These reports culled from the pages of the magazine of The Association of British Drivers, to whom much thanks …
A scheme is being piloted at Swarland in Northumbria, which encourages people from the village to make notes of speeding cars. They're being asked to write down car and driver descriptions, which can then be reported anonymously to police who will issue a letter to the alleged offender and store their details on a database. A person reported twice will get a visit from the police and after a third time, will be targeted by police, who will look out for the vehicle while on patrol. Incredibly, there's no speed measuring equipment involved, so people are being asked to shop 'speeding' drivers, even though they might be within the speed limit. Since when did law enforcement become a guessing game?
A Wiltshire couple who bought a pub that's off the beaten track, have been told they must remove a sign that points drivers towards them. Even though the sign has been there for 20 years, the Highways Agency has decreed that leaving the sign there will encourage motorists to drink and drive - even though the pub serves soft drinks and food.
Bournemouth officials recently decided to stop drivers so they could volunteer to take part in a survey - only to discover that six-mile tailbacks resulted. Some drivers were stuck in the queue for over two hours, but despite the problems caused, there are plans for further sessions...
Millions of motorists face bigger bills to have their cars fixed because of EU plans to scrap a rule which enables thousands of garages to carry out services and repairs cheaply. The changes mean car manufacturers will no longer have to provide parts and computer codes to independent garages so they can carry out repairs on the vehicles. Instead motorists will have to have their cars fixed at the manufacturer' s dealership workshops, where charges are up to 40% more. The average hourly charge at an independent garage is £55.63 compared to £94.70 at a dealership garage, according to recent figures. The changes, which take effect from 2010, will hit as many as 20m motorists. The EU is now expected to scrap Block Exemption also, from 2010, arguing that it's unnecessary. This would protect 6000 garages linked to main dealers, but undermine that of around 20,000 independent operators. As a result, drivers may have to pay more for repairs, drive further to a garage, and have their repairs delayed, because fewer garages will be attending to more cars.
Warwickshire councillors are set to approve reduced speed limits on A and B-roads across the county despite opposition from the police to many of the reductions. Proposals to reduce limits on 125 sections of A and B-road have been drawn up following a review to satisfy the requirements of the DfT's Circular 1/2006, New guidance on setting local speed limits. Authorities have until 2011 to complete their reviews but Warwickshire plans to complete its by next March. The majority of the reductions are from 60 to 50mph, but some go from 50 to 40, or 40 to 30mph. Forty of the limit reductions have attracted formal objections, the majority from Warwickshire Police.
Members of the Stratford-on-Avon East joint committee heard that Warwickshire police had formally objected to a number of proposals to reduce the limit from 60 to 50mph. "The mean speed is not currently at or below the proposed limit," said the police, adding: "This road is the very essence of what a road user would consider to be a road subject to the national speed limit".
However, so far, the objections have all been overruled by the area joint committees (with district councils) that take the final decisions on the limits.
Labour still appears to be intent on pricing drivers off the road; the Government is pushing ahead with plans for a national road-pricing scheme, including testing 'spy in the sky' technology. Eight areas of the country have been selected by ministers for secret pay-per-mile trials which will begin in 2010 and are expected to pave the way for tolls on motorways. Motorists face paying up to £1.30 a mile during peak periods on the busiest roads. Gordon Brown was thought to be against national road pricing, a flagship policy of the Blair administration. But the detailed level of planning now underway indicates the issue is set to become a key battleground in the next general election - which is likely to coincide with the trials beginning.
Eight areas - Leeds, North Yorkshire, Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire, south west London, Suffolk and Essex - have been selected for the trials. Initially, in January 2010, 100 cars in each area will trial the new technology - in many cases entailing placing black boxes to allow their movements to be tracked - but members of the public will be invited to join the pilots in June 2010.
The Government is close to signing contracts with four companies who will run the national trials, testing not only the technology which will be fitted to the cars, but also the bureaucracy needed to run a system including sending out bills. In most cases, the trials will involve a satellite tracking a vehicle's movements. Motorists will then receive a monthly or weekly bill which will vary depending on when and where they drove. Three more companies will be paid to double check the system, ensuring that the charging machinery is legal and that the trials are properly monitored.
It is understood that there's greater enthusiasm in the Treasury than the DfT for road pricing. However it's not known if the scheme would entirely replace existing motoring taxes or be introduced on top of them - it's highly unlikely to be the latter. Ministers have previously pledged cuts in other duties if the scheme is introduced, but even if the scheme is revenue-neutral (which is highly unlikely), drivers will still end up paying massive sums to fund the infrastructure.
The DfT insists that the pilots are designed "to inform thinking about motorway capacity". But the effectiveness of charging schemes in cutting congestion has been undermined by the London congestion charge. The £8 daily charge has done little to cut congestion in the capital and other cities are now more sceptical about following London's scheme.
Earlier this year Ruth Kelly insisted that charging schemes would be limited to areas where congestion was greatest. A spokeswoman for the DfT said the trials had been announced last year and did not mean road pricing was going ahead. She said: "We have been absolutely clear that any proposal for national road pricing would need to address the legitimate concerns people have. We're a very long way from that which is why our priority now and over the next decade is on tackling congestion where it is experienced most - in our cities and on our motorways."
As a result, toll lanes may be introduced on motorways around London. Motorists could be charged up to £5 a time to use a special lane on the M3 and M4 leading to the M25 (yes, because the M6 Toll Road has been such a roaring success, hasn't it? The last time The GOS used it, he had it almost entirely to himself. Very nice, too).
Steve Green, and Association of British Drivers member, describes a correspondence with the DfT over emergency vehicles trying to make progress.
Steve begins: "I was recently followed by an emergency vehicle with blues and twos. My only means of giving them free passage was to pull into a bus lane enforced by cameras along its length of about one mile. Given the progressive increase in numbers of enforcement cameras, be it for bus lanes, parking, red lights or speeding, the risk of committing a traffic offence whilst giving way to an emergency vehicle is becoming significant. With recent changes in legislation and cameras that do not flash, a driver may not be aware that an offence has been recorded until a penalty notice arrives in the post several days later. It would be difficult or impossible to offer a defence in such circumstances as the driver is unlikely to be able to identify the registration number of the emergency vehicle; the only evidence that would be available, apart from the photographic evidence, which in all probability would not show the emergency vehicle itself. I wonder what the Department's preferred course of action would be in such circumstances, and what defence would be available to the hapless driver?"
The reply from the DfT went: "I have consulted with my colleagues on the issue you have raised and unfortunately I am not able to give you a specific answer. Any emergency vehicle given a response call is free to take whatever route the driver decides to take. All drivers are expected to give way by simply pulling into the lane, stop, pull out when emergency vehicle passes. With traffic lights, a vehicle may need to move over the white line but not over the junction.
"It remains the driver's responsibility to drive in accordance with the law and simply let the emergency vehicle pass. If necessary break the law, but if possible, allow the emergency vehicle to use the bus lane."
So let's get this clear: breaking the law can be condoned. But if you do you still have no defence! Yep, that makes sense.
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