Speed aware

The get and go I ordered hasn’t turned up. First I was woken up by the chickens (yes, I forgot to shut the lid of the run again) so after feeding the animal family, I headed back to bed and drifted back to sleep, only to be woken up by a delivery, and no, it wasn’t my get up and go either...

I gave up then and made a cup of coffee. My partner is still quite rough so hopefully will be asleep for a little while yet. Now the dogs are dozing on the sofa and so it’s just me that’s up.

Last night I was at a speed awareness course. About two months before the wedding (BW as it’s now referred to in the Christian calendar...) I received a speeding ticket. I was shocked and a little embarrassed. I was doing 37 in a 30 zone. Which doesn’t sound a big deal but clearly it is. I got offered – instead of 3 points and a £60 fine – to do a speed awareness course costing £95. I took the course because obviously I didn’t want the points, but I was actually quite curious. In the immortal words of Top Gun, I don’t feel the need for speed. Speeding drivers irritate me. They are dangerous and inconsiderate. So if this was already my opinion, what could I learn?

The course was very good. It lasted 2.5 hours and was quite draining. We weren’t lectured, preached at or told off, we weren’t shown photos of lots of mangled bodies either. Instead we were shown a picture of an accident scene when a car had hit an 8 year old boy. The boy’s body had been removed, there wasn’t even any blood but it was eerie and hideous and four years on the driver still has nightmares every night and considers his life ruined – just as, I suppose, the parent’s and sister of the dead boy also consider their lives ruined. He was going 38 in a 30 zone. He wasn’t under the influence and was considered a ‘safe’ driver. Had he been going at 30, he would have still have hit the boy, but there would have been an 80% chance that the boy would have survived. Going just 2 miles over the speed limit decreases those chances by 30%. So going 32 miles an hour, it becomes a 50/50 chance of survival, a flip of a coin...

It was very sobering. I think car drivers generally have a certain level of arrogance – all of us, especially if we are ‘safe’ drivers who don’t usually get speeding tickets, don’t get into accidents and don’t get pulled over by the police. This was a timely reminder to get back to basics. People don’t die when you slow down, but they can die if you speed up. There was loads of interesting information in the course: did you know that when you see the word SLOW written on the road, it’s because there have been at least 3 KSI’s (Kills or Serious Injuries) in that spot?

Anyway, you make your own decisions in life. I am a good and safe driver and don’t generally speed but I got a speeding fine,so clearly I do speed even if it's not that often! So I know what my decision is and it’s to be more responsible. I’m honestly not sure I could handle the alternatives.