Speed... you have your say - 'Disregard for fellow motorists'

Nearly half of you will be surprised to learn that the minimum length of a totting-up ban is six months.

This is far more than you might get for an individual infringement - for example, the 42-day ban that was handed to lead roads policing Chief Inspector Meredydd Hughes for doing 90mph in a 60mph zone.

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers said: 'The six-month minimum ban is a significant time to be deprived of the ability to drive, but it is only achieved by a repeated breaching of the rules of motoring, and by showing disregard for the law-abiding motorists they share the road with.

'With over 3000 people dying on our roads every year, we must continue to address the causes of these tragic and avoidable collisions.'

A tiny proportion of you have been on speed-awareness courses after being caught exceeding the limit, but of those that have, 58% described them as an eye-opener that changed the way they drove.

The ACPO described the response as 'very encouraging' and said: 'We are working hard to roll out a national standard programme of speed-awareness courses aimed at educating the low-level speeding offender, rather than penalising them with points on their licence.'