Car Insurance News

Speed awareness courses offered to motorists as alternative to penalty points

Motorists who have been caught speeding in the Thames Valley region are being give the option of taking part in Speed Awareness Scheme rather than getting three penalty points on their licence. The scheme applies to people who have exceeded a 30mph limit and who would rather spend a few hours increasing their awareness of speeding than have penalty points on their licence thus increasing their car insurance premiums.

The course is run by an external company and tests speed awareness as well as concentration, via a series of driving videos. The participant has to click a computer mouse when their speed has reached a comfortable ‘normal’ speed and when they see a potential hazard in the road ahead.

The results of the tests are used to demonstrate whether a motorist uses driving as an emotional outlet and whether they are easily distracted. These traits are associated with increased driving violations and more speeding incidents.

Thames Valley Police have chosen to offer the scheme to offending motorists because many people continue to speed even when they have received points on their licence. It is proven that speed does kill and the greater the impact of the car the more serious the injuries that will be sustained. More than 40,000 people have taken part in the course to date and many of those people feel that they are benefiting from the course and learning a lot about their driving behaviour.

It is worth bearing in mind that if you have penalty points on your licence you may not find it as easy to get cheap car insurance for women. Speeding however has many implications from the risk of causing an accident, injuring another person or yourself and having to live with the consequences. Being unable to buy low cost car insurance may be the last thing you have to worry about.

*A replacement car can normally be arranged under one of the following conditions: (1) Comprehensive policyholders – a replacement car may be available under the terms of your insurance policy. Please check your policy details for more information. (2) Non fault accident – where we have the name, car registration number and insurance details of the person who caused the accident, we can supply a replacement car. This is done on a credit hire basis which means the costs for this service will be passed onto the insurance company of the person who caused the accident. We may not be able to arrange a replacement car where we are unable to get an admission of liability from their insurance company, or where the driver is untraceable or uninsured. (3) Repair garage – if your car is booked in for repairs following an accident, the repair garage may be able to provide a replacement car (subject to availability).