Government issues warning over unqualified driving instructors.

More than 400 driving instructors are under investigation for operating without qualifications, according to the Driving Standards Agency.As a result, it’s urging learners to check their tutor is properly qualified before booking lessons. It’s thought that the spiralling cost of tuition and the demand for cut-price instruction is tempting criminals into setting up bogus driving schools.According to the DSA, a number of firms are run by tutors who started instructor training, but failed to finish their courses. Others are still practising after being struck off by the DSA.Bona fide instructors need to display an in-date pink licence or green certificate in their windscreen during lessons. They should also carry photographic ID along with their paperwork.

DSA spokeswoman Michelle Moston said: “If illegal instructors are on our roads, they haven’t passed the Agency’s rigorous three-part test and could be putting lives at risk.”

Learners suspicious of their instructor should contact the DSA’s fraud team on 029 2058 1155 or E-mail: integrity.team@dsa.gsi.gov.uk.

Source: Auto Express website

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Alan Candy finds out how to make the most of every gallon on a BP green challenge at the Millbrook Proving Ground near Bedford.

Fuel costs have never been so alarming for motorists as petrol prices break the £5 per gallon barrier for the first time.
But things aren’t going to get any better in the short term, so we might as well make the best of what we’ve got. That means trying to wring every available extra mile out of a gallon of fuel – and maybe thinking a little bit more about the way we drive.
To find out the best way to do this in everyday driving, motoring editor Alan Candy visited Millbrook’s Proving Ground near Bedford at the invitation of BP, where a green driving challenge with a difference awaited.

Click here to visit the Bedford Today website and watch the nine minute BP challenge video.

After I’d made a mistake going up a truck slope, it was all downhill from there on when it came to fuel-saving.

I was doing pretty well at the wheel of a Ford S-Max, trundling the assortment of artificially-created roads around Millbrook.

Trying to keep on the move, smooth gear changes, easy on the brakes, no coasting downhill in neutral, all that sort of thing.

My classic boob was to think my faithful 2.0-litre Ford could make it up the hill in second gear. It couldn’t, and I was forced into a humiliating change down to first before trickling to the top. That wastes fuel, folks.

And, unleashed on the six-lane, high-speed bowl, I couldn’t help but enjoy a little unfettered 70mph driving, sending my petrol consumption temporarily crashing off the scale.

Before that, everything had gone pretty well as I tackled Millbrook’s virtual ‘outer handling’ area (basically like B roads), city circuit, roundabout and truck slopes (up and down), hill route, ski-hump and link roads.

They’re all designed to mimic in miniature the sort of roads we drive on every day in the UK and to make sure it’s pretty realistic, drivers tackling the circuits have about eight separate stop points, so you can’t just keep moving happily along.

That’s why so many manufacturers head for Millbrook to test pre-production prototype cars under a variety of conditions (there’s also a knobbly suspension test area) as well as in the on-site labs.

Computer analysis of my 25-minute drive showed some eye-opening results after all the numbers had been crunched.

In the BP Ultimate Green Driving Test, my drive was translated as a rather shocking graph indicating both my Real Time Fuel Consumption and Fuel Consumption Accumulation, with a frightening final print-out of my efforts.

The engineer who had achieved what was regarded as “the perfect run” had recorded 34mpg overall, and that was the figure to beat. So why had I only achieved 20.95mpg? Well, those hills and that fast bowl run had done for me.

But the on-board instructor also told me that better forward planning would have helped, as would less hard braking, maintaining momentum and keeping the car at its most efficient throttle and revs – that’s between 2,000 and 3,000 on the rev counter.

Coasting in neutral downhill to save gas? That’s an old wives’ tale. Foot off the pedal means free travel downhill but if it isn’t in gear, the engine has to drive itself and uses fuel.

And here’s a stat to fret over – in order to double your speed, you use four times as much fuel, according to the laws of aerodynamics. The 21mpg and 34mpg disparity may not seem too drastic.

But BP points out that the fuel costs over 10,000 miles would be an extra £916.07 from my bank balance and my emissions would be an extra 1,915kg of CO2 over that distance. Gulp. Believe me, I drove home very gingerly that day…

Source: Bedford Today website

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Drivers are more likely to collide with deer on the roads during May than at any other time of year.

Young deer disperse from their breeding areas, and the AA has warned that reported incidents of cars hitting deer rise by 25 per cent in May. Every year, more than 100 people are killed or injured in road accidents with deer and between 40,000 and 50,000 deer are killed on British roads, which equates to about five per cent of the total deer population. Such collisions cause an estimated £11 million worth of damage to cars.

Hampshire tops the table of deer-vehicle collisions with an average of 16 incidents a year in which the driver was injured, followed by Essex and Suffolk with 14 each. Deer road-accident hotspots include the A134 in Thetford Forest and A22 in Ashdown Forest.

“Drivers who find a deer caught in their headlights face an instant and impossible dilemma: do they swerve and risk a more serious crash, or do they suffer the trauma of killing a deer and severely damage their cars?” said Andrew Howard, the AA’s head of road safety.

“Their best bet is to heed the warning signs, put up where accidents have happened or animals are known to cross, and to always drive at a speed that gives you time to react to what might suddenly appear in the road.

“Sunset to midnight and around sunrise are the busiest times for deer crossings and accidents peak in May, October and November. Though your instinct will be to swerve or brake hard to try to avoid a deer, it may be better to continue on your normal track: sudden manoeuvres can result in a loss of control, increasing the risk of hitting a tree or another vehicle.” The AA cautioned, “If you miss the deer (or any other animal), but hit something else, remember it will be very hard to prove that the deer ever existed.”

Source: The Telegraph website

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The speed limit on thousands of residential roads will be reduced to 20mph under government moves designed to cut road deaths by a third over the next decade.

Variable limits will be introduced on main roads near schools, with digital signs ordering drivers to cut their speed to 20mph or less when pupils are arriving or departing.

Cameras that detect a vehicle’s average speed will be used instead of road humps to enforce the limit in some of the new 20mph zones.

More than 3,000 people die on the roads each year, including motorists, passengers, cyclists and pedestrians. The target, to be reached by 2020, is expected to be set at about 2,000 deaths.

The Government is preparing a road safety strategy for the next decade and will publish proposals in a consultation document this year. Unlike previous strategies, it is expected to include a specific target to reduce road deaths and a series of tough measures.

In addition to more 20mph zones, measures are likely to include a lower drink-drive limit, six penalty points for serious breaches of the speed limit and harsher penalties for not wearing seatbelts.

Jim Fitzpatrick, the Road Safety Minister, told The Times that the Government would consider setting a challenging target for cutting road deaths. “We get some criticism for not being ambitious enough,” he said, conceding that measuring deaths alone, rather than together with serious injuries, would provide absolute clarity.

One of the main ways of achieving the target, he said, would be to reduce the speed of traffic on residential roads.

Research from the Department for Transport indicates that 1 in 40 pedestrians struck by a car at 20mph dies, compared with 1 in 5 at 30mph. At 40mph the survival rate falls to 10 per cent. A 1mph cut in average vehicle speed reduces crash frequency by about 5 per cent.

The Government’s existing road safety target — to reduce deaths and serious injuries by 40 per cent between 1998 and 2010 — has been criticised for being too weak. The target will probably be met, but only because the number of serious injuries recorded by police has fallen sharply.

By 2006, serious injuries were down by 35 per cent but deaths had fallen by only 11 per cent. Hospital admission figures show that serious injuries from road crashes have hardly changed since 1996. This may indicate that the fall in numbers of traffic police since 1990 is resulting in fewer serious injuries being recorded.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: “We could reduce crashes still further, with the help of more 20mph zones, especially in residential neighbourhoods and other areas where there are vulnerable road users.” He said that he wanted to reinforce guidance to local authorities that encouraged them to create 20mph zones.

The minister quoted a Transport Research Laboratory study of 250 20mph schemes across Britain, which found that, after the limit was reduced, crashes fell by 60 per cent, child casualties by 67 per cent and average speeds by 9mph.

He said that his department was conducting a further study of the benefits of 20mph zones to persuade local authorities to introduce them more quickly.

The DfT was also working with several authorities to develop cheaper speed-limit signs to reduce the cost of converting a road to 20mph.

Mr Fitzpatrick pointed to Sweden’s “Vision Zero” road safety strategy, which rejects the idea that some road deaths are inevitable and an acceptable price to pay for the benefits of personal mobility. “We used to be top of the world league on road safety but now we are fourth or fifth.

We want to get back to the top,” he said.

The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety urged the Government to adopt a target for 2020 of no more than 2,000 road deaths a year, down from 3,172 in 2006.

Rob Gifford, the council’s director, said that the Government should also set a longer-term target to cut to deaths to below 1,000 by 2030. This number is based on the idea that using the road network should be no more than twice as dangerous as everyday activities such as DIY. At present, road travel is 8.5 times as dangerous.

The Home Office is expected to approve an average speed camera system for 20mph zones by the end of the year. The system works by having a camera at every entry and exit point to catch all drivers exceeding the limit on any route through the zone.

Source: The Times Online website, by Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent 

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DSA introducted the “Show me, tell me” safety questions for all categories of tests in September 2003.

The subjects that can be included in the safety questions are laid down in the EC 2nd Directive. We made a commitment, at that time, to review the questions and this has now taken place.

The review raised the need for some additional questions to be included to more accurately reflect the need for candidates to have the skills and knowledge to ensure they and their vehicles are safe to be on the road. Additional questions will cover the use of wipers, demisters, brake lights, fog lights, head restraints, ABS warning lights and the correct operation of relevant controls and switches.

The number of questions to be asked will remain unaltered. Set combinations of questions will be retained for Category B car tests, these combinations have been updated. For all other categories examiners will choose a selection of two or five questions (dependant on the type of test) from the Question Bank. Questions will suit the vehicle presented for test and the location the test is being delivered from. Answers to the questions can be found in the relevant DSA Essential Skills publication. There is no change to the level of assessment.

CLICK HERE for a link to the new questions.

Source: DSA website DT1, 14/05/08

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Government plans to cut sky-high insurance premiums for young drivers are unlikely to have much impact, the industry said last week.

Ruth Kelly, the transport secretary, met insurance firms to discuss a new foundation course in safe road use for under-17s. It will be piloted in schools and colleges in Scotland from this autumn, and will lead to a qualification that will be available across Britain from 2010.

The government hopes that the qualification will lead to drivers being offered a 25% discount, saving about £400 on the typical £1,600 annual premium for under-21s.

Road deaths and serious injuries have fallen 33% since the mid-1990s, but the casualty rate for young drivers has not changed. One in five people have an accident within six months of passing their test, and another 70% report near-misses in the same period. Newly-qualified drivers and their passengers account for one in five of all UK car deaths.

However, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said no agreement had been reached about the level of discount on offered for drivers qualified under the new regime — if any.

Malcolm Tarling of the ABI said: “It is by no means certain that insurers will automatically offer discounts if drivers take these new tests. You can’t make discounts compulsory as this could breach competition law.

“However, if the new tests are proved to reduce the number of accidents, then our members will obviously reflect that in lower premiums.”

There are already additional tests known as Pass Plus, which involve taking an additional six lessons after passing a test. However, not all insurers offer discounts for people who take them.

Pass Plus is taken by almost 200,000 new drivers, costing £171 each, but just 15 out of about 150 insurance providers recognise this qualification. The reductions offered are not standardised and are honoured for one year after completion.

Tracy North of comparison firm Uswitch said: “It is not clear what the benefit will be for people who take these new courses. The current Pass Plus scheme is only recognised by a handful of insurers and none of them are best buys.”

Swinton, for example, recognises the qualification and offers a discount of £108 on its typical premium of £3,469 for an 18-year-old male in London. However, you could get a cheaper deal from Kwik-fit at £2,811.

There will also be an overhaul of the driving test with a syllabus to “ensure more effective and comprehensive training” as well as post-test courses and qualifications to produce safer drivers.

Source: Ali Hussain, The Times Online website, 11/05/08

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Over the past decade Britain’s roads have become much safer. The number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents has fallen by a third, keeping road travel in this country safer than almost anywhere else in the world.

But we can’t afford to be complacent when on average, nine people a day die on our roads. In particular, we must do more to help make newly qualified drivers safer; one in five of whom has some kind of accident within six months of passing their test.

We must ensure that people learning to drive are taught the skills they need to be safe drivers when they start driving alone. It is time for a new approach to learning to drive. We must make sure that novice drivers are safe drivers when they have passed their test. We must also create an expectation of lifelong learning, so that people continue advanced learning after their test.

That is why I am today publishing a consultation paper targeted at improving the training and testing of new drivers. 

Our research shows that we must make sure that learners demonstrate not only good skills, but also safe attitudes and proper understanding of road conditions before they are allowed to drive unsupervised.  We will build improved learning opportunities and assessments to support these standards, as well as strengthen the quality of driving instruction available. We will also provide new opportunities for learning both before and after the driving test. This will help new drivers become better, safer, motorists and save lives.

Our proposals include:

• A new foundation course, available at schools and colleges, leading to a qualification on safe road use.
• A more focused and thorough learning process before the driving test, which focuses not just on vehicle control but also the wider skills needed to be a safe driver, from driving in difficult conditions (for example at night or in poor weather) to learning to predict and respond to other road users’ intentions;
• A new training syllabus to ensure learners understand what is required of them to become a responsible driver, enable them to undertake structured and efficient learning and accurately assess when they are ready to pass their driving test;
• An improved driving test which requires the driver to demonstrate independent driving skills and clear understanding of different situations on the road, with the option of modular assessment;
• New opportunities to take extra training post test; working with the insurance industry and employers in the driving for work sector we will develop new courses and qualifications to be taken after the driving test that could lead to lower premiums and a better chance of securing a career in the driving for work sector;
• A star-rating system for driving instructors so that learners can make an informed choice based on pass rates and the level of training instructors have undergone;
• A review of driving instructor training and testing to ensure they provide a quality service and are focussed on those areas of driving performance that are closely linked to safe driving.

In addition to the consultation document being published today, we also intend to publish within the next few months a consultation paper on how we intend to crack down on the reckless minority and deliver improved road safety enforcement and compliance.

Copies of the consultation document have been made available in the libraries of both Houses.

Delivered: 07 May 2008

Source: The Department for Transport website 07/05/08

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Teenagers will soon be able to sit an exam in driving science as part of a road safety initiative to curb the excesses of speed and risk among boy and girl racers.

The new BTEC qualification, worth the equivalent of a GCSE, has been formally accredited by the Edexcel examination board.

It will use video simulators to get students to respond to risky situations, including travelling with a car full of partygoers or negotiating rush-hour traffic while late for work and in a bad mood. They will also have to undertake virtual car journeys in different weather conditions and provide a live commentary on the hazards encountered on a video-taped journey.

Students will be required to undertake computer-based brain-training exercises designed to improve their eye-scanning and risk-assessment skills and impulse control.

Since 2000 there has been a steady rise in the number of fatal accidents involving novice drivers and more than 14 young drivers are killed every week in Britain. Government figures from last year show that drivers under the age of 21 were responsible for 15 per cent of all motoring convictions.

A government consultation paper to be published this week will propose that learner drivers should be forced to have professional tuition and to prove that they have acquired key skills before taking the practical test.

The course, developed by the private company a2om, will be delivered by advanced driving instructors in person and online and costs £150 on top of the £1,000 or so it can cost for driving lessons. Each of the four online modules should take no more than ten hours to complete.

Alex Crossland, 18, an A-level student from Bedfordshire who is studying with a2om, said that he found the course’s video “game” on hazard perception particularly helpful. “Instead of just learning theory, you learn to apply it. It streams video of a car journey and you have to click every time you see a hazard,” he said.

Source: The Times Online website 05/05/08, By Alexandra Frean

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Driving tests are to become more expensive and harder in an attempt to cut the carnage caused by young drivers.

A massive shake-up of the L-test is to be announced this week. It will mean that the minimum age at which motorists can realistically drive on their own with a full licence will rise by stealth from 17 to 18.

But critics say the inflation-busting increases of up to 16.5 per cent in the test fee will deter the young from taking it - increasing the numbers of unlicensed, uninsured and untaxed drivers.

Under the system, - which could be unveiled by the Government as early as Wednesday - learners will still be granted their provisional licence from 17 but will need a year to pass a beefed-up test.

Before a learner can take their final test, government approved instructors will have to sign-off key skills in a logbook as the young driver masters them.

This will not prevent parents teaching their children to drive or overseeing practice sessions. In fact, this will be actively encouraged.

But family lessons will be in addition to - not instead of - official lessons, because parents will not be qualified to sign off the key skills.

These are part of the current test and include parallel parking, reversing around a corner and the three-point turn.

To secure their full licence there will be a final test with an examiner which will concentrate on more safety-critical issues such as dealing with junctions, roundabouts and moving traffic.

L-plate candidates will be given greater experience of high speed roads - such as dual carriageways - before being allowed to qualify for a full licence.

There will be more ‘realworld’ driving lessons, such as turning right at busy junctions, using rural roads and navigating bends on high-speed roads. Candidates will have to experience some night driving.

But experts fear ministers risk undermining their strategy by sanctioning inflation busting rises in the driving test fee.

The standard test charge rose by 16.5 per cent to £56.50 on April 1 with the theory test increasing 5.3 per cent to £30.

The Government’s consultation will look at the impact of a compulsory number of paid for lessons.

But Ashton Berkhauer of uSwitch.com said: ‘With 58 per cent of learners aged between 17-21, it is these younger drivers who may not be in a financial position to absorb the spiralling costs.

‘This could result in more people being forced to postpone learning to drive or putting it off altogether.

‘It also increases the likelihood of people side stepping the costs altogether by driving without a licence.’

The revamp follows a Daily Mail campaign, backed by the insurance industry, road safety campaigners and motoring groups, to raise the formal driving age to 18 to cut accidents caused by young drivers.

The Association of British Insurers says male drivers aged 17 to 20 are ten times as likely to be killed or seriously injured as experienced motorists.

• Year’s training needed for most to pass, requiring compulsory paid-for lessons.

• Beefed up theory test.

• Skills, including parallel parking, reversing around corner and three-point turn signed off in logbook before taking test.

• L-plate candidates given greater experience of high-speed roads.

• More real-world driving lessons, such as turning right at busy junctions and using rural roads.

• Experience of night driving.  

Source: Daily Mail website 05/05/08, By Ray Massey

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Young drivers are to be spared any restrictions on their licences after passing the driving test following a government decision to reject evidence from overseas that imposing limits for the first year would save many lives.

Ministers have rejected calls from road safety groups and the Commons Transport Select Committee for a lower alcohol limit for novice drivers and a ban on them carrying young passengers late at night.

A consultation paper to be published next week will propose that learner drivers should be forced to have professional tuition and to prove that they have acquired key skills before taking the practical test.

The Times has learnt however that the idea of a minimum learning period, which would raise the minimum driving age to 18, was rejected.

Ministers believe that it would be wrong to penalise all young people for the recklessness of a male-dominated minority. More than 14 young drivers and their passengers are killed every week in Britain. Male drivers aged 17 to 20 are almost ten times more likely to be killed or seriously injured behind the wheel than men aged 40 to 59. One young driver in three admits overtaking when they cannot see what is coming, compared with one in ten older drivers, according to a survey by Brake, the road safety charity.

The transport committee recommended last July that, for the first year after passing their tests, novice drivers should be prohibited from carrying any passengers aged 10 to 20 years between the hours of 11pm and 5am.

It also recommended that the drink-drive limit for new drivers should be 20 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The existing limit is 80mg.

A US study found that road deaths among 16 and 17-year-olds fell by up to 42 per cent when limits were placed on the number of young passengers that novice drivers could carry at night.

Research for the Department for Transport found that “there is evidence that nighttime restrictions can be effective at reducing nighttime accidents, though effectiveness will depend on the level of enforcement”.

Cathy Keeler, head of campaigns at Brake, said: “It would be a huge mistake not to have post[test] restrictions because there is compelling evidence that they save lives.

“There could be reasonable exemptions for young people who needed to drive children but our roads would be much safer if there were limits on the riskiest types of driving for one or two years after passing the test.”

Under the Government’s proposals, learners will accumulate skills in modules that will include basic skills such as parallel parking, as well as using high-speed roads and driving at night.

Source: The Times Online website by Ben Webster, 03/05/08

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