Drivers missed out on £2.3million of savings by not renewing their photocard driving licence using DVLA’s online service, according to the DVLA. Between April 2020 and March 2021, around 23% of the two million renewal applications it received were sent in either by post or via the post office but renewing a photocard driving licence using GOV.UK costs £14 … [Read more...]
Decade of action on road safety
The United Nations launches its Decade of Action on Road Safety 2021-2030, with the target of preventing at least 50% of the current level of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030. Businesses have a major part to play in achieving this target, says Driving for Better Business, a free to access government-backed National Highways … [Read more...]
Tradelines 21 April
The Volkswagen ID.4 has been voted World Car of the Year 2021. Over 90 international motoring writers nominated the pure electric model and it marks the fifth time VW has taken the top award. Future smart motorways have been parked up until radar technology improves to make them safer after a series of fatal accidents and severe injuries. The Government … [Read more...]
Dangerous dynamic motorway hard shoulders culled
Dynamic hard shoulder smart motorways will be abolished on safety grounds, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced today. In a Parliamentary Statement he said, “Following concerns about Smart Motorway safety, I asked my Department to review the evidence and, if needed, bring forward recommendations. Today I am publishing that work and taking the action … [Read more...]
Newslines 28 January
More than 22% of parents and grandparents who transport children by car admit to not using a child car seat all of the time putting lives at risk, says the RAC. While 16% of those who confessed to breaking the law by not properly securing their youngest passengers said they had done so only very rarely, a worrying 3% said they regularly do this and another … [Read more...]
Smart motorways outwit dangerous drivers
With hundreds of miles of smart motorways across England now using the hard shoulder as either a permanent or part-time running lane, the RAC found more than a fifth of motorists have driven in a lane closed by the red X sign in the past year, potentially putting lives at risk. Twenty-three per cent of drivers surveyed by the RAC admitted to having broken … [Read more...]
Newslines 13 February
A group of MPs will review ‘Smart Motorways’. Introduced in 2014, the breakdown lane is used in peak times as an extra carriageway but there have been many fatal accidents on them involving recovery operators. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has announced that a record number of places are available for the company’s 2019 Apprenticeship Programme. Since … [Read more...]
Smart motorways worry drivers, say GEM
Road safety and breakdown organisation GEM Motoring Assist says two thirds of motorists are concerned about safety on smart motorways. In a survey of more than 2,500 people the main concern expressed by 51 per cent was of breaking down with no access to a hard shoulder. GEM road safety officer Neil Worth commented that it was easy to see why motorists … [Read more...]
Call for crackdown on poor lane-discipline
Confused.com says four in five drivers have been tailgated while a third admit to hogging the middle lane. Despite a proliferation of poor lane discipline it remains a notoriously difficult offence to monitor. “Careless driving” includes offences such as tailgating, middle-lane hogging, undertaking and driving too slowly. Yet only 2,012 drivers fell … [Read more...]
Drivers face safety school for “smart” offence – police
Drivers caught offending on so-called smart motorways in England could be offered re-education courses by police. Police chiefs said the new road rules were confusing motorists and more awareness was needed and have proposed classes similar to those for first time speeding offenders. Figures obtained by BBC Radio 5 live suggest an 18% rise in the … [Read more...]
