BBC News reports...

Drivers are being warned not to take the apparent generosity of other motorists for granted in a new take on the "crash for cash" insurance scam.

While the Highway Code states that headlights should only be flashed "to let other road users know that you are there", many use it as a way of inviting other road users to pull out.

In the "flash for cash" scam, a driver in an approaching car flashes their lights in this way, but then deliberately drives into the other vehicle.

Richard Westcott reports.

Andrew says... PLEASE drive to the rules of the Highway Code! If everyone drove that way, ("In an ideal world") driving would be so much safer

BBC News reports...

Careless drivers across Britain who hog lanes or tailgate can now be punished with on-the-spot police fines.
Under the new measures, officers can issue £100 fines and three points rather than taking drivers to court.

Ministers said it would make tackling problem motorists easier. The AA said a third of drivers risked facing a fine.
Jon Ironmonger reports.
Read more

For those of you who are about to buy, or are hoping to buy a Used Car, here is some sound advice from the Government:

https://www.gov.uk/checks-when-buying-a-used-car

Eva’s 19 year old brother went out one night with his best friend, just a few days before her first GCSE exam..

Here are a number of quotes from Eva's 4 minute video:

"They decided after several shots and pints, that my brother would be fine to drive, that he wasn’t too drunk

He was driving at 80 miles per hour and he was twice over the limit

He was supposed to turn a corner and he just drove straight into a tree

The car set on fire, so we couldn’t see his body, we couldn’t get to say goodbye to him properly

Nothing stays the same after something like that

One decision made by someone else has had so much effect on so many peoples’ lives

He was 19, he made such a stupid decision

A moment of madness really..  leads to a lifetime of sadness, which is what happened to my brother"

“The Honest Truth – Eva’s Story”

Drivers in England could be given a "grace period" to pick up goods from shops or leave their cars in bays for longer without being fined.,  according to the BBC News site. 

The aim is to allow people to park outside a shop, in order to pick up something they have just bought.

It is thought that severe parking restrictions is one of the reasons for the decline in the fortunes of the High street shops and businesses.

However, the Highway Code states:

1. Waiting and parking (238)

You MUST NOT wait or park on yellow lines during the times of operation shown on nearby time plates (or zone entry signs if in a Controlled Parking Zone) – download ‘Traffic signs’ (PDF, 486KB)and ‘Road markings’ (PDF, 731KB). Double yellow lines indicate a prohibition of waiting at any time even if there are no upright signs. YouMUST NOT wait or park, or stop to set down and pick up passengers, on school entrance markings (download ‘Road markings’ (PDF, 731KB)) when upright signs indicate a prohibition of stopping.
Law RTRA sects 5 & 8


Lets all hope that our local Town or Borough Councils will see the advantages of allowing this parking, but also ensure that the streets do not become too congested and dangerous for pedestrians to cross the roads safely!

If you want to take a Test to drive a car+trailer (Category B+E), from November 2013 onwards, the trailer will have to carry a "real weight", rather than just an empty trailer.

This will produce a much more realistic drive, as most people would only tow a trailer if they are going to load it with something, rather than just towing it empty. A fully loaded trailer can increase acceleration and braking times significantly, especially when carrying livestock or other delicate items that cannot afford to be "thrown around" the trailer. As a result, the driver would need to be looking much, much further along the road to allow more time to complete any task.

More details can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/new-laden-testing-rules-for-driving-test-vehicles

Wow, how lucky we are to have had at least two weeks of hot and sunny weather!
No rain to worry about, just lovely dry weather and roads.
With the threat of rain and maybe thunderstorms arriving either today or tomorrow, many drivers may be caught out dry, "grippy" tarmac suddenly becoming very greasy and slippery in the damp conditions.
We will need to brake and steer gradually, until we know how much grip there is on the roads. 
When was the last time that you used your windscreen wipers? Are they still working properly, or have they cracked and torn in the dry weather, and now they cannot clear the windscreens so that you can see what's happening around you?
Have you still got enough windscreen washer fluid  to clean any grease off the windscreens?

How much tread have you got on each of your tyres? And what about the spare tyre? And what about the pressure in each tyre?
It might be very worthwhile just making sure your car is ready for bad weather, as well as the good weather we have been having recently.
http://www.andrewknightdriving.org.uk/driving-in-rain.html

I've said it before, and hopefully I will say it again. 
At the end of this week I am able to say it now...
What a Brilliant Week, full of (even more) tension, and great Results!..
 1 Week,
 3 Tests,
 3 Passes 
 3 Happy New Drivers
 1 (very) Happy Instructor!
Lydia, Sarah, and Ledys, thank you for achieving your goal of gaining your Driving Licence, all in the same week
Well done to all three of you for making this a fantastic week!

1 Week,

3 Tests,

3 Passes

3 Happy New Drivers

1 Happy Instructor!

Well done to all three of you for making this a fantastic week! Thank you all.

When I got into the car on my first lesson I was nervous and worried about taking control of a vehicle, I had never drove a car before and I doubted my abilities. I was worried about holding up the traffic, learning how to control the car and also if I would have a harsh instructor. 
Being my first lesson I didn't expect to do much driving but after talking to Andrew about the different gears, what to do as your approaching a junction and the functions of the car, I felt reassured and a lot more comfortable in the car, After that I did the cockpit drill and started to do some clutch control, Once I felt confident I did two short laps of the Benhall area, I was feeling more confident in the car at this point. On my second lesson we went over a similar routine to my first lesson but I gained more confidence and felt I was becoming a safer driver.


My third lesson was in the Warden Hill area, I was learning junctions. I became nervous and struggled at certain times, but Andrew made me feel calm and helped me understand where I was going wrong, He explained situations well using an iPad app that showed various different situations that could occur whilst on the road, and reassured me that I was doing well if I started to panic whilst driving. 
Andrew is very calm and cheery and makes you feel relaxed, definitely the kind of attitude you need  from an instructor when learning to drive, I am now going onto my sixth driving session with Andrew and feeling confident with my progress.

Eco-Safe Driving

Road safety is the number 1 priority whilst on the roads. 

Eco-safe driving can only be considered when it is safe to do so.

Give yourself time to drive economically.

Use engine braking where possible.  Fuel consumption during deceleration is extremely efficient. Use this feature to cover long distances efficiently, by coming off the gas pedal early and letting the engine slow the car down, rather than driving up to a junction fast, and then braking hard at the last moment. It will also reduce the wear on the engine and braking system.

Look well ahead of yourself, to give yourself time to brake gently. Consider the time of day of your journey, it may be possible to drive at a different time of day, when the traffic levels will be lower, and therefore your drive will be more flowing and efficient.

Consider not taking the car, maybe you can share your trip with others on a bus. Maybe you could walk, or use a cycle.

Do not coast. Travelling with the clutch down, or in neutral, reduces your control of the car. If the engine is not connected to the wheels, you are unable to take advantage of efficient engine braking, you will have to rely on just the brakes. During this time your car will not have slowed down as much as planned. Therefore you will have to brake harder than you planned. This may surprise the vehicle behind you, with a number of consequences. Because, you are braking harder than planned, you are more at risk of locking the brakes and causing the car to skid.


Do not carry extra weight unnecessarily.  A boot full of rarely-used accessories increases the car's weight unnecessarily, causing the engine to have to work harder to increase speed, and the brakes to work harder to slow the car. Some people never fill the fuel tank completely, because it weighs more than a half-full tank, and therefore weighs more, needing more petrol to move it.

Roof racks and roof bars can increase fuel consumption by up to 15%, even when empty. 


Try to keep the car moving on the approach to junctions and hazards, maybe the junction or hazard will clear itself, allowing you to keep moving, which takes much less energy than stopping and starting again. It also allows traffic behind you to keep moving, resulting in cumulative savings in energy savings..


Air-conditioning and climate control uses energy. Some people have calculated that by turning on air-con, you can increase your fuel consumption by 15%.  That is the equivalent of changing your fuel consumption from, say, 50mpg, to 42mpg! If you had a roof rack on the car as well, your fuel consumption would change to 35mpg!

You could simply open the window instead of switching on the air-con. This will increase noise levels and reduce the car's aerodynamic properties, but reports show that that is more energy efficient than using aircon, up to 40mph. Above that speed the increased turbulence increases fuel consumption than using Air-con.


Changing gear at lower engine revs. Why travel at speed, at an engine speed of 2500 revs, when you might be easily able to get exactly the same effect at only 2000 revs? Using these figures, you might be able to save 20% of fuel consumption, engine wear, engine noise, whilst achieving the same speed on the road.

There will be many times or situations when these techniques will not be suitable to use, but this may only be for a few hundred meters, after which you may be able to return to using ecosafe methods.


Block gear changes. This involves accelerating in a particular gear to a higher number of revs than you normally would. You might then be able to miss out a gear change to achieve a certain speed, by using one  gear change instead of two. For example you might be able to stay in 3rd gear a little longer than normal, rev a little higher, but then change straight into 5th gear, missing out 4th gear completely. If this is possible, the total number of revs used to travel along a certain length of road may be lower, with the resulting saving in fuel. You will only have had the clutch down once, which reduces clutch wear, you will only have removed you hand from the steering wheel once, rather than twice, which will mean that you have only one period when you only have half the normal steering control, instead of taking your hand off the wheel twice.


Efficient journey planning. Longer journey at smoother speeds. Lower traffic levels. Can you combine a number of separate trips into one longer one?


These techniques are only part of a whole attitude to driving and the environment, as well as economics.


www.andrewknightdriving.org.uk

I have just added a picture of the Fiesta's engine compartment to the bottom of the Show & Tell Questions and answers into the Website. The picture shows the location of the oil, coolant, and screen-wash reservoirs, as well as the oil dipstick.

Contact me if you have forgotten your password.

http://www.andrewknightdriving.org.uk/show--tell-questions.html

Had a good day's work today..

A number of people doing some "Outside My Comfort Zone" work, ending up fairly confident that they can work out what should be done, and anticipate what might be about to happen.

Learning to drive is all about understanding the principles of what should happen, gaining the skills to be able to do it, and gaining experience, so that we can deal with whatever may occur, with some confidence.

Good day today! well done everyone.

This will depend on if you have been getting any driving experience before meeting me.

If you HAVE had some experience prior to our meeting, then there will be some paperwork to complete, a chance to become familiar to the Fiesta’s controls and features, and then you will be going for a short drive, where you can show me what you are able and comfortable to do, and what you are not happy with.  From that point on, we can then formulate an agreed plan of action, with timescales etc.

If you have never driven before, we will spend time going through the major controls of the car; what they do, and how I will be asking you to use them.

We will get you comfortable in the driver’s seat, and adapting the car to fit you.

We will have plenty of time to practice using the foot controls, and the gear lever.

We will discuss how we can get the car to move off from the side of the road, and, more importantly, how to stop it again, safely.

Then we can practice moving off, pausing at the point where you would release the parking brake.

When you are happy that you understand how to let the car move and stop, maybe with a gear change in the middle as well, then we can allow the car to move under your control.

We can practice that a few times, and then we can start dealing with some quiet junctions.

Don’t forget, we will be practicing in a quiet safe area, and the car is not going to do anything, unless you make it do so.

Here is a link to one of my web pages:




http://www.andrewknightdriving.org.uk/basic-routines-to-use.html




It describes the sequence of events needed to safely prepare the car to move of, make sufficient observations to ensure it is safe to move, and then moving off, changing gear, and how to stop again.




Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions on driving, from applying for your Provisional Licence, to refresher or motorway techniques:




www.andrewknightdriving.org.uk 

Learners know what they don't know, and then minimise that weakness.
Learners use all their existing knowledge and learn where and how else that knowledge can be used.
Learners give it a go.
Learners adapt.
Learners strive to reach each target they are aiming at.
Learners keep working on something until they have a workable solution.
Learners will learn that there is more than one way to learn.
Learners will continue to learn more and more, even after they have learnt enough to survive.
Learners learn that others are also always learning.
Learners are patient with themselves, their learning, and with others.
Learners can learn from all sources of opportunities, not just from their own mistakes.
Learners learn !

... got my winter tyres a week ago today, just in time for the latest falls of snow.

As soon as I started driving with them on risky roads, it was obvious just how much more grip I had available compared to normal tyres.

The composition of the rubber makes the tyre much more flexible than normal tyres in cold weather, so it is able to transfer grip from the wheels to the road. The extra grooves in the tyres allow the tyres to grab hold of the gravel, snow, or ice much more than normal, and they are designed to grip both forwards and backwards, so that they have both driving and reversing grip.

The main drawbacks that I have found in these conditions, is other vehicles with just normal tyres, being able to see the edges of the roads, rather than finding them by "feel", and driving in snow that is so deep that the car "bellies out" on top of the snow, rather than driving through it.

I spent a couple of hours with a client today, practicing emergency stops on winter country roads, and was "pleasantly surprised" at the grip in less-than-perfect road surfaces, stopping quickly and accurately at a number of different speeds, giving results slightly less than normal tyres in summer conditions.

All in all I am very pleased with the driving , steering, and stopping properties of these tyres in winter conditions. 

All I am looking forwards to now is the prompt return to summer conditions!


Here is a comparison of the tread between Winter and "Normal" tyres, showing the larger number of grooves in the winter tyre, designed to give the extra flexibilty and grip, compared to the much smoother normal tyre.