“There appeared to be genuine shock among the students that such carnage could be caused at such a ‘low’ speed”

For many “hardcore” speeders the thrills of speeding outweigh the risks, so why did 13 individuals elect to attend a speed awareness course after being caught breaking speed limits in the Thames Valley Police area by between 20 and 29mph? Given that there are 330 fixed speed cameras in the Thames Valley area – covering Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire – and only 22 of them are actually working at any one time, most of the delegates I spoke to considered themselves unlucky to be caught. Of the 13 speeders attending the Speed Awareness Scheme course run by risk management company DriveTech (UK) on behalf of Thames Valley Police, 10 were men, including a retired class one police driver.

Most of them, on questioning during a two-hour classroom discussion, designed to change attitudes and behaviour towards speeding, said they had been breaking the speed limit because they were either in a hurry and they perceived it “safe” to do so. A number also blamed their car for being so quick! DriveTech (UK) runs two separate speed awareness courses for motorists caught speeding by Thames Valley Police (see box) and I sat in on the five-hour high-speed course, dubbed the “hardcore” programme and aimed at “excessive” speeders. The course has three components, kicking-off with a 45-minute individual driver risk assessment developed by Dr Frank McKenna, who runs his own “perception and performance” company and is a professor of psychology at Reading University.

The interactive computer-based assessment analyses all aspects of driving. It asks questions about delegates’ attitude to driving and covers issues around hazard awareness, reaction times, fatigue, observation and speed, utilising a mix of multiple choice questions and video clips. A personal report compiled from the answers given benchmarks each individual against other drivers who have attended the course – more than 1,600 people have been through the high-speed course and more than 37,000 through the low-speed course since they were launched in August 2003 – and also provides tips on how they can improve their driving.

On completion of the interactive questionnaire the classroom discussion around speed began. It fast became apparent that for the majority of those on the course, the reason they were attending had little to do with reducing their speed in the future. The reason for giving up a day’s work was purely economic. In return for attending the £91 course, delegates received a £60 fine and three penalty points on their licence. The alternative was to go to court and face a fine of up to £1,000 and a possible driving ban or six points on their licence.

Discussion around UK road traffic accident figures – almost 300,000 casualties, 40,000 life changing injuries suffered and more than 3,000 deaths – were clearly thought-provoking to some, while the highlighting of speed limits on different road categories – urban, single carriageways, dual carriageways and motorways – and how they were displayed on roads to advise road users showed up general ignorance among the students.

DriveTech (UK) tutor John Venning in the classroom with speeding motorists who have opted for education and a reduced punishment

“The reason they were speeding was nothing to do with them and everythiing to do with the environment, the vehicle and their circumstances”

Students were shown a video clip of a car performing an emergency stop at 30mph, 32mph, 35mph and 40mph. At 30mph the vehicle stopped a couple of yards before hitting a cardboard cut-out. At the other three speed limits it ploughed into the “person’. There appeared to be genuine shock among the students that such carnage could be caused at such a “low” speed. Was DriveTech tutor JohnVenning finally winning the debate that speed limits, far from being “irrational and illogical”, were law? Most of the students I spoke to admitted they shouldn’t have been speeding but, it seemed to me, many were unaware that they were. Instead, it seemed that the reason they were speeding was nothing to do with them and everything to do with the environment, the vehicle and the circumstances in which they found themselves.

Would the final part of the course – a two-hour on-road session in a Volkswagen Passat with three delegates to a car accompanied by a driver trainer – convince them otherwise? I accompanied DriveTech (UK) trainer Ben Graham and delegates Tony Mansfield, a Porsche 911 driver with 11 years’ driving experience from Caversham, who had been caught travelling at 55mph in a 30mph zone in Reading, and Stewart Nell, the driver of a BMW 318 compact with eight years’ driving experience who had been clocked at 51mph in a 30mph limit in High Wycombe.

After checking their eyesight with the obligatory number plate read, Mr Graham set off in the Passat 1.9 TDI encouraging the two delegates to observe speed limits, to look for speed limit clues if signs appeared to be non-existent, where to position the car on the road to maximise visibility both for their own benefit and other road users and how to spot potential hazards. Mr Mansfield and Mr Nell then each had a 40-minute stint at the wheel. Mr Mansfield appeared to think he was on his driving test and I found it difficult to believe that he was a “hardcore” speeder who had also admitted that it was the second time he had been caught. He was steadiness personified. Mr Nell, meanwhile, almost forgot that he was being “watched”. His stop-start acceleration and braking did not go unnoticed by Mr Graham, who encouraged him to embrace a smoother style.

At the end of the course, did Mr Nell think his speeding days were behind him? “I want to learn to be a better driver,” he said. “The on-road driving was excellent and it has taught me a lot. I will be more aware of road signs and speed limits and what to look out for. I think I have picked up tips to make me a safer driver.” Mr Mansfield was enthusiastic about the on-road element of the course: “The drive was very informative and 10 times more productive for me than the classroom session,” he said. But will he slow down? “I take care near schools and in built-up areas. But when roads are quiet I am comfortable at the speed I drive. I drive at the speed which I think is safe at the time.”

Ultimately, will course delegates stop speeding? I would like to think that they now realise that the risks far outweigh the rewards. However, in the cold light of day, I believe the majority of the delegates I met will continue to speed because their motivation for attending the course was to reduce the number of points on their licence and not to drive more safely.