At a National Roads Policing Conference held in Birmingham on 3rd October 2005, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Roads Policing Business Area launched the introduction of a National Speed Awareness Course.

Following the success of the National Driver Improvement Scheme, the Department for Transport (DfT), in a move to reduce the number of casualties on United Kingdom roads, gave approval for the introduction of this course.

Courses have to meet a national specification and, like the Driver Improvement Courses, will be provided by Local Authorities and private companies who are members of the Association of National Driver Improvement Schemes Providers (ANDISP).

The National Speed Awareness Schemes (NSAS) will allow police Authorities to divert low-end speeding motorists and riders to education instead of prosecution.

A driver or rider who is detected as being within the speed parameters determined as suitable in a Police Force area and who has not had a previous course within a three year period will be offered a course in the area where the offence was committed or in any other chosen are where the National Scheme has been adopted.
The NSAS has been put in place to give offenders who drive or ride in excess of the posted speed limit the opportunity to attend a re-education course on the inherent potential effects and dangers of speeding.

Road crashes cause immense human suffering. Every year around 3,500 people are killed on Britain's roads and over 33,000 are seriously injured. In total there are almost 300,000 road casualties resulting from around 240,000 crashes and collisions. Non-injury crashes account for fifteen times this amount. This equates to a cost to society in the region of £3billion a year.

Speed is a factor in all road crashes - obviously non-moving objects will not collide - and inappropriate speed contributes to a significant percentage of more serious crashes. The probability of being seriously injured in a crash rises significantly with small increases in impact speed.

At least two thirds of drivers/riders exceed the urban 30mph limit, with a third of these travelling faster than 35mph. For pedestrians the change from generally survivable injuries to generally fatal injuries when struck by a car occurs at 35mph.

The aim of Speed Awareness Courses is to explore the possible reasons why speed limits are exceeded, and by addressing these reasons removing the need for future reoccurrence of the offence. Courses focus on ensuring that clients are aware that they alone are responsible for their choice of speed and that they are responsible for the consequences of that choice.