Category Archives: Motoring News

Leeds-Bradford is more congested than London – or almost anywhere else

July 12, 2012   simon

TomTom, the satellite navigation people, have found that Leeds-Bradford is Britain’s most congested conurbation and is fractionally worse than London. Using real-time travel data from TomTom-equipped cars, the survey found that journey times were lengthened by 28% by congestion, compared to 27% in London. West Yorkshire drivers spend an average of 86 hours in traffic jams per year compared to 74 hours in London. As someone who has lived in both conurbations, this correspondent can confirm TomTom’s findings are depressingly believable.
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Row over cyclist ban in Olympic Games lanes

July 11, 2012   simon

Apologies to non-Londoners who are sick of Olympic chatter, but this one does seem a bit strange. Cyclists are to be banned from 80% of Olympic Games lanes – many of which have been converted from, you guessed it, bus and cycle lanes. There seems something ironic about organising an event all about activity and sport, and then making it far more difficult to use the one form of transport that gives people a good workout.
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Automatic Emergency Braking to become standard equipment

July 10, 2012   simon

EuroNCAP, the safety organisation that gives star ratings to most new cars has said it will not give a five star rating to new cars from 2014 unless they are fitted with Autonomous Emergency Braking(AEB). These systems are more frequently known as “City Stop”, and automatically apply the brakes if the integrated radar system picks up an obstacle immediately in front of the car which the driver has not reacted to.
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Latest safety systems do reduce accidents

July 08, 2012   simon

More data is coming in that shows electronic safety systems – especially automatic emergency braking – really do cut accident rates.We reported on the first UK data about this in April, but new data has now emerged from the USA. The federal Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) says that accident rates were 14% lower in cars fitted with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) – what Ford calls City Stop.It said warning systems that alerted the driver to an obstacle but did not brake the car showed less improvement. We are not surprised about that – such systems tell you via a light and a noise that something is wrong, but you then have to take a fraction of a second to figure out what the message is all about. If you have not already noticed the obstacle, it is probably then too late.
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Damon Hill wants 55 mph limit

July 06, 2012   simon

The ex-Formula One world champion has caused controversy by saying he is opposed to the proposal to increase the motorway speed limit to 80 mph, and instead wants it brought down to 55 mph. In an interview with the Radio Times, Damon Hill said “I am a big fan of the 55mph speed limit. Most people aren’t safe to drive over 55.”
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