.....this just doesn't seem right

[been away from here for a while.... but am back!]

i like to think that when people are telling me stuff that what they tell me makes sense. or at the very least that one thing they tell me doesn't completely contradict another thing they tell me.

a month or so ago i went on a speed awareness course! yes! i was caught speeding again! when will i learn! given that i already had 6 points on my licence i decided to take the offer of the course rather than the points as putting me on 9 points would be far too close to the 12 point limit than i wanted to be - especially with my track record.

off i went to the course and got sat at a table with some other people. 'it's all just a money making racket' someone said 'ah! no!' i said, 'the money gets spent on traffic calming measures'. 'you know a lot about this' someone said, 'not my first time here' i said! ......living on the edge me! ;-)

anyway, a couple of weeks after the course i was out running and thinking about what we were told. i know! i think too much! and something struck me. we had been told about the dangers of speeding. we'd been told that at 30 miles per hour a high percentage of people (pedestrians for example) would survive the impact with little physical harm. at 32 mph injuries would become worse and at 34 mph (or thereabouts) death or serious injury was more likely. i can accept this. they showed us figures and tables. so fair enough - it makes you think - it makes you think i wouldn't want to hurt or kill someone just to travel 4 mph faster. so i think 'well, yes, i should do something about that'.

then, though, near the end, he tells us that the police only prosecute or send you on one of these courses if you are travelling at a speed of 'the speed limit, plus 10%, plus 2 miles' ....so ....in a 30 mph area you could travel at 30 mph plus 3 plus 2 - i.e. 35 miles per hour! now if that's the case then that simply doesn't add up does it because that means the police are accepting me driving at anything up to 35 miles per hour well up in the 'likely to kill or seriously hurt a pedestrian' area.

so i went from thinking that was interesting and i must modify my behaviour to - what on earth is going on here - ..........disillusioned