lin46 wrote: Offenders should just stop moaning and realise that speeding is an offence in law, and being caught is a direct result of breaking the law. The 20 MPH is there for a reason. Apart from anything else the noise of speeding vehicles bumping over the useless speed pads is sometimes horrendous. I wish more was being to done to enforce the legal limit on this road. The length of time one has driven before being caught speeding is totally irrelevant as for all the court knows it could be fifty years of speeding. Where is the evidence to the contrary? Wake up, stop making excuses and obey the law. IT IS NOT THAT DIFFICULT.
As the instigator of this thread I assume your comments here are directed at me. First of all I must say that I volunteered this information and was not forced to post my transgression of the highway code. The importance of maintaining the anonymity of people who are offered the course and subsequently take it up is re-enforced during the induction phase at the start of the course so by posting this I have nothing to hide. I don't need to wake up and am not making excuses or moaning about my treatment under the law if you would care to read my posts properly.
I offered the information as an observation of the processes involved and my surprise at the size of the problem. The sheer number of people being processed through these courses is staggering and it really goes to show that minor transgression of speed limits is an endemic problem within the driving population in general.
For the record, I completed my course on the 6th June and found it to be very informative and well worth attending. After nearly 45 years driving and riding I am not too proud to admit that there are things I had forgotten since I took my original tests.
I would go as far as to say that it would not be a bad idea for all drivers to go on such a course. I would go even further and say that I would also support mandatory re-assessment of all driving licence holders every 5 years or so although this could not realistically be done under our present training and licensing regime. The ROSPA trainers that delivered the course have to re-certify every 3 years or they lose their credential for teaching. Many of the holders of groups for heavier vehicles also have to be re- tested on a regular basis.
Speed awareness courses are only offered to those who have driven slightly over the various limits, again this is not an excuse but a fact. It remains to be seen whether the large fines and jail sentences recently made available to the courts will be used more frequently to prosecute to the full extent of the law those who are outside the scope of the retraining option.
