THE moment of dread came when I got an email at my desk.

“Jeremy, were you driving one of the Adver cars on May 4, down Oxford Road?

“If so, as our records show, you were caught driving 36 in a 30 zone by a speed camera and the police will be sending a ticket to your home.”

GUTTED, I don’t even own a car and I was being handed three points and a £60 fine.

Now came the tough part - weaseling my way out of it.

It was only after reading the small print I realised that might not be so hard.

Option B serendipitously stated that by committing myself to a Speed Awareness Workshop I would be able to avoid three points on my licence, but would still have to pay £60 for the chance to spend three hours in a room learning about what a rubbish driver I am. When I arrived at the Hilton, in Lydiard Fields, and sat down in my seat I thought this programme would be dubious at best. It was quite apparent that the other seven men and two women were thinking the same.

During the first hour and a half the driving instructors, Alistair and Mark, could barely get two words out about the benefits of slowing down, without someone yelling “The cops plant those cameras to catch drivers” or “It’s just a money-making operation” turning the class into an impromptu discussion on the ethical legitimacy of speed cameras.

After break-time things began in the same way, with even the keenest of my classmates joining in the banter.

However, 15 minutes into the class things changed, people became quiet and started to listening-up as the message hit home.

I began to detect that everyone started taking more notice and focusing a lot more as the lessons began to look at the impact on our driving could have on the world around us - more importantly on the children around us.

After showing a video of a 10-year-old being hit by a car and being told the statistics on just how often only a few miles over the limit can mean the difference between life and death - I think the message sank in.

The crux of the lesson, as far as I could tell, was in this one section described by instructors.

In a nutshell the more over 30mph you go the more likely you are to seriously injure someone if you hit them - and it doesn’t take much over 33mph to kill.

After hearing this it was settled. I was going to drive home at 30mph and, even though it resulted in what must have been a 130-mile queue behind me, and a gap the length of the Thames in front of me, I carried on, because the programme actually worked.

Anyone interested in finding out more is asked to visit www.driver-improvement.co.uk.

Source: Swindon Advertiser website, by Jeremy Grimaldi  

Comments please from driving instructors and driving schools who are BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) members giving driving lessons, Pass Plus, advanced lessons, automatic lessons, disabled lessons, towing lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, fleet training in preparation for driving tests or driver improvement in the Bedford area.

The design guru has seen the future of transport, he tells Martin Hickman: solar-powered electric vehicles.

 The G-Wiz, with its green and economic credentials, is here to stay.

Britain’s most famous inventor, Sir James Dyson, is working on a project that could lead to the creation of a fast, green car.

Engineers at his research laboratory in Wiltshire are developing a powerful lightweight motor that could enable electric cars to zoom along for hundreds of miles without causing pollution. Solar panels on their roofs or in garages would charge them with renewable energy.

In an interview with The Independent on Sunday, the scientist forecast that electric cars would be “the future” of transport, and predicted they could outnumber petrol vehicles in as little as 10 years’ time.

“They’re quiet and they’re pollution free,” enthused Sir James, whose bagless vacuum cleaner cemented his reputation as an innovative risk-taker and earned him an estimated £700m fortune.

The 61-year-old inventor also expressed his belief that the cars could overcome their current drawbacks – their short range and slow speed. “An electric car doesn’t go far enough. It could do. Electric motors can do that,” he said, adding that there were “fantastic opportunities” to make electric vehicles lighter.

“At the moment, electric cars are seen as city cars and to go 30mph is quite enough, but in the future that will change. An electric motor can go to very high speeds.”

 The Th!nk electric car, coming to the UK next year.

At present, electric cars are powered by a motor charged from a normal socket connected to the national grid. “Most of the time a car isn’t being used,” said Sir James, “so a photo voltaic [solar] charge over a long period of time is an absolutely suitable way of charging a car.”

Although probably several years off, the prospect of a Dyson car was welcomed by green groups, who believe climate change and diminishing oil resources will force drivers to wean themselves off fossil fuel in the near future.

Petrol has jumped in price by 22 per cent to £1.18 a litre in a year, pushing the cost of filling a saloon car to £70. By contrast, Britain’s best-selling electric car, the G-Wiz, costs only 1p a mile to run – and is exempt from road tax, many parking fees and the London congestion charge.

Carmakers are pouring millions of pounds into developing electric and hybrid cars, believing a long-term shift towards sustainable transport is taking place. Sales of gas-guzzling 4×4s and luxury marques fell in the UK in May.

Last week, General Motors announced plans to sell the “plug in and go” Chevy Volt by 2010. BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen and Honda plan rivals.

As one of Britain’s best-known businessmen, Sir James employs a research team of 400 at a modern glass HQ in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, and manufactures his products in Malaysia.

Sir James said he was “excited” by his firm’s extra-strong digital motors, which are half the weight of normal motors. With the aid of a microchip, his patented Dyson Digital Motor (DDM) turns 10,000 times a minute – five times faster than that of a Formula One car. He has put the motor into two vacuum cleaners and in the Airblade, the speedy hand-drier he launched two years ago. He believes the DDM – and its successors – could have far greater applications, notably in the electric car.

Sources said Sir James would probably want to team up with existing carmakers to develop a new electric vehicle rather than try to make one from scratch.

The environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth welcomed the involvement of Sir James, who has injected colour, fun and style into industrial design.

“Electric cars that run on electricity generated by renewable energy produce zero carbon emissions,” said transport campaigner Richard Dyer. “These cars will be crucial to reducing transport’s impact on climate change and should be introduced widely as soon as possible.”

Steve Fowler, editor of What Car, was more cautious. “Dyson certainly has a history of producing innovative electrical products,” he said, “but there’s a fair difference between producing electric motors for vacuum cleaners or washing machines and cars.”

Mr Fowler added that Sir James would have more success if the finished product bore the stamp of his “trademark innovation and design”: “The last time a home electricals manufacturer got involved with vehicle manufacture was when Hoover manufactured the Sinclair C5 electric tricycle in 1985.”

Source: The Independent website

Comments please from driving instructors and driving schools who are BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) members giving driving lessons, Pass Plus, advanced lessons, automatic lessons, disabled lessons, towing lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, fleet training in preparation for driving tests or driver improvement in the Bedford area.

Now this might not surprise you, but it seems that hedgehogs really are rubbish when it comes to crossing the road.

In some parts of the UK, the number of hedgehogs have almost halved and researchers say it could be because the prickly critters can’t cope in traffic.

Scientists found the animals tended to wait until vehicles were too close before trying to cross, then froze on the spot instead of trying to run away.

It’s thought about 15,000 hedgehogs are killed on the roads every year.

Scientists from the University of London studied hedgehogs on a road at night to see how they reacted to headlights and noises like engines starting.

Despite the dangers, roads are thought to be attractive to hedgehogs as they attract insects to feed on and the tarmac is warmer than cold grass.

While there’s not much that can be done to make roads safer for hedgehogs, experts say more could be done to help them by protecting hedges and their natural habitats.

Source: The BBC website

Comments please from driving instructors and driving schools who are BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) members giving driving lessons, Pass Plus, advanced lessons, automatic lessons, disabled lessons, towing lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, fleet training in preparation for driving tests or driver improvement in the Bedford area.

What a pity they do not read the Highway Code.

The consequences of drink driving could last much longer than your hangover and blight the rest of your life warn Cambridgeshire County Council road safety chiefs.

The summer weather often increases the opportunities for people to be out enjoying themselves - and for unplanned drinking.

However, many people ignore the fatal consequences of their actions and may not know that a drink driving conviction will remain on your licence for 11 years.

A new THINK! campaign has been launched for the summer to remind drivers that drink driving can have serious long lasting consequences.

It is well known that drink drivers put themselves and others in serious and potentially fatal danger.

But people don’t always realise that getting behind the wheel after drinking can devastate your life even when a crash is avoided, far beyond the 12-month driving ban and hugely affecting both current and future job prospects.

Those that have had a drink should not drive home but plan their journeys safely, for example by using public transport or taking a taxi instead.

Head of Road Safety Services for Cambridgeshire County Council, David Frost said: “In 2007, there were 1,555 drink drive arrests through breath test failures in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. While this represents encouragingly lower figures than the previous two years, it unfortunately remains clear that a significant number of selfish drivers ignore the persistent warnings over the dangers of drink driving.

“The consequences can sadly be fatal, and failing that be hugely life
affecting with the conviction so long lasting on your licence.

“How much alcohol you can drink before you reach the legal limit depends on the individual and factors such as if you have had a meal with their drink. It means it is very hard to judge how much you can legally drink before driving, which is why the only safe limit is none at all.”

Source: Town Crier Today website

Comments please from driving instructors and driving schools who are BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) members giving driving lessons, Pass Plus, advanced lessons, automatic lessons, disabled lessons, towing lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, fleet training in preparation for driving tests or driver improvement in the Bedford area.

“Yes, they do, is the short answer,” says Robert Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety.

“A four-year evaluation of their effectiveness concluded that 100 lives were saved every year.” The same study concluded that there was a 40% reduction in the number of deaths and injuries on roads with speed cameras.

So why is Tory-run Swindon borough council considering removing speed cameras and spending the £400,000 a year it spends on them on other road-safety measures? Peter Greenhalgh, head of transport in Swindon, says speed cameras are “a blatant tax on the motorist” and a “cash cow”. The Treasury, not local councils, keeps the proceeds of the fines.

There are around 6,000 speed cameras on UK roads, including mobile cameras. Claire Armstrong, who runs Safe Speed, a group that campaigns for more road safety but fewer speed cameras, claims that studies which show their efficacy are “politically biased”. “They are a huge distraction,” she says. “If you are concentrating on cameras, you are not concentrating on the road.” She believes that measures such as more safety-awareness campaigns and advanced driving tests would be more effective, and that as the number of speed cameras increases, there is no evidence of a commensurate reduction in the number of road deaths.

Gifford contradicts her. Road deaths, he says, fell below 3,000 for the first time last year and speed is a contributing factor in one in three road deaths. If you go back 10 years ago, “70% of drivers driving in free-flow traffic broke the 30mph speed limit. Now it’s 49%. There has been a big decrease in the deaths of pedestrians, and that is partly due to cameras in urban areas.”

Source: The Guardian website, by Emine Saner

Comments please from driving instructors and driving schools who are BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) members giving driving lessons, Pass Plus, advanced lessons, automatic lessons, disabled lessons, towing lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, fleet training in preparation for driving tests or driver improvement in the Bedford area.

THE drink-driving limit for teenage motorists should be cut to zero, according to the Government chief medical officer.

Sir Liam Donaldson said a total cut in alcohol would reduce injuries and deaths among accident-prone 17 to 20-year-olds.

“We know that even without alcohol, young people are more likely to have an accident because they are inexperienced drivers and even with them driving within the alcohol limit, they are much more likely to have an accident than an older driver within the alcohol limit,” he told said.

“Young people have enough difficulty when they first start driving. With their inexperience, learning the skills on the road, they don’t need the complication of drink as well.”

Sir Liam admitted that problems could arise if drivers were to eat food or use mouthwash containing alcohol, but suggested that other countries had managed to successfully overcome the issues.

“I feel that this measure is about saving lives as well as harm to teenagers, and also those who they might affect if they are driving a car when they are drunk, and I believe that this would be a sensible public health measure,” he said.

The RAC, however, claimed that a two-tier system would further complicate drink driving limits, which some people already find confusing. Currently, the limit for all drivers is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

“The drink-drive limit should be lowered for everyone,” said Liz Kennett, an RAC spokeswoman.

Sir Liam’s plan received a cool response from opposition parties. Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Norman Baker said: “There is a real argument to lower the drink-driving limit for all motorists to 50mg, in line with many European countries. But a zero limit risks criminalising those whose driving is not impaired.

“Young drivers could face legal problems because they have had a couple of drinks the night before or used alcohol in cooking. The answer is a lower limit for all drivers.”

Sir Liam’s proposal came in a wide-ranging annual health report which focused on teenage binge drinking, drug taking and unsafe sex. The report called for a national teenage health summit and a young person’s panel to offer advise on national campaigns.

“Adolescence … is a period in which teenagers encounter risks and make hard choices,” he said.

“Habits adopted in the teenage years can form behaviour for a lifetime. The effects of poor health in adolescence can last a lifetime, and even shorten it.”

Source: The Times Online website

Comments please from driving instructors and driving schools who are BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) members giving driving lessons, Pass Plus, advanced lessons, automatic lessons, disabled lessons, towing lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, fleet training in preparation for driving tests or driver improvement in the Bedford area.

Improving the design of roads could cut deaths and serious injuries in traffic accidents by a third, a newly launched campaign group argues.

Improvements in car safety have helped to cut the number of deaths

The Campaign for Safe Road Design says improving signs, lines and kerbs could see 10,000 fewer fatalities and serious injuries over the next 10 years.

The group says as a result, the UK could save £6bn a year.

The government said road safety had improved dramatically in recent years, but pledged to work with the group.

Picture from Campaign for Safe Road Design website

Safety features

The group, which comprises road users as well as road safety and road design bodies, says in the last 10 years, 375,000 people have been killed or seriously injured in road crashes.

It calculated that as a consequence, the UK has lost 1.5% of its gross domestic product every year - more than the total spent on primary schools and twice the spending on GPs.

The campaign’s chairman John Dawson said: “A safe road system means road users who obey traffic law, manufacturers who provide safe vehicles and authorities who provide safe roads.

“As the government prepares its road safety strategy beyond 2010, we must now, as other leading countries have done, turn our attention to the safety features built into our roads.”

‘Determined’

The campaigners are particularly calling for safer road design on roads outside major towns, where two-thirds of road deaths occur.

A Department for Transport spokesman said that road safety in the UK had improved “dramatically” in recent years - with road deaths in 2007 falling below 3,000 for the first time since records began in 1926.

He said the fall was due to a combination of investment in roads, improvements to vehicle safety, education and enforcement.

He added: “We are, of course, determined to do more and we will work with the campaign to investigate how further road improvements could help make our roads even safer.”

Source: The BBC website

Comments please from driving instructors and driving schools who are BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) members giving driving lessons, Pass Plus, advanced lessons, automatic lessons, disabled lessons, towing lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, fleet training in preparation for driving tests or driver improvement in the Bedford area.

TRANSPORT minister Jim Fitzpatrick has defended the ongoing closures of town centre driving test centres, saying relocating them raised the standard of driving lessons.

MPTC building (side-view). (Picture from DSA website)

Mr Fitzpatrick told MPs there were a number of driving instructors who spent their time taking learners round the test course rather than teaching them how to drive.

Test centres which were a longer drive away would prevent this from happening, he said.

The Driving Standards Agency has been forced to relocate several centres to out-of-town locations to accommodate a stricter motorcycle test imposed by Europe.

Celia Barlow right, (picture from her website)

During Commons question time, Labour’s Celia Barlow (Hove), said the closure of centres in Brighton and Hove would force inexperienced drivers on to the A23 dual carriageway to access the new Burgess Hill centre.

Mr Fitzpatrick replied: “You raise the question of the travel and the journey of people who want to sit their driving test to test centres.

“We do know that there are some ADIs - approved driving instructors - who spend a lot of time with their trainees on the actual test course.

“What we are trying to do is say that’s not what they ought to be doing. Not teaching people how to pass the test, they are supposed to be teaching people to drive.

“The fact that there will be slightly longer distances for some people to travel - although for the majority of people it will still be within 45 minutes - that is a matter of fact and what we are trying to do however is to improve the centres which will be DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) compliant, that will be better for staff and better for examiners.

“And certainly in terms of what we want to achieve as an objective is to cut the number of people that are being killed and injured which is why we are revising the whole of the exam course.”

Source: The Argus Lite website

Comments please from driving instructors and driving schools who are BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) members giving driving lessons, Pass Plus, advanced lessons, automatic lessons, disabled lessons, towing lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, fleet training in preparation for driving tests or driver improvement in the Bedford area.

A WOMAN has finally passed her driving test 27 years and 450 lessons after she first took to the road.

Teresa Clarke, a 62-year-old grandmother and mother-of-two, had her first lesson in 1981 shortly before American president Ronald Reagan was shot and Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer.

Since then she has been through 20 driving instructors, spent £15,000 in fees and had 450 hours of tuition. Despite all the work she failed 12 tests, cancelled a further 35 and had 50 mock exams.

But it was 13th time lucky when thanks to the help of her stepson, who runs a driving school, she finally was allowed to ditch her L-plates last month.

“It took a long time for it to sink in when I was told I had passed,” said Mrs Clarke, of Wroxham, Norfolk. “I was so happy I kissed the woman instructor.”

Mrs Clarke, a former shop assistant who is 5ft tall and has to sit on a cushion to reach the steering wheel, admits that she was a hopeless learner because she found it very difficult to concentrate for long periods of time.

She was such a disaster that many instructors refused to carry on teaching her after a few lessons - either too scared or too frustrated to continue.

Her last unsuccessful driving instructor was so fed up he told her to give up because she would never pass her test.

But then Richard Minkler, her stepson from her first marriage, stepped in and offered her his best instructor. It proved an inspired move and finally after some firm words Mrs Clarke, who has two grandchildren, finally passed her test - albeit in an automatic car.

She was given 56 hours instruction in a two week intensive course and told to give up coffee and tea to aid her concentration.

She said: “I was little upset after I failed my first couple of tests - but I never really got disheartened.

“I was very persistent and I always knew I would pass one day. Now my dream has come true and I am just delighted.

“I used to fail my tests on all sorts of different things although my main problem was my lack of concentration.

“I used to have at least three cups of strong Italian coffee every day and when I stopped it really improved my driving by helping me to concentrate.”

“My previous one three years ago ended up refusing to teach me anymore after I failed my test with him.

“He just said, ‘I am awfully sorry, but you are no good. You will never pass’. His comments upset me and I am delighted to have proved him wrong.”

Mrs Clarke’s husband Richard, 61, a training centre administrator said he was “relieved” that she had finally passed.

He added: “There’s been so many times that Teresa has been close to passing. There has been a certain tension involved in this.”

Her instructor, Patrick Beasley, said he had to be “very firm” with his extraordinary student because of her “poor concentration”.

But he said he was delighted when she passed. “She went absolutely bananas,” he said. “I had to calm her down and the examiner was quite worried about her.”

Source: The Telegraph website, 09/07/08

Comments please from driving instructors and driving schools who are BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) members giving driving lessons, Pass Plus, advanced lessons, automatic lessons, disabled lessons, towing lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, fleet training in preparation for driving tests or driver improvement in the Bedford area.

WITH rising fuel costs and price increases announced by the Driving Standards Agency for driving lessons and driving tests, driving instructors are noticing a rapid increase in the amount of cash and cheques they are carrying whilst on the road.

        versus      

This not only takes time and effort to pay into your business bank account, but is also not very safe to carry.  
 
The Driving Instructors Association (DIA) is committed to helping its members find and use technology solutions in the market that will benefit them in their everyday work.  The DIA is currently in talks with a leading card payment supplier that can provide an advanced, safe and reliable mobile credit and debit card processing machine.  
 
To help us with this process, the DIA would like to gather some information and feedback from its members to understand the key issues you are currently facing with only accepting cash and cheques.
 
We have compiled a short survey with 5 questions that will provide us with the relevant information we need to ensure the DIA select the best solution for you.  Can you please, therefore, spend a few minutes completing the survey by following the link below?
 
CLICK HERE

As the survey will be only live online until Wednesday 16 July, we would greatly appreciate a prompt response at your earliest convenience.
 
Following the results of the survey, the DIA may propose a suitable and cost-effective credit and debit card processing solution to all its members.

Source: Driving Instructors Association