Diary Of An ADI

Well, it’s been a few months and the media seems to be at a bit of a loose end – so, hey! Why not dig up that thing about raising motorway speed limits to 80mph again?

This article in the Telegraph rehashes the same information from February this year.

It is argued that by raising the limit to 80mph, drivers will have more respect for the rules. You may as well argue that it will also end the recession and world hunger if you’re going to make silly claims up like that.

A DfT spokesman said:

We need to make sure that we are looking at the right criteria…

This means looking at the economic benefits of shorter journey times as well as considering other implications such as road safety and carbon emissions.

Any proposal to change national speed limits would be subject to full public consultation.

At least someone is still in touch with reality (a little bit, anyway).

Going faster will only lead to shorter journey times if there is no other traffic around. A typical journey on a typical UK motorway anywhere between 7am and 9pm is actually made longer by people already doing 80mph (and more). I explained this in the earlier article:

What happens is that even if you’re doing 70mph, a huge number of people will be doing 80, 90, even 100mph if they can in the outside lane(s). Conversely, a huge number of other people will be doing 60 or even 50mph in the inside or middle lanes.

…it means that inevitably someone going faster is going to have to slow down. This cascades down the whole line, and eventually – after all the lane changing to get round it has run out of steam – someone has to stop. Then, this too cascades down the line, and everyone else has to stop, and the further back they are, the longer the wait to get going again.

I call it the caterpillar effect.

Raising the limit might have some benefits, but shorter journey times are not one of them. And with the overall ability of many drivers, safety isn’t either.

An article on MyFinances.co.uk lists 15 ways in which you can cut your car insurance:

• buy a car that’s cheaper to insure
• switch insurers
• secure your car
• increase voluntary excess
• get insured as a named driver
• pay upfront
• pay with a 0% credit card
• watch out for good deals
• tell your insurer if your circumstances change
• reduce your mileage
• driver more safely
• use a ‘telematics’-based insurer
• take advanced driving lessons
• be honest
• don’t necessarily get the cheapest policy

I have to say that the list is a bit of a damp squib, really. Except for the parts which are dangerously wrong and misleading (see the one I’ve highlighted in red).

MyFinances claims that the only problem with being a named driver is that:

…it is illegal to tell an insurer your parent is the main driver on your own car.

What they don’t explain is that it is also illegal to do it on ANY car if you are the main driver (owner or not), and with some insurers (Tesco, for example, so hardly the obscure ones) it will also be considered illegal if you are merely a regular user (which I wrote about in this article).

The one about paying upfront is also a red herring. For most people, it’s how much they have to pay right now that’s the problem. If they are quoted £2k, paying £184 a month (including a 10.6% premium for the privilege) is rather more manageable than paying £2k in one go – especially if they don’t have £2k in their pockets.

And this obviously has knock-on implications for the advice about using a 0% credit card. At best, it will only work for 1 year while the 0% promotion is running – plus, you need to be able to get a credit card in the first place, and not get sucked into the downward credit spiral that comes with the things.

Reducing your mileage? Right. And while we’re at it, let’s just not get a car at all and save the whole lot.

I’m sorry, but most of the advice is just unrealistic.

According to the Daily Star – in one of it’s more lucid (and less pornographic) moments – “the soaring cost of car insurance” is to be probed by a government watchdog.

Apparently, everyone is paying up to 40% more per year for insurance.

It cites young drivers being quoted a “whopping” £2,300 on a Vauxhall Corsa (typical chavmobile) worth £1,450, and how they’d “celebrate” if prices were cut.

A simple bit of arithmetic shows that if we weren’t all paying that extra 40%, young drivers would be having quotes of £1,650 instead. So that must be “minuscule” then, if we stick with the Star’s favoured style.

The Star appears to ignore the Co-op’s spokesman:

The main reason for [high insurance] is the large number of accidents caused by young drivers.

I’ll tell you what’s behind the price hikes affecting everyone else, though: the recession.

Every company out there is trying to maintain it’s profitability in the face as higher costs and falling sales. For companies whose income depends purely on people paying for a service, it’s fairly obvious how you maintain the balance.

This story in Exchange & Mart (and covered elsewhere) reveals that nearly half of British motorists are driving on illegal tyres – risking fines and penalty points, as well as lives.

The specification for tyres is that they should have a minimum of 1.6mm of tread across the middle three-quarters of the tyre’s width, and all around the edges, plus they should have no cuts, bulges, or other damage to the sidewalls.

Anyone caught driving on illegal tyres will get at least 3 points on their licence – but if all four are defective then it is a straight ban. And you can be fined up to £2,500 per defective tyre.

Measuring them is simple. You use a small tool like the one shown here, and available for a few pounds from Halfords or any motorists’ parts store.

However, it isn’t just ignorance that leads to people driving on illegal tyres. The recession has just added to the problem of people who can’t afford to drive having jalopies that are simply not roadworthy. Driving is seen as a right and not a privilege.

I notice on forums where young drivers hang out that the main topics are how to get cheap insurance, how to buy a cheap car, and how to fix things like broken exhausts and cracked windscreens – without having to pay someone to do it.

I saw this story on the BBC. Apparently, learners in Jersey could end up having to pass their theory test before being allowed to take driving lessons on the road.

At the moment, the system in Jersey corresponds to the one we have on the UK mainland, but the proposed change would mean that they would have to have a theory test certificate in order to even apply for their provisional driving licence.

If the plans go ahead, teenagers would be able to sit the theory test up to a year before their 17^th birthday, so they would still be able to start learning from their 17^th.

One of the Parish Constables said that people should know their theory before getting behind the wheel of a car.

I agree – but if someone takes the test when they are 16, it might be a year before they go anywhere near a car, so their knowledge will not be current, nor will it be fresh. Some might sit it when they’re 16, then not take lessons for up to three years.

It’ll be interesting to see how this develops.