I was recently 'invited' to attend an AA Drivetech Speed Awareness course (well it was either that or 3 points and a fine!).  I was pretty impressed with the course so I thought I'd share some of my impressions here.

The course was held at a conference centre not far from where I live and there are a number happening around the country at any given time.  They run as either morning or afternoon sessions and run for 4 hours which may seem like a long time but actually it goes pretty quickly.

One thing to mention straight away is that the course is not a 'sit back and be preached at' type of exercise.  Audience participation is encouraged and discussion amongst the attendees (in our case) produced some really quite interesting points and questions, all of which were answered by the capable training instructor running the course.

Apparently all the instructors are highly qualified driving specialists (for the most part driving instructors according to our tutor) and are not Police officers which seemed, certainly in our case, to avoid a lot of the arguments, obstructive attitudes  and counter productive debates you'd expect some attendees to bring with them.

The content of the course was highly informative, not just about the subject of speeding but also about points of driving law, when certain speed limits apply, why speed safety cameras are positioned where they are, why warning signs are where they are, etc.  Not just the usual 'its for your own good' pass-off explanations you often here from official sources, but the actual detail of why things are the way they are.  I also learnt a thing or two about truck drivers and other road users both from the instructor and some of the other attendees.

In many ways I think its a shame that more people aren't made to attend courses like this regardless of whether they've done anything wrong or not.  I personally think this course would benefit anyone wanting to learn more about driving safely and to be more aware of the roads when out driving.  To anyone debating on whether to take the penalty points or attend the course (for an extra £20), I'd highly recommend the course... at least you'll learn something from it.