driver awareness course dilemma

chrisw99

Hi all,
A bit gutted - after 30 years of clean driving, I find myself with not one but two minor speeding offences within a week.

Both over Easter, one a business trip to S Yorkshire, one a family holiday to Dorset, both unfamiliar territory.

I'm eligible for a driver awareness course instead of 3 pts, on both of them. A friend of mine said you can only do one every few years, but due to the timing of it, obviously neither knows about the other as I haven't taken any yet

Also, nowhere on any of the paperwork does it state you can't do more than one, just "you are eligible to take..." for both of them. So on the face of it, on the official paperwork, I am currently eligible for them both as I wouldn't know otherwise if I hadn't found out.

Do I just play dumb and go along with it, on the off chance I could get off both of them.

The problem is that the Dorset one says "currently unable to offer the course outside Dorset", so that would be a 600 mile round trip to do it, with the potential to get there and be turned away because they found out about the other.

Tempted to just take the Dorset one on the chin, and do the course for the other.

a.turner

You're only allowed to do one course and the information is shared. Play dumb and you may end up with more than the three points that you're due.

AdrianC

No-brainer. Take the points for the Dorset one, do the other course.

The course will remind you of why "unfamiliar territory" is a lousy excuse, because you ALWAYS have all the information you need available, every few seconds.

Johno100

Not sure whether it has changed, but I recall Dorset weren't at one time part of the national scheme and given the line in the OP that their course isn't available outside the county then that may still be the case.

TadleyBaggie

I've not seen anything to suggest Dorset has joined the the national scheme, so it's possible that two courses could be done, however the downside is they only allow courses locally.

chrisw99

AdrianC wrote: »

No-brainer. Take the points for the Dorset one, do the other course.

The course will remind you of why "unfamiliar territory" is a lousy excuse, because you ALWAYS have all the information you need available, every few seconds.

Yeah I know, I was actually expecting the Dorset one... A35 coming into Winterborne Abbas, dropped to 30 as you enter the village. Had an idiotic transit van driver up my !!!! that had been harrassing me for a couple of miles, I was scared to break suddenly as he'd go right into the back of me so dropped to 30 as quick as I could, but a mobile speed trap clocked me at 36 almost immediately after the sign. Annoying as I was trying to get to the limit as quickly and safely as possible.

chrisw99

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

I've not seen anything to suggest Dorset has joined the the national scheme, so it's possible that two courses could be done, however the downside is they only allow courses locally.

Interesting.

This is the details...

https://www.dorset.police.uk/media/1423/driver-awareness-scheme-faqs.pdf

Keep_pedalling

Going by the T&Cs offered by Dorset Police you could get away with doing both, they state that you can only do the course if you have not done a previous one in Dorset.

https://payments.dorset.police.uk/driver-awareness-scheme/driver-awareness-scheme-das-terms-and-conditions/

chrisw99

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Going by the T&Cs offered by Dorset Police you could get away with doing both, they state that you can only do the course if you have not done a previous one in Dorset.

https://payments.dorset.police.uk/driver-awareness-scheme/driver-awareness-scheme-das-terms-and-conditions/

Thanks.

So it's still a dilemma. keep my license clean but pay a £110 course fee + 600 miles petrol + probable nights stay in a hotel and day off work , or £100 fine and 3pts.

Herzlos

Can you justify another family holiday?


It's a long drive (12+ hours round trip?) to save £110 + potentially a negligible insurance premium hike.
At the HRMC rate of 45p/mile for running a car, it'll cost you £270 just for the drive.

chrisw99

Herzlos wrote: »

Can you justify another family holiday?


It's a long drive (12+ hours round trip?) to save £110 + potentially a negligible insurance premium hike.
At the HRMC rate of 45p/mile for running a car, it'll cost you £270 just for the drive.

I wouldn't be saving any money, the course fee alone costs more than the fine even if I lived next door. The only thing I'd be saving is the 3pts on the licence.

But, if I take the 3pts, as I've now seen how easy it can be to pick up two offences in a week when I consider myself a careful driver, could have another week like that and end up on 9pts so my gut feeling is, if it really is true you can do the Dorset course along with another, I should be trying to avoid the 3pts at all costs.