness only applies if you're caught doing 36mph and under IIRC.

Apparently, doing 79 on the motorway means you might get offered one too.

Buchanan0204 · 22 Nov 2011 at 08:27

magicroundabout said:
it's 30 for a reason. if your car can stop better at 30 than the next guys then thats great. it means you wont hit the object/person that has gone in front of you. it doesn't give you the right to go 6 - 8 mph faster because your car can stop better.

what a pathetic point of view

It was half a joke. Obviously it couldn't be implemented. "Pathetic" lol

Irish_Tom · 22 Nov 2011 at 08:29

When I had to do mine it was for doing less than 40 but more than 30 in a 30.

That was a few years ago though so it may have changed to 36mph.

In before the chants of baby killer!

Buchanan0204 · 22 Nov 2011 at 09:02

Panzerbjorn said:
When I had to do mine it was for doing less than 40 but more than 30 in a 30.

That was a few years ago though so it may have changed to 36mph.

In before the chants of baby killer!

Sounds about right then. Has to be under 40. How was the course? Boring and mind numbing?

Haggisman · 22 Nov 2011 at 09:27

Buchanan0204 said:
Pfft. 36mph and under, you shouldn't even be stopped IMO. 37-38mph... then yes.

Suppose the whole... you will kill at 35 and not 30... it's 30 for a reason bull and all that. I think the speed limit should depend on your cars stopping distance. A manky 1.2 1999 thing will probably stop in the same distance doing 30mph than a classy M3 would going at 50mph. I have a feeling I might be alone in these views. But hey... who's to argue. Just stick a big sign on top of your car. "I can do 46mph in a 30 because my cars cooler than yours."

And the award for idiot post of the year goes to... :rolleyes:

s0ck · 22 Nov 2011 at 09:28

Buchanan0204 said:
Sounds about right then. Has to be under 40.

No.

Brookert · 22 Nov 2011 at 09:34

Should have been banned, this 'friend' of yours.

48 in a 30! how stupid!

wez130 · 22 Nov 2011 at 09:34

s0ck said:
Apparently, doing 79 on the motorway means you might get offered one too.

I'd be suprised if you were even stopped for doing 79 tbh. (yes i know it's still breaking the limit, but i think even the police turn a blind eye at that little (in comparison) over the limit, if i was doing 85+ though i'd expect to be stopped for it.

For the record, i set my cruise to 72mph these days, you'd be suprised how much petrol you save over doing 80mph ;-)

neoglow · 22 Nov 2011 at 09:41

What makes me laugh is people say do 30 in a 30. Who actually does 30? I mean come on, really? Can you honestly put hand on heart and say you do 30 in a 30 all the time?! "All the time?!" If you do, then youre a liar. Theres always a queue of cars all bunched up behind that annoying someone actually doing 30, the rest of the time I reckon most people do at least 35 or higher.

shoes · 22 Nov 2011 at 09:47

neoglow said:
What makes me laugh is people say do 30 in a 30. Who actually does 30? I mean come on, really? Can you honestly put hand on heart and say you do 30 in a 30 all the time?! "All the time?!" If you do, then youre a liar. Theres always a queue of cars all bunched up behind that annoying someone actually doing 30, the rest of the time I reckon most people do at least 35 or higher.

Almost everyone near me does - the police have a load of these pesky vans and they aren't afraid of tucking them right in behind hedges etc. - I find most of the placed in Stafford people will generally do 30.

I personally try to consciously drive at the limit all the time - particularly as I'm still in my first 24 months - I cannot afford to get busted - if I lose my licence I lose my cushy job, house etc.

This is why I like the lanes - in the twisties it's hard to maintain 60mph, which is the limit, so I can pretty much drive as hard as I like safe in the knowledge I am not breaking the law, and even if I did, I'd be unlikely to get caught.

s0ck · 22 Nov 2011 at 09:50

wez130 said:
I'd be suprised if you were even stopped for doing 79 tbh. (yes i know it's still breaking the limit, but i think even the police turn a blind eye at that little (in comparison) over the limit, if i was doing 85+ though i'd expect to be stopped for it.

For the record, i set my cruise to 72mph these days, you'd be suprised how much petrol you save over doing 80mph

I suppose it's easy money to sit 30 people in a conference room @ £90 per person and have someone prattle on for two hours about how ALL cars take n meters to stop from 30

27 out of those 30 were easily over the age of 50 too.

Brookert · 22 Nov 2011 at 09:53

neoglow said:
What makes me laugh is people say do 30 in a 30. Who actually does 30? I mean come on, really? Can you honestly put hand on heart and say you do 30 in a 30 all the time?! "All the time?!" If you do, then youre a liar. Theres always a queue of cars all bunched up behind that annoying someone actually doing 30, the rest of the time I reckon most people do at least 35 or higher.

When I'm a bit rushed, i do 35 on the speedo i.e only about 32-33. No real need to go any faster.

Only had my licence 2 years, and no points. I intend to keep it that way

Burnsy2023 · 22 Nov 2011 at 10:05

neoglow said:
What makes me laugh is people say do 30 in a 30. Who actually does 30? I mean come on, really? Can you honestly put hand on heart and say you do 30 in a 30 all the time?! "All the time?!" If you do, then youre a liar. Theres always a queue of cars all bunched up behind that annoying someone actually doing 30, the rest of the time I reckon most people do at least 35 or higher.

Just because everyone does it doesn't mean that it's suddenly ok.