With summer on its way and families planning UK ‘staycations’, it is more important than ever for drivers to continue to take care of their cars.

David Williams MBE, CEO of GEM Motoring Assist, comments: “Tighter budgets and rocketing fuel costs have had a negative impact on motorists’ car maintenance habits, as many see it as a low priority in these tough times.  Yet, what drivers don’t realise is, if a problem is discovered sooner rather than later, they could avoid serious damage to their vehicle which would end up costing a lot more.”

“With recent research showing that 20 per cent of new cars fail their first MOT, motorists simply cannot rely on modern vehicles.  Irregular car servicing and checks will undoubtedly make cars less reliable, and driving an unsafe vehicle puts drivers, passengers and other road users in unnecessary danger,” David continues.

Similarly, not having adequate breakdown cover could mean much greater expense in the case of a breakdown.

“We know that on top of higher petrol prices, road tax, insurance and MOT costs, breakdown cover can be viewed as the least important additional cost. Yet, once again, if drivers are willing to take risks with car maintenance then breakdown cover could prove essential. On-the-spot help in a breakdown situation, if motorists are not covered, is certainly not cheap,” David concludes.

GEM provides two levels of recovery service, Recovery Extra and Recovery Reclaim, to suit all needs and pockets.

For more information on GEM’s great value breakdown cover policies visit the brand new website, www.motoringassist.com.

The bankrupt management consultant had filled in a notice stating that his 39-year-old wife had been driving her Jeep Cherokee in two separate offences in August 2010 and a third time in February 2011. Each time he paid the fines. However, Mr Bingley’s bungles were discovered, because the final offence put Mrs Bingley in line for disqualification under totting up, so she was required to attend Barnsley magistrates Court.

Mr Bingley went to the court hearing and handed in a form with the findings of his wife’s inquest, where it was discovered the offences were all committed after her death. He claimed to have been confused during the months following his wife’s death, leading to the errors. However, Judge Peter Benson refused to believe he could have made the same mistake on three occasions, and said he had deliberately forged the details. The court heard how Bingley had previous driving offences from 1998 when he was caught drink-driving and two further offences in 1999 and 2000 when he was caught driving whilst disqualified.

The judge suspended a six-month jail term for two years and Bingley was ordered to wear a tag between the hours of 7pm and 6am for four months. He was also disqualified from driving for nine months.

The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) has published the third report in its series “Tackling the Deficit”, looking at the impact of the government’s austerity programme on road safety. This report, entitled “Checking the Health of Road Safety” and written by Naomi Baster (PACTS’ Policy and Research Officer), includes an analysis of policy proposals over the last year and the results of a survey undertaken jointly with the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transportation, and the Local Authorities Technical Advisors Group. The report’s publication marks the first anniversary of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety and of the government’s Strategic Framework for Road Safety.

Key findings from the survey suggest that local authorities have seen successive years of budget reductions. Asked “Do any of the following factors put your statutory duty to promote road safety at risk?”  50% answered “Yes” to at least one of the following factors: staff numbers, staff skills, finance or organisation.

Compared to this time last year, 65% of local authorities have seen reductions in the budget allocated to road safety engineering with a reduction in output of 60%. Over 62% saw a reduction in staffing between 2010/11 and 2011/12. Over a third have seen these reductions continue in the current year.

When asked about the impact of the current Strategic Framework, 44% thought it had had no effect on road safety with 39% believing that the impact had been negative.

Commenting on the findings of the report, Robert Gifford, Executive Director of PACTS, said “This report has a clear message to government: the focus on austerity is putting lives at risk. The years 2007-2010 saw substantial falls in road deaths reflecting falls in both traffic and Gross Domestic Product. However, deaths rose in the first six months of 2011 and flat lined in the third quarter. This suggests, as the European Commission concluded earlier this year, that road deaths will rise in Great Britain in 2011 for the first time since 2003.

“This rise is especially worrying as the country is still in recession. Historically, deaths rise as economic output increases, not as it falls. The government should be deeply concerned by this change in course.

“Ministers should also be worried by the apparent lack of confidence in the much vaunted framework documented published last year. This has clearly failed to gain professional support. PACTS believes that we need a new national debate about the future of road safety, based on the principles that road deaths are preventable and that, where measures are both cost-effective and achievable, society has a moral and economic responsibility to act for the public benefit.”

This time, we have returned to a scrap yard, to uncover a car that had been subject to a particularly nasty side-swipe. Fortunately, nobody was hurt but the car has seen better days. What is its make and model?

An avid supporter of the Campaign for Courtesy, GEM continues to be committed to the ongoing success of the Courtesy on the Road campaign, encouraging considerate driving to avoid unnecessary conflict. Extending this campaign, and tying into its new leaflet focusing on the dangers of using a mobile phone while driving, GEM is also backing the newly developed mobile phone ‘Courtesy Code’.

The code aims to offer easy-to-follow advice to help avoid distraction and interruption caused by mobile phone use in public places.

David Williams MBE, CEO of GEM Motoring Assist, comments: “When GEM was founded back in 1932, ‘Care, Courtesy and Concentration’ was the organisation’s slogan and after nearly 80 years these principals still remain extremely important today. We all know what it’s like to be on a tube or train, or out and about, and someone is shouting down the phone next to you, Dom Jolly style. The campaign, and particularly our leaflet with advice on safety and courtesy for mobile phone users, aims to make people aware of when is the right time to take a call. Following this code will mean mobile phone use is less anti-social and disruptive in public places.”

The Courtesy Code:

• Keep your voice down! Shouting is not necessary
• Speak quietly in public spaces such as buses or trains
• Try and text or email your communication to avoid speech that may disturb others
• Never leave your mobile on a table or desk at a meeting or restaurant, even when it is on vibrate
• When playing electronic games, switch off the sound
• Never hold a phone conversation while carrying out another task

Peter Foot, National Chairman of the Campaign for Courtesy comments, “When you are out and about in places such as theatres, restaurants, trains and tubes, libraries, art galleries and many more, it is important to respect others when using your mobile phone.  It is easy enough to do if we follow a few simple rules and it not only shows good manners but also makes situations more comfortable and pleasant for our fellow citizens.”

For more information and to download a FREE PDF of the leaflet, visit www.motoringassist.com/The-Gem-Story/Leaflets or call GEM Motoring Assist on 01342 825676 to order a hard copy.

For information on the National Campaign for Courtesy visit www.campaignforcourtesy.org.uk.

Follow GEM on Twitter @MotoringAssist

Yet, Kwik Fit highlighted an interesting point, in that “9.2 million drivers” are wasting more fuel by lowering their windows at speed, compared with turning on their air conditioning. The company’s research had shown that the increased wind drag of a solitary open window, at speeds in excess of 40mph, was more punitive to fuel consumption than turning on the air conditioning. I have to laud Kwik Fit for attempting to smash the notion that using air conditioning is always a bad idea from an economy point-of-view. Technically, most modern cars are equipped with variable displacement air conditioning compressors, which can vary their loads, according to the cabin temperature and even engine speed. The result is less power drain on the motor and lower fuel consumption.

However, the variable displacement compressor has to work its hardest, when both the cabin and ambient temperatures are high and the climate controls are set to their coolest settings. Rightly, Kwik Fit advises that, for economy benefits, it is preferable to lower the windows in stop-start traffic. However, the company omits to advise that a lowered window in traffic is more likely to allow airborne pollutants and pollens in, most of which could have been trapped otherwise by an air conditioning system’s cabin filter.

THE RIGHT AIR CON ADVICE?

Naturally, most press releases are created with the intention of increasing attention and potential revenue and Kwik Fit has not issued the information to the media out of the goodness of its heart. Yet, I feel that it has made a positive step, by offering free tyre pressure checks, using correctly-calibrated equipment, although the company’s advice about air conditioning maintenance seemed, at best, over-simplified to me, when its Communications Director advised:

“Car owners should make sure their air con system is working effectively and, like other parts of the car, this means giving it a regular service to get the best from it. Gas naturally leaks from the system and it needs to be re-charged every two years.”

While it is true that air conditioning systems might suffer from a degree of natural discharge of the refrigerant gas, this is only one side of the story. In the majority of cases, a system that loses sufficient refrigerant to impair its performance seriously over two years is likely to be leaking.

While it is illegal for a technician to refill a known leaky air conditioning system with refrigerant, the exact location of escaping refrigerant can be tricky to identify. Yet, if even a small leak is not repaired, you might be making multiple garage visits to have your system recharged, which will damage not only the environment but also your wallet.

Additionally, Kwik Fit’s subsequent promotion of a £49.00 recharge service, after the aforementioned Communications Director’s proposition, might lead some people (and journalists) to believe that recharging is all that is required to either repair or maintain an air conditioning system. This is emphatically not the case.

A ‘proper’ air conditioning service is considerably more involved and should entail existing refrigerant being emptied and the air conditioning dryer replaced, the function of which is to prevent moisture from causing internal corrosion within the system. The whole circuit should then be pressure-checked with nitrogen gas, the inert nature of which means that it does not damage the Ozone Layer, prior to the system being ‘evacuated’ again and the appropriate grade of refrigerant added with, possibly, a prescribed amount of bespoke lubricating oil that will protect the compressor.

As this type of work is more involved than a simple Kwik Fit re-charge service, my advice would be that air conditioning maintenance tasks should be entrusted to dedicated automotive air conditioning specialists, which are located throughout the country. The outlay will be more than Kwik Fit’s £49.00 recharge service but correct, long-term and thorough maintenance is far more cost-effective in the long-term than the thousands of pounds it can cost to replace corroded condensers, broken compressors and failed evaporators.

The motorcycle safety organisation, Right To Ride, has published the “Northern Ireland Motorcycle Fatality Report 2012″, an in-depth study of 39 cases relating to motorcycle fatalities in Northern Ireland (UK) between 2004 and 2010. The study, supported by the British Motorcyclists Federation Foundation, was carried out by Dr Elaine Hardy of Right To Ride with the collaboration of Dr Emerson Callender and Damian Coll of the Road Traffic Collision Investigation Team, Forensic Science Northern Ireland and Dr Richard Frampton of the Transport Safety Research Centre, Loughborough University, England (UK).

The “Northern Ireland Motorcycle Fatality Report 2012″ contains an analysis of 39 collisions investigated and includes information relating to vehicle data, the collision scene and the environment as well as human factors. Overall, 41 motorcyclists were fatality injured, equal to 36% of total motorcycle fatalities during 2004 and 2010 in Northern Ireland.

Evidence

The evidence provided in this report indicates that each road traffic collision is unique but that in all cases the time frame from the perceived hazard to the conclusion of the impact either with another vehicle or with road infrastructure was typically between 2 and 3 seconds.

In 63.4% of cases, motorcyclists applied their brakes prior to the collision and 43.9% applied their brakes severely. Of the 41.4% motorcycles that slid after falling, 24.4% fell onto their right side and the remaining 17.1% fell on to their left side. There were two cases identified where Anti-Lock Braking Systems (ABS) may have made a difference to the outcome of the collision, both were on a straight section of road.

Analysis

Of the 39 cases analysed, there were 17 cases (43.6%) in which another vehicle was considered the primary cause of the collision. In thirteen of these cases (76.5%), the evidence highlighted that the motorcycle’s lights were switched on and therefore the other vehicle driver was in a position to see them. However, there appears to be a problem of looking but not seeing which may be due to the size of the motorcycle or simply because the car/van driver is expecting to see another car or van and has difficulty coping with the unexpected.
There were four cases (10.3%) of speeding, but in all cases, the actions of the other vehicle driver precipitated the collision. Equally there were four known cases (10.3%) in which the rider had levels of alcohol over the legal limit and or drugs in their blood. Three of these collisions were single vehicle (no other vehicle involved) and the fourth ran a red light through an intersection with no headlights on and impacted a car crossing the intersection.
There were nine cases (23%) in which the motorcyclists involved in a collision were either riding in a group or with another motorcyclist. In all these cases the total number of motorcyclists killed was 11.

Focus Group

A focus group of trainers, a collision investigator, police and government agency representatives discussed the relevance of technology on vehicles as a deterrent to collisions as well as the advantages of teaching hazard perception and anticipation in initial and advanced training as a defence against potential collisions. The consensus was that while technology may in some cases be beneficial, good training was more important. However, the availability, image and cost of advanced training seemed to be a barrier to getting more riders involved.

As well as supporting a wide variety of activities including conferences, award schemes and research, GEM also champions national and local road safety campaigns, donating equipment for training, assessment and vision screening, and producing free motoring advice and road safety leaflets and videos.

David Williams MBE, Chief Executive of GEM Motoring Assist, comments: “The legend has it that our founder was involved in a ‘near miss’ with a young man in a sports car in 1932 and in response, a group of friends formed a club to encourage Care, Courtesy and Concentration on the roads, to reduce the growing accident toll…and so the Company of Veteran Motorists was born.

“There have been many motoring changes in our 80 years and we have played our part. From drink driving and motorway speed limits to lighter evenings and driving with pets, we have moved with the times, but our aim is still the same: to keep motorists as safe as possible on the road.”

To mark the occasion, GEM has sourced vintage cars, one from each decade of the last 80 years, and will be taking them for a test drive around the stunning Newhouse Estate, Salisbury, Wiltshire.  Set to be featured in the next issue of GEM’s motoring magazine Good Motoring, the piece will also take a look back at some quirky and interesting road safety facts and figures from the last 80 years.

“It is really interesting to see in which decade new laws were introduced to make the roads safer for drivers and reduce accident rates. For example, in 1958 Volvo was the first to introduce the seatbelt, but it wasn’t until 1983 that it became compulsory to wear one in the UK when in the front seat; something which is second nature to us these days.  We are delighted to be celebrating the success of road safety initiatives over the last 80 years and long may it continue to save lives on the road,” David concludes.

ROAD SAFETY FACTS SINCE 1932

1932
The Company of Veteran Motorists is founded. It’s just a year after the publication of the first Highway Code.

1934
A 30mph limit is imposed in built-up areas by Transport Minister Leslie Hore Belisha.
Pedestrian (Zebra) crossings are introduced, illuminated by a flashing orange (Belisha) beacon.
New drivers are required to pass a test.

1935
There are now 35 million motor vehicles on the world’s roads according to an international census.
A 30mph speed limit is introduced for towns and villages.

1938
The British government raises the petrol tax from 8d to 9d per gallon.

1939
The British government introduces petrol rationing. Petrol is exchanged for coupons allowing each motorist about 200 miles of motoring per month.

1942
Mr Theodore Porter, a joiner and organ builder from Clevedon in North Somerset, joins the Company of Veteran Motorists. 70 years later, at the tender age of 98, he is GEM’s longest-serving member.

1944

Volvo introduces its first ‘safety cage’ for car occupants.

1946
Petrol rationing for British motorists is increased by 50 per cent.

1950
The British government ends petrol rationing but doubles fuel tax.

1955
McDonald’s opens its first drive-thru hamburger bar.

1956
Fuel supplies are seriously limited by the Suez crisis, resulting in rationing in Britain.

1958
Volvo introduces the seatbelt.
Work starts on the Ml ‘London to Birmingham’ motorway, the UK’s first. Roads around London are governed by a new 40mph speed limit.
Ford produces its fifty millionth car.

1959
The UK government reduces Purchase Tax on new cars from 60 to 50 per cent.
The M1 motorway is opened by The Right Honourable Ernest Marples, Minister of Transport. A wider network is planned.

1961
The ‘MOT’ test is introduced by Ernest Marples, requiring that all cars over 10 years old are subjected to an annual test.

1964
Despite continuing disinterest, front seatbelts are now supplied as standard in all American cars.

1965
The Government introduces a 70mph maximum speed as a ‘four month experiment’.

1966
Rear seatbelts now supplied as standard equipment in all cars sold in the USA.
The Jensen FF becomes the first car to be fitted with anti-lock brakes (ABS).

1967
The breathalyser is introduced.
Swedish motorists swapped from driving on the left to driving on the right.
All cars sold in Britain must now be fitted with front seatbelts.

1973
Motorists queue for petrol and speeds are restricted to 50mph to conserve national stocks and consumption.
Chevrolet offer airbags in some models as a reaction to a rise in fatal car accidents in the USA.

1974
In an attempt to cut fatalities in the United States the maximum speed limit is reduced to 55 mph.

1978
GEM starts offering breakdown recovery for its members.
The Mercedes Benz S-class becomes the first production car with ABS.

1981
The Mercedes Benz S-class gets a driver airbag.

1982
The Dutch firm, Gatsometer, introduce its first mobile speed traffic camera.

1983
Front seatbelt use becomes compulsory in the UK.

1986
The first speed camera was introduced, in Friendswood, Texas.

1987
All new cars sold in the UK must now be fitted with rear seatbelts.

1991
Rear seat belts, if fitted, must be worn by all occupants.

1994
European crash test standards, later to become EuroNCAP, begin.

2001
Renault Laguna II becomes first EuroNCAP ‘five-star’ car.

2002
Finnish sausage heir Jussi Salonaja was caught driving at 50mph in a 25 zone. This results in a salary-based fine of more than £120,000.

2003
Hazard perception test is added to the driving test.
It becomes illegal to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving.
First customers for Rolls Royce’s new Phantom take delivery.

2009
The town of Swindon abandons the use of fixed speed cameras.

2010
A Swedish driver is detected at 180mph by a camera in Switzerland, leading to a fine of £538,000.

At the age of 23 years, F.A. Porsche joined the company’s design office, became the Head of Porsche Design four years afterwards and, barely 12 months after that, the Porsche 911 was unveiled. The iconic model has survived through seven successive generations and remains one of the most recognisable, timeless and elegant of sports cars.

When Porsche became a limited company in the early 1970s, the Porsche family stepped down from the company’s business operations but F.A. Porsche did not allow his talents as a designer to be wasted and he established the Porsche Design Studio. His conviction of “good design should be honest” was applied to a host of men’s accessories, consumer goods and even household appliances, all of which reflected the designer’s additional repute as a functionalist.

Aside from the numerous honours and awards for his work as a designer, F.A. Porsche became the car company’s Supervisory Board Chairman from 1990, a role that was handed to his son, Ferdinand Oliver, in 2005, prior to him taking the position of Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

Porsche AG may mourn F.A. Ferdinand’s passing but it is certain that the iconic 911 dynasty that he founded will continue for many decades to come.

F.A. Porsche, 1935 – 2012, pictured with his most famous creation, the Porsche 911.

Nothing says that you do not own a Porsche car more than a ‘Porsche Design’ kettle, the design of which F.A. Porsche presided. I do not own a Porsche car….

When she interrogated the engineer further, she was informed that market forces had seen the Hotpoint washing machine disappear in all but name. No longer made in the UK, the latest models contain the mechanical entrails of Indesit washers, with slightly different design of fascias. Therefore, while she may have thought that a new machine that bore the same name as her old appliance was an act of buying British, mother was buying an Italian one instead, to which was affixed a badge that bore no relation whatsoever to her trouble-free and long-lasting old stager.

This ‘badge engineering’ is nothing new and has thrived in the motor industry for decades. Just like white goods, new cars have become considerably cheaper in real terms and increasingly more price competitive, which has led to a degree of cooperation and company buyouts, as firms struggled to maximise economies of scale and share development costs.

As profits tend to be smaller per unit for smaller cars, it is common for several manufacturers to ‘club together’, when developing entry-level models in particular. Although one might imagine that Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107 are made in France, their petrol engines and transmissions are Toyota units and the cars, along with the almost identical Toyota Aygo, are all assembled in the Czech Republic. Although the typical blue-rinsed pensioner might view Nissan and Suzuki as being dependable Japanese products, the identical Pixo and Alto models are produced in India, as is the latest Nissan Micra, while its predecessor was built in Sunderland.

Yet, as with Hotpoint and Indesit, when one large company owns several brands, with each marque having its own loyal purchasers, the temptation to re-badge the same product, and market them separately, is irresistible. The British Motor Corporation (BMC) was a past master of this and buyers often found that one car was badged as a Wolseley, Riley, Austin, Morris, Vanden Plas and even MG, when the primary differences were chrome strips, a few extra clocks in the dashboard and a different radiator grille. At least Ford of Britain admitted that a Cortina was a Cortina, even if buyers could pay a little more money to adorn the boot lid with extra letters. Still, badge engineering continues, such as the lauded Volkswagen Up! being sold as the almost identical Skoda Citigo and the SEAT Mii, all of which are built in Slovakia. The difference lies in the marketing.

Despite that, even more supposedly prestigious and expensive cars might not be all that they seem. Would the owner of the up-market and ‘German’ Audi Q7 be aware (or even care) that the model is really built in Slovakia, or that many examples of the BMW 3-Series that grace Britain’s roads are built by South Africans? Maybe the buyer of the MINI Countryman believes that he/she is supporting Great Britain, when the truth remains that the model is assembled in Austria.

Although some badge engineering efforts are quite successful, not everyone is convinced by slick marketing. SAAB and Subaru fans in North America reacted with horror, when the Swede’s front end was grafted to the nose of an Impreza but nothing could have prepared Aston Martin aficionados for the horror of the Cygnet (pictured). It might wear an Aston Martin-esque grille but the car remains a Toyota IQ underneath. Only time will tell whether Aston Martin has caused long-term damage to its brand, in favour of short-term profits.

Armed with the fresh information and being aware that all might have not been as it seemed beneath the badge, Mother’s allegiance with Hotpoint was cut and a replacement machine was supplied that really was what it proclaimed to be.