TODAY'S WOMAN - Now I'm up to speed on road safety...
It's enough to give you road rage. An envelope in the morning's post bears the words South Yorkshire Police.
You know instantly what's inside - bad news.
Sure enough, it's a speeding ticket and it fills me with fury.
My heinous crime? I did 37 in a 30mph zone. Seven measly mph over the limit. What difference was that going to make to anyone?
I hadn't done it on purpose, either. Like the vast majority of motorists who are caught speeding in a 30mph zone, I'd actually thought I was tootling along legally in a 40mph zone.
I'd been travelling down Infirmary Road to interview a lady in Stocksbridge about her money-saving home-made Christmas decorations.
Bah, humbug.
I'll readily admit, though, that quite often I'm not sure what speed I should be driving at. And that I find it incredibly difficult to motor at 30mph - it seems so needlessly slow and the needle invariably creeps upwards.
Any road up, my anger abated somewhat when, a few paragraphs into my Notice Of Intended Prosecution, another route opened up to me. Instead of being issued with a Fixed Penalty fine of 60 and have the dreaded three points slapped on to my currently clean licence, I might qualify for something called a speed awareness course.
"South Yorkshire Police is committed to road safety and is actively seeking to educate, and not prosecute, drivers who have exceeded the speed limit through a minor error of judgement," it said.
I read up about it on the internet: Speed awareness courses were launched here in September 2007 with the aim of re-educating motorists and cutting the region's road accident toll.
The year before, there had been 6,246 crashes and speeding had been a contributory factor in at least a quarter of the 71 deaths – eight of them children – on South Yorkshire roads in 2006.
Ours is one of only 12 forces in Britain to offer such a course for drivers caught speeding just a few miles over the limit and classes are run in Barnsley, Sheffield and Doncaster by driver training specialists, the TTC Group.
I was slightly disappointed to learn that while attendees escape the 60 fine and the points, they don't get away scot-free: the course fee is 71. But as points mean price increases on your car insurance, I signed up.Several weeks later (appointments have to be within four months of the offence) I turned up at the South Yorkshire Driver Training Centre in Catcliffe.
After almost 30 years of sensible driving, I didn't want to be lectured. Particularly as I'd been carved up on the Parkway by an idiot in the outside lane who had spotted his exit at the last minute.
His was a far worse motoring misdemeanour than mine, yet he wouldn't have to give up four hours of his time or face prosecution, would he?
Why aren't police out catching people like him? Or the selfish idiots who drive around without insurance?
Plus I felt a bit scared. Paranoid I know, but I half expected to be greeted with a video clip of all the things I've ever done wrong at the wheel, compiled and kept by Big Brother for this very moment.
In the classroom, there were 13 other "crims", all silent, all obviously thinking the same thing. The atmosphere felt familiar; it was straight out of O-level R.E. Even down to the fact that the males had sat at one side of the room and the females at the other.
Chirpy tutor Michael Owen was taking no truck, though. He wanted us relaxed and receptive.
"You're not here to be punished. You made a mistake; it doesn't make you a bad person or a bad driver. You're hear to learn from that mistake," he said.
As journalist, housewife, taxi driver, delivery driver, student and, wait for it, police officer "confessed" in turn, it became apparent the vast majority of us had been nicked breaking the 30 limit in an urban area.
Unsurprising, said Michael - it's the most common road traffic offence.
Just as we were all beginning to feel like victims of some plot to persecute the common man by police who would be far better occupied catching rapists and murderers, he swiftly got us guessing which British roads were the most dangerous.
Motorways, said the women; country lanes, said the men.
Michael smiled the smile of one who has heard it all so many times before and hit us with the facts: three quarters of crashes are in urban areas, 23 per cent are on country roads and just two per cent happen on motorways.He asked us why city roads and suburban streets might be more accident-prone. His formerly mute class were enthusiastic pupils, falling over themselves to shout out the answers.
Next, he explained what happens to someone who is hit by a car at 30mph and one at 40mph. Basically, 80 per cent of pedestrians die when hit by a car at the higher speed but 80 per cent survive a 30mph collision.
The difference was so starkly obvious, we all suddenly realised the need for the 30mph limit. It was a lightbulb moment.
And when we were asked to list the reasons why each of us occasionally break the speed limit (mine were running late and wanting to get home for my tea), they looked pathetically selfish in comparison to the potential loss of someone's life.
As the afternoon progressed, our course become more akin to that of an advanced driver's course - one you'd have to pay good money for. We did a hazard awareness test and re-learned all the Highway Code stuff about stopping distances.
The tips on how to drive better flew thick and fast: To ensure you're the correct two-second distance from the car in front when you're on the motorway, line up a marker the front car is passing and say to yourself: Only a fool breaks the two second rule. It takes exactly two seconds to say it, so you should reach the marker in that time.
I particularly liked this simple trick for keeping my speed at 30mph - driving in third gear.
But by far the most useful piece of advice I picked up from an afternoon which turned out to be not chore, not bore but a valuable education was this: If you can see streetlights but no speed sign, the limit is always 30.
I've been a driver for three decades; how on earth did that slip me by?
Accident factfile
There are 40,000 serious road crashes in the UK each year
80 per cent of pedestrians die when hit by a car at 40mph
80 per cent survive a 30mph collision
50 per cent of all drivers admit to exceeding the 30mph limit in urban areas.
An average family car travelling at 35mph will need an extra 21 feet (6.4 metres) to stop than one travelling at 30mph
Driver error contributes to 95 per cent of crashes.
The biggest "unknown" fact among drivers is that recurring lamp posts mean it is 30mph unless there is a sign to show otherwise.Hard-hitting tv campaign
The Department of Transport's 'Live with it' campaign asks drivers to consider the long term impact on their own lives if they kill a child while speeding.
The TV ad shows how a man who has knocked down a child while driving too fast on a 30mph road is haunted by an image of the dead boy.
As the man continues the everyday aspects of his life - working, travelling and shopping - an image of the lifeless boy he has killed appears to him.
This is a powerful portrayal of the long term psychological trauma suffered by the driver and reinforces the line: It's 30mph for a reason.
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Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North east
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