The Nevada legislature last year authorised self-driven cars for the state’s roads, the first such law in the United States.

Google’s self-driven cars – modified Toyota Priuses – rely on video cameras, radar sensors, lasers and a database of information collected from manually-driven cars to help it navigate.

The state also has plans to eventually license autonomous vehicles owned by members of the public.
Legislation to regulate autonomous cars is being considered in other states, including Google’s home state of California.

“The vast majority of vehicle accidents are due to human error. Through the use of computers, sensors and other systems, an autonomous vehicle is capable of analysing the driving environment more quickly and operating the vehicle more safely,” California state Senator Alex Padilla said in March, when he introduced that state’s autonomous car legislation.

Source: The Irish Times, May 9th 2012

The study, carried out in the UK for Kwik Fit, found that a million (3%) motorists confess to not having any provision whatsoever for a flat tyre. With an estimated 8.8 million (26%) drivers suffering a puncture each year, this could lead to a quarter of a million cars being stranded at the roadside in the next 12 months.

And it’s not just the rubber that’s missing in some cars – 10% (2.9 million) of drivers who do carry a spare say they don’t have the necessary tools in their car to change it over should a tyre blow, while 36% (11.6 million) have the tools but admit they don’t know how to use them when it comes to swapping over a wheel and 6% (1.8 million) are short on both fronts and have neither the equipment nor knowledge to get a new wheel on.

There also seems to be confusion as a result of car manufacturers no longer offering full size spares as standard on some vehicles. One in ten motorists (3.3 million) who have a spare don’t know whether it’s a full-size spare or a low-speed space-saver, which could prove hazardous if a blowout happens on a long motorway journey.

Some manufacturers offer neither a full size spare or a space saver, instead providing drivers with a puncture repair kit. Over 4 million drivers (11%) have a puncture repair kit but the vast majority of them (3 million) don’t rely on the kit alone and also carry a spare, ensuring they are prepared for a double puncture.

Roger Griggs, communications director at Kwik Fit, said: “The recent trend amongst car manufacturers to offer space-saver spares or puncture repair kits instead of full-size spare tyres could be the cause of this confusion amongst motorists. It’s is worrying how many drivers don’t know what provision they have for a puncture, but it’s even more of a concern to see how many have absolutely nothing in their car to deal with a deflated tyre.”

“For those who have recently bought a second hand car it’s also important that they assess the condition of the spare – there could be damage that isn’t obvious at a glance, and if it hasn’t been checked in a while it’s likely to be underinflated.”

“There are clearly gaps in knowledge around how to change a tyre, and indeed many cars are missing tools, which means even if a spare is carried some motorists will struggle to swap it over.”

Source – Fleet News, 30.04.12

No, that’s not a picture from a 2012 remake of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”

It’s US company Terrafugia’s Transition Roadable Aircraft, a prototype flying car which has just completed its first flight, bringing its makers closer to their goal of selling it commercially within the next year.

The world’s first street-legal airplane has two seats, four wheels, a propeller, wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car, and a range of 425 nautical miles in the air. Last month, it flew at 1,400 feet for eight minutes. Terrafugia says it is compact enough to be driven on regular streets, and then, at an airstrip, it can unfold its wings and take off.

Around 100 people have already put down a US$10,000 (€7,497) deposit to get a Transition when they go on sale, and those numbers will likely rise after the Terrafugia company introduces the Transition to the public later this week at the New York Auto Show. It is expected to cost $279,000 (€209,171).

The flying car has always had a special place in the American imagination. Inventors have been trying to make them since the 1930s, according to Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst. He thinks Terrafugia has come closer than anyone to making the flying car a reality.

The government has already granted the company’s request to use special tyres and glass that are lighter than normal automotive ones, to make it easier for the vehicle to fly.

The government has also temporarily exempted the Transition from the requirement to equip vehicles with electronic stability control, which would add weight.

It is currently going through a battery of automotive crash tests to make sure it meets federal safety standards.

The Transition can reach around 70 mph on the road and 115 mph in the air, a company spokesman said.

Terrafugia has been working on flying cars since 2006, and has already pushed back the launch once. Last summer the company said it would have to delay expected 2011 deliveries due to design challenges and problems with parts suppliers.

With the appearance in New York, the company hopes to attract the eye of customers as well as investors.

Source: Motornet.ie, April 2012

The study suggests businesses and their employees are turning a blind eye to road safety as they try to cope with increased pressure to perform post-recession. It also questions the roadworthiness of some business vehicles. Almost a third of workers say they have driven with a blown light or faulty windscreen wipers, around a fifth have ignored a cracked windscreen – potentially impairing their vision – and more than one in ten have driven with a slow puncture.

Jon Hancock, managing director of Commercial at RSA, said: “Employers have a duty of care to ensure the legality of their vehicles as well as the safety of their drivers and, by extension, other road users, yet these findings suggest that due diligence is not being adhered to in all parts of the country or by all types of business drivers.”

Merrion Fleet Management can provide advice on Health & Safety, including Duty of Care and Driving for Work. For more information please contact us on 01 206 11 18.

Source: Fleet News, March 2012

Despite this, 8% of drivers admit to using smartphones for email and social networking while driving – equivalent to 3.5 million licence holders, while the problem is greater with younger drivers with 24% of 17-24 year olds – a group already at higher risk of being in a crash – admitting to using smartphones for email and social networking while driving.

For their research, the IAM and TRL (Transport Research Laboratory) used DigiCar – TRL’s car driving simulator – to examine the effects of young drivers using smartphones to access Facebook. In every test of driving performance, young people who were using Facebook while driving were badly affected. When sending and receiving Facebook messages: reaction times slowed by around 38% and participants often missed key events; participants were unable to maintain a central lane position resulting in an increased number of unintentional lane departures; and were unable to respond as quickly to the car in front gradually changing speed.
When comparing these new results to previous studies the level of impairment on driving is greater than the effects of drinking, cannabis and texting.

• Using a smartphone for social networking slows reaction times by 37.6%
• texting slows reaction times by 37.4%
• hands-free mobile phone conversation slows reaction times by 26.5%
• cannabis slows reaction times by 21%
• alcohol (above UK driving limit but below 100mg per 100ml of blood) slows reaction time by between 6 and 15%
• alcohol at the legal limit slows reaction times by 12.5%

The IAM is calling for government action to highlight the dangers of using smartphones behind the wheel. Phone manufacturers and social network providers also have a key role to play in spreading the message. Attitudes to seatbelts and drink driving have changed dramatically over the last thirty years, and, with the right information, halting smartphone use could become a similar success story.

IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “This research shows how incredibly dangerous using smartphones while driving is, yet unbelievably it is a relatively common practice. If you’re taking your hand off the wheel to use the phone, reading the phone display and thinking about your messages, then you’re simply not concentrating on driving. It’s antisocial networking and it’s more dangerous than drink driving and it must become just as socially unacceptable. Young people have grown up with smartphones and using them is part of everyday life. But more work needs to be done by the government and social network providers to show young people that they are risking their lives and the lives of others if they use their smartphones while driving.”

TRL senior researcher Nick Reed said: “Our research clearly demonstrates that driver behaviour was significantly and dramatically impaired when a smartphone was being used for social networking. Drivers spent more time looking at their phone than the road ahead when trying to send messages, rendering the driver blind to emerging hazards and the developing traffic situation. Even when hazards were detected, the driver’s ability to respond was slowed. The combination of observed impairments to driving will cause a substantial increase in the risk of a collision that may affect not only the driver but also their passengers and other road users. Smartphones are incredibly useful and convenient tools when used appropriately and responsibly. Their use for social networking when driving is neither.”

March 2012, Fleet News

The awards night was held at the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel, Newlands Cross in February, and the standard this year was extremely high as the IMI celebrated awards for new entrants to the industry, and to those who have devoted their lives to it.

Guest speaker on the night was Mr Senan McGrath, Chef Technical officer of ESB eCars. His topic for the evening was, The Case for Electric Vehicles & The eCar Ireland Project. Senan expounded on the many variables involved in the eCar project from the peak oil problem, to the environmental imperatives and the smart use of electricity.

David Savage (Merrion Fleet Management) is presented with his award by Brendan Stears (Toyota Ireland)

“In th UK, compensation culture has been characterised by insurance companies selling on personal injury claims to lawyers and consumers being encouraged to claim for non-existent injuries. As a result, insurance premiums are increasing exponentially,” said Roland Maguire, director of iAccident. “The Government’s proposed ban on referral fees for personal injury claims only addresses part of the overall problem.”

The iAccident app, which has been developed by mobile marketing specialist 2ergo for iPhone and Android, is free for consumers to download and has been built to be as user-friendly as possible. But as well as being launched under the brand iAccident, the app is also available on a white label basis to allow industry providers to distribute it to customers under their own brand. As a white label product, the set-up fee to the provider is £10,000, plus a download fee per handset dependent on the number of drivers. It incorporates GPS functionality so that accident data is recorded accurately and all images are time and geo-location stamped.

Encrypted reports are submitted directly to the iAccident database. It’s compatible with systems used by all insurance companies and drivers simply submit their reports online from their smartphone. They can have the report forwarded to their own insurer, fleet manager or have iAccident deal with it on their behalf through its UK-based, 24-hour call centre.

“We think this could completely revolutionise accident management,” said Maguire. “It enables you to capture key information and I believe within three to four years the majority of accidents will be reported this way.”

09/02/2012 Fleet news

Boreens with grass growing up the middle and an 80kph limit. Very safe major roads with triple and even four-lane carriageways but speed limits so low that you barely feel that you are moving. According to the AA, the setting of Irish speed limits has become a mess.

Speed limits are set legally by the local authority, not by central government. While speed limit categories are set out in road traffic law, which limit to apply on which road is a decision made locally. The problem is that some local authorities have done their job well, some have done it badly and some have not done it at all. The result is limits that have no consistency from one county to another, and many examples of dangerous, careless and just plain ridiculous local variations.

The N4 – an example of how not to do it…

The N4 is the national primary route from the M50 in Dublin to Sligo. At the Dublin end for a stretch it is four lanes wide with a solid centre divide to prevent cross-over accidents. It also has an 80kph speed limit. Regular users will know that as you approach from Sligo or Galway you are on a motorway for many miles at 120kph until suddenly the road doubles in width but the speed limit drops to 80kph.

Further west along that same national primary route in Co. Sligo the road is a narrow, winding single lane. There are ditches on either side lined with white crosses erected by local people marking spots where people have died. The speed limit on that lethal stretch is 100kph.

The AA has been arguing this issue with government literally for years, and now with the new government, have been promised meaningful co-operation at last. They have been asked to provide a list of bad speed limits nationally and have been promised that they will be supported when that list is presented to local authorities to fix.

They are asking all motorists to report bad speed limits to them directly. You can report a bad speed limit by emailing publicaffairs@aaireland.ie. The AA is asking for as much detail as possible, including a photo if available. They will be putting the best example up on the AA website and will pay €25 for every photo that is featured. To be fair, they are also asking for information on instances where the local council has done a good job, maybe by changing a limit or by assessing a road properly.

For further information, see www.aaireland.ie

Source: The AA, 08/02/2012

A new law is coming into operation before the start of the summer which will make it obligatory for all drivers in France to have an alcohol breathalyser with them at all times. It is the latest part of a clampdown on road deaths and accidents by President Nicolas Sarkozy, who last week announced the latest in a series of hard-hitting road safety measures.

In recent years legislation has been introduced forcing drivers to have a hi-visibility jacket within reach, along with an accident warning triangle. From the end of spring, all drivers in France will also now be required to carry the personal alcohol testers in their vehicles.

The breathalysers will become available at reasonable prices throughout France – some for as little as €2 – but Irish motorists could have to fork out as much as €50 if they buy them here before departing for France.
However, an award-winning road safety officer has said that while the new French law has some merit, he did not see a need for it here. Noel Gibbons, road safety officer with Mayo County Council, said the French were trying to promote a message of zero alcohol for drivers. “The French plan is a good one ideally, but there is no requirement for it here at all. We already are preaching the message that there is no safe limit to drive with drink in your system, so what use would carrying a breathalyser do?” he asked. “We don’t want people to be taking a chance if they are close to the legal limit, putting people’s lives at risk.”

France is the world’s largest tourist market – 78.95 million tourists visited there in 2010 – and visitors will need to take care when bringing their own cars to the country. An estimated 765,000 Irish people travel to France from Ireland each year. Anyone bringing their own transport and found in breach of the new French law faces a €17 fine.

The operator of one of Ireland’s biggest specialists in French camping holidays, Pearse Keller of Keller Travel in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, says holidaymakers will have to be fully aware of the implications.

“I suppose it will be up to us as travel agents to make sure our customers are made aware of the new rules of the road in France. Just like drivers have to carry a high-visibility vest and an accident triangle, they will now have to carry the breathalyser,” Mr Keller said. “While it appears it will not be an expensive item, it is one more thing that holidaymakers have to be aware of before leaving,” he pointed out. “But in fairness to the French administrators, they have made a concerted effort to reduce their accidents on the road. Going back 10 or 12 years they had huge numbers of road deaths, but the hard work in that department should be applauded. Anything that makes it safer for our holidaymakers is a positive thing,” he continued.

President Sarkozy’s latest manoeuvres come on the back of his 2007 pledge to cut road deaths in the country to 3,000 in 2012. Last year the death toll on French roads dipped below 4,000 for the first time, but is still a long way off target.

JOHN FALLON, The Irish Times, 30th Jan 2012