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 Warnings have been issued, especially to companies who have a duty of care for those who drive on company business, about the new Government campaign to reduce the amount of drug-driving especially amongst younger drivers following research that shows 1 in 10 young male drivers admit to driving after taking illegal drugs. The £2.3 million campaign has been launched which will no doubt be complimented by increased police activity. Road safety charity Brake has also adopted the anti drink and drug driving theme for its Road Safety Week – Not A Drop, Not A Drag – taking place from November 23^rd – 29^th. By Graham Hill

This is becoming a real technology week, we’re now onto Sat Navs that save you fuel! Yep, I kid you not. Whilst the sat nav on my last car, a BMW 7 Series, insisted on taking me round in a complete circle in the middle of London for a good ¾ hour last Christmas and after averting a traffic jam on the M25, on many occasions, insisted on re-routing me straight back into the midst of the logjam, they think they have the technology to calculate the route that saves most fuel! Bosch are currently Read more »

Would you like to be a road worker? I know we all complain about the 3 miles of cones before we get to the 10’ stretch of central reservation being repaired by 4 road workers but frankly it’s not a job that I would like to do given the lunatic way that some motorists thrash down the reduced lanes of the motorway or A road. Unsurprisingly 10 road workers were killed and 81 were seriously injured Read more »

New regulations have come before Parliament that will allow Highways Agency traffic officers to authorise the removal of broken down and abandoned vehicles from motorways and A roads. This will give Highways officers similar powers to the police. Could this be the thin end of the wedge? By Graham Hill

The Government has launched a major review of road signs, the biggest for 40 years. Transport Minister, Rosie Winterton, has called upon all motorists to have their say in how Britain’s streets should look in future. The review is aimed at using latest technology to help cut congestion and emissions and keep traffic moving safely and efficiently. The idea is to provide local authorities with new powers to Read more »

If you live or travel around Birmingham you will have seen that work has begun on the £150 million scheme on the M6, M40 and M42 to introduce variable speed limits and hard-shoulder running. Two new stretches of the M6 will be opened for hard-shoulder running during peak periods and variable speed limits will be in force on parts of the M6, M42 and M40. The work is part of a £6 billion investment aimed at Read more »

Tyresafe have launched a digitally animated guide to tyre safety on it’s website to help motorists avoid problems associated with poorly maintained or neglected tyres. Visit http://www.tyresafe.org/videos/ to see the presentations. They are really good, click on each link to watch each short video. Did you know that it isn’t the rubber on the road that keeps you safe but the air in the tyre? You need to watch the videos. By Graham Hill

As we all know it is quite normal for grey clouds to have a silver lining. I am busier than normal as consumers and small businesses look for ways to reduce their vehicle costs as we move closer to recession. For reasons mentioned previously leasing is a great option when times get hard but as fuel prices remain high we are seeing emptier roads. People are taking fewer trips in their cars in order to save fuel although Read more »

One in five of all reported road incidents involves a parked vehicle. There are 700,000 incidents costing an estimated £1.25 billion to repair. About 80% of the parked car incidents (PCI‘s) occurred on the street. The remainder were in public car parks. The cost of repair averaged £1,800. London topped the list of worst cities in the UK for PCI’s followed by Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and Norwich. One in 10 PCI crashes handled by Accident Exchange were recorded in the capital. Main contributing factors to the PCI problems are increased congestion on residential streets and competition for car park spaces. The real fear is that with more information available identifying hot spots the insurance companies may increase premiums so much that residents are priced out of insuring their vehicles. By Graham Hill

Last year saw the lowest number of road deaths since records began 80 years ago. The Department for Transport revealed that deaths fell by 7% last year from 3,172 to 2,943 despite indications that levels of traffic rose. Road deaths have been slowly dropping year on year but last year saw the biggest drop over recent years. In 2007 car driver and passenger deaths dropped by 11% and the number of seriously injured and other casualties dropped by 9% and 6% respectively. Whilst the latest drop was welcomed by the RAC Foundation and RoSPA  both organisations warned against complacency. Whilst the figures have dropped significantly there are still thousands dying on our roads each year. By Graham Hill