The Department of Transport has published provisional statistics on accidents involving drinking and driving in Great Britain in 2007.

Provisional estimates show:

Fatalities resulting from drink drive accidents fell by 18% from 560 in 2006 to 460 in 2007, whilst seriously injured casualties fell by 11% from 1,970 to 1,760. Slight casualties, however, rose by 4% from 11,840 to 12,260. Total casualties rose by 1% from 14,370 to 14,480.

Fatal accidents fell by 16% from 490 to 410, although there was an overall increase of 2% in drink drive accidents from 9,400 to 9,620.

Cathy Keeler, Head of Campaigns at Brake, the road safety charity, said: “its good news that the number of deaths in drink-drive crashes where drivers were over the legal limit fell in 2007 compared to 2006, but the figures don’t tell the whole story. Even more deaths are associated with drivers who are not over the limit, but have a significant amount of alcohol in their system and academics have estimated that setting a lower limit could save dozens of lives each year.”

Britannia Driving School believes that the most successful campaign would be one that had a clear message that no amount of alcohol is acceptable. For such a campaign to work, the Government needs to reduce the drink drive limit to zero.

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Over the past 3 years more than 170 people have either been killed or seriously injured in drink driving related accidents in North Yorkshire alone. In a bid to prevent drivers from getting behind the wheel over the Christmas period, police will be using new Bluetooth technology to get across road safety campaigns.

Animated media messages will be sent to Bluetooth enabled handsets by police cars equipped with the new technology. Targeting parties, clubs and pubs these messages will be sent in order to put across the point that anybody thought to be leaving these places will be breathalysed.

Chris Anderson (York & Northyorkshire partnership chairman) stated, “We will emphasise that having just one drink and then driving can lead to injury and death, and to heavy financial penalties and driving bans.”

More Than 3.8 Million female motorists are putting vanity before safety by failing to wear prescription glasses while driving, according to a new survey.

Over a quarter (27 per cent) of female motorists should wear glasses whilst driving but do not always do so, with 10% of women questioned admitting to feeling embarrassed by how they look in unfashionable specs.

The “Vanity and Vision” poll of female motorists, conducted by Sheilas’ Wheels car insurance, revealed that more than one in ten (11%) admitted to being involved in an accident or near-miss in the last year as a result of bad eye sight. Accidents as a result of poor vision behind the wheel cost £981 on average.

Simon Bush of Britannia Driving School, remarks: “We urge all our pupils to test their eyesight by using our free eyesight simulator and get regular eye examination by an optician every couple of years after passing the driving test. Having good vision is crucial for safe driving.”

Almost TWO Thirds of drivers would be happy to re-sit their test when they reach 70, even if it meant them potentially failing, according to new survey.

The online poll of nearly 900 people conducted by Motorists would like to see the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) make it compulsory for them to re-take their driving test when they reach 70.

Although there is no research to indicate that drivers become unable to drive safely at a specific age, recent tests by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) have shown that, on average, the over 55s take 22 per cent longer to react than drivers under 30. This would add 25ft (or two car lengths) to the stopping distance if braking at 70mph.

According to David Shelton, Managing Director of Motorpoint: “The results of this poll show that people are honest enough to recognise their driving ability does deteriorate with age that maybe the government should consider mandatory re-testing at certain age in the future.

There are currently 3,175,251 people in the UK over 70 with a driving licence, according to the DVLA.

Britannia Driving School runs refresher driving courses and mock driving tests specifically designed for the over 70s.

Good news for British Motorists today as Morrisons drop their unleaded petrol price to under 90p per litre. With a record 1 month drop the average UK prices fell over 11p per litre from 106.4 in October to 94.86 in November.

Also for diesel  owners a drop of over 8p per litre meant that 117.69p per litre price of last month has dropped to 108.82 this month. Crude oil, which directly affects petrol prices is currently at a two year low of $52.70 per barrel on the Asian market – which was at a $147 high in July.

New legislations have been announced the Government will be stepping up the severity of breaking driving laws as well as introducing new criteria.

Drivers caught exceeding the speed limit by more than 20mph could be subject to 6 penalty points, this new higher tariff is part of the government’s aim of reducing accidents caused by speeding motorists on the roads.

The government are also targeting drink and drug drivers; there are plans to introduce new drug driving offences that will make it illegal to drive after taking a drug which is both illegal and impairing to a drivers judgement.

Over A Third of used car buyers are looking to counteract rising motoring charges and challenging economic conditions by downsizing to a smaller more cost-effective car.

According to a survey carried out by Glass’s Guide used car valuation guide, 38 per cent of buyers cited fuel prices and rises in road tax for heavier polluting vehicles as factor motivating them to swap their car for more compact and efficient model. The poll also revealed that a growing number of motorists are switching to diesel as a way of cutting running costs, despite recent rises in the cost of diesel making it much harder to recoup the premium on the price of diesel cars.

Of those surveyed 29 per cent stated an intention to exchange their petrol vehicle for a diesel model, expecting to take advantage of significant reduction in Co2 emission and fuel consumption.

Managing Editor of Glass’s Guide, Adrian Rushmore, said: “This new survey illustrates how attitude towards higher-polluting cars are hardening. Household budgets are being squeezed ever-more tightly, and consumers are looking for new ways to reduce their outgoings. The findings highlight just how keen motorists are to cut the cost of owning and running their cars. Concerns about running costs are not likely to go away, and we expect further shifts in demand during the short and medium term.”

But he added a note of caution for those thinking of moving to diesel.

“There are certainly benefits to driving a diesel, with greater fuel efficiency and lower vehicle excise duty. But buyers need to be aware that these models tend to cost more to purchase than their petrol counterparts, and it can take years to recoup this cost. It is advisable to calculate estimated annual fuel costs and depreciation, for example, before committing to a diesel-powered Car.”

Britannia Driving School’s fleet of manual and automatic tuition vehicles include diesel as well as petrol cars.

The recession is not all bad news, that is not if you’re looking to buy a car! Industry experts have stated the best prices in 8 years are currently available. For the last three months UK car sales have continued to slump pushing dealerships to offer bigger discounts to entice buyers.

With average discounts of around £2,000 on your average family car, premium cars are offering even heavier discounts with some dealers offering £11,500 off the new Jaguar XJ at just £34,000. It’s not just courtyards either, online car brokers are also having to reduce their margins.

Official registrations figures for the new car market have falled by 23%, but this could be close to 30% if you remove the cars registered from dealerships. Even better news for buyers is that prices are going to drop either further as margins are squeezed.

A recent report by the Department of Transport into the number of rogue drivers on UK roads stated that over 11% of drivers were commiting an offence, with 3.4% commiting a serious offence such as driving without insurance or driving whilst disqualified.

Although this accounts for 4.77 million of UK drivers, the report stated that the number of unlicensed  drivers had actually been slashed by half over two years and the level of uninsured drivers dropped from 1.9% in 2006 to 1.2%.

The number of drivers which failed to produce a valid MOT certificate had dropped from 4.2% to 1.5% and the level of drivers stopped without valid vehicle tax also dropped by 1% over the two year period.

Jim Fitzpatrick, Road Safety Minister sated: “Uninsured drivers add £30 a year to every motorist’s insurance premium and it is estimated that uninsured and untraced drivers kill 160 people and injure 23,000 every year.”

Subject to consultation, The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) has informed Britannia Driving School, that they propose to introduce new fees for tests booked on or after 30^th March 2009.

The proposals principally affect individual candidates preparing to undertake theory tests, practical driving tests, and the qualification tests for the statutory and non-statutory registration schemes operated by DSA

The DSA proposes to increase the fees and charges for:

Ø  Theory tests taken by learner car drivers and motorcycle/moped riders by £1.00 to £31.00

Ø  Practical tests taken by learner car drivers by £5.50 to £62.00

Ø  Practical vocational and car plus trailer tests by £14.00 to £119.00

Ø  Theory test taken as part of the ADI qualification process by £10.00 to £90.00

Ø  Practical tests taken as part of the ADI qualification process by £12.00 to £111.00

Ø  ADI Trainee Licence by £15.00 to £140.00

Ø  Taxi and private hire car tests by £9.00 (inc VAT) to £78.00 (inc VAT)

Ø  Practical tests taken as part of the qualification process for the non-statutory instructor registration schemes operated by DSA:

o   LGV Voluntary Register by £16.45 (inc. VAT) to £139.83 (inc. VAT)

o   Fleet Driver Trainer Register by £15.27 (inc. VAT) to £131.60 (inc. VAT)

o   Register of Post Test Motorcycle trainers by £12.93 (inc. VAT) to £111.63 (inc. VAT)

Ø  Pass Plus products:

o   Starter packs by £2.00 (inc. VAT) to £37.00 (inc. VAT)

o   Refills by £1.00 (inc. VAT) to £29.00 (inc. VAT)