SPEEDING, fine vs awareness course?

LandyAndy

Lucy_Lastic wrote: »

I too am an offender! If offered I would rather do the course and avoid the points. The course costs £60 in Wiltshire.

I sent off the reply to the original "notice of prosecution" letter, well over a month ago and am waiting to be offered the speed awareness course (or not) depending on whether I meet the criteria (or not). It seems to be taking a long time to get a reply, but maybe that's Wiltshire.

I was doing 38 in a 30 mph limit.

Do you mind me asking what speed you were doing and how long did they take to reply to you?

I was doing 36 in a 30 in Wilts but there were people on my course who had been doing 38. Are wilts still offering this? I thought they were one of the first to disband the safety partnership after the Tory cuts in funding.

keystone

Paradigm wrote: »

Nice result :j

Mmmm but if I hadn't driven all the way up to bloody Banbury with my "guilty but with mitigating circumstances" defence already prepared we wouldn't actually have found out that they'd screwed it up and I'd have got points and a fine in my absence on the nod. The beak was very nice about it all.

Cheers

HO87

The ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) determining criterion, in terms of speed, for the offer of a Speed Awareness Course is posted limit + 6mph + 10%. Therefore in a 30mph limit the cut-off falls at 39mph. Both Wiltshire and Dorset operate to the ACPO criteria but neither disclose whether courses are offered at anything other than the 30mph limit. Other forces certainly do.

Wiltshire & Swindon Safety Camera Partnership is indeed closing in October and it seems that there will then just be police cover for speeders.

@Lucy Lastic - if you were caught on the A303 at Mere it will almost certainly be Wiltshire. They have (or perhaps had) two favourite points. One from which they could cover both carriageways - an overbridge between the westbound Mere offslip at the start of the dual carriageway and the Stourhead junction - and one that covered just the eastbound carriageway - just east of the Stourhead junction which is just around a long, sweeping bend.

A chart showing which forces offer SA courses, their cost and details of course content is available here - you have to scroll some way down the page to view the chart. No courses are currently offered in Scotland.

Hope that helps.

chrisvaldez

Incidentally, the 'coppers' in the van are 99% of the time Camera Enforcement Officers who are Police Staff, not officers. But that's beside the point

Personally I'd suggest taking the course. Not only is it an alternative to conviction, but statistically the chances you'll commit an offence again are much lower, so it's a win/win situation.

Lucy_Lastic

HO87

I was not on the A303 I was actually in Mere, I know it is in Wiltshire, I live 5 miles away. As I mentioned, you can view the site of the speed camera/police van on line, so I've seen the layby.

Thanks for the chart, it's very interesting. I did not realise that there were courses of varying duration and that varying prices are charged. The price charged does not relate to the duration of the course though - Suffolk charge £105 for 2.5 hours, but Sussex charge the same for the whole day. I'm glad I got nicked in Wiltshire.

However, it's been 5 weeks now and I've heard nothing further. Do you think I should chase them up?

MONEYMAKINGMUM

Thanks for all your input.

I will take the course and avoid the points and conviction, and obviously be more sensible on roads I don't know that have no number zone signs or speed camera signs either.
(Just these intimidating 'Caught? No excuse' signs we saw as we travelled around Dorset which we wondered why would you put the idea of oppressing innocent people with a big brother attitude (and how did the council approve it!) Now we know!)

I live in Surrey so maybe that's why it's £100 for the SAC, more than most other counties it seems.

Lucy Lastic I would not chase them up at all, you might be lucky and be 'lost in the system'. Did you send the letter back with proof of post just in case they get stressy in a month or so?

I like the list of things you cannot use as an excuse with your notice, they must have heard them all sooo many times. (The van with speed camera was sneakily parked isn't a good excuse apparently lol)

Lucy_Lastic

I've just dug out the copy I made (luckily) of the form S172 I sent back. I returned it on 20 July but did not get proof of posting.

There is no phone number on it for enquiries, what a surprise.

I feel uneasy about leaving it so think I will try and find a phone number.

Lum

MONEYMAKINGMUM wrote: »

I will take the course and avoid the points and conviction, and obviously be more sensible on roads I don't know that have no number zone signs or speed camera signs either.

They will probably cover this on the course, but when there are no "repeaters" (the little signs you see every so often to remind you of the limit) then one of two defaults apply.

In a "built up area" that has street lights less than 100 yards apart the default limit is 30.

In any other type of area then the default limit is the "National Speed Limit" which is 60 for a single carriageway and 70 for a dual carriageway.

If they want to deviate from these limits for any reason (eg to make it a 30 limit in an unlit village) then repeaters must be used.

The definition of a "dual carriageway" is another common gotcha. Many people think it just means there are two lanes in each direction. This is not true it actually means that you are separated from the oncoming traffic by something more substantial than just a painted white line. This can be anything from a bit of grass through to a brick wall or a 50 foot drop.


Apologies if any of the above is teaching you to suck eggs.

Lucy_Lastic

I'm sure lots of other snippets of interesting speed related trivia will be coming my way - yes, I am to be offered the course. I rang and it turns out that my form was received and has gone to the "speed awareness team", which apparently means an offer will be forthcoming, but it always delays the reply.

That's put my mind at rest.

yogi_brrr

Hi all,

I have been driving for 18 mths and just yesterday received the above scarily worded letter. I was doing 35mph in a 30 mph zone. I was just curious, has anyone ever selected to go to court ? How did it pan out ?

Thanks