I received a speeding notice a while ago and rather than take the points I chose to do a speed awareness course.

We hear about mandatory training a lot and this is probably the toughest gig going. A group of 10 people brought together, who would have preferred not to be there, being told what they did wrong.

But it wasn’t like that. The facilitator recognised the nature of the circumstances and worked out how to get the message across. He asked how many of the group had done any further driver training from when they’d passed their test. I was the only one having worked with high speed drivers in the fire service.

I thought I knew what I was doing – I got a lot from it too.

The one that stood out the most was that, for driving at 31 mph rather than 30, you’ll arrive somewhere 1m 56s quicker. Great – two minutes saved you think. But you’ll take an extra 6 feet to stop your car if you have to brake in an emergency – about the same width as a zebra crossing.

Don’t put yourself into a situation where you have to take a mandatory driving course. I would, however, strongly suggest doing some additional learning if it’s been a while since you passed your test.