August 19th, 2011
A car insurance firm for young motorists has reduced its premiums by 17% by using telematics to monitor driver behaviour.
Young Marmalade uses ‘black box” satellite technology to record driver behaviour including their braking, acceleration and speed skills. This data is used to calculate premiums. If a motorist drives carefully the risk of an accident is lower – in turn their insurance policy is slashed leading to cheaper car insurance for responsible younger drivers.
Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance, sais many young drivers are confounded by the fact that their insurance premium can cost 10 times more than what they would pay for an old vehicle. He explained that insurance is often high for drivers who have passed their test at the earliest opportunity because the calculations relate to “the potential damage their irresponsible use can inflict”. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: black box technology, car insurance for young drivers, insurance firm Young Marmalade, using satellite technology to monitor driver behaviour, young driver car insurance, Young Marmalade insurance provider
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August 17th, 2011
Travel sickness can ruin a road trip but episodes of motion sickness can be reduced, controlled and even abated with a few easy-to-follow tips.
Car sickness occurs when conflicting signals are sent to the brain from the inner ear and eyes, according to Dr Jane Wilson-Howarth, a GP from Cambridge and the medical director of a travel clinic.
She said: “If the driver throws the car around, tiny particles of chalk suspended in liquid in your inner ear push against microscopic hairs. This tells your brain that you are on your side. Meanwhile, your eyes are sending different information and it’s this that makes you sick.”
Dr Wilson-Howarth explained that motion sickness can be reduced by taking people’s mind’s off their feelings of nausea – playing games, looking out at the horizon and listening to music can all help. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: dealing with travel sickness, feeling sick in the car, how to beat travel sickness, tips for beating motion sickness, travel sickness tips
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August 15th, 2011
Plans to turn off motorway lights on a stretch of the M1 between midnight and 5am have been met with criticism by road safety organisations fearful of the potential hazards.
Unveiled by The Highways Agency, the move would help to cut costs and assist the Department for Transport (DoT) in adhering to the government’s current austerity measures.
The affected 15 miles of motorway, between junction 10 at Luton and junction 13 at Milton Keynes, will feature variable speed limits in the future and drivers will also be able to use the hard should during busy periods. The AA is concerned with the DoT’s choice to introduce the initiative on a road that is already set to experience these changes. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Department of Transport to save money by turning off motorway lights, lights on stretch of M1 to be switched off, The Highways Agency proposes to switch off lights on M1, turning the lights off on motorways
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August 12th, 2011
Motorists leave almost £300 worth of personal items in their cars, research from a gocompare poll has revealed.
Over two fifths of the 2000 participants in the survey on ‘glove box stashing’ said they leave their SatNav in their boot or glove box, according to the findings of the price comparison site.
Just over 30% of respondents said they have left their mobile phone in their car followed by 29% who admitted to leaving their wallet or purse behind.
Glove boxes alone were found to contain £112 worth of goods and the average value of items left in car boots totalled up to £165. Aside from SatNavs, mobiles and wallets, 15% of drivers said they have left their laptop in the boot as well as power tools, golf clubs and other sporting equipment. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: forgetting purse in car, hiding belongings in boot, hiding laptop in boot space, leaving belongings in cars, leaving personal items in cars, putting SatNav in glove box
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August 10th, 2011
Plans to offer Welsh learner drivers with personal interpreters to help them book a driving test in their native language have been met with criticism.
Translation firm thebigword has been hired by The Driving Standard Agency (DSA) to allow Welsh speakers to arrange their test in their own tongue following the announcement that the DSA’s Cardiff office is to shut down.
Shadow Wales Office Minister Owen Smith has criticised the move: “Instead of letting the old system continue under which a Welsh-speaking official spoke to the customer over the phone from Cardiff, the DSA has decided to award a contract to thebigword under which they provide an interpreter to deal with enquiries from the public.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: booking a driving test, booking a driving test in Welsh, booking a driving test over the phone, driving test arrangements, Welsh translation service for driving test booking
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August 8th, 2011
The average motorist will own 26 cars, have 36 minor accidents and break down 13 times across their lifetime, according to new statistics from gocompare.com.
The price comparison site surveyed over 2000 drivers to reveal the habits of UK motorists over a period of 61.5 years. It found that drivers will travel 292,986 miles on average and visit the garage to buy fuel a massive 2,645 times. They will also get stuck in traffic for almost 101 days and be lumbered with 15 flat tyres.
John Miles, business development director at Gocompare.com, said: “The study is a real eye-opener, as not only does it give us an in-depth account of the average motorist, it also reveals the impact of having a driving license.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: applying make up in the car, drivers and their motoring lifestyle, eating in the car, lifetime habits of motorists, motoring habits survey, singing in the car, study on driver habits
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August 5th, 2011
Over half of UK motorists who should be wearing prescription lenses at the wheel are breaking the law by opting for normal sunglasses.
New research from optometrist GetLenses shows that 53% of drivers admit to owning prescription sunglasses but fail to wear them when they are in the driving seat. This is in spite of laws that require motorists who suffer with eyesight problems to wear the proper corrective lenses – drivers who cannot see clearly from a distance of 20 metres must wear glasses.
Brendan O’Brien, optometrist at GetLenses, said: “The research is extremely worrying. Safety should never be compromised for style, especially when it comes to driving. We don’t blame drivers, as often many people don’t even consider prescription sunglasses.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: corrective lenses for driving, driving with poor eyesight, driving without corrective lenses, eyesight problems and driving, prescriptive sunglasses for driving
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August 3rd, 2011
Over two thirds of motorists feel stressed and irritable when faced with a vehicle moving slower than the rest of the traffic, a confused.com survey has revealed.
The car insurance comparison site found that 60% of drivers are bothered by slow motorists with 45% admitting that they would risk overtaking dawdling vehicles.
Further research from the Department for Transport highlighted that 143 accidents are caused each year by slow motorists or ‘Sunday drivers’.
More than half of the participants in the study said they would welcome the idea of introducing ‘slow speed cameras’ to catch slow drivers and penalise them for their poor motoring habits. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: annoying slow drivers, motorists annoyed by slow drivers, slow drivers irritate motorists, slow speed cameras, speed cameras to catch slow drivers
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August 1st, 2011
The Toyota Yaris Verso has topped the rankings in Which? Car’s top ten list of the most satisfying cars.
Over 50,000 motorists took part in the survey and were asked to rate, out of five, how satisfied they are with their car and how likely they are to recommend it to a friend. The results were combined to make a customer score out of 100% – the Verso scored a massive 97.7%.
One owner described it as “so versatile, reliable, easy to drive, inexpensive to own and almost as good now as when I bought it.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Renault Laguna Sport Tourer satisfies motorists the least, Skodas reliable and practical, top ten most satisfying cars, Which? survey on cars, Yaris champion of most satisfying cars
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July 29th, 2011
Primary-age schoolchildren cannot accurately judge the speed of vehicles travelling over 25mph, scientists have discovered.
Researchers at the Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, found that the faster an approaching object is travelling the harder it becomes to detect its speed – this is most apparent in children aged between six and 11.
Up until the age of about nine, children share almost the same level of judgement. A slight improvement occurs in ten to 11-year-olds but the neural mechanisms to successfully judge speed do no not develop fully until adulthood. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: blanket 20mph zones, children and road crossing judgements, children find it hard to judge speed of vehicles, Royal Holloway research on children and speed judgement, speed zones in child areas
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