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Ford seems obsessed with their rear view mirrors. First (as I announced recently) they added an option to have a Sat Nav built into the mirror now they have the option of adding a rear camera with the screen in the mirror. Buyers of all models from the Edge to the Titanium will have the £475 option available that includes the camera, automatic headlamps and wipers, camera and rear parking sensors as well as the special rear view mirror. Good idea or potentially a distraction? What do you think? By Graham Hill

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• Ford Fiesta gets mirror-mounted rearview camera (gizmag.com)

Graham Hill’s gadget of the week is an app for iPhone and iPad. It provides traffic updates. The app provides details of congestion on the roads for a one-off fee. It is called UK Traffic and it sells for less than £2. It covers the whole of the UK with a map, route checker, incident list and traffic radio. You can search for delays en route, see them on a map and get info on how long the queue is, the length of the delay and even the cause. Live traffic radio can be paused and rewound to take a call or left playing in the background. Amazing value for money. By Graham Hill

What is going on? After recently reporting that Bentley’s had to be recalled because of problems with the flying B badges on the bonnet Rolls are at it and having to recall 6,705 Rollers from around the world as a result of a wider recall of BMW’s. The problem relates to the brakes fitted on all V8 and V12 models which includes Rolls Royce Phantom models. Other cars affected are BMW 5, 6 and 7 Series. The problem is a possible leak in the power braking system – nice! It reduces the amount of Read more »

What are the two most dangerous things that a motorist can do that could result in injury or death? Most people would assume this to be the two things that the government, media and safety organisations obsess over. Speeding and drink driving. We are about to be hit with a campaign regarding drink driving as we run up to Christmas and there seems to be a year round campaign to demonise those that speed. Read more »

You’ll probably be pleased to hear that over the next 10 years there’s going to be a £32 billion programme of replacing ageing electricity cables and gas pipes across the UK. As a result the AA has proposed that the utility firms should be charged the moment they start digging up roads as a sort of lane rental in order to speed up the work and limit the inconvenience to road users. Edmund King, president of the AA said, ‘Governments have procrastinated for a quarter of a century. With £32 billion Read more »

Research by licence checking company, CFC solutions, revealed that whilst there is a common held belief that young drivers and older drivers have more points on their licences than those in their middle age, it’s not as simple as that. The theory held good and younger and older drivers (17 – 25 & 65+) certainly do have a higher frequency of points on their licences but it was found that those in the 25-34 and 35-44 age groups, when they had points, they were more than in the other age groups. Read more »

Electric vehicles are too quiet! I mentioned this in one of my very early articles about the introduction of electric vehicles. With no engine, only a fairly quiet motor, electric vehicles could pose a danger to pedestrians and cyclists. Modec, manufacturer of electric commercial vehicles has said that of all the vehicles built over the past 3 years, only one customer, Royal Mail, has asked for noise awareness equipment to be fitted. They say this is because the vans are being used in large hangers so Read more »

I loved the story about those responsible for vehicle fleets attending the recent Fleet Van conference. These people are all responsible for making sure that drivers act lawfully and adhere to all areas of vehicle, driver and employee legislation. But whilst they were listening to the speakers, ATS Euromaster had nipped out to the car park with their tread gauges and checked all the vehicles. The attendees were then confronted by the fact that 9% of the vehicles were given Red Tyre warnings. This Read more »

My gadget of the week is the equivalent to an in car black box. It’s an app that runs on the Android system on mobile phones. It allows you to relive a journey complete with details such as speed, time and location. The Daily Roads Voyager app uses your smartphone’s and built in GPS sensor to record a mixture of photo and video information. You will be able to record and share details of anything you see in your travels but in the event of an accident you will have video evidence and data such Read more »

There’s a scandal out there that no-one realised. Yep, you guessed it we’re talking exhausts here. Dirty exhausts. Emission testers Emission Test Facility UK, based in Longbridge, West Mids. tested scores of aftermarket exhaust systems against manufacturer’s own with some shocking results. Some emitted up to 20 times the level of nitrogen dioxide and twice as many hydrocarbons. One well known brand’s £300 Read more »