January 31st, 2009 Administrator
Satellite navigation company Garmin is about to release a free software update that adds new features to its personal navigation devices aimed at helping drivers save money and fuel.
The ecoRoute software, which will be available to download from February, will provide detailed fuel and mileage expense reports, information on CO2 emissions, economical route-planning, and tips on how to improve driving to become more environmentally friendly.
Clive Taylor, director of products and marketing at Garmin, said: “Many of the biggest challenges currently facing people across Europe involve the economy and the environment.
“Using ecoRoute on your Garmin nuvi helps you to be a smarter driver at a time when everyone is trying to make their salaries and fuel tanks go the extra mile.”
The new software also includes a “Driving Challenge” option, which gives live continuous feedback on how economically the motorist is driving. At the end of the journey an overall score is shown, along with driving tips on how to improve the score, save on fuel costs, reduce the vehicle’s carbon foot print and help the environment.
Garmin’s website gives full details of which nuvi models are compatible with ecoRoute.
Copyright © Press Association 2009
RAC Homepage – http://www.rac.co.uk/
ecoRoute – http://www.garmin.co.uk/ecoroute
From : RAC
Posted in Driving, Eco-Safe Driving, Road Safety | No Comments »
January 31st, 2009 Administrator
Many car owners are falling foul of overzealous MoT examiners.
Dozy MoT testers are failing roadworthy cars for crazy reasons – like having furry dice hanging in them! Yet they are passing vehicles with dangerous faults such as batteries leaking acid.
The rules of the annual roadworthiness test say cars should fail if they have a visual obstruction in the windscreen larger than 10mm by 10mm. But Jim Punter, chairman of the MoT Testing Forum, told us examiners have refused to pass vehicles with furry dice and sat-nav suction cups in the screen as a result.
“Commonsense dictates testers should tell owners to remove the dice, or do it themselves!” he said. “I know one examiner was disciplined by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) as he failed a car with mini boxing gloves hanging from the rear view mirror.”
Reader Adam Pearce of Whitehill, Hants, also fell foul of testers’ incompetence (see Troubleshooter, Page 50). His MINI was one of several to fail as examiners thought the white LED sidelights looked blue – even though VOSA has confirmed that they’re road legal.
Meanwhile, Punter claimed that cars with dangerous mechanical issues got an MoT: “I’ve heard of vehicles passing even if leaking battery acid has burned through the tray, causing a fire hazard, as batteries aren’t checked,” he said.
In fact, while modern cars have a growing number of safety features, only 150 are checked during the annual test. In 2007-08, 1,321 customers complained or appealed about their MoT, while 445 testers were warned and 108 disqualified by VOSA.
From : Auto Express
Posted in Driving, Road Safety | No Comments »
January 23rd, 2009 Administrator
An Irish great-grandmother has created a modern take on the classic Oscar-winning movie ‘Driving Miss Daisy’.
After failing her driving test around 10 times, Maisie Moran, from Nenagh, Co Tipperary, finally picked up her own award and is currently starring in Driving Miss Maisie.
A delighted Maisie said she had been doing tests since the age of 60 and had failed on about 10 occasions over the past two decades.
However, she never gave up on her ambition of one day getting her full driving licence.
When Maisie eventually passed her test, she and everyone else involved on her test day were over the moon with the positive result.
“The driving tester was so friendly but I couldn’t believe it when he told me I had passed the test,” she said.
Maisie, who celebrated her 80th birthday last Saturday, added: “Three driving testers who were at the test centre were clapping and laughing and my driving instructor, Donie Ryan, who was with me, threw my L-plates up into the air with delight.”
There is nobody more proud of Maisie’s great achievement than her four children, 13 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Maisie, a widow who lives three miles from Nenagh in the townland of Ballinaclough, said that getting her full licence was a big bonus as it would enable her to drive into Nenagh to do her shopping and continue her passion for ballroom dancing in outlying villages Cloughjordan and Templederry.
“I used to drive to Limerick to go dancing but I wouldn’t do that any more because I don’t like the new roundabouts and if I go to Dublin now, I always take the bus.”
Maisie paid tribute to her driving instructor for helping her pass her test. “Donie is a terrific teacher and is so kind.
“He was the first person I ever went to for lessons, but I drifted off to other instructors over the years before coming back to Donie again. He told me a lot of stuff that came up in the test.”
A full driving licence is the perfect boost for Maisie, who has just returned from a 10-week trip to the US and Canada. Hours after stepping off the plane at Shannon after a long flight from Atlanta, Maisie drove herself to a senior citizens’ Christmas party in Silvermines.
“I was just so hyper after the flight that it was as easy to go off to the party … my daughter says I’m mad,” she laughs.
Driving Miss Maisie is now featuring on all roads around Nenagh.
By Peter Gleeson
From : Independent.ie
Posted in Driving Lessons, Driving Tests | No Comments »
January 23rd, 2009 Administrator
AN ILLEGAL driving instructor took thousands of pounds from learners, including a close family friend, by pretending he was fully-qualified.
Martin Bowyer, of West Street, Leek, advertised his services in his wife’s hairdressing shop and via a box on top of his Vauxhall Corsa.
The 48-year-old took hundreds of lessons, around five a day, between January 13, 2006 and May 22 last year, when he was arrested for fraud in the middle of a lesson.
He was given a suspended prison sentence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court yesterday after pleading guilty to six charges of fraud at an earlier hearing.
The court heard Bowyer had enrolled on a course to become a qualified instructor in 2002, paying a fee of around £2,500, but he only attended on three occasions.He fitted his car with dual controls and was in the middle of teaching a female who had already paid him about £1,000 when he was arrested.
Learner drivers paid him between £17 and £30 per lesson and some took up to 50 lessons. Bowyer was also charged with having no insurance because the vehicle was not insured for other people to drive it.
Prosecutor Heather Chamberlin said: “He had gone to some trouble in fitting out his vehicle with some controls and a box on top saying his name and phone number so it appeared to paying customers he was a proper driving instructor.”
The Driving Standards Agency’s (DSA) fraud and integrity team worked with the police to investigate Bowyer’s fraudulent activity and when interviewed, Bowyer claimed he was “self-taught and didn’t realise he had to be approved”.
Urging Judge Paul Glenn to avoid an immediate custodial sentence, Catherine O’Reilly, defending, said Bowyer was ashamed of his actions and said he got into the situation when he was in financial difficulty.
Bowyer, who is also a football coach in the Staffordshire Moorlands, asked for 19 similar offences to be taken into consideration.
He was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and also given an 18 month supervision order and an unpaid work requirement of 200 hours.
In addition, he was banned from driving for a year.
Judge Glenn said: “I take a serious view of these offences as they were pre-meditated. The offences involved a breach of trust. You put the people you were teaching at risk and other motorists at risk.”
He added: “It’s plain you were not particularly brilliant at what you were doing. You knew what the legal requirements were and chose to ignore them. I believe these offences were probably the tip of the iceberg.”
Speaking after the sentencing, Andrew Rice, the DSA’s head of fraud and integrity, said: “Mr Bowyer showed no consideration for the safety of his pupils, in spite of one being a close family friend.”
One of Bowyer’s victims, who paid £1,000 for lessons, said: “If I had known he was not authorised when I started my lessons, I would never have embarked on driving lessons with him.”
People who want to teach driving professionally are assessed by the DSA before they are allowed to register as an approved instructor.
From : This Is Staffordshire.co.uk
A driving school in Bedford warns learners of illegal driving instructors. Txt-Drive wants to make all learners aware that their driving instructor MUST display a vaild driving instructor license. The license is a small green sqaure with the driving instructor’s photo on it – this means the driving instructor is a fully qualified ADI (Car). The instructor can therefore give driving lessons for payment.
Some driving schools may use driving instructors that are not fully qualified – these are called PDI’s. They MUST display a pink square license, with their photo on it, in the car that is used for the lessons.
If your driving instructor does not have a valid pink (PDI) or green (ADI) license then the driving instructor will not be allowed to give paid for driving lessons.
To book driving lessons in Bedford, Bedfordshire with a fully qualified [DSA ADI (Car)] driving instructor please contact Txt-Drive : 0800 8600 983 (FREEPHONE).
Posted in Driving Lessons | 1 Comment »
January 23rd, 2009 Administrator
DRIVING instructor Steve Swinton was furious when heard a young deaf man had been refused lessons.
He set about learning the basics of British Sign Language but found the only course available was in a weekly mother and toddler’s group.
He said: “It caused a bit of a stir at first but I soon mixed and later I went on to attend an advanced course.”
Now the 54 year-old combines running his own Castle Hill School of Motoring with training would-be driving instructors and has been teaching hearing impaired learner drivers for 15 years.
The father of three reckons he is one of only 50 instructors out of 43,000 in Britain who use signing to teach deaf people to drive and says the skill has gained him extra business as news of his signing ability spread.
Now he wants to set up a course teaching BSL to other instructors and says learning sign language has helped his business over the years.
“Around 10 to 15 per cent of my learners are deaf or hearing impaired.
“I sit further forward turned towards the learner and use my hands instead of talking to tell the drivers what I want them to do and it works very well.
“They can see me signing in their peripheral vision and in some ways it works better than talking does.
“I would eventually like to set up a course for those instructors who want to learn BSL as it a very useful skill which can help their business.”
A former Breightmet High School pupil, Mr Swinton worked as a mechanical engineer but after being made redundant he decided to set up his own driving school.
“I wanted to work for myself and that way nobody could make me redundant and for me it has been a very good move.
“I knew there would more business avenues to explore than just teaching people the basic L-test and now I teach instructors and hearing impaired and deaf people.”
He is a top Grade 6 driving instructor, an advanced driving instructor and supervising examiner and is on the Official Register of Driving Instructor Trainers (Ordit).
l A See Hear programme featuring Mr Swinton will be broadcast on BBC 2 on Wednesday January 28 at 1pm.
From : The Bolton News
Posted in Driving, Driving Lessons | No Comments »
