Hard shoulder running – a temporary band aid or a solution for congestion?

The end of October was rife with announcements, a key one being DfT’s pledge to investigate the extension of the M42 hard shoulder running scheme to the Midland’s motorway box and other areas throughout the UK.

Motoring groups have welcomed the move as a good way to combat congestion at key bottlenecks across the country. The Foundation believes that hard shoulder running is a suitable approach to take on a limited number of motorway bottlenecks, but to work it must be well supported by the types of infrastructure inplace at the M42 pilot scheme to ensure safe operation (i.e. over head signalling, CCTV and interactive lane changing) . It must also be well communicated to the public, to ensure that there is a good understanding of where the scheme will be extended to and that it is not something that anyone can do anywhere when the roads start to get busy . 

On its own, the Foundation believes that hard shoulder running is a temporary band aid for the wider problem of congestion. It is one in a package of solutions that can make a difference, but it must not be used instead of increasing road space and capacity, where there is good reason and a need to do so. Peak time congestion problems maybe solved by this approach, but if a road is at capacity throughout the day, another approach will be needed.

(Source: DfT release)

Speed camera fines fall according to new Ministry of Justice figures

Despite the perception that more and more people are being ‘caught-out’ by speed cameras, new statistics out from the Ministry of Justice show that fines have fallen as the police and local authorities are encouraged to take a more lenient approach to enforcing the law.

Key findings from the report include;

• The number of motoring offences dealt with by official police action or penalty charge notice in 2005 was 13 million, down 3% from 2004.
• The number of parking offences dealt with by motoring fixed penalty notices was 3.2million in 2005, a 4% reduction since 2004.
• Obstruction, waiting and parking offences were the largest group, totalling 8.2 million in 2005
• Increase in the number of careless driving offences (up 35%)
• Men were more involved in acts of dangerous driving (including drink and drug driving), whereas women were most involved in obstruction, waiting and parking offences.

Commenting on the statistics Edmund King, Executive Director of the RAC Foundation said “This shows the outcry by millions of drivers has finally paid off and forced councils and police to exercise more discretion. There is no doubt that enforcement was getting out of hand, particularly with the use of speed cameras.

“The authorities have finally realised that showing a small degree of flexibility can be more effective than huge numbers of fines, even though they are making less money.”

(Source: Ministry of Justice (2005) Statistical Bulletin Motoring Offences and Breath Test Statistics)

Transport Statistics Great Britain 2007: What it says about the car driver

Our individual car mileage is on the decline, but traffic and congestion is on the rise, according to the new 2007 DfT Transport Statistics Great Britain (TSGB), released today. This trend suggests that it is population growth and the increasing numbers of older and younger people holding licences that is leading to grid lock across the country.

The statistics also shows that it costs the average UK motorist 6% more to maintain their car in 2006 than the previous year and the similar is true for fuels, which cost 5% more, both figures are significantly above the rate of inflation. On average, a motorist pays £63.80 in motoring costs per week, which surprisingly is a lower figure in relative terms to other types of transport. The statistics also show a slow down in newly registered vehicles, which may have implications for the objective of ‘greening the overall fleet’.

Looking to the future the statistics suggests that by 2025 33% more people than 2000 will own cars and there will be 40% more cars overall. Projections also suggest that if high fuel costs were introduced it could save 6.2million tonnes of CO2 by 2020 – but what impact would this have on other areas of life?

For more detailed statistics visit: DfT (2007) Transport Statistics Great Britain

  

So, I can wear high heels when I drive??

The latest edition of the Highway Code, whilst featuring some additional rules to further enhance road safety, has not put an end to confused motorists, nor has it put an end to disobedient motorists.

A survey conducted by Churchill Car Insurance revealed 37%  did not realise that this new edition contained any alterations, which means almost 4 in 10 people were not reached by the changes introduced by the Department for Transport.

Where high heels are concerned – there is no passage in the new Highway Code that states you should not wear heels, but it states that “You must ensure that clothing and footwear do not prevent you from using the controls in a correct manner”. Common sense and discression is required meaning that the latest fashion heel is unlikely to be make the grade.