jasonh wrote:What was the message of the course and how did they get it across? Was it stats, stories, videos?
The message was mainly to think of the consequences of not giving yourself enough time/space to react to something unexpected. They presented some interesting facts about 'residual speed' (the effect extra speed has before you brake on the final impact speed at a set distance). They talked about the 'ripple effect' of being involved in a serious accident: how it effects many, many people not just the driver and the victim.
They used good 'ol powerpoint but made it fairly interactive with many breaks for discussion, compare stories etc. They did show the tv advert with the car hitting a pedestrian in slo-mo and how 'at 30 you would have stopped here'. In fact they showed a special version as well and one of the presenters talked through what was happening. The video is *very* clever with lots of side clues built in to make specific points when presented like this.
jasonh wrote:How did they avoid the driver-annoying unqualified 'speed kills' message?
They didn't 'preach'. They reassured the attendees they weren't going to give them a hard time - more get them thinking about speed and road safety. It was very much focussed on keeping speed low in 30s and how quickly things happen even at this speed. They also explained the rationale behind the placement of speed cameras and where the money goes to try and debunk some of the ridiculous arguments being propogated.
The presenters were quiet, friendly and did their utmost to come across as being 'normal' - some would say 'fluffy'!
Out of the 8 attendees (4 men, 4 women) I would say only 1 was resistent to the message. He was honest enough to admit he enjoyed driving fast but then backed this up by saying he was skilful and could clearly stop much quicker than the highway code defines (which may or may not be true in perfect conditions). I don't think he understood even the 'thinking' time concept
I was a little concerned about the HGV1 driver who didn't know the National Speed Limit
.
After the 'special' video (above) the attendees were stunned and complete silence decended when they were asked to talk in groups about it. I think it really hit home without being gory.
I just wish everyone could do this course.