Driving red tape to be abolished

Drivers are to be released from reams of red tape currently required by government, Transport Secretary Justine Greening announced today.
As a result of the Road Transport Red Tape Challenge – the government wide process to get rid of unnecessary, burdensome and overcomplicated regulation – the Department for Transport is:
• Scrapping the regulation requiring motorists to hold a paper counterpart to their driving licence by 2015 – saving drivers up to £8m.
• Improving the regulation surrounding the notification process for vehicles that are not in use on the road (Statutory Off Road Notification or SORN). Once drivers have notified the DVLA that their vehicle is SORN, they will no longer have the burden of annual SORN renewal.
• Only issuing hard-copies of V5C vehicle registration certificates for fleet operators when needed, with the potential to be rolled out to private motorists.
• Introducing a limited exemption from drivers’ hours rules so that those who also drive as Territorial Army reservists in their own time can continue to do so.

Research reveals 1 in 10 drivers surf the web whilst driving.

Road safety charity Brake and Direct Line are warning of the danger of mobile phone addiction, as newly published research reveals the shocking extent of driver distraction from texting, emailing and social networking.

The survey revealed that nearly three in 10 drivers (28%) texts at the wheel and one in 13 (8%) do this at least once a week. One in 11 drivers (9%) surfs the web, emails, uses apps or social networking sites when driving.

Texting has been found to make drivers 23 times more likely to cause a crash, potentially killing or maiming innocent road users . Using a phone to email or surf the web also causes serious distractions.

2010 National Travel Survey published..

 The 2010 National Travel Survey (NTS) is the latest in an established series of household surveys of personal travel in Great Britain. The NTS has been running continuously since 1988, following previous ad hoc surveys. The survey is primarily designed to track long term development of trends in travel, although short term changes can also be detected.

NTS data is collected via two main sources – interviews with people in their homes, and a diary that they keep for a week to record their travel. The NTS covers travel by all age groups, including children. In 2010, diary data was collected from 8,100 households, covering over 19,000 individuals.

Tesco driving safety?

Tesco Dotcom has won RoSPA’s Managing Occupational Road Risk (MORR) Trophy for the third consecutive year.

It was presented with the award in recognition of its effective and cohesive MORR programme, which is supported by historical performance data.

The MORR Trophy is presented annually as part of RoSPA’s Occupational Health and Safety Awards, which are sponsored by NEBOSH (the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health).

Speeding vehicles over 20mph – a big problem for children.

Research released this week has proven that children cannot accurately judge the speed of vehicles above 20 mph.  Scientists aimed to discover why children are overrepresented as road casualties.  Research found that vehicles traveling faster loom less than slower vehicles. This creates a dangerous illusion in which faster vehicles may be perceived as not approaching. 20 mph limits can help protect children from making risky crossing choices.

Vision scientists at Royal Holloway, University of London measured children’s detection of cars approaching in a road crossing scenario.  At speeds faster than 20 mph, primary age children (6-11 years) may not be able to tell that a car is coming.  This strongly supports the implementation and enforcement of 20 mph speeds near child pedestrians. Public Health body NICE guidance also wants 20 mph limits near children.

View the full report at at http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/03/04/0956797611400917

In A Flash: Meet the Ansteys (Intro)

This hard-hitting and unique, multimedia resource developed by dbda on behalf of London Safety Camera Partnership (LSCP) aims to address key issues faced by young people in their pre driving and early driving years. It is based around an emotive storyline where the lives of five young people are changed forever, in one night. Take a look at the first of nine parts.