Driving - pay the fine or take the course +EV

[mikeymike]

Hi

Got pulled over for not wearing seat belt - immediately admitted it and said to 1st police person fine  just write me out a ticket. He said NO NO NO and went to speak with the 2nd police person. 1st policeman came back and said to me your been quite decent about this i really do not want to give you a ticket but my partner in the car is saying i must. So i have decided to give you a warning ticket which means you will not get points and just have to attend a safety awareness course.

I said i bet you the safety awareness course will cost more money than the fine and 3 points - he said how do work that out.

1. The standard fine is £60 - the safety awareness course is £85
2. I will have to take the day off so been self employed will lose a days wages
3. Fuel and parking costs for getting to the course

He gave it some thought and i said so just write me out a ticket -----  NO NO NO he said - i am going to write you out a warning ticket.

Anyhow, now received the paperwork so the question is do i go on the course or pay the fine

Paying the fine and 3 penalty points would be the better option in not losing out on a days work

But if anybody has been on one of these courses and felt they learnt something i am open minded enough to go on it.

Cheers

Mike

[DaveShoelace]

Not sure if it is the case for every type of 3-point penalty, but most of them also affect your car insurance premium for 3+ years, so there is the additional cost in that too potentially.

[Longines]

I've been on the course, 20 minutes of content squeezed into 4 hours. Knowing some basic physics and applying it to braking distances annoyed the instructors somewhat.

Only thing I learnt was how many drivers have no clue what the speed limits are.

[KarmaDope]

If your car is a business vehicle then surely its +EV to take the course rather than pay the insurance premiums?

[TightEnd]

absolute no brainer to go on the course, especially with your attitude. teach you a few things about the safety aspect of wearing seat belts

cost, time etc should be very much secondary as reasons to go/ not go on the course

[arbboy]

absolute no brainer to go on the course, especially with your attitude. teach you a few things about the safety aspect of wearing seat belts

cost, time etc should be very much secondary as reasons to go/ not go on the course

Agree with this but be prepared to meet some incredibly boring jobsworth trainers.  The course i went on i actually couldn't believe someone could get so excited about a speeding course as the guy who took it.

[TightEnd]

i don't disagree, but my course had the characteristic that EVERYONE attending went in thinking they knew everything, with the wrong attitude etc, me included "its better than points"

absolutely certain people learn more than they think they have at the end of it, i did

[Tal]

Wrote a long reply but - probably mercifully - it crashed before I pressed post.

Basically this:

absolute no brainer to go on the course, especially with your attitude. teach you a few things about the safety aspect of wearing seat belts

cost, time etc should be very much secondary as reasons to go/ not go on the course

Take it seriously because you were caught doing something stupid. The insurance premiums have to include the cost of people doing more damage than they needed to. If yours goes up, so be it.

http://www.iam.org.uk/media-and-research/media-centre/news-archive/20598-50-years-on-people-continue-to-ignore-seat-belt-laws-at-their-peril-warns-the-iam

At the end of the day, we all do daft things and it happened to be your turn this time. Learn from it, take your punishment and move on with the positives.

If you do choose the course, I would be interested in hearing ITT what you thought of it.

Sorry that this is a bit ranty. All the best.

[Woodsey]

No brainier for me, I need to drive for work so will do anything to avoid points. How important is driving for your job for you?

Can't say I learnt too much when I did one of the courses, then again I wasn't too open minded about it so that was my fault...

[EvilPie]

I attended the course with a massive hangover and despite that managed to find it quite informative.

The video they showed at the end which was a re-enactment of a major motorway crash was a real eye opener for me as to how easily these crazy accidents can happen.

Definitely +EV to do the course. Forget the fact that you'll save a few points just accept that sometimes courses are designed to actually teach you something.

[Woodsey]

I attended the course with a massive hangover and despite that managed to find it quite informative.

The video they showed at the end which was a re-enactment of a major motorway crash was a real eye opener for me as to how easily these crazy accidents can happen.

Definitely +EV to do the course. Forget the fact that you'll save a few points just accept that sometimes courses are designed to actually teach you something.

Bet ya still drove home possibly still over the limit from the night before though 

[BulldozerD]

I went on an evening course straight after work

[MANTIS01]

I agreed to the course but on the day couldn't make it. Send an email saying flu bug blah blah. Get a reply saying np book another day. Decided I couldn't take a day off after all so email saying refund my monies and I'll swallow the points. Never heard anything again. Winner winner chicken dinner!

[titaniumbean]

I've been on the course, 20 minutes of content squeezed into 4 hours. Knowing some basic physics and applying it to braking distances annoyed the instructors somewhat.

Only thing I learnt was how many drivers have no clue what the speed limits are.

all of this 100 times over.


just go on the course it's so much cheaper longterm.

[titaniumbean]

Wrote a long reply but - probably mercifully - it crashed before I pressed post.

Basically this:

absolute no brainer to go on the course, especially with your attitude. teach you a few things about the safety aspect of wearing seat belts

cost, time etc should be very much secondary as reasons to go/ not go on the course

Take it seriously because you were caught doing something stupid. The insurance premiums have to include the cost of people doing more damage than they needed to. If yours goes up, so be it.

http://www.iam.org.uk/media-and-research/media-centre/news-archive/20598-50-years-on-people-continue-to-ignore-seat-belt-laws-at-their-peril-warns-the-iam

At the end of the day, we all do daft things and it happened to be your turn this time. Learn from it, take your punishment and move on with the positives.

If you do choose the course, I would be interested in hearing ITT what you thought of it.

Sorry that this is a bit ranty. All the best.

I may or may not have been on both a red light awareness course and a speed awareness course, you really would be amazed by how little the other people know, how little they learn, and how moronic the jobsworth who run the courses on the day can be.

Im still in the process of busting my sunday mtts, but if you'd like to read a rant about gen pop and these courses i'd happily oblige