'Suella Braverman missed a valuable lesson by swerving speed awareness course'
The Home Secretary made two mistakes when she got a speeding penalty notice last summer – asking a gossipy civil servant if she could get a private speed course, rather than googling it herself, and swerving a meeting with the great unwashed by taking the points.
Sitting through a public speed awareness course may have made Suella Braverman a more thoughtful politician as well as a safer driver. And it may have slowed her trip down Entitlement Avenue towards political oblivion.
Because unless the Tory now dubbed Speedy Sue takes a different route soon, this most arrogant and self-righteous of ministers is heading for a very nasty crash.
Speed awareness courses are strange things. Nobody wants to go, so everyone is grumpy and resentful at being caught.
The Home Secretary did not attend a speed awareness courseThey blame the traffic, other road users, hidden speed cameras and money-grabbing councils.
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They try to sulk through the session while “engaging” just enough to avoid a fine. But courses run well, by skilled communicators in possession of clear statistics, can prove real eye-openers.
And as city traders with Porsches sit alongside market traders with the Reliant Regal vans, they are also great exercises in democracy. I’ve been on two courses. The first was run by an ex-driving instructor with high-waisted trousers and an even higher opinion of himself.
He told a patronising joke about lady drivers only using their rear-view mirrors to put their lippy on but I’ve forgotten everything else he said.
The next time I had two instructors, an ex-paramedic who had witnessed the deadly consequences of speeding and a woman whose relative had been killed in a crash.
With patience, humour and incontrovertible evidence, they won over even the stroppiest of attendees.
Two facts I remember have made me a better driver. Firstly, someone struck by a car at 35mph is twice as likely to be killed as a person hit at 30mph. Secondly, however much you break the speed limit, you don’t reach your destination any faster.
Speed awareness courses are a great leveller and an exercise in humility.
They remind us small actions can have huge consequences, that we all need to take responsibility for our behaviour and that NOBODY is above the law.
Suella Braverman took a wrong turn and she missed a valuable lesson.
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