A few weeks back, I opened and read the contents of a brown envelope put through my door, the sort none of us like to have to read, but I suspect some reading this have themselves received.

The letter began along the lines of “the police intend to prosecute” – in my case I had been my driving a few mph over the prescribed speed limit and that I had been caught on camera! After getting over the initial shock on receiving the letter, I responded along the lines: “it was me, it was a fair cop”. Shortly after, I received a reply to my reply that effectively gave me two options: pay the fine and get three points added onto my driving licence OR sign up to attend a National Speed Awareness Course, which actually cost LESS than paying the fine, and was a more straight forward process.

This was not the first time I had been caught speeding but it has been many years since the last time. These days, if anything, I drive too slowly, but clearly not on that occasion. I have to confess, I was almost of the mind to accept the fine and points deduction except doing the course seemed and turned out to be the easier option and, these days, the course can be completed on line.

So at the beginning of the week, along with nine other naughty people, I attended the three hour course, bracing myself for being patronised or worse. I was pleasantly surprised – firstly, no one was patronised and the guy running the course not only knew his stuff but communicated well. I learnt a lot although a lot I should have known and would have if I had paid more attention to the Highway Code. And there was stuff that came out in the session, not in the Code, as a result of recent studies, that was useful to know.

I understand the next time I get caught speeding, if in the next three years, I would not have the option to attend a course but without tempting fate I hope that wouldn’t happen. I now know the speed limits for all roads and the need to watch the road signs along with my speeds. As for National Speed Awareness Courses, I think it is good idea resulting in more considerate drivers and, importantly, a reduction in the alarming number of speed related accidents.