The document provides information about speed awareness courses as an alternative to points on a driver's license for speeding offenses. It discusses Gavin Ledwith's experience attending a four-hour speed awareness course after being caught speeding. The course used videos and simulations to demonstrate the dangers of speeding and helped participants better understand the Highway Code. It aims to improve safety through education rather than punishment. Research shows speed awareness courses have helped reduce road accident injuries in Hartlepool by 13% over the past few years.

1. 20 Hartlepool Mail, Wednesday, July 18, 2012 www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk
It’s difficult to adjust to changes on the home
front. Still, you should accommodate a relative
or romantic partner who is undergoing a difficult
time.
Vow to listen more than you speak. Nattering
on about inconsequential matters will make an
unfavourable impression. You’re better off exuding
the image of a deep thinker.
It will take some time before you receive
payment for a job you just finished. Part of the
problem is that the person who commissioned
this work is unhappy with key aspects of it.
You’ve become overly dependent on a loved one
or colleague. Take this opportunity to exercise
your freedom, whether it’s enjoying your
favourite hobby or taking a break by yourself.
You can be your own worst enemy. Stop
sabotaging your progress with self doubt and
irresponsible behaviour. If you’re in line for a
promotion, update your CV.
You’re being heaped with peer pressure, which
is really stressful. A service oriented person like
you hates letting down others, but you will have
to make an unpopular decision.
Pressure has been mounting at work, and you’ll
need to find an outlet. Delegating jobs to others
won’t be a possibility, as your organisation is
already short staffed.
Someone will try to convert you to their point
of view, which is really annoying. You try to be
respectful of others, and would like to be offered
the same courtesy.
Struggles over joint finances make this a
difficult time. As a general rule, you’re not very
concerned with material matters. This situation is
a little different.
You won’t get a lot of emotional support and
understanding from a partner. Right now, you’re
worried about your professional standing. These
fears are lost on your friend.
Launching a big cleaning project will sweep away
the mental cobwebs, too. You’ve never been a
perfect housekeeper, but you appreciate that it is
nice to sleep on clean sheets.
Even if you worked hard on a creative project,
you’re not getting favourable feedback. It’s really
difficult to hear such critical comments about
something that makes you proud.
Burning question about Love, Money, Career
or Life..? Why not talk live to one of Russell’s
hand picked team of Psychics & Mediums on
0906 661 0621* or Free Phone 0808 206 2031
to pay by Credit Card.
*0905 calls cost 75p per minute/0906 calls cost £1.50 per minute
from a BT Landline, other networks/mobile will vary. 18+ callers
only. All calls are recorded for your protection and safety. This
Entertainment service is regulated by PhonePayPlus and provided by
RGA Ltd, PO Box 322, WA15 8YL.
YESTERDAY’S Mail told how Hartlepool
will possibly become the first place
in the country to offer mini-speed
awareness courses for young drivers.
But what actually is a speed awareness
course?
GAVIN LEDWITH writes about his own
recent experience after he was caught
on camera.
THE irony was not lost on anyone
who has seen me run.
“What? You were caught speeding while
driving to a road race? I bet that was the fastest
you went all day.”
Cue even more mirth when they found
out that the 10k run in question started and
finished at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light
football ground.
“I wouldn’t worry about it. You are not the
first visitor to come away from the Stadium of
Light with three points this season.”
Or not, as the case turned out.
Not that the Stadium of Light proved a
fortress for the hosts during their 2011-12 home
campaign.
More that I did not eventually receive the
standard three points and £60 fine.
I suppose it is time to get serious and go back
to the beginning.
It was the morning of Sunday, May 6, and the
A184 road between the A19 Testos roundabout
and the Stadium of Light was predictably quiet.
With road blocks shutting many roads during
the race, the idea was to get parked early
outside the cordons to ensure a quick escape
once I had staggered back to the car.
Unfortunately my concentration wandered
as I approached East Boldon and I failed to
react quickly enough to a warning flash from a
helpful motorist heading towards me.
A second flash from the mobile camera van
parked on my left almost instantly confirmed
my suspicions.
Having somehow kept my licence clean for
almost 20 years, I admit I wasn’t up to date with
the likely penalties on offer and automatically
assumed that my insurance was going to get
hammered with three points.
Ten days later the inevitable letter arrived.
I had been caught driving at 35 miles per
hour in a 30 miles per hour zone – the minimum
speed to be penalised – and could either accept
the usual punishment, fight the case in court or
complete a £84 speed awareness course.
For me it was a no brainer.
Had I chosen the £60 fine and points then the
administration charge alone for amending my
insurance would immediately take me beyond
the £84 course fee.
And that’s before taking into account the
average £200 hike in premiums that three
points bring with them.
So earlier this month it was off to Sunderland
Enterprise Park to sit the four-hour course.
With the joining instructions including a
firm warning not to be late, the waiting room
was full long before the 8am start.
Full but quiet and anyone trying to lighten
the mood with some gallows humour received
only a muted response.
The assembled throng were a cross-section of
ages from their 20s up to pensioners.
Few looked as though they would cut it in a
Formula One car.
Most seemed privately to accept their guilt.
There was one, as you would expect, who
argued during the opening course exchanges
that they should not have been there.
Data protection issues prevent me from
mentioning why they said they were speeding
when they were caught.
Needless to say they felt the authorities coul
have made better use of their time than pickin
on taxpayers like themselves.
I could see to a degree where they were
coming from.
Hardly a week goes by without the Hartlepoo
Mail reporting on some jobless addict or other
who walks out of court without parting with a
penny.
But any lingering sense of unfairness soon
disappeared as the course progressed.
A video graphically outlined the impact a ca
has on a cut-out of a pedestrian while driving a
different speeds.
It did not take too much imagination to
substitute the cut-out for the real thing.
A series of quizzes – there is no exam but
plenty of “audience participation” – also
emphatically outlined just how much of the
Highway Code I had forgotten.
Then came the finale. An animated recreatio
from the air of the the M4 Berkshire disaster,
one of Britain’s worst car crashes, in which
10 motorists died and another 25 were injured
after 51 vehicles collided with each other in
thick fog in March 1991.
Even our token dissenter appeared converte
as the room watched the ensuing carnage in
silence.
I left the course a sadder but hopefully wiser
and safer driver.
SPEED awareness courses aim to
improve driver safety for the future
rather than punish motorists for
their past.
Hartlepool Borough Council road
safety team leader Paul Watson said:
“There were 2,222 people who died
on the nation’s roads last year.
“Think of the impact on all the
friends and family that those people
knew.
“These courses are all about im-
proving community and road safety
and changing attitudes and behav-
iour towards driving.”
The council has run speed aware-
ness courses across the Cleveland
Police area for the last three years
as a member of the Cleveland Cam-
era Partnership.
Latest figures for the 2009-11
period show that the number of road
accident injuries in Hartlepool has
dropped by nearly 13 per cent from
216 to 188.
Sessions are currently held in
town at the Belle Vue Centre before
moving to the improved Grayfields
sports complex later this year.
Mr Watson said: “The courses are
non-judgemental. You do not want to
be lectured at for four hours.
“What we try to do is make sure
you that you have a lot more aware-
ness than you had when you went
in.”
Take-up for those eligible for the
course is now approaching 70 per
cent locally.
Mr Watson added: “I know some-
one who received points and they es-
timate that it has cost them an extra
£800 over four years in insurance.
“So one of the advantages of the
course is that you are improving
your driving without picking up the
points which will send your insur-
ance up.”
As revealed in yesterday’s Mail,
the council is also to begin hosting
mini-speed awareness courses for
inexperienced drivers between the
ages of 17-25.
Mr Watson believes Hartlepool
will be the first local authority na-
tionwide to offer such a scheme.
The idea follows comments made
by parents completing the speed
awareness course in town and will
be provided for free out of existing
course revenue.
Fees are also used to improve road
safety and provide existing educa-
tion and training courses across the
force area.
Mr Watson said: “Personally I
would like to see a situation where
all motorists took some sort of re-
fresher every three to four years.
“There have been 250 new road
signs added in the last 20 years.
“How many do you understand
and how many people remember
when they last looked at the High-
way Code?”
SO why w
Code?
Test yourse
posed in speed
1 You are d
no speed limi
know you are
ence of:
a) hazard w
b) by street
c) by pedest
d) by single
2 You are
area. If an in
you to apply t
have
travelled be
a) Six metre
b) 10 metres
c) 9 metres
d) 12 metres
3 Driving a
ing at 50mph b
a) 50 per cen
b) 40 per cen
c) 30 per cen
d) 20 per cen
4 What is t
way, where th
a goods vehicl
weight ?
a) 70mph;
b) 50mph;
c) 40mph;
d) 60mph.
5 What is th
Slow down, you’re
going too fast...
THE ALTERNATIVE TO POINTS O
TESTMaking drivers safer for the future
ADVANTAGES: Paul Watson

2. 21
AN EVENING OF
CLAIRVOYANCE
with Steve Holbrook
Tuesday 28th August 2012
at the Sir William Gray Suite,
Hartlepool Historic Quay, Hartlepool
Steve Holbrook, regarded by many as Britain’s most gifted
spiritualist medium is returning to Hartlepool. Using his
extraordinary gifts of clairvoyance and acting as a telephone
exchange between this world and the next, he proves that
“you cannot die, not for the life of you!”
Regularly demonstrating to packed venues, his evenings
are frequently full of laughter and tears - it’s an emotional
roller coaster ride that brings reassurance to thousands and
causes many entrenched sceptics to change their views.
Only £16 per person or pay on the door £17
To book your ticket(s)
using credit/
debit card ring
Reader Holidays
on
0191 501 7444
Booking office open
Mon - Fri office hours
9am - 4.30pm
In association with
Hartlepool Mail, Wednesday, July 18, 2012www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk
ld
ng
ol
r
ar
at
on
ed
r
Details correct at going to press. Subject
to availability & date constraints.
ESCORTED TOUR!
AMERICAS
GOLDEN WEST
PRICES ARE PER PERSON
BASED ON 2 SHARING
14 DAYS...
FREE TIME IN
SAN FRANCISCO,ANAHEIM
& LAS VEGAS
HIGHLIGHTS...
FULL DAY VISIT TO THE
GRAND CANYON
VISITS TO MONTEREY,
CARMEL, 17 MILE DRIVE
& HOLLYWOOD
fr.£1249pp
MIDDLETON GRANGE
HARTLEPOOL
01429 277 543
Leaflet
delivery
Reach
1,000’s of
potential
customers in
your target
areas
Call
0191
4274812
for a quote
What are speed awareness courses?
well do you know your Highway
elf with these examples of questions
d awareness courses.
driving along a road and there are
it signs on the road. How could you
e in a 30mph limit? Is is by the pres-
warning lines;
t lighting;
trian islands;
e or double yellow lines.
travelling at 30mph in a built up
ncident occurs ahead that requires
the brakes, what distance will you
efore braking commences?
es (20ft);
s (33ft);
(30ft);
s (40ft).
at 70mph uses more fuel than driv-
by up to:
nt;
nt;
nt;
nt.
the speed limit on a dual carriage-
he national speed limit applies, for
le not exceeding 7.5 tonnes in laden
he UK legal tyre tread depth limit?
e
ON YOUR LICENCE EXPLAINED
l National speed awareness courses
were launched in 2005 as an alterna-
tive to prosecution or fixed penalties.
l They are offered by police forces
throughout England, Wales and North-
ern Ireland and run by organisations
such as the AA or local councils.
l They are not available if you are
caught speeding in Scotland.
l You have the option to transfer
your course to your local force area if
you have been caught further afield.
l The four-hour course fee costs
an average of £84. This is reduced
to £80 within the Cleveland Police
area.
l The minimum speed to be caught
speeding by mobile cameras is 10
per cent over the limit plus two miles
per hour. This equates to 35mph in a
30mph zone.
l The maximum speed to qualify for
a course is 10 per cent over the limit
plus nine miles per hour. So the cut-
off point for motorists caught in a 70
mph zone would be 86mph.
l Courses are hel d daytime, eve-
nings and weekends and have to be
completed within an average of four
months of you agreeing to attend one.
l Signing up but failing to attend
without a satisfactory explanation will
eventually result in a prosecution or
fixed penalty for the original offence.
l You can only attend one every
three years.
l You do not have to have a clean
licence to be offered the course. Driv-
ers with more than three points can
attend.
l There is no exam. You pass as long
as you complete the course.
T YOURSELF
INSIGHTS: A speed awareness course underway
BEHIND THE WHEEL: Gavin Ledwith ready to put into action what he has learned
Answers:1b;2c;3c;4d;5a.