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As we know many local authorities have questioned the effectiveness of speed cameras with some switching them off completely as they found them just too expensive to maintain. But the presence of speed cameras, whether working or not, are considered to be braking ‘black spots’.

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A study carried out by driver data firm, Wunelli found that hard braking was on average 6 times more likely to occur just before a speed camera with some sites up to 11 times more likely. The report raises concerns that speed cameras actually encourage poor driver behaviour with drivers braking hard within 50 meters of a camera then speeding up immediately after.

The conclusions were reached after analysing data collected collected over a billion miles of motoring resulting in a top ten of speed camera braking black spots. The events were collected within 50 meters of each camera and between 50 and 100 meters in residential areas with 30, 40 and 50mph speed limits.

Founding director of Wunelli, Paul Stacey, explained that he wasn’t in favour of speeding and wasn’t opposed to speed cameras but the report questioned the value of speed cameras as safety tools. He went on to say, ‘They appear top encourage poor driving behaviour. After hard braking, drivers often speed up again.’

Looking at the top ten, number 1 on the list is on the M4 near to Boston Manor rail station, West London. They recorded 57 hard braking events within the 50 meter range, that is 11 times the average. In 2^nd place, again 11 times the norm, was a camera on Rochdale Road in Middleton, Greater Manchester. Followed by a camera on the A4146 Leighton Buzzard Road in Hemel Hempstead, Herts running at 8 times the average number of events.

The highest number of single hard-braking events was found at the camera on the A40 Western Avenue, Ruislip, North West London. Here drivers hit the brakes 261 times within 50 meters of the camera. The usual response came from the RAC Foundation pointing out that the law is the law and no-one should be exceeding the speed limit in the first place which would mean that drivers wouldn’t have to slow down at the sight of a speed camera. Really?

Well who’d have thought? The fact is that there must be a better way of controlling speed, someone needs to get their thinking cap on. By Graham Hill

I only found out recently that the fine for driving an uninsured car is just £300. No wonder so many young drivers drive without insurance because the fine, if they get caught, is considerably less than it would cost to take out insurance in the first place.

Even with the cheapest car the premium could be many times the fine. It must be time to increase the fine to a minimum of £5,000 for driving without insurance along with compulsory confiscation of the vehicle. Sadly we don’t seem to have punishments in this country to fit the crime. By Graham Hill

Following on from my notes on the change in law regarding Brits breaking motoring laws in Europe, it would seem that Jonny Foreigner is more likely to get away with offences over here than we are over there as the number of traffic cops in England and Wales has dropped by 23% over the last 4 years.

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.

In March 2010 the number of traffic cops stood at 5,635 but by March 2014 the number had dropped to 4,356. Some areas have been cut back dramatically, for example Devon and Cornwall have dropped from 539 to just 57 in 2014, a drop of 76% with Essex declining by 71%. The figures have angered the RAC who have said, ‘These figures make a mockery of motoring law.

If there are not enough police on the road, we can introduce all the new rules we want, but those breaking them just will not get caught.’ And to prove the point some figures were recently released that showed the worst speeding culprit to be a moron driving at 128 mph in a 30mph zone exceeding the limit by a mind blowing 98 miles per hour.

The highest recorded speed in the UK was recorded on a camera on the M25 in Kent with two cars hitting 146 miles per hour – twats! The frightening figures were revealed following a Freedom of Information request made by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) following which all but 6 of the 36 police forces across England and Wales responded.

Each force that replied had at least one case of a driver exceeding 110MPH. Sarah Sillars, IAM chief executive, said, ‘It was disheartening, to say the least, that some road users are showing such disregard for the safety of all other road users. At speeds of 140 MPH it is simply impossible for an individual to react to anything that might happen in front of him.’ By Graham Hill

It now seems that you are more likely to suffer a speeding fine when travelling abroad than in the UK. It was a few years ago when the DVLA became obliged to provide driver details if a Brit was caught speeding, or committing any other vehicle related crime, in another EU member country.

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.

But you only received a fine if you were stopped by roadside police, you would not receive a fine if caught on a speed camera. But that is about to change. The European Parliament has now voted in favour of new laws that give police forces on the Continent the power to track drivers home and pursue payment of fines.

Authorities in any member EU country can now use the number plate picked up by the speed camera to identify the driver and his home address then issue the fine and even take court action if the fine remains unpaid. As it goes I don’t know too many people who nip across to France simply to put the Ford Focus through its paces on a French motorway, sticking two fingers out of the car window as yet another speed camera catches them exceeding the motorway limit.

In fact quite the opposite, for at least half their trip, as the car strains to get much beyond 30 mph as it carts back to the Ferry 40 cases of the mega hypermarket’s finest red ‘for personal use only’. What I do see, living not that far from Dover, is cars and trucks with foreign plates breaking just about every law going so I was pleased to see that the laws apply across Europe so we will be able to pursue foreign drivers breaking the law in the UK.

The new laws that come into force in May include offences such as speeding, ignoring red lights, drink & drug driving and using a mobile phone. In the past the only offence that could be pursued was speeding. Whilst the new laws come into effect in May the DVLA has been given a 2 year extension to adapt their systems before it is legally bound to share data on UK drivers caught abroad. At the moment the laws only relate to fines but next year the EU is looking into harmonising penalty points.

If this comes about it means that UK drivers could end up losing their licences through breaking the law abroad. Our roads minister, Robert Goodwill (no I’d never heard of him either) has said we will oppose such a move and we would vote against such a move. This whole issue raises questions over data protection. We like to think that our systems in the UK are robust but what happens when data is requested by other EU countries, could the information be used for other purposes? A question that hasn’t been answered. By Graham Hill

There should be an App for that! How many times have you seen something or done something that is a complete pain in the jacksy thinking – there should be an app for that on my phone. It would make life so much easier. I thought this at the end of last year when the new Dartford Crossing charge system was introduced.

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 agreed that introducing some other form of payment that no longer required the use of payment booths would speed up the flow of traffic, having spent what seemed like days in Dartford crossing tailbacks, but I have to say panic sets in when suddenly you are required to make the trip and know that you need to prepay the fee, pay within a day or be fined.

The same applies to congestion charges, you are happily following your sat nav directions, that incidentally doesn’t give you an option to avoid congestion charge zones, and suddenly you realise that you are ‘in the zone’ and you haven’t paid! Good Lord, time for a heart attack. To make life easier fleets are calling for a new scheme that is controlled by the DVLA as they hold all of the required information on cars and their keepers necessary to centralise a payments system.

They suggest that if drivers enter into the London congestion charge zone, and it’s only a matter of time before other towns and cities introduce this cash cow into their own central areas, or they have a toll to pay, that it is controlled centrally, thereby reducing time and admin on both sides.

Around 100,000 to 120,000 Dartford crossings are made every day with between 15,000 and 18,000 charges remaining unpaid. This costs the Highways Agency about £40,000 per day which equates to £3 million since the scheme started last November. Now whilst it’s not my nature to sob into my cup-a-soup over the losses sustained by the Highways Agency it made me think that there should be an app for that.

Set up all your details including credit card details in your phone and when you need to pay a toll or enter a congestion zone tap the app, tap the charge, eg. London Congestion Zone or Birmingham M6 Toll and Bob’s your cross dressing aunty – job done! I appreciate that you can set up an account for the congestion zone or the crossing but you are not in control.

Could you remember if you crossed the Thames at Dartford on the 15^th January? But with an App it could also send confirmation to your email address. I know I’m bloody brilliant! You would think in this day and age when we get Internet access via our car radio and even our watch, that it wouldn’t be a massive step to create an app that we actually need! By Graham Hill

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• Drivers to pay £100 for being in wrong lane (thetimes.co.uk)

I am sitting here with a smirk on my face as I am surrounded by women who believe that they are less aggressive drivers than me and men in general! As if?

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.

Well I can announce today, thanks to a survey carried out by telematics technology provider, In-Car Cleverness, that women are faster drivers than men – it’s official, we have the statistics and as we know statistics never lie!

In order to come up with this astounding piece of information they surveyed the driving habits of those driving rental cars. They monitored the hire of over 10,000 rental vehicles and found that female customers were more likely to exceed speed limits than men. In fact the survey showed that women exceeded the speed limit 17.5% more times than men.

Having said that they returned fewer damaged cars than men. In fact they found that 84% of cars returned with scratches, dents and punctures were driven by men. Hmmm. By Graham Hill

Now here is something remarkably strange – and we’re not talking about my hair style! It’s white lines on roads! It would seem, following an investigation carried out by Transport for London (TfL) that white lines in the middle of roads cause drivers to drive faster.

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.

After re-surfacing three separate roads in London they decided not to re-paint the central lines (not just single lines but two parallel lines a couple of feet apart with cross hatch lines a couple of yards apart). As a result they noticed in every case a significant drop in speed. On the northbound Seven Sisters Road the average speed dropped by 2.5mph to 29mph and by 4.1mph on the southbound side to 28mph.

One theory was that no lines led to uncertainty and more caution as it was believed that drivers felt that with the white lines in place no one would encroach on their side of the road. Without lines separating the cars travelling in opposite directions it created more alertness and fear.

They also found that cars slowed down when cars were passing them in the opposite direction which confirmed an earlier survey in 2005. Having said that TfL will not be removing white lines from existing roads nor do they have any plans to not repaint the lines following re-surfacing even though it reduces the maintenance costs of roads. So I don’t know why it was ever bloody reported in the first place.

On the other hand, in the same report it was pointed out that an extra 900 miles of road capacity will be added to the road network over the next 7 years at a cost of £24 billion which is also to include the cost of re-surfacing! That’s good news then eh! Umm, think I’ll get a cup of tea! By Graham Hill

Emission Analytics have found that the economy ratings on tyres can be misleading and inaccurate. The way that the economy ratings are shown at the moment may not give the full story if their findings are to be believed.

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 company specialises in emission data and carried out a series of tests on tyres with various efficiency ratings only to find that those with a lower efficiency rating can perform just as well as those with a high efficiency rating. The test compared F- and B- rated tyres and found that between 40 – 55 mph the more expensive B- rated tyre only saved about 4% in fuel.

The gap between the two only widened when the speed increased to 70mph when the economy tyre returned a 13% saving. The company found that at mid-range speeds, F rated tyres can perform as well as B rated tyres.

Nick Molden, founder of the company, expressed concern that buyers and fleets were paying extra for tyres that weren’t providing the return they were expecting if the journeys are confined to urban routes. He went on to say, ‘Tyre-efficiency labels don’t provide enough information for buyers to make an informed choice.’ He is calling for action to better inform tyre buyers who could be making decisions based on fiction. By Graham Hill

Road rage is on the increase and is having more of an effect than simply a momentary explosion of anger. A road rage incident can affect both parties to the point of casting a black cloud over their day and negatively affect their mood. It can also, in more extreme cases, lead to more serious verbal or physical violence resulting in injury or worse.

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.

On TV we tend to only see the results of severe road rage when someone is killed but every day road rage occurs on our roads leaving both parties seriously stressed. Black Box Insurer, Ingenie, carried out a survey in which 70% of respondents said they had been involved in road rage over the last 12 months.

65% said that they were not the ones that instigated the road rage although 85% admitted to showing the signs of road rage on occasions. Dr Lisa Dorn of Cranford University is a Driver Behaviour Expert and believes that more should be done in this area. When psychologist, Dr Dorn, started studying this area there were 6,000 – 7,000 deaths each year but whilst this has now dropped to 1,700 this is still too high.

Road safety has greatly improved with the development of technology, both inside and outside cars, road signage has improved and roads are better engineered, all of which has improved the accident and death rate. According to Dr Dorn ‘The way in which you need to continue to improve road safety is by educating drivers.’ According to the good doctor drivers take risks that have nothing to do with their skills or knowledge, they take them because of their emotional condition, the situation they are in.

There are the sensation seekers who are looking for a ‘buzz’. They can often find it through driving. For this character an open country road with lots of bends and hills on a sunny day would be a great temptation which would lead to some very erratic and dangerous driving. These conditions would act as a trigger for those seeking an exciting experience that could often lead to road rage in them if they are stopped during this experience by a tractor or slow driver in their way.

The other type of person most likely to become embroiled in road rage is the angry person. Being angry, for non driving reasons, can result in aggressive behaviour behind the wheel. Dr Dorn says, ‘Put that into a traffic situation and you have a driver who frequently experiences frustration and may intimidate other road users. The focus is not on the road but tunnelled towards letting off steam.’

If accidents are to be avoided and bad feelings resulting from road rage to be eliminated drivers’ attitudes must be changed but there is no ‘silver bullet’ that will resolve this psychological problem. Having said that Dr Dorn points out that, ‘There is a psychology tradition to behavioural change and dealing with different personalities and a methodology that is fairly well researched.’

She points out that there is a need for drivers to develop the ability to self reflect on their personal driving style. Pass your test and you never have to do anything ever again, you are a safe and competent driver. But there are many times during your lifetime of driving when something happens to heighten the risk to your driving performance. For example, being pregnant, being sleep deprived, stress at work, divorce, loss of a loved one, financial worries, all could have a major effect on your alertness and driving.

There are laws and regulations that govern the roadworthy condition of the car but what about the condition of the driver? It might seem crazy (and it does to me) but she is suggesting that just as you unlock the car, put your seatbelt on and start the engine without thinking you should also ask yourself, ‘How is my driving going to be affected today?’

A moment of focus on your driving rather than your need for a buzz or the problem that is pre-occupying your mind may help with your attitude towards your driving. Other suggestions are, be aware of anyone trying to pass by tailgating you, keep an eye in the rear view mirror and find a safe place to move over and let them pass. Focus on the present moment and your driving, not your destination. Hold your hand up by way of an apology to a fellow motorist if you make an error whilst driving, it’s surprising how that small gesture can take the immediate heat out of a potential road rage situation.

Avoid making eye contact with an aggressive driver in a confrontational situation. Dr Dorn also suggests that everyone should take responsibility for their driving and consider their mental condition to be as important to their safety as putting on a seatbelt. My opinion is make sure you buy a car with air conditioning and make sure that it is working, staying physically cool whilst driving is as important as staying mentally cool. By Graham Hill

Now here’s an idea that I threw out there a couple of years ago which attracted the usual amount of attention that my ideas receive but am I disappointed – nah cos I just keep on throwing the ideas out there till one day I get recognised as the man that made a difference.

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 have just read that the Government has made yet another U turn regarding motorway speed limits. It wasn’t that long ago when Stephen Hammond said that it was the Government’s plan to introduce an 80mph speed limit on motorways. We then received the caveat that this would be a ‘zero tolerance’ limit.

In other words, crack on at 81 mph and you’re nicked sunshine. But chat to any traffic cop and they say that they use as a very rough guide, speed limit + 10% + 3mph before they light up your rear view mirror with a mass of blue lights. So let me see (gets out calculator), umm, 70mph + 10% = 77mph + 3mph = would you believe it 80mph.

So no sodding change! Added to which, for fear of losing votes, Mr Hammond’s boss came out immediately after and said he wasn’t considering a change to motorway speed limits. Back to square 1. But not quite because the greenies amongst us, having heard Mr Hammond, decided to make the case for the environment and insist that rather than increase the speed limit the Government should decrease it to 60mph. Good grief!

So then the Government decided that they should carry out experiments on stretches of ‘Smart’ motorways, currently undergoing widening, where it would be possible to set limits on specific stretches of road whilst the Highways Agency stood at the side and assessed the air quality under different conditions.

Having decided that this was a good idea (I don’t for the record) and to be in place as soon as the motorway improvements were completed on the M1 and M3, Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, has decided to shelve the idea and instructed the Highways Agency to look for other ways to improve air quality rather than drop speed limits.

This announcement was not necessarily a vote winner, more likely not a vote loser. Look the answer is simple. It is already an offence to hog the centre lane on a motorway but why not go one step further and say if there are no cars to the left of a driver he must move over or be fined, flogged and receive 3 points.

This would result in the freeing up of tens of thousands of motorway miles and help traffic flow. My original suggestion was rather than impose a fine and points make the tar on the inside lane fine and therefore low noise in the car, middle lane a little courser and outside lane much courser increasing the noise, at speed, in the cabin.

Constant drumming in the car whilst hogging the outside lane would soon move them over! Sorted – job done! Thank you very much! By Graham Hill

60KM/H Speed limit sign in Australia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)