The police’s summer drink driving campaign, run during June, has shown that 5.8% of the 83,224 motorists involved tested positive, refused or failed a breath test.
That figure is a slight improvement on last year’s 6%, but the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said the decrease was not enough: “Although there has been a reduction in 2012, this reduction is not big enough. There were still almost 5,000 drivers found to be driving under the influence who have not got the message.”
You might know TomTom best for the funny voices in your car telling you which way to go. But the sav nav specialists are branching out from route-directing and launching a new hands-free car kit for smartphones.
The kit comes in two versions, to work with the iPhone or other smartphones that use a micro USB charger such as Android phones. It features an advanced noise and echo cancellation system designed to reduce background noise for the caller and remove ambient noise for the driver.
An AA survey of 21,000 members suggests drivers want better basic features, not more electronics.The two things people most wanted were temperature gauges and twin reversing lights. We totally agree about temperature gauges: on a hot summer’s day in a traffic jam, it is useful to know if an engine is starting to get hot, rather than a warning light telling you it’s too late and you have to stop.
Admittedly you have to be at least 40 to remember the Dutch DAF car (it was absorbed into Volvo in the 1970s). It pioneered a transmission using a rubber pulley rather than individual gears.The “rubber band” transmission later mutated into a steel belt and was tried in various small Fiats and Fords, but without much success. However, it is now catching on in the USA, of all places. In 2005 1% of cars in America had CVT (for Constantly Variable Transmission), By 2010 it was 7%, and according to the forecasting company IHS Automotive, it will hit 16% by 2016.
We have all seen it, some of us have done it, and a few have crashed as a result: a pedestrian is so engrossed in telling their friend which pub they are going to, that they walk straight out in front of a car.
It happened to one of our writers on a motorbike a couple of years ago: the dopey pedestrian was only shaken, but the bike was wrecked as the rider took evasive action. Only the presence of witnesses persuaded the police that the biker was actually the real victim.
