Speed

So there I stood…with the convicted….well sort of……..About forty of us stood in a queue giving our licenses in to check us off the list to make sure who we were …yes I was on a speed awareness course.

Around me I could see that most were older than me….I was scanning the conversations and I could hear

"Well it's not really speeding is it 34 in a 30?"
"wonder how much money they are making out of this?"
"Waste of my time"



I wanted to shout out loud ……."we were speeding!....deal with it….we are here cos we don't want points on the license !!!!!!!!!!!"

Quite a few of the group were a bit subdued doing the walk of shame into the building ..a bit like being voted off the weekest link ….all that was needed was a plaque around the neck saying …."I am a sinner" or "Speeder" Then there was the fat jovial bloke……who anounced that there was no need for them to look at his license as he had been here before….(which technically can't happen within three years ) He was so proud that he was there …hey why not go the whole hog and gett a conviction for drink driving as well ….. There was of course the obligatory big head……won't change him this course……he had been driving for 100 years and never got a ticket…..he was a good driver and was just unlucky……..hmmm but you were speeding big head! The stereotypical rich lady from the country she was there too.She never ever speeds but got caught out as the speed limit suddenly changed from 50 to 30 mph….don't you just hate it it when it does that…boof as if by magic!……….maybe she should try looking further than her bonnet!!!!!!!! Lift your vision me lady!!!!!!…...

The crux of it all is everyone does go a little or a bit over the speed limit at times……inadvertantly or not. I have had further driving training (I didn't admit to this on the course and my anonymity was intact for it) and I reckon (in fact I know)I can drive safely at speeds better than your average bear but you there is no excuse….even if as was my case a smidgin over 30, we were all guilty of speeding…..

So has it changed my driving? ……well the video footages of the difference in stopping time between 35 mph and 30 mph and what it did to the cardboard cut out of a kid in the road which the Class one all singing all dancing traffic Police driver was running over does play on your mind somewhat. I tell you what …...I will try and avoid those cut out people when they stand in the road in future…..!!!!!!

What did surprise me is the complete lack of knowledge of speed limits and hazards that the general P have…………We had these little "ask the audience" buttons where we voted for the right answer and only 40 percent of the class got the answer right for the national speed limit on a dual carriageway!!!!!! and single carriageway wasn't much better.

So what did I learn from my experience at speed awareness scheme…? That the older generation are far better at kidding themselves they are good driver than the younger generation. That there are some really crap drivers on the road. That the coffee machine churned out some great hot chocolate …….and of course…..watch my speed…..

Come Monday I am back out in the field……a change from office work I've been doing for the last two and a half years and I am looking forward to it…..A whole new set of colleagues to blog about and a new town to write about…..Ruislip. Weird old place really you would think it would be pronounced Roo slip wouldn't you….. No….. it's rice lip..for those not in the know…..Full of the posher people in Hillingdon no less.

So one bids you farewell so does one.