Following vehicle recall notices issued by Toyota and Peugeot Citroen, the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) has announced conditions for allowing affected vehicles on the driving test.

Recall notices affect the following vehicles with the specified build dates:

Toyota
AYGO (Feb 2005 – Aug 2009)
iQ (Nov 2008 – Nov 2009) – already considered unsuitable for test.
Yaris (Nov 2005 – Sep 2009)
Auris (Oct 2006 – 5 Jan 2010)
Corolla (Oct 2006 – Dec 2009)
Verso (Feb 2009 – 5 Jan 2010)
Avensis (Nov 2008 – Dec 2009)
RAV4 (Nov 2005 – Nov 2009)

Peugeot 107 (Feb 2005 – Aug 2009)

Citroen C1 (Feb 2005 – Aug 2009)

In total, Toyota and Peugeot Citroen are recalling around 320,000 UK-basedvehicles. As yet, VIN number ranges have not been released.

Using these cars on the driving test

If one of the vehicles affected is presented for test, it will only be conducted if either:

• the vehicle has a manual transmission gearbox and is fitted with dual controls to help the examiner control the car in the unlikely event of a failure
• documentation is supplied to show that the remedial work has been carried out – this will usually be in the form of the Toyota or Peugeot Citroen recall letter stamped by the respective dealer and containing written confirmation

Candidates who cannot proceed with their test should contact DSA customer services to arrange for their test to be rebooked once the remedial work has been done.

As there has been no prior warning of this action, if the test is not conducted the fee will be refunded or a free retest given on the first occasion that a specific vehicle is presented for test. Customers can ring DSA customer service on 0300 200 1122.

Look out for all our cars throughout the area as they are branded with the new eye-catching design over the coming weeks!

Latics Driver Training's new vehicle branding

Ric Hughes, one of the Latics Driving Instructors covering Ashton under Lyne, Glossop, Hyde and Oldham was the first to have his car branded with the new design.  Ric said, “It looks great, and all my pupils love it!  My car’s been turning heads wherever I go!”

Let us know what you think!

Art student Sara Watson with her invisible car. Photo: PA

Sara Watson, an art student from Ashton under Lyne, has found the ultimate way of avoiding traffic wardens – by making her car invisible.

The 22-year-old student at the University of Central Lancashire spray painted a battered Skoda Fabia to match the car park and entrance to her art studio.

Her work, created as part of her drawing and image making course at the university, creates the illusion that the car is see through. She was given the car from a breakers yard and worked for three weeks to ensure that it blended perfectly with its surroundings.

“I was experimenting with the whole concept of illusion but needed something a bit more physical to make a real impact.” said Miss Watson.

“People have been stopping in the street to look and coming up and almost bumping into it, so it’s had the desired effect.”

The car is reminiscent of the work by pavement artist Julian Beever, whose attempts to trick people’s minds into seeing perspective on the flat surfaces of paving stones.

Steve Jackson, owner of Recycling Lives, the firm that gave Miss Watson the car, said: “When I first saw the photos I was convinced it was something which had been done on the computer, but when you look more closely you see the effort and attention to detail she has put into it. It is just amazing.”

Source:  Telegraph.co.uk

Well done Sara!

The survey found that 25.4% of black-vehicle owners have speeding convictions, and they are also 9% more likely than the average driver to have speeding endorsements on their driving licences.

The next “speediest” colour was grey, with 25.1% of grey car owners having speeding convictions, followed by silver, blue and brown.

Owners of purple-coloured cars were least likely to have been caught exceeding speed limit, while owners of white, yellow and red cars have comparatively few convictions as well.

Brian Martin, Managing Director of Elephant.co.uk’ said, “We wanted to know why it is that drivers of black and grey cars appear to have more of a propensity to speed so we looked into more detail at the cars on our books.

“We found it didn’t necessarily correlate that black and grey cars would have bigger engines, so evidently for drivers of these coloured cars, the temptation to break the speed limit is simply too great whatever their engine size.”

Interesting!

Road Safety Consultation

Following the recent publication of the results of the DSA’s Learning to Drive Consultation comes the Government’s latest document seeking views on the vision, targets and measures for improving road safety in Great Britain beyond 2010.

“Making Britain’s Roads Safer” is the title of the consultation document, and we would urge you all to get involved and make your opinions known.  The full document and related research articles can be found here.  The closing date for this consultation is 14th July 2009.

The key challenges for the new strategy are as follows:

• reducing the number of road deaths, which have fallen at a slower rate than serious injuries;
• pedestrian and cyclist casualties in our towns and cities – particularly in deprived communities;

• protecting children, particularly in deprived areas, and young people, who are greatly over-represented in the casualty statistics;
• protecting motorcyclists, who represent 20% of road fatalities but just 1% of traffic;
• safety on rural roads: 62% of all road fatalities in 2007 occurred on rural roads, which carry only 42% of traffic;
• variations in safety from area to area and road to road;
• poor road user behaviour amongst a minority, where drink-driving and failure to wear a seatbelt remain a problem;
• illegal and inappropriate speed: excessive speed was recorded as a contributory factor in 26% of road fatalities in 2007.

The Government is on target with their aim to reduce the number of road casualties on the UK’s roads by 40% (from the average of those from 1994-1998), but with nearly 3000 people still dying on the roads each year, they are looking to improve our road safety record even further.

In order to achieve this, the Government is looking at the following:

• Changes to road safety enforcement, including improvements to the enforcement of speed and drink and drug driving laws.
• Gaining a better understanding of the motivations behind the behaviours of the most dangerous road users, and the characteristics of the individuals undertaking them.
• Working more closely with other organisations to improve road design, vehicles and education in order to reduce the chance of mistakes on the roads having serious or fatal consequences.
• Improving the safety of rural roads, where 60% of all road deaths occur – this will probably include the reduction of the speed limit on the most dangerous roads from 60mph to 50mph.
• Improving the safety in urban areas where pedestrian and cyclist deaths are concentrated – this is most likely to be dealt with by reducing the speed limit to 20mph in residential areas (which are not part of a through route) and around areas like schools and markets where pedestrian and cyclist movements are highest.
• Improving vehicle safety by looking at the effectiveness of existing vehicle technology and the development of advanced crash avoidance systems.
• As well as promoting European vehicle safety regulations, the DfT aims to look at ways of providing better consumer information and raising awareness among the motoring public.
• Support responsible road use – this may be achieved by the introduction of Think! campaigns challenging complacency about road safety and encouraging people to make positive safety choices, as well as further education in nurseries, schools and colleges (including the introduction of the pre-driver qualification)
• Tackling irresponsible behaviour (e.g. drink driving, drug driving, failure to wear a seatbelt and careless or dangerous driving)
• Continuing pursuit and seizure of untaxed and uninsured vehicles and of the vehicles of unlicenced drivers.

The following targets have therefore been proposed:

• to reduce road deaths by at least 33% by 2020 compared to the baseline of the 2004-08 average number of road deaths;

• to reduce the annual total of serious injuries on our roads by 2020 by at least 33% compared to the baseline.

The Government also considers it important to maintain their progress on child road safety and to tackle the pressing problem of young people’s safety, and therefore propose a more challenging target for children and young people:

• to reduce the annual total of road deaths and serious injuries to children and young people (aged 0-17) by at least 50% against a baseline of the 2004-08 average by 2020

In order to improve health, the environment and congestion, the Government is also keen to encourage more walking and cycling.  They wish to reduce the risk to the individual walker or cyclist, and to take into account expected growth in activity – they are therefore proposing a target based on the rate of casualties:

• to reduce by at least 50% by 2020 the rate of KSI per km travelled by pedestrians and cyclists, compared with the 2004-08 average.

The views received in response to the proposals put forward will influence the final shape of the Department’s next road safety strategy, which is due to be published at the end of the year.

ESP is proven to significantly reduce fatal accidents, as the following video demonstrates:

“ESP can prevent up to 80 percent of all skid-related accidents,” said Dr. Werner Struth, president of the Chassis Systems Control division at Bosch, where ESP systems are made. “After the seat belt, the system is therefore the most important safety technology in the car.”

The mandatory installation of ESP on all new cars should help to further reduce the number of people killed on the roads in the EU.  In 2001, this figure was 50,000, but by 2006 that number had dropped to 29,500, partly thanks to the increasing fitment of ESP.

The move to make ESP compulsory is part of a package of EU-wide road safety measures.

These will include making lane departure warning systems and emergency brake assist compulsory on vehicles with a maximum weight of more than 3.5 tons and on passenger vehicles with more than eight seats by 2013.

Information Source :  Autocar

I see this every day… people driving whilst talking on mobile phones, or even worse – texting.  But although the average driver may think that hands-free equipment is perfectly safe, this may make you think again.

In what is seen as a landmark case, a sales boss, Lynne-Marie Howden, who was using a legal hands-free phone when she crashed and killed another driver, was recently found guilty of causing death by careless driving.  The prosecutor said: ‘She lost control because she was distracted by the call.  The collision would not have happened if she had not been on the phone and had been paying attention.’

Her final call was to a work colleague at 8.23am which lasted five minutes before she lost control of her car.  She later told officers: ‘It is entirely legal to use a mobile phone with a hands-free kit. I regularly make and receive calls while driving.  My car is effectively my office.’

The court heard Howden had earlier been seen swerving across the road and that minutes before the crash she was seen in the wrong lane and drove in front of a car.  She was using a hands-free kit with wired headphones attached when she fatally crashed in November 2007.

This story, and news that 3M has recently banned all types of mobile phone use while driving, has added weight to the increasingly compelling body of research from around the globe quantifying the dangers of communication equipment use and driving:

• University of Utah research published in 2002 showed that drivers using a hand-held or hands free phone missed twice as many hazards as when not using the phone, due to attention diversion.

• Research from Western Australia, published in the British Medical Journal, found that driving while talking on a mobile phone – whether hand-held or hands-free – increases the risk of a collision by four times.

• A study commissioned by a leading UK insurance company revealed that talking on any mobile phone while driving is so mentally distracting that it is as dangerous as driving when slightly over the UK and US legal blood-alcohol limit of 0.08.  ‘Cognitive distraction’ from a hands-free mobile phone is just as serious as that from a hand-held.

• Four TRL studies concluded that all car phone conversations and texting result in more drifting in lane, slower reaction time and more missed events.

Tony Holt, BT’s Travel Safety Subject Matter Expert said: ‘We suspect a lot of organisations will be nervously reviewing and tightening enforcement of their mobile phone polices again after seeing all this research, and the news generated by the Marie Howden case, which brings home the reality about driving using even a hands-free mobile.  It’s vital that our drivers follow BT policy and the legal requirements at all times’.

Dr Will Murray, Research Director of Interactive Driving Systems, has developed the following advice for managers and drivers.  His advice to managers is that it can be an offence to require people to use mobile communication equipment while driving – you are asking them to ‘drive while not in control of the vehicle’. Managers must:

• Lead by example.

• Tighten and enforce company policies limiting work and personal use of all mobile communication equipment while driving.

• Do not accept any breaches of the law or company policy concerning the use of mobile communication equipment in vehicles.  Any evidence, including complaints from other road users, of employees breaking these rules must be treated with the utmost seriousness.

• Supply ‘engine on / mobile communication equipment off’ that cannot be used when vehicles are in motion.

• Ensure drivers use voicemail or call diversion and stop regularly to check messages and return calls.

• Think about the ‘culture of mobile communication equipment use in your organisation, and if you contact an employee who may be driving:

1. Ask if it is safe to talk.
2. State how urgent the call is.
3. Keep the message brief and ask the driver to call you back when they stop.

The advice to drivers is:

• Be fully aware of the legal requirements and company policy regarding use of mobile communication equipment.

• Plan each aspect of your journey before you start, enabling you to take regular breaks and deal with calls.

• If your phone rings while driving, allow the call to divert to message bank or voicemail.

• Stop in a safe place to take regular breaks to make a call or retrieve messages. Do not stop where you pose a hazard for other vehicles or pedestrians.

• Never take notes, write messages, look up phone numbers, read or send SMS messages while driving.

• Use mobile communication equipment in a responsible manner, being aware of your surrounding environment, respecting the reasonable expectation of others in your immediate vicinity, particularly in locations such as in hospitals and airports and on airplanes and trains.

• Do not use a mobile phone whilst driving as your major task is to arrive safely at your destination.

• Under no circumstances participate in conference calls while driving.

• Avoid using mobile communication equipment while driving.

• Ensure your voicemail is activated or set up automatic diverts to other team members.

• Undertake critical calls and other mobile communication equipment use before starting your journey.

• Take regular breaks to deal with calls and messages.

• Ask your passengers to take and make calls on your behalf.

Dr Murray concludes by saying that even in cases where organisations feel the need to stop short of banning all use of mobile communication equipment while driving, managers and drivers should take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of themselves, their people and other road users in the wider community.

It has not yet been decided how the money would be distributed, but incentives would only be available to people buying cars that ran entirely, or for the vast majority of their time, on electricity. The scheme, which would be enforced by setting a ceiling for the amount of carbon dioxide a car emits, will become operational in 2011.

In addition, it is proposed that about 200 electric cars will be available in city centre across the country for the public to try out.

Almost a quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions come from transport, with 13 per cent of these from private cars.  But widespread adoption of electric vehicles capable of a range of 50km or more would cut road transport carbon emissions in half, according to a study by the Department for Transport.

In an interview with The Guardian, Mr Hoon said: “What we’ve got to get people used to is the idea that electric cars will become quite normal, quite usual.

“That people will have one, that it won’t be exceptional and, without being unkind to existing electric vehicles, they won’t be slightly odd, they will be cars that conform to appropriate safety standards and we can use on an everyday basis.”

He added: “I accept that, for most consumers, what drives their decision to buy a new car is generally the reduction in the cost of fuel rather than their concern about carbon emissions.

“But there are significant numbers of people, and those numbers are growing every day, who are concerned about the impact of carbon on the environment. It’s the responsibility of the government to help those people achieve our overall targets. Electric vehicles will be part of that, provided that we also ensure that the electricity we generate is generated increasingly from renewable sources.”

David Bott, director of innovation at the Technology Strategy Board, a government-sponsored research body which funds low-carbon research, said: “Now the motor manufacturers have understood that the [electric] car doesn’t have to be hair-shirt. These are now credible cars and you’re not giving up anything to use one but you get a benefit in terms of running costs – the equivalent cost per mile is an eighth or a tenth of the cost of using a petrol engine.”

Mr Hoon added that he was keen to work with Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, who recently announced his intent to make the city the electric car capital of Europe, by introducing 100,000 electric cars and building 25,000 charge points in the streets and car parks.

Mr Hoon said: “Clearly I want to work with him and see what’s possible in London and am willing to help financially if there are sensible schemes that can be brought forward. London is a showcase for the UK and large numbers of electric vehicles around the UK would be a good thing.”

Last week it was reported that Gordon Brown was planning an environmentally friendly budget, hoping to make Britain “a world leader” in producing and exporting electric cars and hybrid petrol-electric vehicles.

Mr Brown said that a “scrappage” scheme where motorists would get up to £2,000 for trading in an older car for a cleaner new vehicle, was possible, adding that he would consider buying electric cars for minsiters as a means of setting an example.

His comments came as Jaguar Land Rover was granted a £340 million loan from the European Investment Bank to develop “green vehicles”, while Nissan received a further £373 million to be split between its plants in Sunderland and Spain.

For more information on this story, visit the BBC’s website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8001254.stm

Research by esure car insurance released last week finds that some motorists are putting themselves and others at risk by Tweeting behind the wheel. The insurers say nearly one in ten of motorists questioned are using mobile internet services and social networks whilst driving.

To prove the point, esure released the following list of driving Tweets:

“Driving with my knees and peeling an orange…Probably not the safest thing to be doing.”

“Driving school bus”

“Irresponsible twitter driving woo!”

“Driving up to Newcastle while we Tweet!”

“Driving home in the rain…almost crashed!”

“Trying my best to stay awake while driving”

“Awake, hungover, and driving”

“Is it wise to use Twitter while driving? Probably not”

“Intoxicated driving. Let’s hope this works out”

“Twittering and driving…”

Mike Pickard, Head of Risk & Underwriting at esure car insurance, said: “There is a time and a place for social networking and it certainly isn’t when driving a car. Messages being posted on Twitter from behind the wheel are a real cause for concern for the safety of other motorists and pedestrians.”

But the Association of British Drivers (ABD) have hit back at the recent claims, saying it isn’t British drivers putting road users at risk with the social networking site, saying the research by esure’s “Twittering PR is ‘Only a Commercial’!”

In its own research, the ABD found many of the Tweets quoted by esure were not UK based:

“Driving with my knees and peeling an orange…Probably not the safest thing to be doing.”- USA

“Driving school bus”- USA

“Irresponsible twitter driving woo!”- USA

“Driving up to Newcastle while we Tweet!”- Australia

“Driving home in the rain…almost crashed!”- Australia

“Trying my best to stay awake while driving”- USA

“Awake, hungover, and driving”- USA

“Is it wise to use Twitter while driving? Probably not”- USA

“Intoxicated driving. Let’s hope this works out”- USA

“Twittering and driving…”- USA

ABD spokesman Nigel Humphries said: “Whilst everyone should rightly be concerned about any unnecessary distractions to driving, using evidence from other countries in an attempt to generate a bit of publicity and incite more hysteria about British drivers is not remotely helpful.

“All drivers should make every effort to avoid all unnecessary distractions whilst driving.”

ABD chairman Brian Gregory added: “If this is typical of the analytical skills of insurance companies, no wonder premiums are so high.”

From 1st April 2009, 66 pence of the average litre of fuel will go straight into a central government tax pot, the funds of which can be spent on anything the government so desires – housing, education, the NHS, pensions or even banking bailouts.

At the height of soaring pump prices in the middle of 2008, Gordon Brown made a promise during Prime Minister’s Questions not to raise fuel duty for a year.  He stated: “In recognition of the problem people face with petrol, we are freezing duty on petrol for the full year.”

Brown first broke his promise in December 2008 when he added 2 pence per litre to fuel duty in order to offset loss caused by the reduction in VAT to 15%.  This angered hauliers throughout the UK who, although able to claim back the fuel VAT, are unable to claim back fuel duty.

And now he is set to break his promise for a second time… oh joy…!