Motorway lessons for learner drivers from 2018

The Government has announced that as from next year learners will be able to have motorway lessons in dual control cars with approved driving instructors. (England, Wales and Scotland)

Currently you have to have passed your driving test to be allowed to drive on motorways. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said the lessons would make UK roads safer.

He said: "Allowing learners to drive on motorways in a supportive environment will help them develop a practical understanding of how to use motorways safely before driving independently."

Mr Grayling said young drivers were more likely to be killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads - and a lack of experience was an "important factor".

"The UK has some of safest roads in the world and we want to make them even safer," he said.

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Motorway rules

• When joining the motorway give priority to traffic already on the road. Match your speed to fit safely into the traffic flow and remain in the left-hand lane long enough to adjust to the speed of traffic before considering overtaking
• When you can see well ahead and the road conditions are good, drive at a steady cruising speed within the speed limit
• Always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking slower-moving vehicles, return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past
• Only overtake on the right-hand side, when it safe and legal to do so. In congested conditions, however, you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake
• Do not stop on the hard shoulder except in an emergency
• Do not reverse, cross the central reservation, or drive against the traffic flow. If you have missed your exit, carry on to the next one

Source: The Highway Code

For more on this story please read this article by the BBC

New roadside test will identify tired drivers

The health services provider Austin Health and the Institute for Breathing and Sleep joined together to develop a roadside test that will identify tired drivers, and keep them off the road. 

The result of the collaboration was ‘smart glasses’  - they track eye movements and measure the length of blinks. The researchers hope the product will help police ‘dramatically reduce fatigue-related road death’.

As part of the project, researchers studied drowsiness in night-shift workers during driving tests and found a tenfold increase in ‘microsleeps' and double the number of lane crossings. They also found drivers struggled to keep their eyes open and had more trouble staying in the middle of a lane.

The researchers believe the technology could hold the key to changing driver behaviour toward getting behind-the-wheel while tired, in the same way the breathalyser changed attitudes towards drink-driving.

DtT figures show that during 2015, fatigue was recorded by police as a contributory factor in 4% of fatal accidents and 2% of serious injury accidents in the UK.

However, the UK’s Road Safety Observatory suggests that sleep-related collisions are under-reported and in fact are more likely to account for 16% to 20% of all collisions.

 

- See more at Source : http://www.roadsafetygb.org.uk

Roadside 'textalyser' will treat drivers on smartphones like drunks

Police may start using a "textalyser" soon the new gadget will help them gauge if a distracted driver has been using their mobile phone before a road incident.

The move is in response to the rise  of instances of distracted driving that have led to accidents and death.

The idea was proposed by a draft legislation in New York, which would require drivers to submit their phones for testing, if pulled up by authorities.

"Reports indicate that 67 per cent of drivers admit to continued use of their cell phones while driving despite knowledge of the inherent danger to themselves and others on the road," the draft law said.
"Therefore, it is in the state's interest to treat this impairment with a similar methodology to that of drunk driving."

The new law, known as "Evan's Law" is named after 19-year-old Evan Lieberman, who died in a 2011 collision caused by a distracted driver. His father, Ben Lieberman, helped to draft and implement the law through his awareness nonprofit  Distracted Operators Risk Casualties (DORCS).

How the device would work

Obviously, due to privacy laws, police would not be able to force people to unlock their phone to check their recent calls, texts or social media activity.

Instead, the "textalyser" would look at metadata on the phone just to check whether it was used recently or not - keeping conversations, contacts, numbers, photos, and app data private.

Mobile phones are biggest accident risk in the UK

67 people were killed in Britain in the past three years purely because drivers were on their phones - and this doesn't include those who may have just put down their phones or been about to pick them up.

The Department for Transport has said that of 88 deaths caused by distractions in 2012, 17 (or 19pc) were due to mobile use – the highest death rate compared to other in-case causes such as people, children or sat-navs.

For more in depth information please read the article by the Telegraph

Speeding driver David Pickup ordered to pay £11,000

David Pickup was caught speeding and has to pay £11,000 for challenging his ticket after a prosecution expert hired an airfield and a sports car to prove him wrong.

David Pickup, 45, was clocked doing 101mph in his Audi R8 on the A55 at Lloc in Flintshire in April 2014.

Flintshire Magistrates' Court heard a police speed camera caught him and he asked officers: "Can we call it 98?".

Mr Pickup who is from Wilmslow in Cheshire, who has a holiday home in Abersoch, Gwynedd, was convicted of speeding.

He denied breaking the 70mph speed limit and said that a number of people from Cheshire had second homes in Abersoch, which he called a millionaire's paradise.

The defence questioned the accuracy of the in-car police speed camera so the prosecution hired an expert who rented an airfield and an Audi R8 to carry out tests, the results of which were presented to the court.

Pickup was fined £675, given six points on his licence and ordered to pay the full prosecution costs - which included the testing - of £10,384.

Teenager becomes first to pass UK driving test using a sat nav

Credit: SWNS

Grant Ferguson, 17, has become the first person in the UK to pass his driving test – using a sat nav.

His local driving test centre was chosen as one of 20 in the UK to trial the revised practical exam with the help of a GPS navigation system.

The examiner set up a route on the device for the first twenty minutes of the test and Grant followed the sat nav verbal instructions - with the instructor still in the vehicle.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) expects 1000 learner drivers will take part in the revised tests which are set to continue until the end of the year. If successful, it could be the biggest shake up of the test in almost 20 years! the last big change was when the written theory exam was introduced in 1996.

Grant Said:

"I had been learning to drive for about a month when the opportunity came up to try out the new test. I felt like I was part of an important change. I'll definitely be buying a sat nav because that's what I know and it gives you a bit of freedom to go where you want.
I was a bit relieved that I didn't have to do the reverse around the corner in the test."

 

The changes could see the three-point turn and reversing round a corner scrapped. These will be replaced with more commonplace manoeuvres such as reversing out of a parking bay.

The DVSA say that candidates will also be asked safety questions while on the move, instead of at the start, and asked to operate switches such as screen heaters.

Motoring groups have urged caution in removing manoeuvres like a three-point turn,saying it can be essential if sat navs lead drivers down a dead end road.

What do you think? would this be a good permanent change, should tests just be made longer to include more rather than scrapping other useful things? alternatively should the range of things you could be asked to do increase to at least ensure the manouvres are learnt?

Have your say below