Conservative councillor from Leeds claims speed awareness courses are a waste of time

Conservative Neil Buckley said the programmes cost drivers “two hours of your life you’ll never get back”.

Speed awareness courses are typically offered by the Department of Transport to motorists in exchange for penalty points being added to their driving licence.

Councillor Buckley made the comments during a debate about stricter rules which are set to be imposed on Leeds taxi drivers who commit minor motoring offences.

Cabbies who clock up nine points on their licence could face potential bans in future, down from the current threshold of 12, despite widespread opposition from the trade.

Those who accummulate seven or eight points will be told to attend training programmes, which are run by the council and are separate to the DfT’s speed awareness courses.

The new convictions policy is expected to be ratified by senior councillors next month after the authority’s licensing committee agreed the proposals at a meeting on Tuesday.

But expressing scepticism about the impact of driver training, Coun Buckley, who represents’ Leeds Alwoodley ward, said: “Various people around this table have probably been on speed awareness courses. I’ve been to two over the years.

“What generally happens is retired police officers go through the motions of telling you what you already know and what they already know about the Highway Code and regulations.

“Everyone pretends that the training courses do good. In fact my view is it’s two hours of your life you’ll never get back.

“People know the law and when they’ve broken it. I’m not sure I’m a great fan of driver training.”

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Coun Buckley was one of four councillors to abstain from voting on whether or not the controversial changes should go ahead, after he’d earlier suggested they were a “solution in search of a problem”.

But Andrew White, the council’s taxi and private hire licensing manager, insisted the training courses the council runs were “worthwhile” and focused on aspects of driving “we think people sometimes lose sight of”.

He added: “It definitely doesn’t just go through the motions. It runs from 9am to 3pm and it’s not just on the Highway Code.

“It’s definitely an enhancement on what we had previously. I couldn’t say if it’s much longer than it was, but the fact it’s two thirds of a day suggests that it’s not just lip service to say that we’ve done it.”

In response, Councillor Buckley later quipped: “Not all things that take six hours are good – full council (meetings) for example.”