A mix of radio adverts, posters and an online film will be pushing the message home to motorists not to get behind the wheel after a summer barbeque and the devastating consequences that drink driving has on motorists and others. ACPO plans to carry out extra checks on motorists over the summer.

A survey by THINK! shows that motorists rely on their car to provide a better quality of life and would be devastated if they lost that privilege.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/drink-drive-and-lose-your-car

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/204794/aa-importance-of-car-motoring.pdf

The existing process of dealing with careless driving offences goes through the court system and is resource intensive for the Police. Moving the more minor careless driving offences to a fixed penalty system will mean the Police, Criminal Justice System and the Crown Prosecution System are estimated to benefit from cost reductions of £12m, £4.6m and £5.4m respectively directly as a result of fewer careless driving offenders proceeding to court.

Average Police costs for taking a careless driving charge through the courts is £334 compared to £29 for issuing a fixed penalty notice.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/204616/impact-assessment-careless-driving.pdf

As part of a consultation on motoring offences, the Government plans to introduce higher fines for a range of motoring offences to bring them into line with other, non-motoring fixed penalties. The number of points for offences will remain the same though. The changes are expected to come into force in July.

• a non-endorsable £30 fixed penalty notice will rise to £50
• an endorsable £60 and non-endorsable Fixed Penalty Notice will rise to £100
• an endorsable £120 Fixed Penalty Notice will rise to £200
• the fixed penalty notice for driving with no insurance will rise from £200 to £300

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/fixed-penalty-levels-for-motoring-offences

From the 3,338 respondents, over 90% said that the test had a permanent and positive effect on their riding skills, increased their enjoyment and made them safer riders. Awareness of hazards, conditions, pedestrians and cyclists had also increased and 61% stated that they had avoided being involved in an accident after taking the test.

http://www.iam.org.uk/images/stories/policy-research/evaluation-adv-motorcycling.pdf

The Government road safety campaign, THINK!, hosts the resources which will allow teachers, road safety officers and parents to plan lessons on road safety easily and effectively.

Each lesson packs are labelled by Key Stage and include resources such as games, stories, posters, films and activities.

http://think.direct.gov.uk/resource-centre

London obviously tops the list for the worst offending cities when it comes to parking with 20 minutes wasted looking for a space. Manchester, Bristol and Southampton follow. 45% of respondents said that parking was the biggest frustration they have when out.

Bloodfast Emergency Volunteer Service helps the Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire NHS Trust with the transportation of organs, specimens, samples, urgent medical notes, breast milk, prescription drugs and equipment.

They currently have one motorcycle in their fleet but are looking toward manufacturers and sponsors to help with the purchase or loan of an additional motorcycle so that this life saving resource can be expanded.

More information on their appeal can be found here

A range of options were investigated to not only improve the learning and therefore safety of young drivers, but to also try and decrease the astronomically high cost of motor insurance facing all motorists. The options include:

• a minimum learning period before candidates are permitted to sit their test
• enabling learner drivers to take lessons on motorways, and perhaps during adverse weather conditions or during darkness to encourage greater practice prior to taking a test
• increasing the existing probationary period from 2 to 3 years for a new driver’s licence to be revoked if they receive 6 or more penalty points
• making the driving test more rigorous to better prepare learners to drive unsupervised
• incentives for young drivers to take up additional training after passing their test.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said that “a fifth of people killed or seriously injured on our roads in 2011 were involved in a collision where at least one driver was aged 17 to 24. Improving the safety of our young drivers is therefore a real priority and will not only reduce casualties but should also mean a reduction in the sky-high insurance premiums they pay”

The full Government press release can be found here.

Every year half a million traffic offences are put through the magistrate’s courts and these include some of the more minor offences such as speeding, red light and licence offences. The new fast track courts will specifically deal with these cases, where the motorist admits guilt, therefore freeing up magistrates courts to deal with the more serious offences such as drink driving and death by dangerous driving. A pilot scheme involving dedicated traffic courts has been running in nine police authorities.

The scheme comes into force on June 1st and those at high risk from drink driving will be required to pass the medical after their disqualification from driving finishes, but before they are issued with a driving licence.

10% of the 50,000 motorists that were notified by the courts to the DVLA as high risk drink drivers either failed their medical or didn’t turn up.