I go on a speed awareness course

I went on a speed awareness course. This is the second one I have been on.  The first was obviously more than 3 years ago and was a full day in a hotel in Hatfield.  In the afternoon we were taken out to be tested on our driving abilities.  We also got sandwiches and free tea and coffee.  I had to go on that one because I was speeding down a country road trying to get a teenage J2 to his football match on time.

Most recently I spent 4 hours in a hotel in Luton that charged £3.40 for a mediocre coffee in a paper cup.  Outrageous!  I would expect a cup, saucer and teaspoon plus a chocolate for that price!  I had to go on this one because I didn’t clock the 30 signs coming off M1 junction 10 in to the giant new gyratory system.

Bobby Charlton (real name) and Kevin had one of the saving graces of older men which is to be droll. This got us through the four hours with some humour.  There was no one under the age of 25.   It was roughly equal men/women and is not a class/age thing.

What did I learn? They spent a lot of time focusing on how tiny increases in speed can impact negatively on your stopping speed.  So for example

A vehicle travelling at 20mph (32km/h) would stop in time to avoid a child running out three car-lengths in front. The same vehicle travelling at 25mph (40km/h) would not be able to stop in time, and would hit the child at 18mph (29km/h). This is roughly the same impact as a child falling from an upstairs window. The diagram illustrates the impact at various speeds. The greater the impact speed, the greater the chance of death. A pedestrian hit at 30mph has a very significant one in five chance of being killed. This rises significantly to a one in three chance if they are hit at 35mph

http://www.brake.org.uk/rsw/15-facts-a-resources/facts/1255-speed

 

Most collisions take place in urban areas – the least on motorways.

They also spent some time getting us to look at photograph scenarios which would give us clues as to what our speed limit should be, so for example, if you are not on a motorway and see street lights, even if it is not a built up area, you should be going at 30mph.

They finished off reminding us all what we would have to lose if we did it again.

It was salutary and made me feel small and stupid so it was effective. With me it’s because I go on auto pilot when I am driving and lose concentration.