Friday, 21. May 2010
Great news for those that like driving long distances on A roads but wish that there were service station like motorway service stations along the way. Well you should be careful what you wish for. Welcome Break is about to set up shop on A roads, the first of which will be the former Little Chef on the A34 Peartree Interchange near Oxford. The new facility will be opened on the 5th July and will feature Waitrose, Starbucks Read more »
Tuesday, 18. May 2010
Considering the particularly bad winter that we suffered there are suggestions that we should follow other European countries and introduce winter tyres. Whilst not wishing to go the compulsory route it has been suggested that we should adopt the Dutch system of making winter tyres widely available. After making the tyres available about 10 years ago it is understood that about 50% of drivers switch each winter. Read more »
Sunday, 28. March 2010
The new road fund licence rules come into force on the 1st April. For some it is good news as those with low emission cars will see the cost of their RFL or road tax reduced, in some cases to zero, but a big row has broken out because drivers have to renew before the 1st April to ensure that the car is taxed at all times but because the DVLA was having a cup of tea they couldn’t be arsed to change their computer Read more »
Monday, 22. March 2010
A group of companies including Ricardo and Volvo Cars are working on new technology that will allow for road trains to be created whereby regular users of a motorway can lock onto each other forming a train of vehicles kept at a constant speed and distance enabling the drivers to get on with other things such as work and phone calls. Much of the technology is already available such as sat nav, distance sensors and Read more »
Tuesday, 9. March 2010
According to tyre provider, Protyre, pothole damage is increasing whilst local authorities are unwilling to carry out repair work until the bad weather is over, for fear that any work done now will be wasted if the cold weather continues and re-pops out the filler. Protyre suggest that 300 new potholes are being identified in Britain every day with hundreds of pounds of damage being caused to tyres and suspension. Read more »
Tuesday, 26. January 2010
Following the bad weather there have been reports from all over the country that pot holes, some the size of a small cave, have opened up on not just minor and B roads but also on A roads. Even some motorways have some nasty craters on them as I experienced a few evenings ago on the M25. This is clearly the result of budget cuts and either Bodgit and co – road workers carrying out the work or those gentle folk that Read more »
Wednesday, 25. November 2009
We tend to be pretty reactionary when it comes to the way we act in our day to day lives. We hear that there has been an increase in paedophile activity in public parks so we keep a closer eye on our children when taking them out or even stop the kids from going out at all. Hear that Swine Flu will become a pandemic and we rush out to get vaccinated – and rightly so. So when we hear that road injuries sustained Read more »
Monday, 9. November 2009
Fears are growing regarding the safety of cars on our roads as drivers put off service and maintenance work in order to save some money during the recession. There has also been an increase in employees either asking to be put on a cash for cars scheme or for their employers to introduce a scheme. It is felt the motives are purely financial with employees looking to downsize their car and pocket what equates to an Read more »
Saturday, 7. November 2009
Whilst the Government has said that they would not be introducing road pricing until after the next parliament at the earliest, the Conservatives have kept the idea completely off its agenda and the Liberals of course would like action immediately the influential Committee on Climate Change has put road pricing  firmly back on the agenda for immediate consideration. They have dropped the idea of Read more »
Thursday, 1. October 2009
According to Michelin we are likely to see much greener tyres in the future. Not colour green, those wags at Michelin point out, but environmentally green. They explained that along with many other tyre manufacturers they have been supporting the tests carried out by DEKRA and TUV. They take a fleet of cars and fit single make tyres on them then drive the 8 identical cars a distance of 10,000Km in 2 convoys. The routes Read more »