Government unlikely to end motorway fuel rip-off

 Signs to help drivers compare the cost of motorway fuel have been in the pipeline for two years. But ministers still can’t say when the scheme will be up and running.

Drivers continue to face sky-high motorway fuel prices because the government is dragging its heels on plans to increase competition between service stations.

Investigation carried out by Office of  Fair Trading  in 2013 found that fuel prices were typically 7.5p a litre more for petrol and 8.3p more for diesel on motorways.

The watchdog recommended that a network of signs which compared fuel prices at all the service stations  should be placed on upcoming sections of motorway.This would enable drivers to use the best-value retailer, and the competition would help force prices down and make driving cheaper.

At present, service stations can get away with charging higher prices for fuel as well as for other amenities, because drivers are unable to shop around for cheaper deals.

The OFT’s suggestion was initially welcomed by ministers, with David Cameron announcing in May 2013 that he had ordered the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Highways Agency to begin work on developing a network of signs.But more than two years later, Britain still awaits its first motorway fuel price sign.

Meanwhile, Figures published by the AA at the end of July showed that while the average price for both petrol and diesel was 116.6p a litre, costs on the motorway were more than 10p a litre higher. Service-station diesel cost as much as 127.9p a litre while petrol cost 125.9p a litre at the time the research was carried out.

The government now appears to have changed its tune and is going back on what it clearly stated about a national roll-out in last year’s Autumn Statement and Motorists needing to buy fuel on the motorway continue to be forced to pay over the odds for no apparently good reasons, instead of seeing how these signs work in practice and whether drivers find them a benefit.

www.afzalschoolofmotoring.com

Driverless cars to be tested in UK

Business secretary, Vince Cable, sits in a driverless car.

Driverless cars are to be tested in Bristol, Coventry, Milton Keynes  and the London borough of Greenwich and those locations in trials will put the UK at the forefront of automated vehicle technology.

Government funding of £19m will allow three separate trials to take place: one in Bristol, one in Greenwich and one split between Coventry and Milton Keynes. The trials, lasting from 18 to 36 months, will test different aspects of self-driving technology. All will take place away from public roads, though each is aimed at making automated vehicles on Britain’s roads a reality.

The trials will use semi-autonomous cars that can drive themselves for periods of the time with a human driver behind the wheel, as well as lightweight self-driving pods designed for low-speed shuttle services. The three projects will be linked by an external monitor who will coordinate all the data.

The Greenwich trials – named the Gateway project – will involve self-driving shuttles being tested on closed roads and in simulation facilities. The project is led by the TRL with contributions from the Royal College of Art, Imperial College London and the University of Greenwich along with General Motors, the AA and RAC.

“These shuttles are a relatively mature technology, so our trials will be more about how to manage participants and the vehicles, to get us towards these vehicles being a real proposition for public roads,” Reed said.

Gateway will also test cars that can drop off passengers then park themselves. The vehicles will then return on command, similar to concepts shown off by Audi and other carmakers.

The Bristol trials – named the Venturer project – will involve tests investigating legal and insurance issues, as well as public reaction to self-driving cars.

well as public reaction to self-driving cars.

The Venturer project will be led by project management group Atkins Highways & Transportation. Also involved will be the Bristol robotics lab at the University of Bristol and insurance company Axa.

Driverless vehicles could change the way we move around cities. Photograph: Alamy

The question of who pays in the event of a crash involving a driverless car is seen as one of the major barriers to letting self-driving cars loose on highways.

The trials in Milton Keynes and Coventry will be run by a consortium named UK Autodrive. Arup is to lead this project with Jaguar Land Rover and Ford contributing. The project will focus on car-to-car and car-to-road communication and the infrastructure required.

The government has made clear its support of the automated vehicle industry. “The UK is a world leader in the development of driverless technology,” said business secretary Vince Cable. “This not only puts us at the forefront of this transformational technology but also opens up new opportunities for our economy and society.”

Full Report on :   http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/01/driverless-cars-tested-uk-bristol-coventry-milton-keynes-greenwich

UK driving licence fees fall

Cost of provisional licence will fall from 31^st Oct 2014, to £34 from £50, while cost of renewing licence online will drop to £14

The cost-cutting measure, which will see the price of a provisional licence fall to £34 from £50, was announced by ministers, who estimated it would save all new drivers in the region of £80m over the next decade.

Other cuts coming into effect on 31 October include the costs of renewing a licence online every 10 years, reduced from £20 to £14, and a tachograph card used by businesses to monitor how far staff drive, which will fall from £38 to £32.

Transport minister Claire Perry said: “The cost of driving, especially for young drivers, can be significant and we are committed to cutting costs where we can. Thanks to DVLA making large-scale savings to their running costs, we have been able to cut the cost of the driving licence which will save drivers and businesses £150m over the next 10 years.”

The agency processes 1m “first licence” applications every year and the fees drop is expected to save new drivers £82.2m over 10 years, with more than 77% of these applications made by 17 to 24-year-olds.

In addition 2.1m  photocard licences are renewed every year, meaning motorists already on the road would save £61.3m collectively over a decade.

Businesses make another 85,500 renewals a year and will save £2.44m over 10 years while the cost savings to tachographs will save another £3.58m over the decade.

Read full story at :  http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/25/uk-driving-licence-fees-fall

Cost of driving lessons and insurance blamed for drop in young learners

The percentage of 17-20-year-olds with a provisional driving licence has fallen from 43% to 36% in recent years

Getting behind the wheel is no longer such an attraction for young people  in Britain. Applying for a provisional driving licence was once a rite of passage, but since the 1990s boom there has been a big dip in the number of young learners.

While many younger drivers share their parents' car, the costs of learning, and insuring a car for a teenage driver, are blamed for the decline. The percentage of 17-20-year-olds with a provisional licence has fallen from 43% to 36% in recent years – with little more than 30% of girls in the age group now learning to drive. In the 1995-97 peak years more than half of males aged 17-20 were on the road.

According to the most recent National Travel Survey, young people are mainly put off by the prohibitive cost of lessons, followed by soaring insurance premiums and the cost of purchasing a car and keeping it on the road.

Beyond costs, some speculate that the use of mobile phones has made young people more content to travel as passengers on public transport, where they can stay online through the journey.

Indian government drafts law to tame India's chaotic traffic

Measures include a points system to punish repeat offenders and stiffer penalties for speeding and failure to stop at red lights

Traffic in Delhi, India. Photograph: Alamy

For decades, the chaotic use of  roads has been held up as a point of pride by locals who argued that, though unnerving, the free-for-all worked in a way that foreign practices such as staying in your lane or using your mirrors would not.

Now the government, hopes to tame the rickshaws, elephants, trucks, luxury SUVs, bicycles, camels, five-seater motorbikes, cows and buses that battle it out each day on the country's highways.

The objective is an ambitious one. Around 150,000 people a year die on India's roads, with hundreds of thousands more injured in around half a million recorded road accidents.

There is no ongoing system of verification of vehicle, no central national agency of road safety, and a culture of flouting the law. A huge surge in car ownership has not been matched by investment in roads, safety education, monitoring or policing.

The new bill aims to save 200,000 lives over five years and boost economic development, which has flagged in recent years.

The World Health Organisation has said the number of deaths and injuries on the roads in India costs the country around three percentage points of GDP growth annually. Transport ministry officials put the figure higher.

Modi's government has disappointed some observers, particularly in the business community, for failing to pass "big bang" reforms immediately. BJP officials say they are taking a "softly softly" approach with measures aimed at "putting the house in order, not burning it down".

One spur to the reform was the death of a minister in a car crash in Delhi days after the election win.

The draft law was posted online by the road transport ministry at the weekend with a request for user comments.

Full Story at:  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/14/modi-law-india-traffic-roads

Diesel drivers face higher costs in battle to reduce pollution.

UK cities considering low emission zones and London diesel drivers could face extra costs on top of the congestion charge.

Drivers of diesel cars may have to pay more in road tax or face extra charges to travel into city centres in an effort to tackle pollution according to reports.

Major UK cities are considering low emission zones to force out older diesel vehicles that are responsible for higher levels of fumes, the Times said.

Almost all diesel vehicles driven into central London will trigger a £10 charge under plans being considered by mayor, Boris Johnson who will also reportedly lobby the government to increase road tax on diesel cars to encourage a move to cleaner vehicles.

The £10 fee, which would come into effect in 2020, would be on top of the congestion charge, forcing diesel drivers to pay at least £20 to drive into the capital's "ultra low emission zone", the newspaper said.

Only diesel vehicles meeting the Euro 6 emissions standard will be exempt, while petrol cars registered before 2006 will also have to pay.

Labour is reportedly planning a countrywide network of low emission zones to force older diesel cars from city centres, proposals that are being considered by more than 15 cities including Sheffield, Birmingham, and Bristol. Oxford has already introduced a zone for buses and may expand its plans for other vehicles. The initiatives are being considered to help meet European regulations on clean air and avoid the threat of heavy fines for breaching them.

The mayor's environment adviser, Matthew Pencharz, told the newspaper: "We want to see an unwinding of incentives that have driven people to diesel. Euro engine standards on emissions have not delivered the savings expected, meaning we now have a legacy of a generation of dirty diesels."

Today there are 10m cars in Britain are powered by diesel engines – a third of the total.

"Part of the problem is regulation. In laboratory conditions diesel cars have meet strict test criteria. Unfortunately that performance hasn't been matched on the road and now we have a significant health issue because of the dash for diesel."

Magistrate court fines 'may rise substantially’

Maximum fines imposed by magistrates are set to rise dramatically under new proposals for England and Wales.

Justice Minister Jeremy Wright said financial penalties "set at the right level" were an effective punishment for offenders.

"Magistrates are the cornerstone of our justice system and these changes will provide them with greater powers to deal with the day-to-day offences that impact their local communities," he added.

His proposals could also see magistrates having unlimited fining powers for offences where there is currently a maximum of £5,000 or more.

Any new legislation would first have to be debated in Parliament but there is no current timetable for any such discussion.

Custody 'option remains'

Most driving offences that could involve a fine in magistrates' courts are subject to specific maximums, known as levels, which currently range from £200 to £5,000 and Some cases, such as environmental offences, can involve even higher fines.

Magistrates take into account the seriousness of the offence when setting the fine level.

Whilst the amount of a fine must reflect the seriousness of the offence, the court must also take into account the financial circumstances of the offender - in other words, their ability to pay.

This applies whether it has the effect of increasing or reducing the fine. Normally a fine should be of an amount that is capable of being paid within 12 months.

The aim is for the fine to have an equal impact on offenders with different financial circumstances.

It should be a hardship but should not force the offender below a reasonable "subsistence" level.

So, someone on benefits caught speeding on motorway, is not going to be given a £10,000 fine that they have no realistic prospect of paying.

The Ministry of Justice said custody would "continue to be used for serious offenders and fines will not become an alternative for those who would otherwise be sent to custody".

Rupert Lipton, director of the National Motorists Action Group, described the proposals as "disproportionate and draconian". He said: "I think it will have a serious chilling effect. We will find motorists will be deterred from going to court where they believe they are not guilty of an offence and there is a potential challenge."

However, the government is only now tabling the appropriate legislation to put that ruling into effect.