You could apply the brakes to rising insurance premiums with some careful brochure bashing. Ferrari or Fiat 500 – everyone knows the cost to insure these cars will be as different as their performance – but few are aware that choosing a car with new auto-emergency-braking technology can cut the cost of insurance, year after year, according to a survey of … [Read more...]
Features
New technology is killing more people
The Department for Transport recently announced that the number of deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s road rose by 4% to nearly 25,000 in 2014, with some commentators suggesting that in-car technology is distracting drivers behind the wheel. This concern is echoed in consumer research undertaken by BCA, Europe’s leading used vehicle marketplace, … [Read more...]
Safety summit called on mobile phones
“Multitasking” drivers who make business calls on the move may hope to impress the boss or close the deal – but they will achieve the exact opposite. This is the key message from Professor Andrew Parkes, chief scientist at TRL, one of the speakers to address a PACTS conference in London this month. Pacts' UK Road Safety Summit: Drink, Drugs & … [Read more...]
Worries expressed over driverless cars
The AA acknowledges that the Select Committee report Motoring of the Future poses many pertinent questions about the future of motoring but the AA maintains that neither the report nor Government yet has the vision to answer those questions. Edmund King, AA president, said, “The report rightly points to potential problems of a transition period on the … [Read more...]
Weaker Euro is helping premium brand imports
Prolonged weakness of the euro against many other currencies could be beneficial to European automotive manufacturers, although the effects will vary, says Moody's. Automotive manufacturers are amongst Europe’s largest exporters, with most exports headed to the US, as well as to other European countries and Asia.2 They have broadened their global … [Read more...]
45 penalty points and still driving – legally!
One in twenty UK drivers have taken the rap for someone else’s penalty points, according to Confused.com. Freedom of Information data obtained by Confused.com reveals nearly three million motorists currently have penalty points on their licence, with 70,158 currently holding nine points – just three points off a potential ban. Should 12 points be … [Read more...]
UK new car sales heading towards 2.3M says leading economist
Britain is likely to see an annual market of about 2.3M new cars registered by 2020, that’s the opinion of Welsh Automotive Forum Chairman and international economist Prof Garel Rhys CBE on the eve of this year’s 15-plate registrations. Speaking to WAF members at their first regional meeting of 2015 held in Waterton centre, Bridgend, this week, the UK’s … [Read more...]
Automated cars are coming to a road near you, sometime
by Ross Travers With 2014 presenting us with futuristic concepts that threaten to transform the way we drive, driverless cars and wearable tech are major talking points at the moment. It all sounds like something from Back to the Future, but the reality is that these incredible gadgets are beginning to creep into everyday life. As the first … [Read more...]
Motorway changes danger to users, says AA
AA analysis of potential driver behaviour on new all-lane-running motorways with no hard shoulders, but spaced refuge areas shows that around 10% of drivers would seek to take advantage of an empty first lane – even if it was closed to prevent an accident. Despite ‘red X’ signs telling them to stay out of the lane, 3% would continue in the closed lane … [Read more...]
EVs gaining sales as market slowly recovers
European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association has set out its forecast for 2015 and released last year’s registration figures for electric vehicles. Last year, new passenger car registrations were up 5.7% on the previous year, reaching 12.6 million units. “This is significant because it was the EU’s first positive annual result since the financial … [Read more...]
