Speed Seminar-The Event

I’ve just got back from attending the dreaded Speed Seminar which I’ve been waiting to go to for weeks. I got caught speeding a couple of months ago, I thought I was doing 35 in a 40 zone, my mistake I wasn’t, I was doing 35 in a 30 zone. I was given the option to either pay a fine of £60 and three points on my licence, or pay £75 attend said seminar and receive no points. After careful consideration, I decided to go with the seminar. I went to bed early as I had to get to the place where the seminar was being held for 8.30 this morning, and it was 24 miles from my home and I had only a vague idea where to go. However I couldn’t sleep, despite trying to go to sleep at 10, I was still awake at 3am. Finally nodding off, I awoke at 6am and got ready.  The adrenaline of trying not to fall back asleep kept me awake and I was soon in my car, small map to the location, provided by the police, in my hand. After taking one wrong turn I found the place by accident, the map being no use at all, well, very little use anyway. As I had set off so early I arrived over an hour before I needed to, luckily I’d packed a book for such an eventuality. At 8.20 I went to join my fellow speeders waiting at the entrance to the building. We were ‘collected’ and shown into a room where we handed over our driver’s licenses so they could be checked. After being shown into another room it began. One woman started talking and presented her session, then a retired police officer took over, then the woman took over again for the final session. I have to say I think the 4 hours it took was far too long, it wasn’t so much a case of being educated about speeding as being ’bored into submission’ which I was.  After a bit a video was put on of two sisters talking about their mother who had been killed in a road accident, then I felt guilty. Even though my speeding was accidental I, along with everybody else, was assured that our reasons were no excuse.The old length of two and half hours would’ve been more than adequate. The best bit of the seminar was hearing from an old lady who’d been caught speeding. She said she’d been stressed and had been going to see her friend ‘Betty’. I never found out if Betty was the cause of the stress or not. A man on my table had been caught speeding again since electing to come to the seminar. The retired officer told him he’d most likely now be prosecuted.  After the allotted time and a 20p cup of hot chocolate I staggered out into daylight and got into my car with my workbook and a copy of the Highway Code, which I shall cherish always. Thanks for reading.