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We all know about ‘Road Rage’, but have you heard of Parking Rage? Apparently, according to a study by Privilege Car Insurance it is sweeping across the country with more than 3 million motorists admitting to spying on neighbours to make sure they don’t park in the wrong place.

The survey revealed that 75% of motorists said poor parking left them outraged. Men aged 21 were the most susceptible who admitted to being outraged an average of 139 days a year. Newcastle is where most parking rage existed followed by Norwich.

It would seem that two thirds of motorists believed that it is a basic right to be able to park in front of  your home, regardless of driveways, garages or allocated parking. They admit to ‘curtain twitching’ if they feel the space outside their home is in jeopardy. Remedies include the usual beeping of horns and unsavoury hand gestures, as with road rage.

But parking rage can also lead to an angry note left on the windscreen of the miscreant (admitted by 14%) and direct arguments (12%). A small number even admit to deflating tyres and scratching the paintwork. So when you are parking in a residential road, keep an eye out for twitching curtains, you may return to a deflated or scratched car. By Graham Hill

Now here’s a funny story that I came across in Business Car. Apparently Essex police are urging drivers not to stop if they are requested to do so by ‘anything other than a marked police car’ following two van thefts earlier this month. In both cases a van was pulled over by disguised police men in an unmarked silver Mondeo equipped with blue flashing lights.

They requested a VW Transporter and Mercedes Sprinter to pull over on the M11 and the M25. The two men in the Mondeo wore fake uniforms with one of them reported to be also carrying a gun. In each case the drivers of the vans were left at the side of the road unharmed.

According to Essex police they have instructed officers to avoid stopping motorists whilst in an unmarked car except in an emergency. DCI Stuart Smith from the Kent & Essex Serious Crime Directorate said, ‘Anyone who is signalled to stop by an officer in an unmarked car should not stop but phone 999 immediately to verify whether the vehicle and its occupants are genuine’.

Can you imagine explaining this to a genuine police officer at the side of the M25 when they finally pull you over for speeding then add into the charges ‘using a mobile phone whilst driving’? All a bit worrying! By Graham Hill

How safe are our roads? This general question often refers to the general condition of our roads, how well they are maintained in bad weather, the safety of our cars and how well the cars are maintained. But what about the health of our drivers? Could drivers’ health affect the safety of our roads?

It would seem that whilst most drivers take things like drink driving very seriously and wouldn’t dream of driving a car without wearing a seatbelt it seems that they are nowhere near as vigilant when it comes to their health. Watching TV with a little bit of a squint is maybe a bit of an inconvenience and not focusing too well when reading the paper may be a little uncomfortable but what about driving?

As responsibility falls upon drivers to self regulate their eyesight how many actually meet the minimum standards? Many drivers are shocked when they finally feel the need to have an eye test and find that they badly need to wear glasses. If you drive with faulty eyesight you can be prosecuted but it’s a bit late if you are dead or badly injured in hospital or you have hit a cyclist or pedestrian that you didn’t see.

With an estimated 4 million drivers considered to have deficient eyesight, i.e. more than 10% of all drivers, how dangerous are our roads? We can add other conditions to poor eyesight, many of which are not considered as dangerous. This time of year there are those with hay fever who take anti histamines that, whilst a legal drug, can impair the driver’s ability to control a car.

Those with a bad back pain can be distracted because of the discomfort or could take strong painkillers that could impair their driving and slow down reaction times. Conditions such as sleep apnoea are not fully understood by those suffering who may believe they simply feel tired occasionally but if you have the condition it is even more important that you stop driving more quickly than those simply feeling a little groggy.

The fact is that our roads are made more dangerous by those who drive on them with a range of medical issues from poor eyesight to a dodgy knee. Is it about time that we all took greater responsibility and stopped putting ours and other’s lives at risk. Always read the labels of any medicines you are taking, even when they are bought over the counter, and follow the warnings. By Graham Hill

In the current Health and Safety obsession by the EU and lawmakers in all civilised countries I find this next piece very hard to believe can still happen, especially in the UK. If you are a recent reader of my musings you may not have read the piece I put out regarding the sort of health and safety attitude that existed in the US in the 1970’s.

Briefly, Ford had a car called the Pinto which happened to be the biggest selling ‘sub compact’ car in the US at the time. Unfortunately the design of the car was unsafe, they had placed the fuel tank in such a position that if the car was hit from behind the tank exploded.

More than 500 people died as a result of the Pinto bursting into flames when they were either driving or were a passenger in the car. Many more received severe burn injuries. When a burn victim sued Ford for the faulty design it was uncovered that Ford engineers had known about the problem for many years. But Ford management had carried out a cost – benefit analysis and concluded that it wasn’t worth the $11 per car to fix the problem by recalling all of the cars compared to the cost of recompense payable to the victims.

They believed that if the problem remained unfixed they would face claims from 180 burn victims and the families of 180 victims killed. They placed a monetary value of $67,000 on a burn victim and $200,000 on a death. They added to these costs the cost of replacing the cars. They concluded that if they fixed the problem it would save them $49.5 million in compensation and car replacement costs but the cost of repairing the 12.5 million cars affected would set them back $137.5 million.

So they concluded that the cost of paying out for losses and injuries was a better option than paying out for the cars to be repaired. This of course raised a number of issues that the US Government jumped on and Ford ended up with huge costs and penalties to pay. One would assume that this couldn’t possibly happen again in this day and age with a higher moral obligation placed on companies along with massive legal consequences.

But then I read about the recent problems experienced by Vauxhall Zafira owners. I had seen several YouTube videos of Zafiras catching light and cars being pretty much instantly destroyed. For ages Vauxhall denied the existence of a problem but after 300 Zafiras caught fire they were forced to take a more responsible approach. The problem was found to be in the car’s heating and ventilation system which led to a recall of all Zafiras, known as ‘B’ models on sale between 2005 and 2014.

They originally claimed that the problem had only come to light in 2014, following which they instigated a full recall in December 2015. However, when questioned by MP’s a couple of weeks ago, Peter Hope, customer experience director at Vauxhall, admitted that they had known about the problem as long ago as 2009 when the first fire was reported. Their excuse was that when cars are completely destroyed by fire there is very little evidence left to analyse in order to establish the cause of the fire.

The good news is that unlike the Ford Pinto no-one was even injured but that isn’t the point. At what stage does a car manufacturer take responsibility and carry out a very detailed investigation when consistent things go wrong with one of their car models? The estimated cost of repairs is £33.6 million – tough! Only now, in the month of August 2016 is a further 235,000 Zafiras, as agreed with the DVLA, being recalled to have the fault fixed.

Shame on you Vauxhall for putting customers through all this when it could have been avoided. When Vauxhall denied responsibility drivers no doubt made insurance claims for their losses, paying an excess and losing no claims bonus. This simply isn’t good enough and after making the cars safe again they should prepare a plan to pay those affected compensation, something, according to Peter Hope is not at the moment being considered. What a disgrace! By Graham Hill

For the first time in a decade the number of employees paying Benefit In Kind (BIK) tax has increased according to statistics released by HMRC for the years 2014/15. It may only be a 1% increase from 940,000 to 950,000 but it has all of the so called experts weighing in with opinions as to why this has happened.

Whilst Brexit is being flung around by a few they should reflect on the fact that these figures relate to 2014/15 when the referendum was but a glint in PM Cameron’s eye. In amongst the more believable reasons is that for the first time engine development has managed to pretty much keep pace with the increasing demands by the chancellor on BIK tax.

So whilst he has dropped the CO2 threshold year on year engines have become more efficient chucking out fewer CO2’s and therefore neutralising the effect on tax. Another view is that companies that had maybe reverted to car allowances, to allow employees to avoid benefit in car tax, or allowed employees to obtain their own cars, which they would drive for business and charge back company miles on the tax and NI free mileage rate, had moved back to company cars.

The reason for this move away from employee owned cars (known as the Grey Fleet) to company cars is not suggested to be financial but Health & Safety. Companies are responsible for the safety of cars driven by employees on company business, even when the cars are owned by the driver. So if an employee has an accident whilst driving on company business in his own car and the accident can be attributed to the car not being regularly serviced, the company is held responsible for the consequences.

Crazy but true. We are still nowhere near the peak of company owned cars of 1.16 million recorded in 2006/7 but the treasury must be pleased with this turn of events. They collected £1.9 billion from company car tax and NIC in 2014/15 so a nice little earner from them. Last time the number of company cars matched the current figure was 2011/12 when the tax and NI collected amounted to £1.66 billion.

This is as a result of tougher CO2 banding and of course the increase in cost of cars. Personally I continue to see a steady growth in the number of SME’s financing cars personally rather than through their business. Especially since the rates, provided by most leasing companies, are pretty much the same for business and personal applicants. By Graham Hill

Employers have a duty of care to their employees when driving on company business even if they drive their own car and claim a mileage allowance or receive pence per mile expenses. However, that doesn’t extend to the daily commute (unless the driver is on his way to a customer or somewhere business related other than their normal place of work).

However, according to AA DriveTech more employees are killed whilst commuting to and from work than those killed whilst on company business – rather chilling! I should caveat this by saying that the figures include those commuting by car, motorcycle and pedal cycle and whilst I have picked this information up from a report I know that if an employee has an accident whilst driving home after an employer has forced the employee to work unreasonable hours the employer can be held responsible.

But the legalities are not the point of this blog post, it is to make everyone aware of the dangers of driving when commuting. Whilst an employer may not believe he is responsible for an employee’s welfare during their commute the consequences can be equally damaging to the business and the employee. Whether an accident happens whilst on the way to work or out on company business the loss of the employee or the time taken to recover is the same.

So you may like to take note yourself and pass on to colleagues and employees the findings of AA DriveTech who have found that there are three dangerous periods when commuting with most accidents happening at differing places.

Between 4.30-7.00am most accidents happen on bends and rural roads. Between 7.00-9.00am the most dangerous places are T junctions and urban roads and in the evening between 4.00-6.00pm most accidents take place within 30mph zones. So now you know, bear in mind if you commute during these times. By Graham Hill

Bits & Pieces: a) It seems that insurance companies are finally seeing the benefit of having a dash cam (digital camera fitted to the dashboard, windscreen or behind the rear view mirror) with dash cam maker Nextbase coming to an agreement with insurance comparison website, Constructaquote.com.

They will offer those with a dash cam fitted a 15% discount on insurance taken out through their website. This is particularly beneficial to those who privately finance a car but predominantly use it for business as these cars carry a premium that the 15% will help to neutralise.

b) The Government is looking into the proposals for driverless cars to be used on the streets of the UK. Consultations have started on the implications such as a rewritten Highway Code, street signs and the safety features such as lane departure and emergency braking. You can read the consultations by visiting www.gov.uk/government/consultations.

c) Glass’s Guide, the well known valuation experts, have suggested that the decision to exit the EU won’t affect used car prices till quarter 4 2016 at the earliest. Like most ‘experts’ they predicted the first to suffer would be fuel prices and property prices whilst I predicted – no change in my musings straight after the Brexit vote. Before the vote petrol at my local Tesco was £109.9 pence and yesterday – yep, it was the same! By Graham Hill

If you are thinking of driving around Europe this summer, especially if you are driving through France, you will need to carry a breathalyser, especially as not only in the UK, but also in Europe, they have woken up to the benefits of breathalysing motorists in the morning rather than at night.

It is far more difficult to assess whether you are over the limit in the morning, after a skin full the night before, than at night when you have just had a couple of drinks. And with barbeques coming into season in the UK, which I’m told leads to more morning after convictions than over the Christmas period, you need to take precautions to safeguard your licence.

If you agree you may think it is wise to invest in a fairly expensive but accurate breathalyser being sold by Alcosense called the Ultra. It costs a whopping £249.99 but is considered to be one of the most accurate consumer devices. It can be set to the regulations of the country you are in at the time, including France and the US, both of which calculate readings differently.

Once your breath has been detected and analysed by the software algorithm the device will give a reading. It tells you what percentage of alcohol has been detected in your breath then also flashes green, amber or red that indicates whether you are over the limit, under it or completely in the clear.

It also indicates how long it will be before you are fully sober again. So if you are the sort of person who drinks into the wee hours then wonders in the morning if you are safe to drive this could be a valuable investment. By Graham Hill

Nearly 10% of car breakdowns are the result of drivers ignoring vital dashboard warning lights according to breakdown service provider, Green Flag. Their research revealed that drivers took an average of 71 hours to react to a light on the dashboard indicating a potentially serious problem.

One in ten continue to drive with a potential engine fault for nearly a week whilst ABS problems took 76 hours, on average, to address. A small percentage took over a month to take action to sort out a problem and 3% admitted that they had damaged their vehicle further by not reacting to a problem identified by a warning light.

As Green Flag pointed out the biggest problem is that drivers don’t know what the lights mean or even the difference between red, orange or yellow, green and blue lights. And many of the symbols are not fully understood. Nearly a quarter failed to recognise low tyre pressure warnings and 1 in 5 didn’t recognise an engine warning light.

Strangely, those aged 18 to 34 were the worst offenders. Nick Reid, the head of rescue at Green Flag pointed out that, ‘The majority of breakdowns across the UK each year are avoidable, so take time to check your car, ensure everything is working and pay attention to any warning lights on your dashboard.’

Dash warning lights can be anything from advisory, i.e. put on your seatbelt, to warnings that could cause serious damage to your car if ignored, such as low oil levels. You may also fully or partially invalidate your warranty as you may have moved from a cheap repair to an engine replacement through your lack of action. So if you don’t understand the warnings it would be wise that you check them out and remember the red warnings are urgent!! By Graham Hill

If you need to have your windscreen replaced you normally check with your insurance company first who has an arrangement with one of the national windscreen replacement services such as Autoglass. The replacement is arranged between your insurer and the replacement company and all you do is pay your excess to the windscreen replacement company at the time the work is carried out.

All pretty straight forward but did you know that after a modern windscreen is replaced, in many instances these days, the driver assistance systems need to be recalibrated. In a report prepared by Autoglass it was found that 68% of motorists were not following advice to have their safety systems, such as autonomous emergency braking and lane keeping assistance, re-aligned after a windscreen has been replaced.

Following a windscreen replacement Autoglass explained that the cameras needed to be re-calibrated to ensure that they were aligned properly. They went on to explain that as little as one degree out could prevent the car from reading the road correctly. It is anticipated that accurate systems have the potential to save 1,100 lives and prevent over 120,000 casualties over the next 10 years. In 2015 just 2% of cars that had windscreen replacements needed to be re-calibrated.

However, by 2020 this is set to rise to over 40% of all new cars having driver assistance systems fitted. They also reported that when drivers were told by them that a re-calibration would be required and they contacted their main dealer the dealer admitted to knowing nothing about this requirement.

As a result Autoglass has rolled out a nationwide calibration programme that means that their technicians will be able to re-calibrate 96% of all cars. Unfortunately the 96% had not included Britain’s biggest selling car, the Nissan Qashqai when a driver recently had a problem following a screen replacement and Autoglass couldn’t fix it. He visited his local dealer who didn’t know what he was taking about.

Fortunately, according to Auto Express, Autoglass came up with their own solution and the car is now working just fine. But it’s a question you must ask after a screen replacement, does the car need to be re-calibrated once the replacement has been carried out? If it isn’t done you could be putting yours and any passengers’ lives at risk. By Graham Hill