A £1.3m campaign started today led by Paul Clark the Road Safety Minister that is aimed at educating the public about the dangers of not wearing a seatbelt.
According to the campaign, when a crash occurs without a seat belt on, then the body actually goes through three crashes even at lower speeds such as 30mph.
This is due the fact that without a restraint your body crashes against the interior of the car and even once the body comes to a stop the internal organs inside the body continue to rock, hitting the body walls and sometimes even rupturing.
Clark stated that the campaign is aimed at reminding drivers that regardless of the speed or distance a driver is travelling every time a seat belt is left off they are risking life.
According to statistics you are twice as likely to die if a crash occurs without a seat belt than not. If everyone wore a seat belt while driving in the UK, a life could be saved every day.
The campaign, titled Think!, includes advertisements placed outdoors, on the radio, television, and cinema and addresses the most common times that people neglect to wear seat belts. These include low speed journeys, short distances, and driving on familiar roads.
The advert is so graphic and realistic that it is only allowed to be shown on the airwaves past 9pm. Earlier versions of the ad will be edited and not contain scenes detailing the damage that internal organs suffer in a crash.
According to the Endsleigh Insurance motor theft index, Hull is the most dangerous place to park a car in Britain for the second year in a row.
In second place was Nottingham followed by the West Yorkshire town of Bradford, Manchester, and the South Yorkshire town of Doncaster.
However, Humberside Police denied that crime is rising in Hull, instead pointing to evidence that motor theft has actually reduced over the past year.
The Insurance company stated that there has been a national reduction in car theft over the last year although there are still some towns that pose more of a theft, especially cities found in North England and the Midlands.
On the flip side of the index, Swindon was found to be the safest place to leave a motor vehicle followed in second place by Cheltenham. Rounding out the top five safest places to leave a motor vehicle were Southampton, Solihull, and Bangor.
Endsleigh Insurance compiled the figures by looking over the last three years of motor claims from tens of thousands of British motor insurance policy holders.
Stuart Wartalsi, an employee of the company, stated that the risk of theft is the highest after the holidays when cars are targeted that have cameras, DVDS, satnavs, and laptops inside of them.
Wartalsi advised motorists that they should always hide any valuables under the seat, in the trunk, or out of sight somewhere within the vehicle and that a car should be outfit with an alarm even while parked in well lit areas.
If you are thinking of buying a new or second-hand car, but you don’t currently have enough money saved up to do so, you may be considering car finance.
To put it simply, when you buy a car ‘on finance’, you are basically buying a car using a loan. This means that you will be taking on debt, which must be repaid.
Right now, though, the downturn means many people are struggling with their debts, so it’s particularly important that before you take out a car finance agreement (or any form of credit), you are certain you’ll be able to repay it. If you are unsure about this, or would like more information about debt, you could contact a debt management company and ask for some advice.
Entering a car finance agreement
You may be asked if you would like to enter a car finance agreement when you are buying your car. And if you need to borrow money in order to afford your car, you may well say yes.
Affording your monthly repayments
If you do enter a car finance agreement, you have to be certain that you’ll be able to afford your monthly repayments – after all, you would be taking on debt!
But the question is… how can you be sure that you will be able to afford your payments?
Well, no-one can guarantee that their circumstances will stay the same forever – but there are some steps you can take to help make sure you have enough money set aside for your car finance payments each month. For example, you could create your own budget.
Create a budget
Creating your own budget can be an effective way to make sure you have enough money set aside each month for your debt repayments.
To create your own budget, simply total up everything you earn each month, followed by everything you spend each month (on your essential costs – such as mortgage/rent payments, utility bills, food, etc.). Now you have these two totals, you will need to subtract your expenditure from your income.
This will leave you with your disposable income. Your disposable income is basically the money you have each month to put towards your unsecured debts (such as credit cards, car finance payments, overdrafts, etc.) – and if there is any left after doing this, for saving and/or non-essential spending.
To make sure you have enough money each month to cover your car finance payments (and any other unsecured debts you have, of course), simply compare your disposable income against the amount you are required to pay towards your debts.
If you have enough, you should be fine. However if your disposable income falls short of the amount you require, you should take immediate action. Seeking advice from a professional debt management company could be a good place to start.
Bikes for sale are set to change dramatically. The new buzz word in the industry is e-motorbikes. For the last year or so electric superbikes have become big news. The launch of the impressive Mission One, made by Mission Motors, has created a realisation in the industry that motorbikes are well suited to embrace electric motor technology. However a new manufacturer has launched a bike that could surpass the Mission One.
The Mission One, run completely from electric batteries, clocked an impressive 161 mph on a speed test and showed the world that electric motorbikes can be powerful and sexy. The problem with the mission one is that it has very expensive price tag to go with the cutting edge technology. At $69,000 you have to be very wealthy to move into the new era of motorbike technology. However Roehr Motorcycles has just announced the eRoehr. An electric motorbike made for the mass-market. Prices start from $14,995 for the eSupersport. The eSupersport gives 48 horsepower at 8000 rpm with a 105 pound-feet of torque. The eSuperbike is the same bike but with twice the motors, twice the power, for twice the price. In a great idea by the Roehr team you can upgrade the eSupersport to the eSuperbike specifications after you have tested out the electric bike and decided whether you need more power. The Roehr team have also gone further with a promise that the bike 100% maintenance free and the company claim that it ran for 10 years non-stop. If true this means that finding and haggling for motorcycle spares will be a thing of the past.
Over 180,000 British cars have been affected by a massive recall from Toyota the Japanese car giant, who announced that seven models are affected by a problem with the accelerator pedal. Internationally Toyota has been forced to recall millions of its cars.
Additionally, the company is looking into further reports that there are faulty brakes on its US and Japanese Prius hybrid model.
In the face of the recalls, Toyota UK has announced that it will take almost a week before they can begin to repair the cars affected by the recall, with the actual repair start date not set until February 10th. This is due to the fact that the parts needed to repair the affected vehicles will not arrive until next week.
As the largest car maker in the world Toyota is poised to suffer a huge setback with a loss estimated at about £1.23b once the recall is complete and potential lost sales are taken into account. However, it expects that sales will bounce back over the course of the year. Currently there are about 1.6m Toyota vehicles on the roads of the UK.
The affected UK models are the Aygo, IQ, Auris, Verso, Corolla, and the Avensis. The company said that it will write to around 180,000 UK drivers advising them of the need for repairs after the company found that the accelerator pedals stick or jam at times.
Toyota claims that the repair process will only take about half an hour and is available at Toyota dealers. The company also stated that there have not been any accidents as a result of the problem, and that only 26 incidents with the accelerator pads had been noted across Europe.
According to a spokesman for the car giant, no new models of Toyotas are affected by the recall, and dealerships will continue to accept orders on all makes and models of cars.
It is tough to be a car owner in the current economy with the amount of congestion on the streets increasing, the price of petrol sky rocketing, and more road taxes on their way supposedly after the election.
Outside of these concerns, there is also new research from the AA watch group that shows that car insurance is at an all time high, with more increases on their way due to the costs of paying the NHS for accident injuries, fraud, and higher claims.
With these factors to consider, it would be odd for AXA one of the former largest insurers in the UK to re-enter the market after it left car insurance brokering in 2004, but it has offering its services to a key aspect of the driving population.
At the centre point of their campaigns is the average experienced motorist that has had at least eight years since their last claim.
In order to secure this market, AXA is offering a 90% discount on all premiums to those who have not filed a claim in the past eight years, which is a large increase from the industry’s normal ratio of a 60% discount.
Director of AXA Insurance, Tina Shortle, stated that their research shows that drivers largely feel that they are not given any breaks or acknowledgement for being excellent drivers, which led AXA to focus their attention on this group.
The most impressive part of AXA new insurance policy is coverage up to £1m that covers loss of earnings and medical costs if a driver is injured in an accident that they did not cause. According to Shortle, they are the first insurance company to offer this type of coverage although many people often believe that they are covered under their current premiums.
As a tiny amount of overnight snowfall in the South East caused traffic chaos, TomTom’s HD Traffic service were able to record that on the nation’s roads there was some 1935 miles of traffic in this morning’s peak rush hour on major roads, with the longest queue delaying drivers for nearly 2 hours on the M1 between J14 Milton Keynes and J10 Luton Airport.
The chaos included 896 traffic incidents on major roads, with the longest traffic incident causing some 2 hours of delay in longest traffic incident. These figures do not include local roads, which from our local experience here in South West Surrey is likely to have seriously underestimated the overall impact of the snow which seemed to immediately to turn to a thin layer of ice as it hit the roads following an overnight frost.
The Sustainable Development Commission issued a report today that requests ministers to initiate the use of average speed cameras so that motorists are forced to adhere to speed limits of 70mph. According to the Commission, if motorists followed the law more closely 1.4m tonnes of carbon dioxide would not be released into the air.
Figures from the Department of Transport show that about 52% of motorists ignore speed limit postings of 70mph. The Commission argues that this could be prevented if speed cameras were used since they are able to measure the speed a car travels on average over a reasonable distance instead of a fixed point camera.
According to the Commission, if these cameras were introduced in urban areas and motorways then people would be encouraged to drive in a more environmentally friendly manner.
Ministers have also stated that the areas that use average speed cameras have seen the number of speeding fines awarded and accidents decline.
Currently average speed cameras are only in use at road works but the government is expected to approve their use in urban residential areas shortly.
Mayer of London, Boris Johnson, also announced just a short time ago that speed cameras will be placed along the east London A13 for a 7.5 mile stretch where speeding is a problem.
Also including in the Commission’s report is a request for all cars to be fitted with automatic speed limiters in order to reduce the amount of carbon emissions that are produced by motorists annually.
This week sees the launch of the first ever pan-European eco-driving challenge – the Peugeot Eco Cup – which will follow a 1000 kilometre course from Paris to Geneva, with the winners being those arriving at the finish within set time targets having used the least fuel.
Entry to the Peugeot Eco Cup is open to any qualified driver. Would-be competitors can sign up at the dedicated website http://ecocup.peugeot.com by 15 February 2010.
The website features a range of eco-driving tips, an online eco-driving test and details of the four different Peugeot cars available for the event. Applicants select the car category they prefer to compete in, enter their details and submit a 140 word description of what makes a good eco driver.
Peugeot will select 72 competitors from the online entries and then randomly draw entrants to be invited to take the challenge, with four each representing the 18 European countries (and accompanied by a team-mate of their choice), to compete in four different Peugeot cars: Peugeot 207 HDi 90, 308 HDi 110, 3008 HDi 110 and 5008 HDi 110. Each vehicle is a diesel powered practical family car recognised for its excellent fuel economy and low carbon emissions.
The 72 vehicles will all set off from Paris on Sunday, 28th February 2010 towards Geneva via a compulsory 1,000 kilometre route to be covered within the 30-36 hour permitted period.
For each model, the candidate having consumed the least fuel at the end of the course will win a new car. Winners will be announced and the keys to the vehicles will be handed over on Tuesday 2nd March 2010 on the Peugeot stand at the Geneva Motor Show.
The Institute for Advanced Motorists is now asking that a new licence class be created for older drivers that allows them to stay mobile and independent, but protects them from high risk roads.
The IAM’s director of policy, Neil Greig, stated that the licence class would not ban older drivers from the road, but instead be created in align with medical studies that show older motorists may be a risk to others, as well as themselves, on roads with high speed limits.
Greig continued to say that this is a positive way to keep older drivers behind the wheel by allowing them to continue to drive on roads that they are familiar with instead of taking away their licence. He also stated that the new licence would not be centred around a certain age limit, but instead be the result of medical advice on a case by case basis.
The push for the new licence group follows a study that looked at police crash data over the last seven years. It showed that older drivers were often much safer drivers than youngsters on local roads, but in areas where traffic was moving at a faster rate they were a higher risk.
At the present, a driving licence stays valid until age 70, after which it must be renewed every three years, with the applicant answering a questionnaire to prove they are still capable of driving.
Any announcement about the matter is expected before the election; with the news that now all drivers need to recertify their ability to drive every ten years.
A £1.3m campaign started today led by Paul Clark the Road Safety Minister that is aimed at educating the public about the dangers of not wearing a seatbelt.
According to the Endsleigh Insurance motor theft index, Hull is the most dangerous place to park a car in Britain for the second year in a row.
Over 180,000 British cars have been affected by a massive recall from Toyota the Japanese car giant, who announced that seven models are affected by a problem with the accelerator pedal. Internationally Toyota has been forced to recall millions of its cars.
It is tough to be a car owner in the current economy with the amount of congestion on the streets increasing, the price of petrol sky rocketing, and more road taxes on their way supposedly after the election.
The Sustainable Development Commission issued a report today that requests ministers to initiate the use of average speed cameras so that motorists are forced to adhere to speed limits of 70mph. According to the Commission, if motorists followed the law more closely 1.4m tonnes of carbon dioxide would not be released into the air.
The