Speeders back to classroom
Saturday 23rd January 2010, 12:01PM GMT.
Drivers caught speeding in the West Midlands will be able to avoid penalty points and a fine by paying to go on a road safety course, it was revealed today.
Motorists caught breaking the law for the first time will be given the option to avoid prosecution by going on the six-hour sessions, which are expected to cost between £60 and £100.
Staffordshire Police already give drivers pulled over for minor speeding offences the chance to go on a £60 course, introduced in 2002.
Tutors teach drivers about the dangers of speeding and how to work out what the speed limit is on different roads.
The courses vary in style, but are often divided into classroom-based theory training and in-car training sessions with driving instructors. West Midlands Police Chief Constable Chris Sims said the force hoped to implement the scheme by April.
He said: “The scheme gives drivers who have had no previous speeding offences, and who have exceeded the speed limit within a certain threshold, the opportunity to avoid prosecution by attending a speed awareness course at their own expense. It costs the same as a speeding fine. The aim is to improve driving standards and clearly sets out the dangers associated with excess speed.”
Councillor Bob Jones, lead member on the police authority for Wolverhampton, said: “You’ve got to ensure people get the appropriate punishment but you need to factor that with what the most effective way to prevent re-offending is. It’s proved to have worked very well elsewhere.”
Higher
Jo Abbott, from motorists group The RAC Foundation, said: “We think the courses are an excellent idea and we fully endorse West Midlands Police’s decision. If they are basing it on other courses, it will just be available to those caught just over the limit – perhaps 35mph or under in a 30mph limit, or a similar proportion for higher speed limit areas.”
In 2008, 5,797 people completed Staffordshire County Council’s National Speed Awareness Course, while in 2009 the figure jumped to 14,091 after changes were made to it.
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Throughout the 1980s casualty figures on Britain’s roads were decreasing year on year. However, from the late 1990s onwards this downward trend ceased – despite cars becoming ever safer still with the fitting of air-bags and anti-lock brakes as standard. How curious that this halt in the reduction of road casualties occurred at just the moment when police highway patrols were being cut back and reliance was placed instead upon speed cameras to enforce road safety.
Therefore, perhaps it is the Government that needs to attend some ‘remedial classes’ and be lectured about how, once even its own statistics are properly analysed, speed is the determining factor in very few road accidents (and even where it is, it is usually inappropriate speed for the prevailing traffic conditions, not exceeding the speed limit per se, that is responsible).
As for the major causes of road accidents – poor or inconsiderate driving, mistakes committed by inexperienced drivers, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or uninsuranced or unlicensed drivers who just couldn’t give a toss anyway – they haven’t yet invented a camera that will prevent these kind of accidents-waiting-to-happen. Only the experienced eye of a police patrol officer can do that.
In addition, police officers have the discretion to determine whether the offence warrants arrest and prosecution or just a good ticking off. Cameras, alas, tar both minor and blatant offenders with exactly the same brush.
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This is a very good idea.There are similar schemes in France but to get the points lost back.
Another technique is to introduce contact or help to accident victims.
However both are useless when people have neither licence nor insurance,encouraged by high costs of learning and a high failure rate.This is a major problem in a lot of countries.
As for Staffordshire the A34 is reputed as being the road in the world with the highest density of radar speed traps (read in the French press). I think you can have a nervous breakdown just trying to spot them !
And there is an unfair advatage to people who can afford in-car warning gadgets of all varieties.
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These revenue raising cameras are not about safety but raising as much profit as is possible.
The best solution is to put a tyre over the speed camera and set it alight.
21st century policing is no longer about fighting crime but making as much money as possible from innocent citizens.
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Always love it when people call these camera’s revenue raisers. It’s not the cameras that raise revenue. Its the people who speed and get caught on the cameras that raise the revenue. No speeding.. No revenue simple.
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These cameras are another attack on our personal freedom, we are being controlled like laboratory rats in every aspect of our lives. Through neuro linguistic programming used by the media, the sheeple will beg the Government for even more taxes, fines and penalty charges.
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I went on one of the very first speed awareness courses in the country around 10yrs ago in Lancashire for doing 33mph in a 30 limit. The course then was £95 and involved a full day from 9am until 5pm.
At least it saved having the points on my clean licence so I was happy to do it.
Unfortunately the drivers who may need the course the most are not offered it as was only offered to people who had been caught doing 35mph or less in a 30 limit.
I believe that drivers who are exceeding the limit above the threshhold should also be forced to take the course in additional to their fine and 3 points.
The coures are well worth going on, and also help one to be more patient too. Instills in you the importance of leaving plenty of room between vehicles. Definately worth while!.
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When we have an election, notices appear on every lamp-post tree, pole, on every street, yet the lottery that are our roads need ‘lessons’ so that we may know what speed we should be doing. It is isn’t a game. It’s serious. We should have the speed limit for every road displayed every other pole, etc., then there can be no excuse for exceeding it.
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Ray & Terry, excellent input and saved me a lot of typing, couldn’t have summed it up better myself.
One other point I would like to make is the with regard to anti lock brakes on modern cars, personally I think they are dangerous, I have had several instances where had I been driving my old cars with the old braking system I could have applied the little extra pressure needed to bring the car to a standstill, with anti lock brakes, you just have to sit there hoping the vehicle will stop.
An instance was when I was travelling over a level crossing, I could see the traffic stopped about 60 foot in front of me, I applied the brakes to stop the other side of the crossing and the anti lock system wouldn’t let me apply enough pressure to stop the car, because of the unevenness of the crossing the braking system was seeing it that I was skidding, thankfully I only slightly damaged the vehicle I hit but caused considerable damage to the mostly plastic front of my vehicle, I estimate my speed at the time was less than a walking speed.
Jim of Bearwood
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Can’t say I will defend all speed camera locations. but I have to say the one on my main road has stopped any more major accidents happening. In 15 years we have had 10 major accidents due to speeding . We lost a lamp post, had a car embbed itself into a pub doorway and had a lampost take down the roof of a neigbours house. We also had two cars fighting for position which resulted in the decapitation of one of the drivers. Those are just a few incidents. The speed camera has helped stop this kind of thing from happeneing so far!
As I have stated in my other comment If you don’t speed there’s no revenue to be had from these cameras. Even if you beleive that revenue is their sole purpose!!
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another money making scheme on the back of motorists. How come many of these cameras are just a few yards inside a speed limit reduction.see stoke on trent/staffordshire for examples of this.
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Perhaps the bottom line is that modern vehicles offer too much insulation from the outside world. We have Abs, climate control, traction control, sound proofing … etc…etc, it seems to me that too many drivers are putting too much faith in electronic systems coming as factory fitted and are losing the ability to think for themselves and drive according to the conditions. We have all driven above the recommended speed limits on many roads many times …. but how often (or how likely) would you be willing to drive the same way with only your expertise to keep the car under control. Yes I have broken speed limits, but after driving older vehicles with no electronic driver assistance for many years I think people are foolish to rely on these systems as heavily as they do.
The speed cameras are there only to catch the blatantly stupid among us….. and I wish them well. If you cant see a speed camera from 100 yards ahead perhaps its time you stopped driving, or took an eye test.
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we got speed cameras and they give us the fine system, in a way if those who have been caught are actually paying to get away with speeding. i am of the opinion that if i were caught speeding i’d take the penalty rather than pay the bribe to the legal system to get away with something. i also believe that if we get caught speeding i think we should have our licences taken off us and made to take our test again.
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