The RAC Foundation has called for a review of the length of time roads are shut by serious accidents. It claimed such closures cost the country at least £5 billion every year and accounted for a quarter of all congestion on the roads. And although police should be able to investigate fatal accidents thoroughly, the foundation said traffic should also be kept moving through the sites of any accidents as much as possible. A total of 86 motorways in England were each closed for at least three hours in the last three months of 2008; the entire year saw just 136 fatal crashes on motorways across the UK. The RAC Foundation has issued a report compiled by Irving Yass, a one-time Whitehall transport specialist. Its findings state that the police are instructed to treat fatal crashes as “unlawful killings” until they can prove the contrary. The number of crash investigations is not recorded nationally, neither is the number of prosecutions which result from them, according to the report. More
(AD Thoughts ~ We would all agree that if there is a fatality in a road crash, it needs to be investigated, but many must have been held up much longer than is needed to gather the facts.)

They are the bone-jangling, sump-scraping, ankle-twisting scourge of motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. Even The Beatles demonised them in song. And they’ve got much worse. One of the coldest winters in recent memory has resulted in a 50 per cent deterioration in the state of the nation’s roads and a dramatic rise in the number of potholes. The taxpayer faces a repair bill costing hundreds of millions of pounds for the past year alone – adding to £10bn-worth of outstanding pothole repairs. With a month of winter remaining and the full extent of the damage still being assessed, it is estimated that the total number of craters in Britain’s 246,000 miles of secondary routes (those that aren’t motorways or A-roads) has risen to 1.6 million – an increase of 700,000 in two years. The Local Government Association, which represents local authorities in England and Wales, has written to the Department of Transport seeking £100m of emergency funds to carry out the most urgent repairs. North Yorkshire County Council proposes a 2.94 per cent rise in council tax to help fix the problem. With one pothole to be found every 120 yards, it will take an estimated 15 years to remedy the problem. David Weeks, director of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), claims that Britain’s network is in danger of sinking to “Third World” levels. The short cold snap of 2009 resulted in a 30 per cent increase in the number of potholes, costing £47m in compensation claims for injury and damage. This year’s sustained freeze is expected to produce even more alarming figures. “Just go and look at any road and you will see,” said Mr Weeks. “For too long the network in Britain has been at the bottom of the political agenda. Local authorities have concentrated on siphoning off money from the roads budget to pay for vote-winning services such as education. But it is like buying new furniture for your house before you fix the leaking roof.” More
(AD Suggests ~ The roads are in such a bad way, a repair of a pothole is just a quick fix. There needs to be an investment on the roads so they are resurfaced properly, and less likely to crumble and have potholes in colder times.)

A police force has criticised the use of 20 mile an hour zones, saying they cannot work without speed bumps and other traffic calming measures to force drivers to slow down. Oxfordshire County Council has recommended cutting the limit on at least 24 of the town’s roads. However, police said that the scheme would only reduce motorists’ average speeds by two miles per hour. David Paull, a Thames Valley Police spokesman, said the new restriction was unnecessary. “Simply putting a different number at the end of a road and relying on enforcement alone to achieve compliance is not the answer,” he said. “Any 20mph limits should only be sought where there is a need to protect residents, particularly children and the road is either engineered to encourage compliance or the mean speed now is 24mph and below. “We feel that additional traffic-calming or engineering would be required to reduce speeds to within the proposed 20mph limit. More
(AD Comments ~ We can have all these calming measures in place, but motorists are the ones that need to change their attitudes to speeds in built up areas, rather than roads changing all the time)

Road schemes aimed at easing traffic congestion have resulted in ‘rat-runs’ around British towns and allowed motorists to speed, an analysis of Highways Agency projects has shown. Around £1 billion a year is being spent on road schemes which are not working, the Campaign for Better Transport said. The Agency not only relied on inaccurate forecasts of future traffic patterns but also underestimated the impact on air quality, noise and greenhouse gas emissions, the Campaign claimed. It examined four recent schemes: the A6 Great Glen Bypass in Leicestershire; the A650 Bingley Relief Road, West Yorkshire; the A11 Roundham Heath to Attleborough in Norfolk and the A27 Polegate Bypass in East Sussex. Based on an inspection of the Highways Agency’s own evaluation of the schemes, the Campaign said the projects failed to ease traffic congestion. Instead it found the traffic increased significantly on all the roads, triggering demands for yet more bypasses. Residents complained that far from relieving villages, new problems had been created by drivers taking shortcuts. Where traffic had fallen, cars were now driving too fast, they said. More
(AD Comments ~ Traffic will always find other routes where possible, unless all roads have these schemes the problem will always exists. Sometimes Sat-Navs that direct motorists down certain roads, don`t help the situation)

Driver education is not something to which many pay much attention after we have passed our driving test. At least, we don’t until many years later when our teenagers approach adolescence and activities that cause parents to have nightmares – sex, drink, drugs and driving. Our concern is valid because young, inexperienced male drivers cause and suffer a disproportionate number of crashes and fatalities. Some 8,000 are killed each year in Europe alone. The European Commission and the Driving Standards Agency in the UK are both attempting to address this. The EC Road Safety section created a Training and Education Expert Group onto which I was co-opted, because of my dual expertise in driving (British and European saloon car champion in circuit racing) and performance coaching (author of the best-selling book in the field). The other eight members are all driving and education experts from various European countries, mainly Scandinavia. Our findings – to be reported soon – will recommend that the higher levels of what is known as the “GDE (goals for driver education) matrix” are properly addressed along with the more basic elements of car control and traffic skills. The higher levels involve the attitude of the learner and how it affects their driving, encompassing aggression, distraction, showing-off, competitiveness and other testosterone-fuelled behaviour. The only learning method that specifically addresses these issues in combination with driving skills is performance coaching, which aims to eliminate the mental and emotional obstacles to learning – and performance – in any activity. The UK Driving Standards Agency controls the examiners of both the instructors and the public, and so sets the standards. Recently the DSA circulated an elaborate public consultation paper, but it attracted little response. The DSA is influenced by the police driving schools and by the likes of the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), RoSPA, BSM and the AA, most of which still slavishly follow the old police driving principles. They also used the police manual Roadcraft for many decades – and herein lies the problem. The primary function of the police is to maintain law and order. Driving is secondary, so within their ranks they have little or no learning methodology – nor do they have up-to-date motoring expertise. The police driving system and teaching methods remain extremely rigid and prescriptive. They are passed from one generation to the next with little change, with the result that their teaching methods are obsolete and inappropriate for the public. Some of what they preach is redundant because cars have changed enormously since Roadcraft was written in 1934. Because the police believed that they knew best, they never saw the need to seek knowledge from elsewhere. They didn’t know what they didn’t know. And since retired police drivers hold key roles in the IAM and RoSPA and other parts of the driving establishment, they all ended up scratching each others’ backs. More
(AD Comments ~ It is reported that the driving test will change slightly later in the year, we will then see how changes will effect driving standards. But continuing driver education after passing a test, can be the way forward, with a series of advanced lessons and a second test a year later, where driving skills and be re-assessed and motorway driving examined prehaps)

Several tragic accidents involving older drivers in recent years have focused the public’s attention on the possible risks posed by elderly drivers. Currently about 500,000 of the 30 million licensed drivers in the U.K. are over 65. That number will grow in the years ahead. The UK demographic shift is now in full progress. By 2020, people of 50 and over will comprise half the adult population. Especially for drivers 85 and older, there will more than a quadruple in the years to 2020. The public, and policymakers are expressing a growing concern that the nation’s roads and motorways are filled with greater numbers of older drivers. More
(AD Remarks ~ Most drivers could benefit from extra training, especially those of advancing years when reactions will be slower, than the younger generations of drivers)

Some 6.4 million motorists have already made upgrades to their cars this year such as recharging air conditioning units, fitting better exhaust systems and even splashing out on alloy wheels to make their cars as saleable as possible in the future. A rise in used car values has sparked the trend as more and more invest in their beloved motors in the knowledge that resale values will remain high in the future. David White, customer services director at Kwik Fit, said: “Whereas money once spent on used cars might have been viewed as ‘dead money’, second hand car owners are increasingly more prepared to spend money to keep their car in good condition as they are more likely to get what they shell out back when they sell it. More
(AD Remarks ~ Perhaps the lack of available credit for some, or financial uncertainty for others, makes people realise that you don`t need to keep changing cars frequently, but only when they need changing)

Earlier this year the Scrappage Incentive Scheme was introduced in a bid to reduce greenhouse gases and stimulate new car sales, but in the process many classics are being part-exchanged and scrapped. Once a car is signed over to a dealer under the scheme, its future lies in the scrapyard, with no chance of a reprieve. Classic Show manager Andy Rouse explains: “While the scrappage scheme might be an effective way of stimulating new car sales it’s likely that some cars finding their way into the scheme might actually be worth more than the scrappage value offered – and not just in monetary value. It’s definitely worth anyone who’s considering using the scheme to take a close look at prices on classic car related websites first. When you look at the real environmental issue (that the scheme is ‘sold’ on), the truth is that most classic cars get driven no more than a few times a year, are absolutely cherished by their owners and kept in tip-top condition. Despite what the Government might intimate, Classic Cars today are not the cause of global warming! More
(AD Suggests ~ Shame to have some old gems scrapped, should be a clause that would allow resale/storage of excellent condition older, more classic cars.)

We know the emergency services can speed and jump red lights when they are attending a 999 call, but who else can get away with speeding? Fines are issued automatically but police do have discretion When consultant obstetrician Dr Sherif Abdel-Fattah got a speeding ticket in August for marginally exceeding the limit while rushing to the aid of a woman with severe bleeding he expected the fine would be quickly overturned. He had a letter from his hospital trust confirming the life-threatening nature of the early morning call out, but it took until last Friday for Avon and Somerset Police to relent and cancel the fine. “The only people who are statutorily allowed to speed are drivers of the emergency service vehicles when going about proper business,” says Chris Hunt Cooke, chairman of the Magistrates’ Association’s road traffic committee. But the law allows a “special reasons” defence for everybody else. The typical “speeding ticket” these days is a fixed penalty notice, issued automatically after being caught on camera. It represents a conditional offer for the driver, who can refuse and instead face prosecution at a magistrates’ court where they can argue their case. More
(AD Remarks ~ If there is a genuine reason to speed, most would expect the motorist to be let off. But everyone is annoyed when the rich can hire expensive legal teams and get off through smooth talking and minor technical points)

Edmund King, the motoring organisation’s president, has also voiced fears that the growth of 20 mph zones could be environmentally damaging even if they do promote road safety. According to Mr King, there is an environmental cost with carbon emissions likely to be higher at lower speeds because cars are normally driven in a lower gear, and higher revs pump out more emissions as the engine works harder. According to Mr King, some of the 20 mph zones have been introduced without any real thought being given to their impact on CO 2 and pollution. More
(AD Thoughts ~ The lower speeds should give more safetly, and less need for accelerating to higher speeds should give better economy)

Police cannot be trusted to hand out on-the-spot fines for some motoring offences, magistrates warned today. They claim officers will ‘misuse’ the powers and force drivers to pay the fixed penalty notices when they have done nothing wrong. In a scathing attack, the Magistrates Association said that by giving police powers to hand out fines for careless driving, innocent motorists will be penalised while some guilty drivers could avoid jail terms. The Government is planning to give police new powers to hand out £60 fines and three penalty points on their licence to motorists guilty of careless driving. Currently, offenders are prosecuted in the courts where they can face a fine of up to £5,000 and up to nine points on their licence. But police leaders want more powers to issue the fixed penalty notices as it frees up officers time as they are not bogged down with paperwork for court. The number of on-the-spot fines issued by police has risen sharply under Labour – largely due to the introduction of the ‘penalty notice for disorder’ which was introduced in 2004. More
(AD Comment ~ As long as every officer judges each offence with the same consistancy there will be no problem, and the roads will be a safer place.)