Deadly young drivers

TONY Davison still remembers the knock on the door that dark winter’s morning.

“It was twenty to four,” he recites, the details as fresh now as the day they happened. “Fourth of November 2002.

“The policeman said there had been a serious road crash in Bramhope and there were fatalities. That’s all it took to shatter our lives.”

Tony’s son Adrian, 18, was a passenger in the car of a friend who drove after drinking. It crashed and both boys died.

It would have been Adrian’s birthday last Saturday, his 27th. What should have been a day of celebration was marked instead with a visit to his graveside.

“Life moves on, but at the same time he will never be forgotten,” says Tony. “Anniversaries are still difficult, even though it’s coming up to nine years ago. It’s as fresh in my mind now as it was the day we were told.

And it will be until the day I leave this mortal coil.”

Adrian was one of a disproportionate number of young men who die every year on our roads.

West Yorkshire road safety charity Brake used its annual international conference last week to put the issue under the spotlight.

Every year in Britain one young male driver in every 60 is involved in a crash that results in death or injury to themselves, a passenger or another road user.

While young drivers aged between 17 and 24 account for 12 per cent of licence holders they are involved in one in four road deaths and serious injuries.

One in five will crash in the first six months after passing their test and every year more than 3,300 young drivers and passengers aged 17 to 24 are killed or suffer a life-changing injury as a result of a road crash.

Brake says the current system under which young people learn to drive is inadequate, leaving young drivers without sufficient experience and maturity to face the complex challenges of driving unsupervised and unrestricted.

Its response has been to launch the Too Young to Die campaign, which calls for a system of graduated driver licensing so new drivers can build up their skills and experience bit by bit.

Under the scheme, learners would spend at least a year taking lessons before they were allowed to sit a test.

Once they passed, new drivers would be allowed to drive unsupervised but would have restrictions on their licence for at least two years.

These would include an effective zero tolerance drink drive limit, plus restrictions on passengers and driving at night.

“It’s all about finding a way to ensure young drivers learn to drive in a safe and protected way as much as possible,” says Ellen Booth, campaigns director for Brake.

“Young drivers are disproportionately affected by road crashes, significantly so. A young person is more likely to die on the road than any other cause.

“And the evidence is quite clear that males of all ages, not just young men, are more likely to take risks on the roads. So it’s all to do with driver attitude and behaviour.”

Speeding, taking unnecessary risks and using a mobile phone are some of the factors associated with an increased crash risk among men.

Males are also more likely to get behind the wheel when they’re tired and keep driving even if they feel sleepy.

The risks faced by young male drivers peak at 17, when they are in their first year of motoring.

“There are a number of factors, especially those of age and inexperience, that mean young drivers are more likely to have an accident,” says Ellen.

“When you combine those with the additional risk-taking habits that men exhibit they make young male drivers the most at risk group on the road.”

Tony Davison has been involved with Brake for several years, speaking to thousands of school and college students about his own experience.

He, for one, supports calls for the Government to make changes to the current system of driver licensing.

“The trouble is that young people don’t really learn to drive until after they have passed their test. All we do in this country is teach people to pass their test.

“In Germany it’s a totally different structure – they have to do night driving, motorway driving and there are none of these seven-day crash courses.

“We need to educate young people. They don’t think it’s going to happen to them, but it will happen to some of them.

“It’s not about scaremongering, it’s a proven fact: young males between 17 and 25 are the ones who are most likely to be involved in a serious crash.

“There needs to be a coherent strategy which first of all has to be incorporated into the national curriculum, not ad hoc as it is at the moment.

“Some schools are incredibly pro-active, but there are lots of high schools in Leeds we haven’t visited. To me it has to become part of the national curriculum, delivered to those youngsters who are coming up to learning to drive.”

Posted in Bedford, Car Insurance, Driving, Driving Instructors, Driving Lessons, Driving Schools, Driving Tests, Pass Plus, Road Safety | No Comments »

Former minister Jack Straw to take driving lessons – because after 13 years with a chauffeur, he’s forgotten how to drive

He was the ultimate New Labour political survivor – a wily operator who negotiated the twists and turns of the Blair and Brown Governments to serve 13 years in the Cabinet.

But adjusting to life after more than a decade of being chauffeured everywhere has left Jack Straw flummoxed by the rules of the road – so the former Home Secretary is learning to drive again.

The Mail on Sunday understands that Mr Straw, MP for Blackburn, is undertaking a ‘driving refresher course’ and has also received coaching from a senior Labour colleague on coping with motorway driving.

Last night a friend of Mr Straw said: ‘Jack was pretty much driven everywhere for 13 years. He did a spot of driving on minor roads to run the odd errand but not much else.

‘Perhaps wisely, he is taking some refresher lessons for driving on motorways and in big cities, that sort of thing.’

Perhaps Mr Straw worries about breaking one of his own laws – in 2009, as Justice Secretary, he announced that the maximum penalty for reckless driving would be more than doubled from a two-year jail term to five years’ imprisonment.

The change in the law led to a rise in the number of drivers – particularly those of advanced years – opting to take refresher lessons.

While almost every other founding member of the 1997 New Labour Government fell by the wayside – either the victims of scandal, exhausted by office or caught on the wrong side of the Blair-Brown feud – Mr Straw was one of only three, along with Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown, to remain in Cabinet from 1997 to 2010.

He also served as Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House.

Mr Straw, who stood down from Labour’s front bench last year, was not available for comment last night. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367950/Former-minister-Jack-Straw-driving-lessons–13-years-chauffeur-hes-forgotten-drive.html#ixzz1Hf7cbfe8

Jack Straw should contact one of the Bedford driving schools or driving instructors in Bedford to ask about taking driving lessons in Bedford. Many Bedford driving instructors can offer driving lessons or refresher courses / refresher lessons to those drivers that don’t have confidence to deal with todays roads.

Fully qualified driving instructors featured on www.bedford-driving-schools.co.uk should be able to offer help & advice to drivers that haven’t driven for a long time. There are Bedford driving instructors who also offer the PASS PLUS course to new, recently qualified drivers. Completing the PASS PLUS course with a driving instructor or driving school in Bedford can help to lower car insurance premiums, reduce your fuel costs & develop your existing driving skills to make you a safer driver.

Why not contact a driving instructor or driving school in Bedford & ask about refresher driving lessons or PASS PLUS in Bedford.

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Bedford speed limit could reach 80mph

Speed limit could reach 80mph in Bedfordshire.

The UK Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond, has proposed to increase the speed limit on UK motorways from 70- to 80mph.

The idea behind the change is to reduce journey times, as the Government believes that the economy could be improved if motorists spend less time behind the wheel.

Mr. Hammond said that safety might not be the only factor to consider when it comes to judging how fast cars travel on the roads.

Speaking to the ‘Daily Telegraph’, he said: “We need to do this on a pretty rigorous cost-benefit basis. At the moment there are a clear set of criteria for making these decisions. Perhaps we ought to ask if we are using the right set of criteria.”

Motorway speed limits in the UK are significantly lower than those in other European countries. The maximum speed on similar roads in France and Italy is 81mph. In Spain, Portugal and Ireland it is 75mph.

The UK’s 70mph motorway speed limit was introduced in 1965, following a series of reports of manufacturers and car owners testing high performance cars to their limits.

There were 132 deaths on UK motorways in 2009, which is the last year for which figures are available. However, motorists are more likely to experience an accident on town and country roads with lower speed limits, poorer visibility, less space and no division between oncoming traffic.

From : Yahoo!

Most driving instructors and driving schools in Bedford, Bedfordshire listed on www.bedford-driving-schools.co.uk are able to offer motorway tuition, motorway driving lessons, motorway lessons in Bedford. Many of Bedford’s driving schools & driving instructors can also offer the Pass Plus course which is designed for new drivers, once they have passed their driving test. The Pass Plus course includes motorway driving & your driving instructor in Bedford will help you to build up your confidence with new driving skills. You can find contact details of various different Bedford driving instructors & Bedford driving schools on www.bedford-driving-schools.co.uk. Give them a call & remember to mention you found their details on www.bedford-driving-schools.co.uk.

Posted in Car Insurance, Driving, Driving Instructors, Driving Lessons, Driving Schools, Driving Tests, Pass Plus, Road Safety | No Comments »

The high cost of learning to drive (in Shropshire)

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Millions of motorists drive with poor eyesight

Millions of motorists could be risking their lives and the lives of others due to driving with poor eyesight, according to new research by LV= car insurance.

Despite 45 per cent of all motorists being prescribed glasses or contact lenses for driving, almost one in ten do not always wear them, posing a safety risk to themselves and other road users.

Of the motorists who don’t currently wear prescribed glasses or lenses, nearly a quarter admitted their eyesight was “not perfect”, and one in ten have trouble seeing when driving at night.

The penalties for driving without meeting the visual requirements include a fine of £1,000, three penalty points and even disqualification from driving.

John O’Roarke, LV= car insurance managing director, said: “The number plate test is a compulsory requirement of the driving test for a very good reason. However, this is no substitute for regular eye examinations as eyesight can change significantly over time.

“Driving with poor eyesight is a criminal offence and can result in a fine, penalty points or even a ban, as well as invalidating your car insurance when it comes to making a claim.”

In other news, a police safety crackdown in Scotland this week has found 313 people not wearing a seatbelt.

Fuel costs mounting up?  Visit fuelcards.co.uk for the best deals on fuel cards .

From : Fuelcards.co.uk

Many driving schools in Bedford and Bedford driving instructors will require a quick eye sight test before starting your first driving lesson in Bedford. Many will ask that you read a car number plate from the required distance (depending on if a new style or old style number plate).

At the start of your driving test in Bedford, the examiner will ask you to read a car number plate from the required distance (as described above), failure to do this will result in you being unable to continue with your driving test!! So www.bedford-driving-schools.co.uk suggest that you get your eyes tested a few weeks BEFORE your driving test in Bedford to enure you CAN read the car number plate!!

Being able to see properly (reading a car number plate from the required distance) is essential to road safety in Bedford and elsewhere in the UK!!

You can compare driving lesson prices in Bedford from driving schools and driving instructors in Bedford. Compare by price, car, transmission, instructor gender, days worked etc. Just visit www.bedford-driving-schools.co.uk for more information – it’s FREE to use & it’s FREE to list your details if you are a Bedford driving school or Bedford driving instructor!!! We DO NOT charge you for any pupil leads – it is a TOTALLY FREE service!!!

Posted in Bedford, Car Insurance, Driving, Driving Instructors, Driving Lessons, Driving Schools, Driving Tests, Road Safety | No Comments »

Student driver hits six pedestrians

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London and the South-East the Worst Areas to Take Driving Test

A recent survey carried out by the AA has found that people in London and the south-east England had more attempts at taking their driving test than candidates in other regions of the UK.

The survey of 20,109 AA members has found people from London and south-east England took an average of 2.1 attempts to pass, more than the UK average of 2.

The east of England seemed to perform the best with the average person taking 1.87 attempts to pass their driving test. Road conditions, time of day or even year can have an adverse affect on people passing.

AA Driving School director Simon Douglas has said that various factors can affect the local pass rate, including population.

He said: “In some less-populated regions, learners find it relatively less challenging.”

The people of London and the south-east are unfortunate to incur extra costs for additional driving tests. Driving Standards Agency suggests already, on average, a person undertakes about 45 hours of professional driving lessons.

The cost of lessons and driving tests, combined with buying a car and paying for UK motor insurance, means learning to drive can be a costly qualification, no matter what region you live in.

CompareInsurers.com is managed by a team of insurance professionals and car enthusiasts. Our aim is to enable you to find all the information you need to get a competitive UK car insurance quote. With over 50 UK car insurance providers, you can be sure of finding the quote and the information you need.

From : PR Fire website

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Cheap deal puts young learners in your car’s driving seat

A new form of insurance will allow young learners to drive your car without prompting a massive rise in premiums or endangering your no-claims bonus.

Young Marmalade, which specialises in offering cars and insurance to new drivers, has come up with the policy aimed at learners called Provisional Marmalade.

The cover costs between £90.95 and £99.50 per month. The price is based on where you live, and you will be excluded only if you’re looking to add a learner to a high-powered car.

Because it’s a separate, fully comprehensive policy in the name of the learner driver, the parent’s no-claims discount is not in danger. The policy tackles the dilemma facing many youngsters, who can’t practise in their parents’ car because insurers won’t cover them.

Around half of insurers won’t offer cover to those aged under 21 – some place the restriction at 25 – and most won’t allow you to put a provisional driver on your insurance. Even those who will allow learners to be added as a named driver frequently charge between £1,000 and £3,000 for a year.

Yet the Driving Standards Agency advises learners to have 22 hours’ practice after they have had 45 hours of professional driving instruction and before taking their test.

Nigel Lacy, of Young Marmalade, says: ‘The high cost of insurance has put off youngsters learning to drive or they are tempted to practise without insurance. We want to encourage safer motoring. The more practice they get, the better drivers they will be.’

The policy, which is underwritten by Chaucer, is being sold by motoring accessory store Halfords, where details of the scheme are included in packs of L plates, as well as by brokers and through the company directly. It covers only young drivers in the car you’ve stipulated at the outset.

The AA is also planning to bring out monthly provisional driver cover, though it hasn’t yet decided how much it will cost. Learners can be covered to drive your car as long as it’s not worth more than £20,000.

As with Provisional Marmalade, friends or other family members can supervise the learner in your car provided they have been driving for three years. The supervisor must be aged over 25 with Marmalade and over 21 with the AA. Once the learner passes their test, the policy ends or you can add them to your existing policy as a named driver.

Some insurers, such as Admiral, Direct Line and More Than, will allow you to add a learner to your policy on a monthly basis. And if you have protected your no-claims discount, you won’t lose it if your youngster has an accident. 

Twins get on the road

Twins Charlotte and Haley Lapping were given driving lessons for their birthday when they turned 17 last November.

Now that the sisters have had some instruction, their mother, Lorraine, is prepared to let them practise in her car.

Sales office manager Lorraine, from Leeds, says: ‘Their instructor suggested they went on my insurance, but my insurer, M&S, wouldn’t take provisional drivers.

I looked on the internet, but all the policies were too expensive. They are near to being ready for their test, so when I came across the cover from Young Marmalade it seemed ideal. I’m hoping I’ll only need it for a couple of months.

‘I like the fact that my insurance won’t be affected and that other family members can take them, as I don’t have a great deal of patience. My car is an old Vauxhall Astra, which is perfect for them to learn to drive in.’

New era of paperless insurance

Drivers may no longer be given paper certificates to prove that they are insured.

A new law will give electronic certificates, which are emailed to the driver and kept on a computer database, the same legal force as a paper one.

Starting this week, drivers will be sent an email containing their certificate, which they can print out if they need it. Those who want a paper certificate can still request one.

Some insurers have already experimented with sending out email certificates to customers. The AA will require new customers to set up a password-protected online account to access their paperwork.

A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers says: ‘This will make the process quicker for consumers and save money for insurers, which will make the industry more efficient.’

Electronic certificates will be valid from April 30. One of the main occasions when drivers need to present a paper certificate is when they renew their car tax at the Post Office.

However, millions now do this online – and there are hopes that the Post Office will soon be able to check insurance details online.

The police use a computerised system to check whether a car is taxed and if a driver has insurance. But officers may still ask for insurance and registration details if you are asked to present them at a police station.

From : Daily Mail website

Some driving schools and driving instructors in Bedford offer a course called Pass Plus. This course is designed for new drivers & will help them gain experience & develop their existing driving skills. Once the course of 6 modules is completed (6 hours) the new driver should receive a discount on their car insurance. Several hundred pounds can be saved on car insurance.

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Cost of driving up 20% since 2007

The cost of driving has risen by 20% in the past three years and is up 8.6 per cent compared with just five months ago, according to new research.

Sainsbury’s Finance said that “steep” increases in fuel and insurance costs were the main factors in bringing annual motoring costs up to £2,539.

In the past five months, typical car insurance premiums have risen by 11.25% to £612.84 a year, while the prices at the pumps have gone up by 10.41% to take the yearly fuel bill to £1,398, the bank noted.

Over the same period, tax has risen by 3.4 per cent to £173.07 a year, while the average annual cost of servicing a vehicle has climbed by 0.68 per cent to £301.

Compared with 2007, it is now £438 a year more expensive to run a car, the bank added.

Sainsbury’s car insurance manager Ben Tyte said: “The cost of driving can be kept better in check by shopping around, particularly for car insurance and servicing.”

According to the Department for Transport, there were 27.02 million private cars registered in the UK in 2008.

From : My Finances website

For new drivers to cut the cost of driving, they should do the Pass Plus course, which is offered by many driving instructors & driving schools in Bedford. It is designed for new drivers and can give a substantial discount on the car insurance. A pupil with Txt-Drive driving school in Bedford saved £350.00 on their car insurance by doing the Pass Plus course. It develops existing driving skills & makes you a safer driver.

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Motorists face curb on all cars without insurance

Motorists have a year to get cover or face fines, even if their vehicles are not used. Are the new rules going too far, too fast?

Millions of uninsured motorists have until the end of the year to buy appropriate cover or face an unprecedented crackdown from police and the courts – including fines of up to £1,000 – even if their vehicle is not being driven.

Plans published recently by the Department for Transport (DfT) will soon make it an offence purely to be the registered keeper of an uninsured vehicle, while police will not have to prove it was in use.

The Continuous Insurance Enforcement proposals, due to be introduced in early 2011, will replace existing laws, whereby a prosecution can take place only if an uninsured motorist is caught at the wheel of a car. An initial penalty of £100 will be applied, followed by further fines of up to £1,000 levied by a magistrate’s court.

Implementation of the new rules in 2011 will allow those drivers who are not currently using their cars, and have left them uninsured for one year, to seek exemption by sorting out off-road storage and make a “statutory off-road notification” (Sorn). They will then also be exempted from vehicle tax. Those who already have a Sorn in place can continue to use this.

The plans come as official reports suggest that up to 2 million people a year drive while uninsured, with more than 10% of motorists in some urban areas – including London, Merseyside and Manchester – having no cover.

Automatic number plate recognition cameras, increasingly used on thousands of UK roads, traffic junctions and even petrol station forecourts, as well as “spy vans”, have led to thousands of people being stopped for having no insurance. Up to 500 cars a day are confiscated for not having insurance, of which 40% are crushed when their owners don’t pay the fine to get them back.

However, experts fear that in the recession many car owners may be tempted to cut back on “non-essential” items, such as motor cover. A recent poll by Moneysupermarket, the comparison website, found the number who admitted driving without cover at some stage rose from 15% in 2008 to 20% last year.

The Motor Insurers’ Bureau (Mib), which compensates up to 30,000 people a year who have been in accidents with uninsured drivers, welcomes the proposals, and groups including the Mib and the British Insurers Brokers Association (Biba) will spend the next few weeks lobbying politicians to make sure a change of government will not result in the plans being dropped.

This week Biba will will meet up with shadow secretary of state for transport, Theresa Villiers, to garner support from a possible future Conservative government and at the same time publish its manifesto for the year ahead, which will include a continued push for implementation of the new enforcement system.

“We will also be calling for a national campaign on motor insurance,” says Graeme Trudgill, technical director at Biba. “This is key to resolving what is a massive problem [uninsured driving].”

However, not everyone believes these measures will be effective. Hugh Bladon, a retired nursing home owner and a founder member of the Association of British Drivers, said: “The government is interfering with what you do in every aspect of your private life. If you have a nice camera, you don’t need to insure it. What the hell does it have to do with them if you choose not to insure a car, providing you are not using it on the road?”

Adrian Tink, motoring strategist at the RAC, pointed out: “What [the DfT] is trying to do is create a black and white situation. I can see the logic of it, but we need to make it clear how things will work so that innocent victims won’t get caught by this measure.”

Tink said one side-effect might be to penalise those in financial difficulties who want to keep their cars, but deliberately choose not to use them for a while and therefore don’t renew their cover.

Without off-street parking, it is impossible to “Sorn” a car, thereby falling foul of the new legislation. The DfT’s own figures estimate that 43% of households in Britain have neither a garage or a driveway, forcing car owners to park on the street. In London only 27% of homeowners have a garage.

An AA spokesman said: “We welcome the proposals but are concerned that the legislation should recognise that some people may innocently fall foul of the law if they inadvertently become uninsured, for example those who are hospitalised or out of the country for extended periods, or who change their car and the record change is delayed.”

Where to turn when insurance doesn’t cover an accident

The Motor Insurers’ Bureau was set up in 1946 to compensate the victims of negligent, uninsured or untraced motorists. But it also compensates those injured in accidents where cause cannot be established.

Jamie Dempsey, 28, who runs his own falconry business in Ayrshire, has no clear recollection of the accident that cost him his lower right leg almost eight years ago.

He does remember heading from his home into Kirkoswold, a nearby village, to have a drink with some friends. But when they decided to stay there he set off, at about midnight, to walk the two miles home.

Dempsey says: “I just saw a very bright light out of the corner of my eye and then I was hit by a very large articulated lorry. When I came to, there were policemen telling me to stay down.

“I was in a state of shock and tried to get up, but my lower leg was hanging on just by the flesh and I fell down again.”

Aside from his foot, which was too badly damaged to save, the accident also tore Jamie’s shoulder out of its socket and he had lacerations across other parts of his body. A lorry driver was subsequently prosecuted for drink-driving and leaving the scene of the accident. But, despite Dempsey’s blood being found on the vehicle, it was not possible to charge the driver with causing the accident – which meant he could not claim on the truck’s insurance policy.

Luckily, the Motor Insurers’ Bureau stepped in: “They have been very good to me, making interim payments, helping with my rehabilitation, including learning to drive a car and also setting up my falconry business.”

From : Guardian website

Car insurance can be reduced if you are a new driver by taking part in the PASS PLUS course. Many driving instructors in Bedford are registered to give the PASS PLUS course & some offer discounts on the cost. The insurance company will give a discount on the cost of your car insurance which will often cover the cost of the course aswell. Contact a driving school or driving instructor in Bedford to see if they offer the PASS PLUS course.

Posted in Bedford, Car Insurance, Driving, Driving Lessons, Pass Plus, Road Safety | 2 Comments »