lower

I attended a speed awareness course on Friday afternoon last week. I've had a clean licence for the last 10 years + but then got caught 3 times in 4 months, all by camera vans. All were relatively minor speeding offences, 35 in a 30 leaving a village, 82 on a motorway (wales) and 37 in a 30, again leaving a village (a different one!).

So, with the prospect of going from zero points to 9 points in one go, i chose to do a speed awareness course to limit the points on my licence to 6.

Having decided to do the course, i then resigned myself to 4 hours of lecturing on how speed kills etc and went with the intention of keeping my mouth well and truly shut, not arguing, and just doing what was necessary to complete the course.

I have to say i was pleasantly surprised by the content of the course. The trainers were pleasant and didn't lecture. They made the course interactive and had to deal with some pretty difficult characters who's demeanour made it very clear they weren't happy to be there and didn't want to participate. The trainers were both advanced driving instructors and were pretty pragmatic about speeding. They accepted that most of the time speeding wasn't actually dangerous, but it was the few occasions that something else went wrong that caused speed to make the situation worse.

Most of the course was based around general road awareness, making sure you knew what the speed limits actually were, some education about braking distances and speeds and discussion of strategies for avoiding speeding by avoiding speed creep.

There was a small amount of obvious effort to make us consider speeding to be as socially unacceptable as drink driving. But it wasn't rammed home and reasonably subtle. The most blatant was that at the start of the course we were asked 'reasons' for speeding. After about 2 hours they tried to manipulate us into thinking what we had originally described as reasons were actually 'excuses'.

I can think of much better ways to spend 4 hours of my life, but overall i found the course educational and quite enjoyable.

There were a couple of key things they told us that stick in my mind. Firstly, if you are in an accident or need urgent emergency assistance, call 112 not 999. Apparently 112 takes you through to a regional call centre rather than a national one and it has the ability to locate you automtically if calling from a mobile rather than you having to tell them where you are.

Secondly, they showed some figures showing the speed a car would be still be travelling at compared to the point the car would be stationary if braking from 30mph. A car loses most of its speed in the final part of the braking process so if you were stopping from 40 mph your car would still be travelling at around 25mph at the point at which you would have stopped if braking from 30mph. I might have the actual figures wrong, but although i knew that the stopping distance was greater at higher speeds i hadn't thought about the relative impact speeds when braking from a slightly higher speed.

Did the course change my perspective on speeding?

The answer to that would be yes. It has changed my perspective a bit.

Will it change my behaviour?

Probably.

Its not going to change me making a concious choice to speed when i think its safe to do so and the risk of getting caught is minimal. But I'll probably do that less anyway because i'm going to be on 6 points. At least for the next few months

However, certainly in the short term its making me pay more attention to what the speed limit actually is in the area i'm in and i'm paying more attention to ensuring that i abide by the limit and don't let my speed drift.

If you get offered the choice between the points and a speed awareness course i'd suggest that many people will actually find it worthwhile.

Ultra_Nexus

And yet the drivers who run cyclists over actually causing injury...they don't get any points and no attention awareness course.

I had a guy last week tell me that if he has his indicator on it is his right of way to turn through a cycle lane.

Of course the problem is that it's easy to catch speeders rather than do anything else. And I blame the Government not the Police.

unclefester

You can be right and dead or you can be alive and shouting from a safe distance. It's very rare for a car to drive past you and then turn right on top of you, it's very common for everyone to assume they have right of way and then carry on regardless. If he has his indicator on, it's as much your responsibility to see it and react to it as it his to notify other road users ( you included) of his intention to turn.

That's why cyclists are dying in the capital .... don't even get me started on the idiots who wear headphones whilst riding. Did you see the organ donor on that london video 'filtering' through between a cab and a london bus ... how he didn't wind up a fancy food stain on the road is beyond me.

I adopt the same principle in the tiny Fiat as i do on the Motorbike - sure I get cut up from time to time but 95% of the time, i'm intact and cursing them from a safe position.

If you run a cyclist over and you're on film / witnessed you're likely to be done for dangerous driving / driving without due care / death by dangerous driving - have you considered the percentage of these cyclists who get run over because they exercise sod all road sense?

Ultra_Nexus

You can be right and dead or you can be alive and shouting from a safe distance. It's very rare for a car to drive past you and then turn right on top of you, it's very common for everyone to assume they have right of way and then carry on regardless. If he has his indicator on, it's as much your responsibility to see it and react to it as it his to notify other road users ( you included) of his intention to turn.

That's why cyclists are dying in the capital .... don't even get me started on the idiots who wear headphones whilst riding. Did you see the organ donor on that london video 'filtering' through between a cab and a london bus ... how he didn't wind up a fancy food stain on the road is beyond me.

I adopt the same principle in the tiny Fiat as i do on the Motorbike - sure I get cut up from time to time but 95% of the time, i'm intact and cursing them from a safe position.

If you run a cyclist over and you're on film / witnessed you're likely to be done for dangerous driving / driving without due care / death by dangerous driving - have you considered the percentage of these cyclists who get run over because they exercise sod all road sense?
[/quote]
You haven't ridden in traffic have you. Earphones - I wear earphones because when you are riding at 20mph+ you only really get wind noise and the cold air into your ear canal gives you a nasty headache. On the same principle then, Car drivers must drive around with no radio on and their windows down and motorcyclists shouldn't be allowed to wear earplugs

And yes, there is being right and being dead. However, in a row of traffic with vehicle slightly offset, seeing indicators is kind of difficult unless I do about 3mph which means then I should not even bother with my bike and walk. I assume if you are pulling into your driveway, across the pavement, you'd indicate and then run over pedestrians, who have the right of way, because you can't be ar5ed looking? Meh, he was wearing earphones and you were indicating so it was his fault naturally. Next time you go through a green light, do you check either direction before going through or do you just assume that because green means go the other road users have seen the red light and stopped?

In a cycle lane the cyclist has the right of way. Any car/bus/lorry driver who wishes to enter the cycle lane at any time should be looking for cyclist because, shock, bicycles travel in the cycle lane, just like people live in houses and pedestrians walk on pavements.

I mean how hard is it to think 'Hmm, I'm turning left I'd better check my left wing mirror'?

Yes I know moving your eyes is a burden when you've just got up and are stuck in traffic, but it is the sensible thing to do save killing someone eh?

BTW, I also agree about there being a HUGE number a d1ckhead cyclists. Rest assured, I shout at them too. A cyclist without lights on at night should be given an on the spot fine of £100 or have their bike taken off them.

Which kind of leads me full circle - why aren't we offering courses for motorists and cyclists (Who are nearly always motorists too) so they don't get killed instead of offering hypothesising about a 5mph speed discrepancy on an empty motorway at 5am?

unclefester

The problem is, when you rant at 'drivers' it doesn't sound like there is any education of the other road users required.

Each time i see one of these news reports of yet another cyclist killed by a lorry, crushed as it turned a corner ... my thoughts are equally with the poor driver - who has to deal with the trauma of having killed someone, probably someone they never saw but you can bet your life the person they killed saw the lorry. I fail to understand how these idiots can't work out where the danger point is! Just because you're on some 'green Boris bike' and travelling on a designated bike lane doesn't mean that a 40 ton lorry is any less likely to crush you.

Cambridge is FULL of bikes, other than the pissed up poshies falling off into gutters, you don't hear it happening there. As for headphones, lets be honest here, there's a huge difference between wearing hearing protectors and playing Voodoo people at 117.26dB on your morning thrash through the traffic.

Much the same as people on motorbikes who filter 'safely' at 40+ between lanes of traffic.

If you're on a flimsy metal pushbike, your life is in your hands and your direction is under your control. How many times do you have to get knocked off before you admit to yourself it's not bad luck but poor positioning / awareness and a desire to be right that is causing the problem.

I can only assume the increased level of career thrusting dipsticks in the capital of our country is what skews the statistics, the kind of vehicle they operate has no relevance other than the more flimsy it is, the more chance they have of being killed.

Polemicist

Cyclists in groups are a major PITA in the rural area in which I live. Generally riding 2 or 4-abreast (incredibly I followed some riding 6 -abreast once) and often displaying little or no road-sense, with little consideration for other road users.

Many cyclists appear to believe that The Highway Code doesn't apply to them...

Paper Lawyer

Weekend cycling clubs are the worst - belligerent in large numbers. Trying to overtake on a country lane when they are 3 abreast winds me up (and I ride 90 miles a week!) From the Highway Code (and I must admit this is the first time I looked up the point):

66
You should

keep both hands on the handlebars except when signalling or changing gear
keep both feet on the pedals
never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends
not ride close behind another vehicle
not carry anything which will affect your balance or may get tangled up with your wheels or chain
be considerate of other road users, particularly blind and partially sighted pedestrians. Let them know you are there when necessary, for example, by ringing your bell if you have one. It is recommended that a bell be fitted.

unclefester

I think this is the general point ( and I do agree with Ron here) everyone needs to be educated about how to share the roads in a safe manner. The current system where everyone is fighting for the right to their perceived bit of it is only going to lead to more of the vulnerable being killed.

Some suggestions.

Compulsory cycling proficiency tests should be brought in and fines / endorsements for cycling offences able to be stamped onto your car license if you have one.
Compulsory bike helmets for ALL cyclists using public roads.
Remove the grandfather rights from ALL car and bike licenses. If you want to drive a 3.5T / 7.5T vehicle then you need to pass a relevant test.
If you want to get back onto a motorbike after X years and you haven't passed the current test(s) then you must resit that test on the class of bike you wish to own before you can ride it on the public road. No more 45+ year old folk passing on a 125CC 2- years ago then climbing aboard a Hayabusa.
Fit all lorries with proximity alert systems - it's not that difficult!
Ban full size HGV from busy city centres at rush hour, say between 7am and 10am and 4pm and 7pm.
Any foreign LHD HGV that wishes to operatre in a RHD country ( and vice versa for us) needs fitting with an offside proximity alert system.
Put some money back into the police force and get some officers back on the roads and on the beat - they're rarer than hens teeth at the moment.

BenRNBP

This has been debated by the Transport Selct Committee recently and they seem to have been panned by the road cycling community for suggesting similar things http://road.cc/content/news/100104-c...facts%E2%80%9D

EVERY day I car-commute I'm on a national speed limit straight road between two vallages. There is a completely separate, wide and smooth cycle lane with a kerb and grass separator that most cyclists choose not to use - the mind truly boggles at why they prefer to do this. Cycle lanes should be complusory to use where they are provided.

Penelope Ptistop

I came across a cyclist on the A14 yesterday, majority of people were doing 80mph+ past him (I understand he can legally cycle there, but why would you?). Best thing was, there was an empty path next to the road... I know which route I would have took.

Whist sat on the A1 for a very long time today (as the A14 was closed), I came across a lorry which had no less than 10 signs on it's left side, telling cyclists not to undertake! I can certainly understand the drivers fear and no one could say that they didn't realise...

I work in Cambridge, we have allot of cyclists who have a death wish. There might be less incidents than London, but I think there must be more luck than judgement involved! They are regularly weaving in-between the traffic, they go through red lights and then when they can't get any further they use pedestrian crossings!