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Polly Hudson was not looking forward to her recent speed awareness course, but it turned out to be life-affirming and potentially life-saving. And she says the Home Secretary has missed out taking the other route
Suella Braverman is accused of trying to get special treatment when facing a speed awareness course, allegedly asking about a private one just for her.
She eventually opted to take the fine and the points instead. By doing this, she’s properly missed out – indeed, she may well have robbed herself of an important, transformative experience.
Yes, I’m talking about a speed awareness course. Really.
I recently did one, which I was very grumpy about as I was only going a few miles an hour above the limit and what difference does that make?
I’d always heard that there was a grace area on the speedo, you could break the limit a little bit and it didn’t matter. The first thing I learned on the course was that this is an urban myth. The second was that speed kills.
I’d grabbed with both hands the option to Zoom from home instead of attending the course in person, and logged on in full sulky adolescent mode. I didn’t want to be there. None of us did. And we’d been pre-warned in writing that mere attendance was not enough, we had to actively participate in proceedings.
Ugh. So unfair. Eye roll.
But then something so unexpected it was almost miraculous happened. The woman leading the course genuinely cared about it.
It was like one of those movies about a teacher with unconventional methods who, against all odds, inspires a group of disillusioned kids and turns them into better versions of themselves.
Her unconventional method? An utterly authentic, pure passion and belief in what she was doing.
She imparted regulation information – like how little time you actually shave off your journey by speeding, and the massive difference driving even slightly over the limit makes to stopping distances (at 30mph you come to a complete stop in 23 metres but at 31, just one mph faster, at 26 metres you’d still be travelling at 8mph).
But it was done in such a clear, thought-provoking way that she not only turned around the whole previously petulant, disinterested virtual room, she also weirdly restored my faith in human nature. Here was one of the good guys, doing her best every day to make a difference to the world, in a very ordinary, unglamorous, but essential way.
Everyone in the little boxes on my screen slowly came to life, sat up a bit straighter, and became infected by her enthusiasm.
We bonded as citizens, as road users, as a group. If the course had been in person rather than Zoom – and we hadn’t driven to it – we definitely would have gone to the pub afterwards. Maybe I would have left my husband for one of them, who knows?
At the end, she asked if anyone had any final thoughts, and we took it in turns to shyly tell her how brilliant she was at her job, and how easy she’d made this.
We marvelled at how she could maintain such energy, and present this course like it was the first time when presumably it was far, far from that. She accepted our rave reviews gracefully, and was touched, even though there can be no way she hadn’t heard it all before, repeatedly.
A 2018 study revealed doing a speed awareness course was far more effective at reducing speed offending than a fine and points. This woman, and others like her, are literally saving lives.
