Research has shown that over £200m of damage has been caused by drivers who have misread directions or been given misleading information from their sat navs.

It is thought that 83% of motorists have been mislead by their sat nav and more than a half of motorists admit shouting at it, me included.

I think in many cases, motorists take the directions and instruction to literally, such as a lady who heard sat nav tell her to take the next left and she did just that, onto a railway track. However, the sat nav is also to blame, with directions that are impossible to follow, such as doing a u-turn in the middle of the motorway.

Drivers need to remember to up-date their sat nav, as new roads and crossings may be introduced and not picked up. But more importantly drivers need to use their initiative and use sat nav as purely a guide.

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A student from the US used initiative when the school bus he was travelling on started losing control.

The 13 year old – Jeremy Wuitschick soon realised that the bus driver was slumped in his seat, so took control of the wheel and steered the bus to the side of the road.

Jeremy then started CPR on the driver with help from another pupil also trained in first aid. Other pupils went on to contact the emergency services.

Police have praised the students for their actions but Jeremy went on to say: “I was just thinking I don’t want to die”. It later transpired that the bus driver had suffered a heart attack.

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Research has found that parents spend between 10 and 50 hours each month ferrying their children around. These statistics are per child so for many families who have 2, 3, 4 or even more children, these figures need to be multiplied.

It is thought that parents clock up the hours taking their children to social events or to classes/hobbies they may have. However, it may have something to do with the school run, with many parents choosing to use their cars to get the kids to school in the morning.

It is hoped that with children spending this much time in the car that their parents driving habits are positive ones that will influence their children to become good drivers once they are old enough.

If you want to teach your children how to drive, why not take one of our refresher packages that will enable you to learn the skills required to pass on driving knowledge to your children in the correct way. For more information, call Britannia on 0208 543 8050.

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It is an encouraging step. It is rather a bold approach! What do you have to say about it? The Mount J&L School, in Thornes, has taken a unique step to promote road safety around schools. The irony of the situation is that parents are putting the safety of their own children and others at risk by parking the vehicles at places where they are not supposed to. They must show some extra sense of responsibility by being careful while driving close to schools. It is a sensitive area in terms of children walking or crossing the roads. The idea behind is to educate children about the important road safety rules to pass on the message to other members in the family. It is surely interesting the manner in which these messages would be sent across.
The road safety team of Wakefield Council would assist these children in the mission. We can expect some positive results to come out of this. Children are better at learning things. They can quickly make their parents and family members to get involved in it. This is what society is all about. The feeling to help one another is stronger than finding out faults.

Portadown, Ireland has been revealed as one of the most ticketed towns in the province, having clocked up 2,506 parking tickets in 2011.

One business owner in the area spoke out at how he is considering moving his business to a different area after being issued with more than 16 parking tickets which he feels were given unjustly.

Mr Dougan said just recently he received two tickets in the same day when he was unloading his van outside the restaurant he owns. He said: “We lost the loading bay in Woodhouse Street…How can I run my business if I have nowhere to park?”

He claims that he doesn’t mind paying a parking fine if he is in the wrong but that things have just spiralled out of control.

The Mayor was supposed to meet Mr Dougan twice to discuss the issues not only faced by himself but other business owners in the area and customers, but the Mayor had cancelled both times.

The Department of Regional Development who are in charge of issuing the tickets, say that it is vital to reduce congestion, allow access to town centres and improve road safety. However, I am sure that all drivers no matter which area you work or live in would ask that a traffic warden uses a little common sense to prevail.

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Phil Forester has saved Nicolle Marshall’s life. The timely medical help adds another  lifeline. Nicolle Marshall was traveling in a bus when she had an epileptic fit. Phil Forester pulled his bus over. He started CPR on her to buy as much time before the expert medical team arrives on the scene. His wife was also there accompanying him as a co-driver. She continued on with her duty and took the position behind the wheel. She drove to meet the ambulance. Nicolle was taken to the nearest hospital (Northallerton)  in Yorkshire.

It is hard for Nicolle to give back or remember anything now. Her life has been saved by a hero. Phil Forester has showed immense courage and presence of mind to do what is considered to be the best thing under the given circumstances. His responsible approach was sufficient enough to save the day. It comes across as an inspiring tale. We are sometimes helped or saved by people whom we have nothing in common with. Nicolle is as healthy as ever now. We all need to appreciate Mr. Forester together. It is an act like this which instills a belief in us that there are greater forces guarding our planet. We feel good as a society and nation.

Rachel Veitch paid around $3,300 for her Mercury Comet Caliente in 1964 and has had it ever since. The 93 year old grandmother is looking to sell the car since giving up driving due to her eyesight.

The car has outlasted 18 battery changes, three sets of shock absorbers and eight exhaust mufflers, has travelled 576,000 miles and outlasted three marriages.

Mrs Veitch wants to sell the car to someone that will take care of it, she has refused to pass it down to the younger generations in her family for fear they will not look after it the way she has for so many years. The car is said to be worth around $12,000 today.

With over half a million miles on the clock, this is very impressive however, she does not hold a record for the most miles travelled, not by a long shot.

Mr Gordon who was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records in 1998 had travelled 1.69 million miles in his 1966 Volvo P1800. However, it is reported he still has the same car to date and the mileage is nearer 3 million miles.

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The message is clear! You should act responsibly. The experts are calling out women to stop wearing high heels and other unsuitable shoes while taking on the road. It is considered to be a dangerous practice. It leaves little to the imagination as you can easily lose control and cause an accident. You can carry an extra pair of shoes in the car and change it. It becomes your responsibility to drive safely. It is not worth taking a risk. You should stick to the guidelines no matter how comfortable it feels to be in high heels or flip flops. The increasing rate of accidents taking place has called for immediate actions to be taken.

Gareth Kloet, the head of car insurance at Confused.com has said, “Wearing inappropriate footwear could cause the driver to lose control of the car”. It is a timely warning. The nature of incidents happening from using mobile phones to not wearing safety belts has caused much trouble in the past. It seems that they have another similar issue to tackle here. Women should realise that it is only meant to make them a better driver at the end of a day. There is no harm in adapting to healthy ways of living or driving.

It is an encouraging step. It is rather a bold approach! What do you have to say about it? The Mount J&L School, in Thornes, has taken a unique step to promote road safety around schools. The irony of the situation is that parents are putting the safety of their own children and others at risk by parking the vehicles at places where they are not supposed to. They must show some extra sense of responsibility by being careful while driving close to schools. It is a sensitive area in terms of children walking or crossing the roads. The idea behind is to educate children about the important road safety rules to pass on the message to other members in the family. It is surely interesting the manner in which these messages would be sent across.

The road safety team of Wakefield Council would assist these children in the mission. We can expect some positive results to come out of this. Children are better at learning things. They can quickly make their parents and family members to get involved in it. This is what society is all about. The feeling to help one another is stronger than finding out faults.

The road signs are put for a reason. The message is always written in a clear voice. It is there for your safety. People often overlook it or do not pay attention at all. What is the issue? We rely too heavily on our knowledge base. We are not ready to believe that it is important to read road signs. We take our experience to serve us a reminder, in case if something is about to go wrong. That is too much to ask! The road signs are easy to read and understand. It is highly advisable to read them whenever you are traveling to a new and different place. It takes one wrong turn to keep on running in circles for hours.

The temporary road signs must be read. This is the only reason that why they have been placed in the first place. There was no other reason behind it. It was done to make people aware about the nature of work being done etc. There would be doubts raised given the high number of accidents taking place all across the country. We must brush-up our knowledge of basic guidelines to ensure safety of every single member traveling on the road.