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Fuel duty rise cancelled

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Chancellor George Osborne announced the cancellation of a rise in fuel duty in his Autumn Statement yesterday. Fuel duty was set to rise by 3p in January 2012 and then by a further 5p in August. The rise in August will still take place, but will only be by 3p instead of the original 5p. As a result, Mr Osborne said the average family would save £144 a year on filling up their car.

The government had come under pressure from motoring organisations and MPs to scrap the rise in fuel duty. Earlier this month, Conservative MP Robert Halfon tabled a Commons motion urging action on fuel prices in response to an e-petition signed by 110,000 people. AA president Edmund King welcomed Mr Osborne’s decision saying, “The chancellor has seen sense on this vital issue. Cash-strapped drivers will heave a heavy duty sigh of relief as current pump prices are close to the record high.”

Royal mail to deliver to your neighbour

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The Royal Mail has launched an initiative covering 750,000 addresses in the UK, which will allow postmen to leave parcels with neighbouring addresses if no one is at home. The trial is part of a process of bringing Royal Mail more in line with other delivery companies. Royal Mail is the only major delivery company that is not allowed to deliver to a neighbour as part of its standard practice.

“It means less need to go to one of our offices and we know that other parcel carriers in the UK are able to undertake this approach with very little or no impact on the relationship between neighbours,” Royal Mail said. The trial will last a total of three months starting in November 2011 and ending in February 2012 in select areas of the UK including Bolton, Wigan, Edinburgh, Hull, Gatwick, Norwich and Swansea. Residents in the areas affected by the trial will have the option not to be included. Royal Mail was given the green light by UK regulators back in September to run the Delivery to Neighbour trial. Previously, it was the only parcel delivery company in the UK legally prevented from leaving items with neighbours.

NOW will you slow down?

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Tim Backhouse, a builder from the village of Bow, in Devon, has responded to speeding motorists by painting a massive 30mph sign on the side of his house. He said speeding traffic on the A3072 made it difficult to cross the road to get to the village shop. “There is no speed camera in the village so no incentive for people to abide by the law. If drivers just stuck to the speed limit Bow would be a much nicer place to live,” he told the Metro.

Devon County Council carried out a traffic survey and found the average speed was only 31mph in the village. A spokesman said: “We’re aware of concerns about the speed of traffic through the village, and local police have worked with the community on enforcement issues.” Mr Backhouse said he painted the sign as part of Road Safety Week UK and would paint over it on 5 December.

Delivery van with auto pilot

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A thinktank headed by Volkswagen Group Research and assisted by the German Post Office has re-conceptualized the delivery vehicle and come up with an exciting concept vehicle named the eT!. The eT! drives semi-autonomously on voice commands such as “follow me” and “come to me” and the driver can also steer from the passenger side using a joystick.

The eT! is only a concept at this stage and specifications on the electric drive system have not been revealed. However, Volkswagen is planning to test a functioning version of the vehicle so some of its features could one day find their way into real-world applications. Volkswagen group manager for electric cars Dr Rudolf Krebs has said that the chances of the van appearing as a production model in the short-term are unlikely, but ‘we must make plans today for what the world of lightweight commercial vehicles might look like starting in the second half of this decade, including with regard to electrical drives.’

Big Brother’s big ears

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Oxford City Council has announced plans to install CCTV with sound recording capabilities in all licensed cabs by April 2015. The council has said that the cameras will record everything from once the engine is running until 30 minutes after it is switched off, but footage will only be kept for 28 days and will only be reviewed if it relates to a police enquiry. 

Big Brother Watch director Nick Pickles said: ‘This is a staggering invasion of privacy, being done with no evidence, no consultation and a total disregard for civil liberties. Big Brother now has big ears and they are eavesdropping on your conversations with absolutely no justification.’ But cabbies’ representative Alan Woodward said: ‘Cab drivers have been beaten unconscious, we had cabs smashed up, we have had complaints against drivers.’

 

The elimination of drowsy drivers

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Washington State has launched trials of a new system to test for drowsiness among road users. Fatigue is a bigger contributor to road accidents than drink driving. There is no real test that can determine if a driver is too tired to drive, but the system developed by Washington State Patrol considers a number of factors that may help to identify fatigue sufferers. Patrol officers will electronically scan commercial vehicles for their weight, size, registration and safety record, which allows them to see how long the vehicle has been on the road that day. When drivers are found to have been on the road too long they are placed out of service for 10 hours.

In August, the new system helped officers identify 98 drivers who had been driving for 11 hours after taking just a 10-hour break. A number of crashes caused by fatigue involved  drivers who had falsified their logbooks so they could keep driving. The new scanners will eliminate this threat as there is no way to lie to them. If the trial is successful then it could be implemented across America and possibly in the UK and Europe. It could even be implemented for non commercial vehicles, helping to further improve road safety.

Are you prepared for London 2012?

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According to recent reports more than one in four UK haulage firms are still unprepared for the expected disruption set to be caused by the 2012 London Olympics. The head of policy for London at the Freight Transport Association (FTA) Natalie Chapman said that the figures were worrying. “Although for some forward-thinking companies the race to prepare for this enormous global event has already begun, many businesses haven’t even started warming up yet,” she warned.

With demand for deliveries set to rise sharply during the build up to the London Olympics, the FTA has urged haulage companies to treat this as a three month Christmas period. As well as increased demand there will also be increased restrictions imposed such as tougher lower emissions standards in London and £200 parking charges for motorists who park in areas outside of the Olympic Route Network.

Cycle safety for HGV drivers

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The London Borough of Hackney has introduced an HGV driver training scheme focusing on cyclist awareness. As well as classroom discussions, drivers will gain first-hand perspective on cycling in the Hackney area, with participants heading out to cycle the roads with National Standard cycling instructors. Hackney Council is offering the free course to any freight or HGV drivers travelling through the borough.

Trevor Parsons, the London Cycling Campaign coordinator is “particularly looking forward to this training reaching construction-related haulage firms, whose vehicles are disproportionately involved in serious and fatal collisions.” If successful, the free scheme could also be rolled out for HGV and freight drivers across the UK, with London also likely to see the safety benefits during the 2012 Olympics.