Drivers' Union

Dear Mr Grove,You may have seen my comments in your support in respect of your 'speeding' ticket on BBC Look North.

 

I will publish this letter because I hope to assist others too.

 

Where your 'offence' occurred is a classic of a speed enticement site and you are one of many who have fallen victim to it.

 

Your 'speeding' wasn't deliberate and it was caused by a combination of road layout and or faulty speed limit.

 

Ironically the deliberate excessive speeders don't get offered the coercive speed awareness option. ACPO Ltd, who's idea they are, say they are only for accidental unintentional mistakes which implies that the subject doesn't need a course since he made a 'mistake'.

 

I am very disappointed that you have opted for the course since they are one of the profiteering aspects of false road safety. Most of them are run for profit by private companies, or if not, the police run them for profit. In both cases they need 'speeders' to keep going so you are just part of one vicious circle money go round.

 

We have asked ACPO Ltd, The DfT & Home Office, under what statute police can offer an alternative for prosecution when an offence is disclosed and especially for profit? As you can imagine, there is no such authority for these courses that we have found and we do have the ministerial correspondence on file.

 

So you have elected to pay the ransom and go on the course and there are some things you should know.

 

'Speeding' does not and cannot cause anything so the camera that got you there detects not one single accident cause. Feel free to ask them what are the mechanics where, by putting an arbitrary number on a pole, to exceed it, something will happen?

 

Too fast causes accidents and this is at all speeds, most often below the limits.You will be shown horrific pictures of accidents to shock you. None of those accidents were caused by 'speeding'. Most head on multi casualty collisions don't involve 'speeding' drivers at all.

 

Just bear in mind that your instructor is being well paid to sell and maintain the 'speeding' Industry. Not one is in it for altruism. But how many of them are top police driving experts? They will have no idea what the expertise of the person who chose the number on the pole is, or even if that number was appropriate. Both you and they blindly accept that the number that got you on the course is correct. But judge your own driving at that moment. Were you driving hard, recklessly, dangerously and inappropriately for the circumstances? If the answer is 'no' then the number was probably wrong.

 

I implore you. Don't come out of your course and make glowing recommendations publicly. It will do road safety no service at all. What you have just been through is nothing more than a massive, dishonest, contrived and dangerous scam.