Speeding
Speeding is one of if not the most common motoring offence in the UK. In the past 20 years, as more and more speed cameras, mobile vans and SPECS constant speed cameras have appeared on our roads, the amount of motorists facing prosecution has soared.
In 2013 over 1 million drivers attended speed awareness and driver improvement courses in lieu of 3 points on their licences. This is not only a staggering number of minor speeding offences, but a huge revenue generator for the course organisers, local police and the Government. This figure has increased in 2014 and 2015 and is set to continue to do so.
If you have attended a course in the previous 3 years then you won’t be eligible to attend another, meaning points on your licence unless you can successfully defend the allegation.
Specialist motoring lawyers including leading firms such as Patterson Law are seeing huge increases in enquiries by a growing number of irate motorists, caught for inadvertently drifting a few miles an hour over the limit.
It seems unlikely that there will be any decrease in the volume of motorists being caught as more and more constant speed cameras are installed on Britians roads.
Speed is of course a hazard on the road for other road users, and it’s important to keep a check in place to limit the speeds of drivers, especially in built up areas.
However, the punishment for what are very minor excesses over the limit are in many ways excessive. The Government, agrees to forgo points on your licence if you attend a speed awareness course (which costs the same or more than the speeding fine would).
Whether attending a course and being patronised for a few hours about the error of your ways and how much damage you were lucky not to inflict on your fellow road users through your gross negligence, selfishness and stupidity is of any benefit is an argument for another day.
Does attending a course affect the way you drive in future? Does it make you any safer or slower? I suspect not for the majority of motorists.