safe driving for life

New website to help road users improve their skills

The Safe Driving for Life website (www.safedrivingforlife.info), developed by DSA in partnership with its official publishers, TSO, will be rolled out in 4 phases. The website has useful information for both learners and experienced drivers and riders, instructors and professional drivers and riders.
Phase 1 is available now and includes:

• the learners’ section
• the Safe Driving for Life shop
• practice theory tests for car, motorbike, lorries, buses and coaches
• a suitability tool for people to test whether they’re cut out to be an ADI

The learner driver section of the Safe Driving for Life website

The other 3 phases will all be launched by August 2013, with development continuing beyond then according to user needs and interests.
GOV.UK remains the official website for all government services and information about learning to drive, including booking tests.

spending review

Spending Review: Energy and transport to get share of £100bn

The government has unveiled what it claims is the most ambitious modernisation of the UK's national infrastructure in a generation.

Between, 2015-2020, £100bn will be spent from on projects including road maintenance, new homes and boosting new sources of energy, including shale gas.

Treasury Minister Danny Alexander said it was putting "long-term priorities before short-term political pressures".

But Labour says investment was needed sooner to turn round the economy.

The announcement of the government's infrastructure plans came a day after Wednesday's Spending Review, in which £11.5bn of cuts to Whitehall departments were announced.

The first £50bn will be committed to infrastructure projects starting in 2015-16 and the rest for 2016-20.

The main funding commitments include:

• £3bn to build 165,000 new affordable homes
• £28bn for road improvements
• £10bn to clear "backlog" of school building repairs
• 850 miles of railway to be electrified as part of £30bn rail investment
• £250m for extended super-fast broadband to rural areas
• £370m for upgrading flood defences
• £150m for health research including into dementia

"This is an ambitions plan to build an infrastructure that Britain can be proud," he said.

Mr Alexander said the road building programme was the largest for 40 years and the support for new homes the most substantial for more than two decades.

He said unused government-owned land will be sold to facilitate home building, while there will be new guarantees to help the building of new nuclear plans and tax incentives brought in for shale gas projects.

His speech came as a report was being published showing that the UK's shale gas reserves were much greater than previously thought.

The transport plans focused mainly on roads and railways.

Mr Alexander said £10bn would be spent on dealing with the UK's "decaying" road network with 21,000 miles of roads to be resurfaced and new lanes to be added to

Among to the roads which will be upgraded the A14, which runs from Catthorpe, in Leicestershire, to Felixstowe, in Suffolk.

Mr Alexander said the spending on roads was the same as the cost of filling 19m potholes.

On rail, he restated plans to electrify large parts of the network and increased the budget for the proposed HS2 line connecting London and seven of the largest ten UK cities, to more than £42bn.

He also confirmed that £2m feasibility funding would be provided for London's proposed Crossrail 2 project, but said Mayor Boris Johnson's challenge was to work out how the private sector could meet half the cost of the scheme.

Dodgy driver? Blame your dad: Parents are passing on bad habits to their children when taking them out for practice

• More than half of parents take their children out with L-plates
• But nearly two-fifths of the learners say they've inherited bad habits

More parents are passing on bad habits when giving their children driving lessons, a survey shows.
Fifty-two per cent take out sons and daughters with L-plates – double the number who were themselves taught by their parents.
But 45 per cent fear their children will pick up unsafe practices from them including speeding, failing to check mirrors and not using a seatbelt.
And 37 per cent of learners aged 17 to 21 say they have inherited risky habits.

Now, remember to never check you mirrors: 45 per cent of parents fear their children will pick up unsafe practices from them including speeding, failing to check mirrors and not using a seatbelt

Just 22 per cent of learners believe their parents are good enough drivers for them to benefit from their help.
The poll of 1,705 parents and 373 young learner drivers commissioned by insurer Admiral found that nine out of ten have lessons from a qualified instructor.
Forty-two per cent of parents who offer extra lessons do so to save money and 55 per cent want to help children get a full licence sooner.
But 18 per cent of parents who refuse believe they set a bad example and half say a driving school is the best place to learn.

 

Crossing hands whilst steering was the most common bad habit followed by exceeding speed limits, failing to use the handbrake when stationary and omitting to check mirrors or indicate.
The survey exposed a generation gap between parents and youngsters on the road to motoring adulthood.
Fifty-seven per cent of parents taught by their own parents say it helped them become a better driver.
But just 22 per cent of learners believe that their parents are good enough drivers for them to benefit from the experience. And only 47 per cent of parents are confident that they themselves could pass a practical driving test today.

Drop these: Crossing hands whilst steering was the most common bad habit followed by exceeding speed limits, failing to use the handbrake when stationary and omitting to check mirrors or indicate

The likelihood of in-car also rows puts a brake on lessons and 50 per cent of teenagers who are taught say sessions often end up in angry confrontations.
Thirty-seven per cent of those refused extra lessons in the family car also gave the certainty of arguments as a reason for going it alone.
'There are definitely benefits to giving additional lessons to your children but it’s important to notice your own bad habits and not to pass those on,' said Admiral’s managing director Sue Longthorn.

'Let your son or daughter have some lessons with a qualified instructor before venturing out with them'

'It can help them learn more quickly and, hopefully, spend less on driving lessons. However, it is always going to be a minefield as personalities clash and this often results in arguments.
'It’s a good idea to let your son or daughter have some lessons with a qualified instructor before venturing out with them.
'Then you might want to speak with their instructor first to make sure you are helping and not hindering their driving.'
The survey revealed that fathers are more likely than mothers to take children out for lessons.
Fifty-two per cent say their father takes them out most often compared 35 per cent whose mother is the principle teacher.

Germany's car-to-x communication system readies for launch

The car-to-x system warns of road works, congestion, obstacles and dangerous weather

Related Stories

It's no longer the stuff of science fiction. We are being promised the next generation of cars will talk and network with others on the road, looking around corners, and even through lorries.

Vehicles equipped with "car-to-x" technology, should warn of hazards far beyond the vision of the driver including traffic jams further along a motorway or a vehicle making an emergency stop up ahead.
The organisation behind the technology is Frankfurt-based Safe Intelligent Mobility Testfield (Sim TD), a consortium of vehicle manufacturers with factories in Germany.
Mercedes Benz-maker Daimler is leading the project and BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Ford and Opel are also involved.
They have already held the world's largest field test of car-to-car communication around Sim TD's home city: 500 drivers signed up to test the tech and clocked up a total of 1.7 million km (1.1 million miles).

Motorcycles can also be integrated into the car-to-x system

Sim TD says you can expect to see the first talking cars on the road in 2015.
Vibrating steering wheel There are few conspicuous new features. In fact, from the outside, you can't even tell you're looking at a talking car.
Inside, the biggest clue is an extra monitor mounted on the dashboard. Integrated electronics built into the car send sounds and images onto the device to flag up information or warnings to the driver.
If a situation gets more urgent, an alarm wails and the screen flashes red.

“Start Quote

If you have smoother traffic, you use less fuel”

End Quote Dr Christian Weiss Project leader, Sim TD

Audi is testing other mechanisms, including a vibrating steering wheel and force feedback pedals - a pedal which pushes back or vibrates when the driver tries to accelerate.

"That will get the driver's attention," says Robert Manz, an Audi developer.
"Most of this information is only important to the driver. You don't want to alarm all the passengers."
It's not just about intelligent cars. Interactive traffic signs and traffic lights equipped with sensors will also talk to each other and swap information with cars in the area.
Intelligent traffic lights can tell a car well in advance what speed will get him through the next green traffic light. Or if you're waiting at a red light, your car can tell you how long the wait will be. It could even scout out a free parking place for you.

The technology can alert motorists if another vehicle has broken down on the road ahead

"This system has huge benefit potential," says the project leader, Dr Christian Weiss.
"If we succeed in making traffic more fluid, we improve mobility.
"That also has an impact on the environment. If you have smoother traffic, you use less fuel."
Saving lives Germany could save an estimated 11.4bn euros ($15bn, £9.6bn) in congestion and accident-related costs, according to Dr Weiss.
"We'll see a big improvement in safety if we have systems like this on the road," adds Felix Deissinger, a BMW motorbike expert.
Nearly 3.500 people die on Germany's road per year. Cars crashing into unseen motorcyclists are the most common type of accident.
"Vehicle-to-vehicle communication means the car gets the info that a motorcycle will approach, long before he can see the motorcyclist," explains Mr Deissinger.
To further minimise the risk of collision BMW is developing what it calls "conspicuity enhancement" - a feature that makes bright lights flash on a motorcycle if it detects a crash is still likely despite other warnings.
BMW has also devised a head-up display to project information onto its cars' screens.
In vehicles equipped with the car-to-x technology, it can display high-contrast warnings about strong winds, icy roads or motorway concrete buckling in the heat.
The firm says using a head-up display halves the amount of time it takes for drivers to switch their attention from the road to the read-out information.
Multiple personalities Car-to-x relies on a mixture of wi-fi and 3G mobile connections. Berlin's Fraunhofer Focus Institute has helped ensure they all work together.
The data is not stored anywhere and the test drivers should not be concerned about implications for their privacy, according to the institute's Ilja Radusch.

BMW plans to project warning signs over its cars' windscreens

"We use pseudonyms," he says.
"Instead of one identity, each car has a thousand identities, with them changing each second. So no one can track you."
According to Sim TD, only 5% of cars on an area's roads need to use its system for there to be a positive impact on traffic and safety.
In Germany, that would mean two million cars equipped with the tech. Achieving that goal may depend on the cost of installing it. A price tag has yet to be announced.
Meanwhile, Sim TD says it plans to fit the first motorway with compatible electronics by 2015. It says the tech will let drivers on the Vienna-to-Rotterdam route know about upcoming traffic jams.
"Car-to-x will play a role in every market in the future," promises project leader, Dr Weiss, adding that tests are already underway in the US, and talks have begun with officials in Japan and China.

80mph speed limits

Trials of 80mph motorway speed limits could start next year, the road safety minister said yesterday.
Stephen Hammond said raising the limit to 80mph is still firmly on the Government’s agenda.
There will be three trials of the higher speeds in different areas, and if successful they will be introduced across the country.

The higher 80mph speed limit could be trialled at three sites across the country as early as next year

Speaking in a magazine interview Mr Hammond said: ‘It is not dead. We are thinking about it. We are thinking about how we could trial it rather than go to a consultation.
‘It would be important to have a good evidence-based trial.’
He said there will be an announcement in the autumn on the prospect of an increase and that trials could take place during 2014.
He told Auto Express magazine: ‘You probably will not see it happen before the summer of next year. It might need a whole year to put the whole regulatory format in place.
‘My message, though, is that it [80mph] has not been lost. Our philosophy is that we should have the right speed on the right road.’
He added: ‘Drivers will have noticed that we have made some significant changes to guidelines to local authorities about lower speeds in rural areas.
‘We have also made it easier to introduce 20mph limits and zones.’
Supporters of the idea argue that motorways are the safest of all roads and that cars become safer at speed.

Road safety minister Stephen Hammond (left) said 80mph speed limits are still on the Government's agenda but Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin (right) is said to be 'cooler' on the issue

The move towards an 80mph limit has fallen down the Department for Transport’s list of priorities under Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, who is said to be ‘cooler’ on the issue.
By contrast, former transport secretary Philip Hammond was a major supporter, arguing that raising the limit could ‘provide hundreds of millions of pounds for the economy’, generated by lowering journey times.
Road safety charity Brake opposes the plans, arguing an 80mph limit is likely to ‘lead to more deaths, crashes and serious injuries’.
But AA president Edmund King said: ‘Our view is that 80mph in a modern car, in good weather, driven at a safe distance from the car in front is a safe speed.
‘Whereas 50mph in bad weather, tailgating the car in front is a very dangerous speed.’
Auto Express editor in chief Steve Fowler said: ‘My personal view is we don’t need an increase to 80mph. ‘Everyone knows people drive faster than 70mph on motorways.
'If the limit were to increase to 80mph, people would drive at 90mph.’

Mr Hammond said the Government has made it easier to introduce 20mph limits and zones

Supporters of raising the speed limit point out that when the current 70mph limit was introduced in 1964, it was set at the flat-out speed of most cars which were pretty basic compared with today’s.
Last February Labour announced that, subject to safeguards, it was dropping its opposition to raising the limit and supported a switch to ‘variable’ limits of up to 80mph as a ‘safer alternative’ to blanket rises.
A recent Road Safety Foundation report found motorways do not currently provide enough protection to drivers and car occupants to justify raising the speed limit. It notes England’s motorways account for 6 per cent of road deaths

Speed cameras

Speed cameras cut the number of serious injuries in road accidents in the areas where they are placed by an average of more than a quarter, a study suggests. The research by the RAC Foundation was based on data from 551 fixed camera sites in nine areas of England. Twenty-one sites bucked that trend, however, with the number of injuries going up. The RAC Foundation said the findings showed how effective speed cameras were for road safety. The study found that after cameras were installed the average number of fatal or serious injuries fell by 27%.

'Lives saved'

The authors of the report have written to those councils where the figures have risen suggesting that they try to find out why this is the case.

RAC Foundation director Stephen Glaister said: "Safety cameras are contentious, people dispute whether they work.

"But in fact the general public as a whole like them because they want these roads to be made safer.

"If cameras were turned off overnight there would be something like 80 people killed extra a year and 800 people killed or seriously injured.

"So the evidence is very good that on average they do work, they are effective."

Speaking later on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Glaister also said that speed cameras represented "very good value for money".

'No panacea'

But Claire Armstrong, the co-founder of campaign group Safe Speed, disputed his conclusions, arguing that speed was a factor in just 6% of road accidents.

"Speed cameras have unintended consequences and have given rise to some collisions and casualties that would not have occurred if the cameras had not been deployed," she said.

The main cause of road accidents was driver concentration, she suggested, so reducing speed was not a "panacea".

"If you are simply driving at, let's say, 20mph you are not necessarily concentrating... and if you're not concentrating and paying attention to the road ahead, and you therefore cannot stop in the distance you know to be clear in, it doesn't matter what speed you are doing, you potentially will still have an accident.

"We know there are accidents that will kill you at 3mph and accidents where you will not die at 80mph."

The coalition cut Whitehall funding for speed cameras when it came to power.

It said police and local councils relied on the devices too much, and should use a range of different methods to improve road safety.

But a study last year suggested that so far most councils had kept speed cameras in place.

BBC transport correspondent Richard Westcott said speed cameras have been controversial since they were introduced 20 years ago - but this research suggests most of them make roads safer.

Has your photocard licence expired?

Renew your photocard driving licence every 10 years or face a fine of up to £1,000.

4.1 Checking your licence

Check the expiry date in section 4b on the front of the card. If the date has passed, your licence has expired!

4.2 How to renew

Whether you’re renewing your licence or replacing one that’s been lost or stolen, the process is the same. There are 3 ways to apply:

• online: providing you’ve had a new digital passport issued in the last 5 years - renew your driving licence
• in person at selected Post Offices®: there’s a handling fee of £4.50 on top of the standard £20 fee
• by post: completing form D1 ‘Application for a driving licence’, available in selected Post Office® branches or by ordering online

Licence renewal is important because you’ll have the latest security features against fraud. You could experience delays in getting insurance or car hire if your licence has expired.

Renewal will also ensure the police and other enforcement agencies have the most accurate information to help them correctly identify whether a driving licence is being used fraudulently. This in turn, helps prevent driving licence impersonation – stopping disqualified and possibly dangerous drivers taking to our roads.

Find out more on GOV.UK