The Great Speed Awareness Course Scam

30 years ago while living in Germany I was pulled over by the German Police on 2 occasions for speeding in excess of the limit on the Restricted part of the Autobahn. I was offered the choice of DM300 (£100 at the time) fine and a receipt. Additional paperwork would also follow, or DM100 without a receipt. No points but it was an obvious Scam.

I was speeding and I paid for being caught. From that point I decided that if I was going to speed in German I would make sure that I did it on an unrestricted part of the Autobahn.

Back in the UK in the past I have driven many times far in excess of the Motorway speed limit but if I do I keep my eyes peeled forward and behind. Make sure I am very observant at motorway junctions and if caught pay the fine and accept the points.

I have also attended the said SAC on 2 occasions. Missed a 3rd chance by 3 weeks.

Ganga wrote: »

What about the risk to others,i am sure the children or ol people crossing the road will forgive you:eek:

I don't speed through crossings and if you had read my post, I actually said some places need reducing. For example, I know of a street near where I used to live which leads to a school. The road to the school is 20, but the street it comes off is actually a 40 and kids often walk down that road to get to the street that leads to their school. Hence you've got kids running in the road and crossing it and cars going past at 45.... even 50 (because everyone except you speeds).

Ultimately, I do 70 on long single carriageway roads in the middle of nowhere that can safely accommodate vehicles doing 80, that are still technically 60 because NSL.... not town centres mate.

Ganga wrote: »

What about the risk to others,i am sure the children or ol people crossing the road will forgive you:eek:

I'm with Stoke on this one. I've only had the pleasure of going on a course once. It was on a dual carriageway, about 8.30 on a lovely sunny Saturday morning that I was caught. Along the mile or so stretch of road there are a couple of turnings (roads leading off), and a few houses, all set well back. The kind of road that would generally have at least a 40, maybe 50mph limit. But this road has a school entrance on it, so is lumbered with a 30mph limit.
I'm quite willing to admit I was breaking the law, and there's no point going on about the 'cash cow' since I'm sure it's been done to death, but I'd refute any accusation of dangerous driving, or increased risk to others. In the unlikely event of a pedestrian suddenly appearing, or an already visible pedestrian suddenly altering course to cross the road, I'd have plenty of time and distance to stop if necessary.

I miss the days when we were allowed to think and use our own judgement. The trouble these days is the more we are told what to do, the less many people seem to use their own judgement, so we end up having more rules thrown at us, so we think even less... It's only going to get worse.

I do sometimes wonder what the police themselves make of it. I remember talking to an officer once. It was over 20 years ago, and I don't remember why I was talking to the police (I'd had a few encounters with them and didn't think much of them as I recall), but I do remember him saying he was more concerned with dangerous driving, and less so the speeding. If, in his opinion, you were driving safely at 45mph, even though it was a 30mph limit, he wouldn't even stop you. Among the drivers he disliked most were the ones who had been driving at a little over the limit, and as soon as they saw him in the rear view, dropped to about 25mph.

Ganga wrote: »

No not everyone speeds,i keep within the speed limit and passed my test in 1967 and have never had any points on my licence and before you say i do not do the mileage i was employed as a mobile engineer so WHITE VAN MAN albeit with a tool box:rotfl:but did thousands of miles every week.I do agree with you that speed limits want dropping outside schools etc.

You mean you've never been caught?

As someone once said to me "speeding is like masturbation, 90% of people do it, the other 10% are lying".

And yes lower speed limits outside some schools but why 24/7? A couple of hours in the morning and a couple in the afternoon for 190 days a year is all that is needed.

Johno100 wrote: »

No, not really. Those caught pay to attend the course out of their pockets, a proportion of that goes to the course operators and any surplus goes to the Safety Camera Partnership to pay for the cameras and the vans to keep the circle going.

So I'm not sure where you are getting "tax money being piled into a private enterprise" from? Unless you are suggesting the course organisers are charging more than the fee paid by the participants to attend and the balance is being made up by public funds?

While figures are somewhat hard to come by, this answer from West Mercia Police to a FOI request would indicate that of an £88 fee the course operator receives £49, so just over half, to run the course.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/speed_awareness_course_7

The vans and the cameras are produced, maintained and often operated by private companies.

The £49 per person, per course, to the course operator is still money that could have gone to the police force or the exchequer. I'm sure if you look into the course operators it will be rife with cronyism, like private security.