Speed Awareness and Insurance

Many people take a speed awareness course both to avoid getting points on their licence and to avoid an increase in their insuarnce premium.

Many police force's websites, in promoting speed awareness courses, state that attending a course will ensure that your premiums will not increase. However this is not necessarily the case.

Drivers with Admiral insurance or one of their offshoots such as Elephant, may well find that their premium increases as a result of being caught speeding, even though they completed a speed awareness course thus avoiding a conviction and fine/penalty points.

The reasoning behind this is that Admiral claim that research shows that people who have attended a speed awareness course are still more likely to make an insurance claim than those who have not been caught speeding at all.

If the insurers ask you if you have been on a speed awareness course you are obliged to declare it.

Admiral say "Our claims statistics show that drivers who have committed a speeding offence could be a higher risk than drivers who do not commit speeding offences. This means that people attending a speed awareness course are more likely to make a claim and we price these risks accordingly,"

The increase in Admiral's premiums comes despite assurances from some police forces and councils that attending a speed awareness course does not affect insurance policies. Some course providers also make this claim although of course individual insurance companies can set their premiums as they wish.

The Association of Chief Police Officers says that Insurers who treat those who attend speed awareness courses the same as convicted motorists could harm efforts to improve road safety. They fear that the incentive of no increased premiums being lost will lead to a lower take up of courses with a detrimental effect on road safety.

Speed awareness courses are offered throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland, although they are not offered in scotland. In 2010, 447,724 people completed a speed awareness course and that increased to 772,430 in 2011.

An independent survey, commissioned by Acpo, of more than 2,000 people who had taken a speed awareness course, found that 99% of drivers claimed to have changed their behaviour as a result of attending