TV presenter Richard Madeley said he has “seen the light” after attending a speed awareness course for speeding.
With drivers who attend the sessions 3 times less likely to speed in the future, he is calling for them to be a mandatory part of the driving test. It was a “no brainer” to go on the course giving him the chance to keep his clean driving licence, he said in an article written for the Daily Express.
He was expecting to be “bored to tears” and didn’t think he would learn anything as he had been driving for 40 years, said the popular TV celebrity. But after attending the course he announced: “The arrogance of the seasoned motorist. We think we know it all.”
In a classroom of 20, of all ages, he learned how there was a 50-50 risk of death to a pedestrian being hit by a vehicle at 30mph. Although most had seen it as marginal speeding, the death rate rose to 70 per cent at 35mph with a 5 per cent chance of survival at 39mph.
The class had watched a police video of a minor bump to a car but the collision had led to the death of a small boy after he ran into the road.
