Latest Car Insurance News

Welcome to Expert Car Insurance News. Here you will find all the latest information concerning the motor insurance industry.

Posted October 2007

No Cold Shoulder for the Hard Shoulder

The Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly has announced the extension of the trial on the M42 motorway to the south east Birmingham of using the hard shoulder as an extra traffic lane at busy times of the day in order to reduce congestion. The government is extending the pilot onto the M6 and initiating an investigation into the benefits of expanding the practice elsewhere.

Other methods of alleviating motorway congestion in the Birmingham area include a £150 million instalment of new gantries with automatic traffic signals which will slow vehicles down ahead of jams. The principle of this being to keep the column of traffic moving, albeit at a slower speed, but avoiding the frustrating stop-start nature of uncontrolled queues of vehicles that cause so many car insurance claims, keeping everyone on the move.

During the first six months of the part time use of the hard shoulder on the M42 northbound journey times reduced by 25%, fuel consumption was calculated as falling by 4% and emissions were down by 10%. Also vehicle accidents where people were injured reduced by 78% to just one and a half a month. The use of the hard shoulder is always used in conjunction with an imposed 50mph speed limit and to take account of possible breakdowns, there are emergency refuge spots every 500 metres to ensure driver and passenger safety.

Where increased traffic means sever congestion the government says that road widening is still a high probability. But this use of the hard shoulder is seen by Friends of the Earth as motorway widening by stealth and will probably just persuade more motorists onto the roads, creating more pollution.

Posted October 2007

Speeding drivers told, take your punishment or go back to school

Police in Buckingham are setting up random checkpoints to capture drivers that habitually break the law in what are considered minor ways by the driver, but have potentially dramatic and even lethal consequences for those who have accidents as a result together with the inevitable increase in car insurance costs .

The police are looking for drivers that are using a hand-held mobile, driving without a seatbelt or who are exceeding the speed limit and for the month of October those caught will be given the straight choice. They can accept the normal fine of £60 and receive a 3 point penalty on their license or they can elect to attend a course of driver education.

This initiative between Thames Valley Police and Buckingham County Council is being carried out as part of the THINK! Rural Speed Campaign and is aimed at making drivers more aware of the potential hazards they may face dependent on the road and weather conditions and the numbers of other people on the roads in other vehicles and beside the roads as pedestrians etc.

The course is no easy option and will be challenging to driving standards of the stereotypical habitual speeding motorist who thinks that 75 mph is OK on a country lane when there’s not a lot of cars about. They are in for a shock! In Buckinghamshire, around 90% of all road fatalities are on rural roads and a high percentage of these involve just one vehicle, where drivers just get out of control.

Valerie Letheren from Bucks Council said that they will continue to place road safety at the core of the message to motorists via this joint initiative with the police.

Posted October 2007

THINK! Slow down on rural road warns the Road Safety Minister

Statistics prove that there is regularly only one car involved in rural road accidents which supports the theory that in many cases the vehicle is being driven far too fast for the prevailing conditions. To combat this phenomenon and make our rural highways a safer place the Department of Transport has launched its THINK! Rural Speed Campaign. This highlights the fact that three times more deaths occur on our country roads than in our more populated areas and that quiet roads don’t equate hazard free motoring.

Drivers can easily be lulled into a false sense of security by the reduction in traffic numbers and by the absence of pedestrians. They don’t realise that the monotony of long straights can be followed by a deceptively sharp bend. Also that there can be drainage ditches which run beside the road, if you lose the line of the road the hazards can be very unforgiving and the otherwise pleasant surroundings belie the fact that occupants are three times more likely to die here as on urban roads.

The Road Safety Minister said that the national speed limit of 60 mph is not a target to aim at, but it is the maximum allowable in good daylight visibility on dry roads and taking into account unpredictable hazards. Drivers must take equal care as they would on urban roads because the risks are different but non-the-less dangerous including animals, restricted sight lines, sharp and unexpected bends and farm vehicles, all of which require can require the drive to react quickly.

To avoid unnecessary car insurance claims and worse - the watchword is THINK!

Posted October 2007

Teach driving risk awareness whilst still at school

BSM is the Nation’s leading driving school, but few know they are also one of the top institutions for driver instruction training and as an original member of ORDIT (Official Registry of Driving Instructor Training) is a major pressure group in all matters of driving instruction, learner-drivers and road safety.

BSM have just issued a new DVD which fuses two of their previous education vehicles, ‘Ignition’ which is aimed at 14 to 17 year-olds and ‘Signal’ which primarily targets those youngsters who are old enough to drive between 17 and 19 years old. The principle being followed is to move road and safety training in greater depth into the classroom so that young drivers at the age of 17 are much more aware of how situations on the road escalate into risks and how, if not taken seriously and acted upon, those risks can become accidents, even fatal ones.

With deaths and serious injury to young drivers (under 24) running at around 3000 per year BSM believe that this number could be dramatically reduced by making children more aware of the potential risks and the need for caution and avoiding strategies before they take to the road as learner drivers. A spokesperson said that reducing the number of death, particularly to the young driver, may be achieved by improved and continuous driver education and BSM are urging the Government to make driver education an important part of the National Curriculum.

Producing more risk aware and safer young drivers would have hidden benefits over time of reducing the cripplingly high car insurance costs that are imposed on all youngsters regardless how careful they are. These costs can currently be reduced by obtaining a Pass Plus certificate or considering ‘Pay as you drive’ car insurance.

Posted October 2007

UK Motorway road works are the safest in Europe

We came out top again in the AA study of European motorway repair management which has just been released. The safety, ease of navigation and reduction in driver frustration are important in keeping car insurance claims to a minimum in these conditions of so many potential hazards.

The best managed UK motorway works was at the Holmesdale Tunnel on the M25 which despite racking up nearly 71000 man days of work has recorded a big fat zero in reportable accidents. This is a magnificent achievement considering the usage of the M25 near Enfield and the overall length of the works at three kilometres.

Factors that the Eurotest consortium, led by the AA, were looking for that scored well in the UK included well marked traffic lanes with good surfaces and adequate width the keep safe distance between lanes, enforced speed cameras with high visibility which maintained good traffic volume control and road signs that were highly visible, informing the motorist of the reason for the work, what was being done the total length of the restriction and how long the road works would be in place.

The AA believes that improvements can still be made to roadworks management to improve safety and willing driver participation in necessary adherence to signed requirements. These include varying the speed limit to match the level of risk, i.e. at week-ends and overnight when the restriction has no impact from site traffic, the possible use of solid barriers between adjacent lanes with oncoming traffic, car activated flashing lights in series along the road warning of lane changes and possibly the use of light hearted signing such as the sad face that turns to a smiley face indicating the length of restriction remaining.

A spokesperson for the AA said that we Brits hate road works but despite that loathing and the heaviest traffic our road management systems make ours the safest in Europe and we seem to recognise that with 90% of drivers faced with road works choosing to continue through them rather than trying to find an alternative way even if it’s their normal daily route.