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Recommendations for who will be legally liable if an autonomous vehicle is involved in a collision or commits an offence are set to be published by the Law Commission before the end of the year.

The organisation has completed a consultation into the legal ramifications of the technology and is now assessing responses before making its final recommendations.

Jessica Uguccioni, lead lawyer of the Law Commission’s autonomous vehicles review, says: “One of the big things we’ve determined is that you can’t just keep the current system for enforcing road traffic rules when it comes to automated vehicles.

“At the moment you can basically lock people up if they do something really, really bad on the road, like dangerous driving, but that is just not going to work with the automated driving regime.

“We need to have a system which is much more based on ensuring safety to begin with, but then understanding why things have gone wrong and preventing them happening again because a single incident can have ramifications for many other vehicles.”

In the Law Commission’s consultation document, the organisation says different levels of automation should affect where liability lies.

If the vehicle is fully autonomous and can travel without a driver in them then any people in the vehicle are merely passengers so have no legal responsibility for the way the vehicle drives and are under no obligation to take over the driving.

Determining liability for autonomous vehicles which require a human driver to be in control of the vehicle at times is more complicated.

While there will be periods when the vehicle is fully autonomous or when it is being fully controlled by a human, there will also be times when the vehicle is transferring control to the driver.  By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

The cost of repairs to vehicles suffering pothole damage over the past 12 months has been revealed in new research published by Kwik Fit.

Its annual Pothole Impact Tracker (PIT) report, which is published today (Wednesday, March 31), shows that the total repair bill to vehicles from pothole damage over the past year rose slightly, from £1.249bn to £1.267bn.

Kwik Fit’s PIT Report tracks the impact of potholes on an annual basis and its research shows that this year, despite reduced mileage, drivers have hit an average of 11 potholes per month, and some 10.2 million have suffered damage to their car as a result.

As tyres are a car’s first line of defence against potholes, they are the most commonly damaged component, suffered by 4.2 million drivers.  This is followed by suspension damage (3m), wheels (2.8m) and steering (2m).

The average cost of repairs has reached £127.20, an increase of 11% on the previous year.

Almost half (48%) of drivers say that the condition of the road surfaces in their local area are worse than 12 months ago, with only 12% saying they are better; 35% say they are about the same.

Roger Griggs, communications director at Kwik Fit, said: “The condition of our roads is a long-term issue as shown by our PIT report over recent years.

“Potholes are not just an issue because of the cost to drivers, they present a risk to people’s safety.

“We need to ensure that any funds made available are used strategically and effectively and not just for short term patching up of the worst affected areas.”

The Kwik Fit research coincides with the publication of the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey.

POTHOLE FILLED EVERY 19 SECONDS

It says that inconsistent roads funding is leading to highways authorities conducting quick fixes to potholes rather than employing longer-term solutions.

The 26th survey reports a 15% increase in highway maintenance budgets which were, in part, due to additional funding from central Government, including the Pothole Fund in England, as well as supplementary pots to support changes as a result of Covid-19 needs and active travel ambitions.

However, budgets reported are still lower than they were two years ago, and road conditions have yet to see any significant improvement.

This up-down approach to funding, says the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), results in wasteful patch and mend repairs as local authorities have a statutory duty to maintain the highway but “don’t have the scope or certainty of funding” to implement more cost effective, proactive repairs.

This is borne out by the large increase in the number of potholes filled over the past 12 months in England and Wales, the equivalent of one being filled every 19 seconds, it says.

Local authorities also report that, despite the increase in budgets, target road conditions still remain out of reach.

If they had enough funds to meet their own targets conditions across all road types, there could be an additional 14,400 miles of local roads in a good state of repair and another 2,000 fewer miles in need of urgent repair.

Rick Green, chair of the AIA, said: “The last year has been like no other and the ‘hidden heroes’ responsible for maintaining our local roads should be proud of the role they played working throughout the pandemic to keep our key workers and emergency services moving, supermarket shelves stocked and vaccines distributed.

“While the extra funding in 2020/21 was welcomed, using it to repeatedly fill in potholes is essentially a failure as it does nothing to improve the resilience of the network.”

Green says that the average frequency of road surfacing is now once every 68 years and the bill to fix the backlog of maintenance work on our local roads in England and Wales remains in excess of £10bn.

“It is clear that a longer term approach to local road funding is needed, similar to the five-year commitment made to the strategic road network in the two Roads Investment Strategy (RIS) periods, to allow local authority highway engineers to plan ahead and implement a more proactive, sustainable and cost effective whole life approach to maintaining the network,” he said.

“This commitment is vital to the nation’s post-pandemic reset in which we will rely on our local road network to support recovery and underpin active travel and levelling-up goals.”

LONDONERS COMPLAIN MORE

The Kwik Fit research showed that drivers in Scotland are most likely to say their roads are worse than a year ago, while motorists in London are least likely.

In the capital a third of drivers 33% say the roads are worse, but nearly as many (27%) say they are better.

Interestingly, it is London drivers who are most likely to have complained to their local authority about the potholes in their area. Almost half (46%) of London motorists have done so, compared to an average of 30% of drivers across the country, which may be a reflection of the fact that London drivers pay an average repair bill of £142.60, compared to the national average figure of £127.20.

Drivers hitting potholes may find that the damage is not immediately apparent.  Pothole impacts can often result in slow punctures, damage on the inside wall of the tyre, or cracks in the wheel which are not obvious straight away.

Any driver who hits a pothole with significant force should monitor their car carefully in the days following the incident, to ensure that their vehicle has remained unscathed. By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

Vehicles should be fitted with ‘alcolocks’ to reduce drink-driving, a new report from the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) suggests.

The alcohol interlocks, which require the driver to blow into a breath-testing instrument connected to the vehicle ignition system before the vehicle will start, should be introduced as soon as possible for drivers convicted of drink driving, says PACTS.

The report – Locking out the drink driver – finds that one on six drink driving offences is committed by a reoffender.

The current reliance on media campaigns, penalties, driving bans and police enforcement is enough to deter reoffending, claims PACTS. Nor is it enough to bring down the number of deaths from drink driving – 240 each year, which has not changed since 2010.

David Davies, executive director of PACTS, said: “We were shocked to find that one in six drink driving offences is committed by someone previously convicted.

“Since 2010, this amounts to over 100,000 offences – each of which is highly dangerous to the driver and other road users. Clearly the current system is not adequate.”

The PACTS report looks at the use of alcohol interlocks around the world and finds that they are significantly more effective than licence disqualification at reducing reoffending.

If combined with rehabilitation courses, the benefits can last long after the device is removed, it says.

The report recommends that the courts are given powers to offer or mandate alcohol interlocks for as many drink drivers.

Offenders would be responsible for the costs of the interlock programme – typically around £1,000 a year.

“A number of other countries have introduced alcohol interlocks to prevent repeat drink driving and to bring down the number of deaths and injuries that result,” said Davies.

“Alcohol interlocks have proved highly effective. PACTS is calling on the Government to give UK courts the powers to impose them without delay.”

Reoffending is a major concern. Since 2010, 32,025 people committed a drink drive offence with a previous drink/drug drive offence on their record.

Meanwhile, eight people were convicted of causing death by careless driving when unfit through drink/with alcohol level above the limit with a previous drink/drug offence on their record.

Dräger Safety UK welcomed today’s publication of the PACTS report into the use of interlock devices.

Graham Hurst, marketing manager Impairment at Dräger, said: “We believe that the time is right to try something different to reduce these avoidable fatalites.

“The experience of our colleagues in countries which already incorporate interlock devices into rehabiliaton programmes is that they have a clear impact on deterring drink driving.”

YouGov research, commissioned by Dräger last year, showed that there is public appetite for interlock devices to be fitted to offenders vehicles before their driving licence is returned, particularly for repeat offenders.

More than four in five respondents (83%) said they would support this and more than half (56%) agreed they should be introduced for first time offenders.

“This public endorsement and the publication of today’s report, suggests that there is a recognition that we need to take action to stop persistent offenders putting other road users at risk,” added Hurst.

Road safety charity IAM RoadSmart also welcomed the PACTS report. Neil Greig, IAM RoadSmart director of policy and research said: “The evidence is clear. Nearly all motorists want new cars fitted with alcolocks to help stop the daily carnage on UK roads from drink driving and this latest PACTS report is even further endorsement.”

The PACTS report mirrors recent research by IAM RoadSmart of over 2,000 motorists, which reveals overwhelming support from motorists to fit alcolocks in all new cars, with 90% of motorists supporting all new cars having built-in technology that immobilises the vehicle if the driver is over the limit.

From 2022 all new cars sold in Europe will be ‘alcolock enabled’ but it is up to the Government to decide how they will be used. IAM RoadSmart has previously stated they will be a useful tool to get drink drive offenders back to safer driving after a ban. By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

A law firm has claimed that Jaguar Land Rover may have used emissions cheating devices on a number of its diesel engines.

Leigh Day, which has already made similar claims against Mercedes, VW, Nissan, Renault, Porsche, Vauxhall, Citroen and Peugeot, believes up to 365,000 Jaguar and Land Rover models could be affected.

The lawyers state that some JLR vehicles have been proven to emit higher levels of NOx emissions that claimed in tests by German and UK regulators.

A statement issued by the car maker said: “Jaguar Land Rover does not use emissions cheat devices or software in any of its products. We have not yet seen any technical evidence in relation to this matter and will strongly contest any claims made by the no win-no fee legal firm.”

According to Leigh Day, a Jaguar XE 2.0-litre was found by the German VW Commission Enquiry in April 2016 to be producing NOx at nine times the threshold value in an on the road test. In the same report, a Range Rover 3.0-litre produced 11 times the threshold value during on the road testing.

In 2016, following the Volkswagen dieselgate scandal, the Department for Transport concluded in a report that there was no evidence that other manufacturers were using software of the type used by Volkswagen.

Oliver Holland, partner at Leigh Day, said: “Evidence in the public domain clearly shows that diesel engines in some Jaguar Land Rover models were fitted with emissions cheat devices so that customers have not been driving around in the low-emissions vehicles they thought they were.

“Instead, these owners have been cheated, and Britain’s roads and surrounding areas have been polluted with NOx emissions way beyond the levels that motor manufacturers have stated, to maintain profit and avoid regulation essential to our health and the health of the planet.”

Following the dieselgate scandal, Volkswagen Group was the first brand to face civil action with some 90,000 UK owners seeking compensation.

Class action lawsuits have since been launched against the majority of car makers by numerous law firms.

They are accused of using illegal defeat devices to manipulate the emissions performance of vehicles at certain times, such as during emissions tests, to make their cars appear to be more environmentally friendly.

All vehicles registered between 2009 and 2018 underwent the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) test, in order to gain type approval. While EU law bans the use of ‘defeat devices’, exceptions within the regulations allow the effectiveness of emissions control systems to be reduced if it’s required to protect the engine against damage or ensure its safe operation.

Last year the European Court of Justice ruled that diesel emission defeat devices cannot be justified by the argument that they “contribute to preventing the ageing or clogging-up of the engine”.

Some car manufacturers admitted that engine control units were programmed to shut off at certain temperatures, but said such practices were fully compliant with the law.

In 2019, JLR issued a voluntary recall for 44,000 cars in the UK after regulators found 10 models were emitting more carbon dioxide (CO2) than they had been certified to emit.  By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

Recommendations for who will be legally liable if an autonomous vehicle is involved in a collision or commits an offence are set to be published by the Law Commission before the end of the year.

The organisation has completed a consultation into the legal ramifications of the technology and is now assessing responses before making its final recommendations.

Jessica Uguccioni, lead lawyer of the Law Commission’s autonomous vehicles review, says: “One of the big things we’ve determined is that you can’t just keep the current system for enforcing road traffic rules when it comes to automated vehicles.

“At the moment you can basically lock people up if they do something really, really bad on the road, like dangerous driving, but that is just not going to work with the automated driving regime.

“We need to have a system which is much more based on ensuring safety to begin with, but then understanding why things have gone wrong and preventing them happening again because a single incident can have ramifications for many other vehicles.”

In the Law Commission’s consultation document, the organisation says different levels of automation should affect where liability lies.

If the vehicle is fully autonomous and can travel without a driver in them then any people in the vehicle are merely passengers so have no legal responsibility for the way the vehicle drives and are under no obligation to take over the driving.

Determining liability for autonomous vehicles which require a human driver to be in control of the vehicle at times is more complicated.

While there will be periods when the vehicle is fully autonomous or when it is being fully controlled by a human, there will also be times when the vehicle is transferring control to the driver.  By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

More cars were stolen and recovered in London than in any other region across 2020, latest data analysis from Tracker, has revealed.

The West Midlands and Greater Manchester have moved up the league table to second and third position respectively, ousting Essex from second to fourth position.

The analysis also reports another annual increase in keyless car thefts, now standing at an all-time high of 93%.

Other car crime hot spots within Tracker’s regional analysis include Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire, as well as Lancashire, South Yorkshire, and West Yorkshire. Hertfordshire and Lancashire join the top ten for the first time, while Herefordshire and Merseyside have dropped out.

RAC Insurance reported vehicle thefts rose to highest level in four years, as more than 150,000 cars, vans and motorcycles were reported as stolen in 2018-19.

Range Rover and Land Rover topped the league table for the most stolen and recovered vehicles across the UK, with the three top spots occupied by Range Rover models – the Sport followed by the Vogue and the Autobiography.

A £120,000 Range Rover Autobiography was stolen from a supermarket carpark in Walthamstow, London, in just 80 seconds by thieves taking advantage of weaknesses in the keyless entry system.

The Land Rover Discovery, Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Defender also make the top ten. These six models alone account for 37% of all stolen cars recovered by Tracker in 2020.

Clive Wain, head of Police Liaison for Tracker, said: “It is no surprise that London was the busiest region for vehicle thefts and recoveries in 2020 – it always is. The area accounts for as many recoveries as the next seven regions in our top ten, combined. Nor is it a surprise to see Range Rover and Land Rover dominating our UK hot spots.

“However, yet another annual increase in the number of cars being stolen by thieves exploiting keyless car technology should ring alarm bells for everyone, regardless of the make and model they drive.

“Thieves use sophisticated equipment to exploit keyless technology by hijacking the car key’s signal, typically from the security of the owner’s home, and remotely fooling the system into unlocking the doors and starting the engine.

“This is commonly known as a “relay attack” and accounted for 93% of all our recorded thefts in 2020. This nudged up from 92% in 2019 but represents a shocking 27% increase in the last 5 years.”

Ford bolsters vehicle security

To help prevent vehicle theft, Ford has increased the number of models with security technology which disables keyless entry fobs when not in use to block illegal hacking.

The average fleet loses around £16,000 per year as a result of vehicle or equipment theft, according to Verizon Connect.

A motion sensor inside Ford’s fobs detects when it has been stationary for longer than 40 seconds and triggers a sleep mode, which will not respond to attempts to hack its signal via a “relay box” or through the misuse of other specialist equipment.

Moving the keyless fob by picking it up inside the home and taking it to the car will restore full functionality by the time drivers approach their cars. Ford fobs are designed to operate only within a two-metre radius of the cars they are bonded to.

The feature has been added as standard to the Ford Puma as well as the Ford Kuga. The Ford Mustang-E electric vehicle (EV) will also feature the technology.

Ford said all production of the Ford Puma, which went on sale at the start of 2020, includes the motion-sensor key fobs. Ford Kuga production added the deterrent in July 2020.

The fob was introduced to Ford’s Fiesta and Focus in 2019. Figures from security analysts Retainagroup show that the number of thefts of the latest Fiesta have fallen by two-thirds compared with the number of previous Fiestas stolen.

Latest Fiesta 2018-2020	Previous Fiesta 2009-2017
Total sold	223,600	1,026,000
Number of thefts (2020)	231	3,152
Thefts per 1,000	1.03	3.06

Simon Hurr, Ford security specialist, said: “The online availability of devices, which have no place in public hands, has long been a problem for Ford, our industry and crime fighters.  We are pleased to extend our simple but effective solution, to help protect more owners of our most popular cars.”

Although lockdown measures in Spring of 2020 saw an overall reduction in general crime figures, Tracker said it saw vehicle theft increase once restrictions were lifted.

Wain said: “Our July stolen recovery figures were up 50% compared to April and May, so car owners need to be extra vigilant as we move out of lockdown in the coming months.

“We always encourage drivers to use traditional visual deterrents such as crook locks and wheel clamps to frighten off criminals and protect their car.

“However, in the event of a theft, stolen vehicle tracking technology will significantly help police quickly close the net on thieves and return the vehicle to its rightful owner.”

By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

The Government is being urged to review the way that drug driving is tackled in a new report, published by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS).

The report, ‘Drink driving – the tip of an iceberg?’, shows that enforcement of the drug driving laws varies dramatically across the country.

Forces with better procedures, contract and training are convicting ten times more drug drivers than others, when controlling for population size.

Meanwhile, high costs and delays with blood testing mean that some police forces are rationing what should be a routine roadside test.

Reoffending is also a major concern with 44% of recorded offences being committed by reoffenders.

One person committed the offence ‘driving or attempting to drive with drug level above the specified limit’ when they had 18 previous drink and drug driving offences.

PACTS says that a new drug drive rehabilitation course and high risk offender scheme should be introduced, modelled broadly on the existing drink drive programmes, but with better screening for drug and mental health problems and with clear pathways to treatment.

David Davies, executive director of PACTS, said: “This report by PACTS shows we still lack answers to vital questions on drug driving.

“The number of offences and deaths detected so far may be only the tip of the iceberg.”

Davies says that the police have made “big strides” in catching drug drivers over the past five years, but it remains a “postcode lottery”.

“While some forces are testing hundreds of drivers, others are rationing patrols to a single test,” he continued. “These disparities cannot be explained by differences in drug driving and the danger it creates. A more consistent approach is badly needed, with all forces testing for drug driving where it is suspected.”

In total, 12,391 people were convicted of a drug driving offence in 2019, but PACTS says that these numbers are rising fast.

Drug drivers are much more likely to have a criminal history than the general public. An analysis in 2017 of those convicted of drug driving found 67% of those convicted of drug driving offences had one or more previous conviction. Typically, these offences were for theft/burglary or drug-related.

Drivers who combine alcohol and drugs are likely to be significantly more impaired than those who consume only one. However, those who combine drink and drugs do not receive a longer sentence.

PACTS is recommending introducing a new combined drink and drug driving, with a lower drink drive limit, that recognises the risk drivers who combine alcohol and drugs pose.

The PACTS report recommends that the Department for Transport (DfT), in collaboration with the Department for Health, the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, should undertake a review of policy on drug driving

The Government, it says, should also introduce a new combined drink and drug driving offence, with a lower blood alcohol limit.

Meanwhile, levels of drug driving enforcement should be increased in the UK, particularly in those police force areas where levels are low, and the Home Office should review the blood testing process and seek ways to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of laboratory testing by increasing capacity, improved procurement, or other means.

It should also consider the possibility of reclaiming costs from those who are found guilty.

Furthermore, PACTS wants a new drug drive rehabilitation course, based on the current drink drive course, to be introduced in the UK, while the DfT should publish robust offence and casualty data on drug driving using coroner data and other sources, as they do for drink driving.

Davies said: “Driving under the influence of a combination of drink and drugs, even at relatively low levels, is particularly dangerous. This is not widely understood and there is no specific offence for drink and drug driving. This needs to change.

“There are significant problems with the speed and capacity of laboratories to process blood tests for drugs. This is hampering enforcement of driving offences and drivers are escaping prosecution. We need a Covid-style response to improving lab capacity.”

By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

The UK Government will scrap a new EU law requiring vehicles such as fork-lifts, golf buggies and quad bikes to be insured like a car or van.

The ‘Vnuk’ law requires a wider range of vehicles than those such as cars and motorbikes to be insured, including ones previously not requiring insurance.

The law also extends to vehicles on private land, meaning people with a ride-on lawnmower at home would require insurance where it would have previously not been needed.

Had the EU law been implemented in Great Britain, it would have meant the insurance industry would have been liable for almost £2 billion in extra overall costs.

Bypassing Vnuk will also protect the existence of the UK’s motorsports industry as the EU rules would have meant any collision involving vehicles from go-karting to Formula 1 would have been treated as regular road traffic incidents requiring insurance.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “We have always disagreed with this over-the-top law that would only do one thing – hit the pockets of hard-working people up and down the country with an unnecessary hike in their car insurance. I am delighted to announce that we no longer need to implement it.

“Scrapping this rule would save the country billions of pounds and is part of a new and prosperous future for the UK outside the EU – a future in which we set our own rules and regulations.”

The move is supported by Logistics UK. James Firth, head of Road Freight Regulation Policy at the organisation, said: “Implementation of the ‘Vnuk’ ruling into UK law would have been wholly unnecessary; the type of operations that would have been brought into scope by the ruling – for example, use of forklift trucks – are in most cases covered already by companies’ Public Liability or Employer Liability insurance. Logistics UK is pleased by the government’s decision today; it will prevent many logistics businesses being subject to additional and unnecessary costs and administrative burden.” By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

A logistics company has proved it was not liable for a collision with a Lamborghini using dashcam footage.

The crash, involving a Leicestershire-based Crouch Logistics vehicle working on a UPS contract, occurred in Northampton on November 27.

Amio Talio, the Lamborghini Driver, claimed the UPS vehicle “came out of nowhere” and crashed into his £180,000 Huracan.

His car collided with the Crouch Transport vehicle and then hit another parked car.

The Camera Telematics’ Street Angel device fitted to the Crouch Logistics van captured the incident and the footage was able to prove that the driver was not at fault and therefore not liable for what could have been a very expensive insurance settlement.

Chris Crouch, managing director of Crouch Logistics, said: “Our decision to install Street Angel on our fleet of vehicles has been completely vindicated by the performance of the Camera Telematics’ kit in determining who was liable for the accident – particularly as the Lamborghini driver contested that the UPS driver was at fault. Having accurate footage from Street Angel proved in court that the Lamborghini driver was liable for the accident. and that the UPS driver was in the clear.”

Street Angel works by using 4G connectivity to continually record video evidence of the journey and the vehicle’s surroundings on to the internal memory. It uses accelerometers to measure g-force in all directions to detect any impact or harsh event, such as braking or cornering.

When the g-force parameter is breached the device instantly uploads a video clip of the event to the cloud while generating an instant email alert to the fleet manager notifying them of the event.  By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News

Van drivers are risking a fine of up to £5,000 and potentially invalidating their insurance for not safely securing their dogs while driving to work, according to research by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

The study revealed that two-in-five 41% of van drivers who own dogs prefer to take them to work, but a third admitted to not restraining them securely, which can lead to distractions.

Rule 57 of the Highway Code states that pets must be “suitably restrained so they cannot distract you while you are driving or injure you, or themselves, if you stop quickly”.

The punishment for failing to secure a dog safely can range from up to £1,000 for driving without proper control but can be increased to £5,000 and nine points for careless driving, says Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

Kate Thompson, head of marketing at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, explained: “After such an extended period at home last year, we know that, now more than ever, van drivers don’t want to leave their dogs at home or with dogsitters when they go to work.

“It is important to be aware, however, of the risks attached whether it is distractions while driving and near misses or the possible fines attached to driving with unrestrained pets.”

There are a number of ways to safely secure your pet in the van including a comfortably sized seat-belt harness, pet carrier, dog cage or in the boot behind a dog-guard.

The Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles research found men are more likely to take their pets to work than women, while those working in London and Northern Ireland are most likely to bring their pets to work in their vans.

Van drivers in East Anglia are more inclined to leave their dogs at home than any other region.  By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News