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Back in the 60’s, when I lived in Slough, obviously we are talking a very young age, they came up with a unique traffic calming system on the A4 that ran alongside the huge industrial estate.

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They had a series of traffic lights, about 8 I believe, and if you stuck exactly to 30mph you would breeze through the lot without stopping, much to the joy of the locals and much to the annoyance of them there strangers just passing through.

My dad would be sitting at the lights and a boy racer would turn up on the outside lane with his supped up Cooper S, sitting at the lights whilst revving the piston rings out of the car and glancing over at my dad who would have a bit of a wry smile on his face. Lights change to amber and the Cooper S is off like brown smelly stuff off a shovel.

Next set of lights he would be sitting there whilst the old man sedately cruised by at 30mph just as the lights turned. And so on and so on. Why have I shared these joyous memories with you? Because technology has finally caught up nearly 50 years later thanks to Audi. They have brought out a traffic light recognition system that they say could put an end to waiting at the traffic lights.

The system works via the in car’s Audi Connect which creates a link between the car and the local traffic light network. The system displays a required speed that the driver must stick to in order to smoothly glide through each set of traffic lights.

The system is apparently developed and ready to go. Can’t wait! Oh, and if you are driving down the A4 and the traffic calming is still operational I’d love to know. Drop me a line! By Graham Hill

Related articles

• Audi’s Innovative Traffic Light Assist (auto2014.wordpress.com)

I was shocked to hear on Radio 5 Live that there is no-one responsible for advising drivers of high sided vehicles when it is safe or unsafe to drive in high winds.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Drivers of trucks explained that during the recent high winds there was no agency responsible for stopping them from driving, in fact under pressure from their employers, drivers found themselves driving in highly dangerous conditions. Whilst employers said that they left it to the drivers to assess whether it was dangerous the drivers themselves admitted to driving in treacherous conditions for fear of losing their jobs.

They also admitted to being blown into the middle lane of motorways causing problems for car drivers. One driver explained that there was no legislation, nor were any warnings posted on the motorway warning Matrix signs warning of the dangers. As a result of this Auto Express decided to carry out an investigation to see who is responsible and why it doesn’t seem to be working.

They first spoke to the Highways Agency who denied responsibility and referred them to the Department for Transport for ‘any legislation that exists on this’. Passing the buck the DfT suggested that as this was health and safety in the workplace that it must surely be the responsibility of the Health and Safety Executive.

They, in turn, said it wasn’t a matter for them, go to the DfT or the Department of Business Innovation and Skill (BIS). What? Having already tried the DfT without success they moved on to BIS who suggested that they try the DfT who could contact the Highways Agency or one of their partners. So there you have it – bloody useless.

So whilst the drivers of high sided vehicles dice with death make sure that when it is windy you don’t travel too close to the side of a truck or you might find yourself sharing the cab with the driver or more seriously involved in a very nasty accident. By Graham Hill

Related articles

• Truck drivers: ‘Wind is very dangerous when it comes to 18 wheelers’ (wkyt.com)

A Gatso speed camera (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometimes you get the feeling of déjà vu when you read something in a magazine and think to yourself, here we go again! Years ago, before most of the bloody things were turned off, local authorities were accused of putting up speed cameras to simply raise money, not to save lives.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

They would hide them behind trees or camouflage them so that you didn’t stand an earthly of seeing them. So as you raced past the gates of a school, you weren’t slowed down, as was supposed to be the intention, instead you simply received a fixed penalty notice in the post.

As a result the local authorities were forced to paint the Gatso’s yellow so that motorists could see them and slow down to prove that the point was safety not money making. So I was surprised to see that London council, Redbridge, is trialling automated CCTV cameras to capture motorists straddling yellow boxes and making illegal turns in order to issue automatic fines.

At the moment fines can only be issued when a camera operator views the offence either live or on a recording. The new system uses number plate recognition to identify the driver then issues fines automatically via the computer system. The system has already been introduced by some local authorities to capture drivers illegally driving in bus lanes.

However this latest move has caused the AA and RAC concern who believe that the objective may be money raising rather than deter bad driver habits. Time will tell. By Graham Hill

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• Redbridge Council unveils first automated CCTV system for box junction offences (thisismoney.co.uk)

Bits & Pieces: Britain’s most expensive parking space is up for sale in London’s Kensington Area. The underground bay is up for sale at £400,000, 15 times the average UK salary of £26,500. It is also double the average price of a house in the UK. But with property prices in the SW7 region of London averaging £2.3 million the parking space will soon be snapped up I’m sure.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

I reported a while ago that electric cars will soon be charged wirelessly (like your kettle) in the near future. I can now confirm that Toyota are carrying out field trials on a wireless charger embedded into the floor of a number of domestic garages. The car is parked over the bed and fully charged in 90 minutes.

Trials are being carried out on the new Prius Plug In Hybrid. Again talking about Toyota they have closed on a deal with BMW to supply them with a family of diesels. The 1.6 currently fitted on the Verso will be extended across other cars in the range whilst platforms developed for 2.0 litre units are already prepared for production. By Graham Hill

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• Next-Gen Prius Plug-In Will Auto Park Over Wireless Chargers (caranddriver.com)

Bus Lane (Photo credit: didbygraham)

Years ago, at the age of 21, I worked for the International Perfume manufacturer Faberge as their cost and management accountant. For those old enough to know they were the creators of world changing Brut, the first ever unisex fragrance. One of the advantages of working there was access to cheap bottles of Brut and any other product they sold at the time.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Perks of the job, in the same way that my dad and my brother in law received big discounts on air travel by working for British Airways. But what benefits do those men and women that drive around all day in dayglow cars with flashing blue lights all over them. Not many I would suggest.

They don’t even get to take the company car home for private use in the evening and weekend, the wife might not agree but the kids would love it. One of the few benefits I can see is that motorists seem to get out of the way when they see a police car waiting to move into traffic or are cruising through the centre of town.

You might also assume that they have free access to restricted areas where only busses, taxis and cyclists are allowed and of course bus lanes. After a busy day of chasing around after cracked up 15 year old joy riders, stopping robbers who are likely to pull out a sawn off shotgun from under their seat after being forced to stop by one of these brave boys and girls in blue, you would think that they are entitled a little bit of privilege, such as nipping down a bus lane in order to get home to their bangers and mash.

If you thought that and you live in Birmingham you would be wrong. Birmingham City Council actually send out fines to the police for improper use of their bus lanes. Have you ever heard of anything so amazingly bloody ridiculous. Since last September more than 400 notices were served on the police amounting to £24,000 after putting up signs barring all vehicles, other than buses and taxis of course.

They then used CCTV to catch those driving down the bus lane and issue £30 fines that double after 14 days. So far about a quarter of the tickets issued to the police have been cancelled as the police have proven that the cars were on emergency calls. They have had to use valuable resources to prove that the car was on a shout at the time.

The police have also confirmed that they will be looking into all remaining fines to see if the car was on an emergency call. WHAT??? Instead of stopping villains from duffing up old people and nicking their life savings the police will be busy checking their telemetrics and video footage to see if the drivers were on emergency calls at the time of being caught in a bus lane.

Is it me? Please tell me it’s not me that doesn’t get it? Whoever is responsible in the council for this ridiculous situation, and I don’t care whether you are a man or woman – you are a total knob! By Graham Hill

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• Councils not amending bus lane signs (bbc.co.uk)

As the spec of new model year cars start to include DAB digital radios as standard the Government seems to be stalling over the final switch off date of analogue signals. The initial deadline was 2015 but culture minister, Ed Vaizey refused to provide a timeframe when asked during the recent Go Digital Conference in London.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Currently only 40% of new cars have DAB radios fitted as standard with the figure set to increase to 50% this year. The switchover will only take place when more than 50% of all broadcasts are digital, it currently stands at 35%. Mr Vaizey said, ‘I absolutely believe that the future of radio in this country is digital.

We cannot go back. We’re not there yet, so now is not the time to switch.’ How long have they had to get this sorted out? Piss ups and breweries spring to mind.

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• Ed Vaizey ‘won’t be pushed’ into digital radio switchover date (theguardian.com)

Whilst the Government seems to be moving green issues down the agenda, as people would apparently prefer to keep warm than pay a green levy to save the planet, the car manufacturers are steaming on with their objective of making cars more fuel efficient and kick out fewer CO2 gases.

It was only a couple of years ago when manufacturers were struggling to get below the 120g/km CO2 emissions, even in their smallest of town cars but that is all set to change. The new Vauxhall line up will include its latest 1.6litre diesel eco engines that will drop the CO2 emissions down to 85g/km.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

The engine is already fitted into the Zafira Tourer and is set to be joined by the Astra, Meriva and Mokka which will help Vauxhall keep to the European emissions targets. Alongside the new eco friendly Vauxhall engine is the Ford Focus Econetic (87g/km) and the Peugeot 308 (85g/km).

Of course it isn’t the social conscience of ex hippy retail buyers that are snapping up these low emission cars, it would seem that large companies with high emissions have to pay for each tonne of CO2 they release into the atmosphere and that includes the emissions from the tailpipe of their vehicle fleet.

Other small businesses simply want to keep emissions down although if you think you may avoid congestion charges in London, think again as you need to drop down to 75g/km before you are exempt.

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• Report: EU compromises on loosening CO2 emission limits (green.autoblog.com)

Bits & Pieces: Boris has set up a task force in London to carry out road improvements. A budget of £30 million was announced by the task force when they unveiled their plans which included more 20mph zones, proposals to improve cycling routes plus more travel at off-peak times.

If you’re reading this Boris I don’t suppose you could bung a few quid in the direction of West Sussex in order to fill a few bloody potholes could you? I’ll take that as a no then!

According to Home Secretary, William Hague, foreign diplomats and embassies owe more than £68.6 million in unpaid parking fines, congestion charges and business rates. Apparently the biggest culprits are the Americans, with unpaid fines of £7.2 million. I have to say William – your debt collection is shit! If you need a hand I know a couple of gentlemen that know their way around a baseball bat if you get my drift.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Ever had a row with your neighbour? If you have it is most likely to have been about parking, as according to the AA (not the group who like a drink or two) fall outs between neighbours, in the majority of cases, are over parking.

In a third of all quarrels investigated they turned out to be over a blocked access or driveway or parking outside a neighbour’s home. For goodness sake sort your lives out! Good grief! Do you have a little receptacle in your car into which you drop your loose change for use when parking?

If you don’t, you should! It would seem that a staggering £1.3 billion is wasted every year by drivers who don’t have the correct money when they pay for parking at the pay and display ticket machines.

The study, carried out by Direct Line, found that drivers overpaid on average by £2.19 per week or £113 wasted each year. All for the sake of throwing your loose change in a pot in the car!

Image via Wikipedia

Now here’s something interesting. I’m sure you’ve seen the signs on the motorway that shows a junction and an idea of the time it will take you to get there, something like ‘You will reach the A3 in 15 miles, 13 minutes’. Not quite sure of the purpose unless you take it as a bit of a challenge and see if you can reach it in 10 minutes whilst an unmarked police Read more »

What is wrong with car insurers? Lots as it goes but one of the headings I’d lop a few under is daft. Let’s take the case of bogus smashes. The ones we read about all the time, known now as ‘cash for crash’ incidents, whereby an accident is staged by drivers resulting in a fraudulent claim. Now if you found a fraudulent claim occurring at say a roundabout or Read more »