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Speed awareness course


collease
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So been on my course now and all i can say is it was actually very interesting. There was no preaching or making me feel like i had killed somone or was going to. The 4 hours consisted of the 2 driving instructors (yes not police) chatting to us about awareness and driving standsrds and how to improve them. They spent a long time on talking to us about identifying speeds of roads without the use of signs and other things like that. The best bit though from my point of view was the eco driving part. They have basically in an thoughs few hours changed the way i drive not to being any slower than before but to be more eficient with the way i drive.

Anyway although i had changed the way i drive a bit i will be making sure that i keep an eye on the way i drive. Just trying to be more aware of the roads users around me as well as more self aware. +++

Norfolk county council well done. It's the first thing i have ever praised you for.

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Good to hear it was a positive experience +++

I eco-drive to and from work. Makes for a much more relaxing time and know I'm saving a penny or two while I'm at it. So why can't these courses, or at least this information, be taught to new drivers rather than after they get scamra'd?

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I think it's a buzz phrase for not driving like a tit.

Smooth acceleration/braking, looking ahead to plan for hazards and make smoother progress through them... the sort of thing many drivers with advanced training (and some without) will do naturally.

I have to do it on my way to work.......otherwise it's a few more trips tot he pumps which of course means ££££ out of my pocket!

I usually get 55 mpg on my commute in the Bora, and only rarely take the car over 3K (everynow and then on a certain junction if in a hurry - and it clears the pipes anyway.)

A lot of it is common sennse.........

I don't think it makes a difference on the 2.7 twin turbo......:roflmao:

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I don't think it makes a difference on the 2.7 twin turbo......:roflmao:

:grin: if I didn't eco-drive on the way to work we would have a petrol shortage in the south east :roflmao:

I end up doing it anyway as most of my journey on the M3 is now limited by 50mph SPECS systems that seem to stay in place well after the never ending roadworks have completed....

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I trialled this when we brought it in, and like you I thought it was very good. The whole point is to get you thinking about what you're doing.

Don't think the council has anything to do with it though. Certainly here the courses and invitations are decided upon by the police.

The company that do it, also do the courses for a number of other forces.

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The whole point is to get you thinking about what you're doing.

That's the key thing without a doubt. I think most of us will agree that when driving we're often not thinking about the driving at all. We're all on automatic pilot i.e. "subconcious competance".

I've been riding a motorbike for 2.5 years and I am conciously thinking about what I'm doing 95% of the time (I'm not perfect!!). It may be coz I'm relatively new to it (although I'm coming up on 30,000 miles) or the fact that it's harder to do than driving a car. Maybe it's coz I know I'm more exposed but when riding my vision is up, my observation all around much better, etc. I'm basically always practising the preachings of Roadcraft.

I think any additional driver training is good (and I've only heard good things about the course mentioned above) but I wish there was a more stringent training regime. Learning to drive at 17 and then not having any refreshers for the next 60 years just seems wrong. I'm definately as advocate of making people retest every 10 years or so etc and compulsory training after people have passed their test. We don't even have compulsory training for motorways where speeds are higher and hence things happen much quicker, the mass of the vehicle has more effect etc.

Gonna get off my soap box now.

p.s. Bazza - is that why every GTR I see is always doing under the speed limit :grin:

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We don't even have compulsory training for motorways where speeds are higher and hence things happen much quicker, the mass of the vehicle has more effect etc.

I thought motorway driving was part of the exam now? pretty sure it came in 5+ years ago.

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One of the things that was in the leaflet Mrs Mook brought back from hers was dropping to third gear all the way through a 30mph zone. The leaflet doesn't clearly explain why either.

She found it very interesting, but had to laugh at the cock in a 3 series BMW who burst in and made a stereotypical BMW driver comment...

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You'll actually find it's more fuel efficient. Along with giving you speed control purely on the throttle, the higher revs means the engines working more efficiently.

Every time you brake it effectively means you've used fuel to propel you too fast. If you can control it on the throttle you only use what you need.

Try it +++

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My Course is run by the Council. The police decide who goes on it but the council pay for it. It is part of their campaing for driver improvement and road safety in our region. The dropping to third in a 30mph zone is more fuel efficient as i have been doing this for a while know and have noticed a big difference. Apparently it is because of the european ecu we have in our cars being set up to run at about 32mph at the low part of the rev range in 4th gear which then means that if you touch the throttle slightly you are then doing 35+mph before you know. Thats how i had it explained by the tech guy at my work. I did not realise but although we have British spec cars the ecu and most other bits are still the european spec. Which is why i drove a renault that did not clear the driverside of the window because the wipers were hinged from the wrong side.

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As far as i am aware using low revs in a high gear can use more fuel than using slightly higher revs in a lower gear. I'm not sure about the gearing of the different cars so can't answer that but from my own experience i am using less fuel by doing using 3rd than when i was using 4th in a 30mph zone.

For example in my 2.2 diesel civic i used to fill up every week doing about 500 miles from a tank of fuel using 4th gear in a 30 5th in a 40 and 6th in anything above that.

I now am getting 600 miles from a tank of fuel. from changing to using 3rd in a 30 4th in a 40 5th in a 50 and only using 6th for 60+.

It not much but that extra 100 miles makes a difference in my pocket so i am happy with it.

It not a huge increase but if i drive better as well as doing this i could get that up even higher.

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