Safe Speed Forums

Courses end for speeding drivers
9:40pm Monday 18th October 2010 By Emma Dunn

DRIVERS caught speeding in the town will no longer be given the option of taking a speed awareness course instead of points and a fine.
Swindon police have scrapped the initiative which saw many motorists who had been caught driving over the speed limit take a three-hour lesson about the dangers of speeding.
The initiative has also been cancelled across the county as part of the closure of the Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership, which also saw speed cameras turned off.
A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said: “Speed enforcement will continue in Wiltshire. The roads policing officers and community speed watch will reinforce that. Although the speed awareness courses have been stopped, speed awareness will continue across the county.”
Robert Palmer, an instructor at the Swindon-based Signal Driving School, is a tutor on the speed awareness course. He believes the end of the scheme will be a loss to drivers.
“I think it’s bad news. Education has stopped people speeding and without it they are unaware of the extra risks that they are taking,” he said.
“We have found pretty much everyone goes away having learnt something. It’s a big benefit.
“It’s definitely missing from most people’s experience. They don’t get updated with road situations and other risks. They are not aware of what risks they are taking.
“I wish they were continuing the courses but they are not going to be in Wiltshire.”

Robert and 15 other tutors have run the courses in Wiltshire for four and a half years, and have taught about 65,000 people across the county. “It’s done some good there, it’s a significant number of people,” he said.
Robert said that he has noticed a change in people’s driving habits since the cameras were switched off in Swindon last year.
“I have already noticed that drivers are driving a bit quicker,” he said. “Being a bit of an anorak I notice these things.”

Alan Bishop, a driving instructor at the Driving Academy, said: “Extra training will never go amiss, it’s definitely needed and it’s a shame they are being stopped.”
But Brenda Withers, an instructor for B and S Driving School said she did not think the lessons had an effect. “Drivers might pay attention to the courses while they are there but it’s soon forgotten once they are out,” she said. “The courses didn’t make much difference,”

Let's say that it is worth learning then why be only one of a few selected people that receive this 'training'? - surely this ought to be for all ?

No. You only offer training to people who need it, who are not already conversant with the subject. It would, for example, be futile, to offer a course in cosmology to Stephen Hawkings. But whether the SA courses were offered to the correct people is a another question.

Robert said that he has noticed a change in people’s driving habits since the cameras were switched off in Swindon last year. “I have already noticed that drivers are driving a bit quicker,” he said.

Yes, they are just returning to the optimum and safest 85th percentile speed after being artificially restricted. My reaction is "So what if they are driving a bit faster. Is it any more dangerous?"

You should also consider the effect of the increased speed on the convenience of pedestrians.

Could you expand on this a little?
In my personal experience, I have noticed on the roads I travel where the speed has been reduced to ridiculously slow speeds for the road, that there is now almost no breaks in the traffic, and the cars are travelling much closer together. Making this much more inconvenient for pedestrians than before the limit was reduced.

Or, I guess, it might be better to say that they would NORMALLY ignore people a few MPH over the threshold - but, if their actions were causing a danger, they could prosecute. That's something cameras never quite mastered - discretion!

At least they're being honest about the fact that the end of these courses goes hand-in-hand with the end of the SCP, i.e. it was an SCP revenue stream once they got ticket revenue taken away from them.