Marion Cornick still lives on the road on which her daughter was killed in January 2002. Sixteen-year-old Natalie, known as Talli, was riding a moped on her way to visit a friend after school. She was hit by a driver who had lost control of his car and she died instantly. The car driver, an 18 year-old, was travelling at 48mph and suffered almost no physical injuries.

Cornick is in no doubt that it was speed that killed her daughter. “He was obviously travelling too fast for him to be able to handle the car,” she says. “Speed is something we don’t give much thought to — I never did when Talli was alive. But we need to make speeding as socially unacceptable as drink-driving.”

The limit on the road, just outside Rochester in Kent, has since been reduced from 60mph to 40mph. Talli’s death has also prompted a local pilot scheme whereby, as an alternative to points and a fine, speeding drivers meet the relatives of people killed in road accidents and witness firemen cutting a dummy from a wrecked vehicle.

Some local authorities and police forces have already introduced “speed awareness” sessions as an alternative to punishment (see panel), but the course run by Medway council takes the concept a step further by forcing drivers to confront the potential consequences of their actions in a more human form.

Medway has a poor record on road safety; there were 107 deaths and serious injuries on its roads in 2002, the casualty figures running 50% above the national average. The speed awareness scheme is part of a year-long Safe (Stop Accidents For Ever) campaign launched by the council last year, focusing on road safety both for motorists and pedestrians.

Speeding motorists stopped by police at five locations on 30mph roads near Rochester and Chatham were offered a choice: pay the usual £60 fine and incur three penalty points or attend a re-education session at a local fire station.

Nearly all of those stopped by police late last year took the option of the three-hour evening class. Cornick spoke to the 59 speeders about her teenage daughter’s death and a team of firemen and paramedics demonstrated cutting a dummy accident victim out of a car. The cost of road accidents in human terms and the financial costs to the NHS were explained.

This was followed by graphic pictures of mangled cars that had been involved in speeding accidents and photographs of the people injured in them. It was an uncomfortable experience for the motorists.

In a follow-up questionnaire, 98% of those taking part said the course had had an impact on them. More than half admitted that Cornick’s talk had the most lasting effect, and many felt that the course should be compulsory for all first-time speeding offenders.

Les Bardy, a 50 year-old motorist from Rochester who was stopped for travelling at 43mph in a 30mph zone, says he first thought he had got off lightly but later changed his mind. “The officer who stopped me referred to it as the ‘soft option’, but the evening was anything but soft. It brought home to me just how much a car can be a killing machine.”

Clive Lawrence, 57, a businessman from Chatham caught doing 45mph, says he was “chastened”. But he feels the course should be aimed at learner drivers to discourage them from breaking limits from the start. “It would probably frighten them but it would teach them the consequences of speeding.”

Bryan Shawyer, Medway council’s road safety manager, says the shock tactics used at the session have been a success. “We were unsure of what the response from offenders would be. However, feedback showed that they did learn about the consequences of speeding, which meant the night had a positive impact. The council plans to run more sessions.”

Medway is not alone in attempting to educate drivers about the dangers of speed rather than punishing them. Thames Valley police are among forces who have introduced a speed awareness scheme. Drivers caught exceeding the limit in a 30mph zone — though not those above 36mph — can swap three penalty points and a £60 fine for a training workshop that costs £65. Unsurprisingly, the take-up rate has been over 90% since the scheme’s debut last year; in all, 25,000 speeders have gone through the programme.

Frank McKenna, a psychology professor at Reading University who designed the course, says educating drivers about speeding is essential. The alternative was an oppressive enforcement programme the public would reject.

“Massive enforcement of speed limits would work, but you would penalise people off the roads,” says McKenna. “But this is not the British way. We must take the public with us and persuade them that reducing their speed is the socially responsible thing to do.”

SPEED EDUCATION GOES NATIONAL AS POLICE LEARN THE LIMITS OF POINTS AND FINES

Speeding drivers throughout England and Wales could soon be offered extra driving lessons as an alternative to a fixed penalty and points on their licence. The Department for Transport and the Association of Chief Police Officers are finalising plans for a nationwide scheme of speed awareness courses to be rolled out from May.

A handful of areas already run pilot schemes, which can include classroom-based as well as practical driving tuition and are offered as an alternative to speeders “at the lower end of the scale”.

Lancashire launched the first course in June 2001. Forces in Thames Valley, Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, Humberside, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire have also started speed education sessions. The schemes vary widely, costing anything from £60 (the same as the fixed penalty fine) up to £95. The courses can last from two hours for a classroom-based workshop to a full day of lessons and practical driver training. Some counties offer the course only to drivers caught “driving marginally over the limit” in a 30mph zone, while others also offer it in 40mph and 50mph zones.

The definition of “marginally” varies from force to force. In a 30mph zone some authorities will offer the course only to those caught up to 36mph, while others set the limit at 39mph. Thames Valley also offers a course to more excessive speeders, as an alternative to a court appearance that could lead to a fine of up to £1,000 and even disqualification. These drivers will still have to pay a fixed penalty and accrue licence points.

Emma Smith