Speed Awareness

Did my Speed Awareness Course yesterday and learned a few things.

• Cyclists CAN ride 2 abreast and are, in fact, encouraged to do so as they are more easily spotted that way.
• The gauge of speed restrictions is no longer governed by the distance between lamp posts, but their number - 3 in a row on a single carriageway denotes 30mph, but lamp posts on their own are not a guarantor of a speed change as speed signs take precedence.
• 20mph zones are not only to do with speed restriction, but pollution reduction.
• 2 lanes one way and 2 in the opposite direction is not necessarily a dual carriageway, unless there is an actual barrier, such as Armco, a grassed section or a paved section.
• You can cross an unbroken white line is getting past a road sweeper or similar slow-moving vehicle.
• Leave 2 seconds between yourself and the vehicle ahead; 4 seconds in rain and 10 in icy conditions.
• If overtaking a stationary bus and someone steps out from in front of it, even at 30mph, that person is hit before it has even registered on your consciousness. 

Given I haven't touched a copy of the Highway Code since passing my test in 1970, it's hardly surprising I haven't kept up with the latest information.

Those are not the only useful things I learned. Overall I would say it was a worthwhile experience. Strangely, you can't volunteer to go on one of these courses - it would be brilliant for new drivers.

Most of the people attending were all zapped in exactly the same spot in Bristol at the end of the M32, where new speed restrictions have come into force.

I'm going to enjoy criticising every minor speed infringement on the part of the driver when I'm next a passenger in a car...