If you’re doing the most dangerous manoeuvre against the rule of lights, you’ll be named “Amber Gambler,” or a traffic light warrior or a red light runner. These are all nicknames of colours but they’ll definitely make a serious threat to your driving career. If you go through a red traffic light, you’ve done one of the most dangerous driving manoeuvres, thus you’re putting yourself and other road users at risk.

A study shows that in every 20 minutes, one driver in the United Kingdom (UK) runs a red light. This means that every hour, there are around three potentially fatal or serious collisions being risked on the Britain’s road networks.

The study further revealed that whilst almost every motorist said they thought passing through a red light is extremely reckless and dangerous, around one third of them admitted to have done it at some point as pushed by some circumstances.

Here are the facts that you should learn about all the dangers of this offence. Number one is the law that is equally applied to all road users, that includes the cyclists who are amongst the many offenders who run the red lights. They’re not supposed to do such an offence because cyclists are one of the most vulnerable road users.

According to the study, amongst the motorists on the road who are most likely to be running a red traffic light are: (1.) those influenced by alcoholic drinks (2.)  young drivers.

With those under the influence of alcohol, their case is simply not being fit to drive, however with young drivers, it’s always a case of over confidence coupled with no such understanding of how traffic signals are phased for safety of road users.

In Britain, all traffic lights work on the same sequence – (1.) red (2.) red-amber (3.) green (4.) amber. Most importantly, it’s the single amber light that’s the most vital warning to the motorists.

Whilst a single red light is an instruction to stop at the line being indicated, the sole amber light on the other hand, tells motorists to be prepared for stopping before the white line. You must only proceed through an amber light in case you already have crossed the stop line or when you’re very close to it when it appears first that it may cause an accident if in time you’ll try to stop sharply.

The problem for a large number of motorists in UK could arise from them who think an amber light is the green light’s secondary stage rather than the red light’s first stage. It‘s not actually a signal for them to speed up in getting through before the appearance of red light.

This is the penalty for this offence that you must be aware of. Running the red lights is a fool approach that could land you with a police fixed penalty notice of £100 and three points on your licence. The offence will also carry a code TS10 to appear on your licence that will affect your insurance premium to get higher than usual.

The worse will happen to you if the police will deem the offence you’ve committed has resulted to a serious collision, you’ll face a fine of up to £1,000 and a greater number of points on your driving licence or you’ll be disqualified for a lifetime from driving lesson Liverpool.

You may focus on some simple steps in order to save money on filling petrol to your car and you will free up some of your cash for other purposes. These simple tips could also work for diesel vehicles.

The prices of diesel and petrol have stopped rising for a bit, but still there’s a huge cost when running a vehicle. So, here are some simple but effective fuel saving tips:

(1.) Make fewer trips. Remember that when you drive a vehicle which has been parked for an hour or two, the engine has already become cold, so it will already use more fuel for the first five miles of travel. You would ideally combine all your errands each day into one big travel.

This isn’t possible if you’re going to pop out at the day to drop off and collect your family members anywhere, but try not to separately go out to do the shopping at the supermarket or just buy a magazine or newspaper.

Don’t drive during the rush hours. Being stuck in a traffic jam is one of the worst places on Earth to spend your time. It’s also your very expensive trip because every time you start and stop in traffic jam, your vehicle needs first gear, and so a huge amount of fuel is needed to get moving again on the road.

(2.) Using second gear is not much better in this situation. Not to travel during the rush hours is the best solution. You can also save fuel when you understand what the vehicles are doing in front of you, and travelling steadily at a slow speed, rather than taking a high speed and then you brake hard.

If you really have your trip in rush hour, then you better consider buying a hybrid vehicle. This kind has been using much less fuel compared to a normal diesel or petrol car.

(3.) Close the car windows and sunroof. Closing the windows and sunroof isn’t so much of a problem when you are driving in town or metropolis but when you are on the motorway or out of town and moving quickly, the shape of your vehicle is very necessary. Aerodynamics is what car makers and designers call it.

You can’t anymore do much about the design of your vehicle, however, you can avoid making it worse by not leaving the sunroof and windows open. It would be better to use your car’s air vents for most of the year or you can use the air-con when the temperature is getting too hot.

(4.) Remove your car’s ski box and also the roof rack. Because having a roof rack on your vehicle is just like having your car’s windows left open. Even if the roof rack is empty, it raises drag and you’ll spend more fuel when you’re using your car. A big ski box is also the same as having another vehicle being strapped to your roof.

The latest innovation of ski box and roof rack has made them easy and quick to remove and fit, so you can stow them away when you are not using them.

(5.) Don’t carry unnecessary weight in your car. Your vehicle is just like your body that needs more fuel to move anywhere with more weight. Don’t put stuff around in the boot of your vehicle unless you really need it in your trip. Ironically, the heavier the stuff the less likely you’re taking it out of the boot and the greater the effect it will have on your consumption of fuel.

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The number of people killed in drink driving-related road accidents is on the rise in Britain, according to the government statistics. Records showed there were around 260 deaths in accidents in the United Kingdom (UK) in a year ago where many drivers were caught being over the drink-drive limit.

However, the Department for Transport (DfT) said that due to uncertainty in the estimates, this rise is not statistically significant. But some observers stressed that the figure was incredibly disheartening. Imagine that 160 people died in tragic road accidents which could be avoided if drivers just avoided being drunk whilst behind the steering wheel.

The DfT figures revealed that the number of individuals seriously injured in drink-driving fell eight percent in the past two-year period. The total number of deaths in all types of accidents caused by drink-driving in a year ago had a 17 % dip compared to the previous years. But latest figure indicates another increase in the number of deaths which has been recorded recently.

The DfT however said the seriously injured and death figures will hopefully decrease in the years ahead. Records also showed that in 2013 and 2014, there were only six per cent of all driver respondents admitted to have driven their cars even when they knew they may be beyond the drink-drive limit imposed by the government. The DfT said this figure has no statistical difference from any year since 2010.

The DfT also stressed that of those motorists who had driven when they were beyond the drink-drive limit in 2013 and 2014, almost two thirds of them had done such offence once or twice. This comprises 8.1 % of male and only 3.5 % of female.

The female drivers admitted to driving over the drink-drive limit at least once. The DfT also said that those people most likely to drink and drive were drivers aged 20 to 24 years old. In the years 2013 and 2014, there was a total of 0.7 % of motorists who admitted to driving when they thought they were under the influence of illegal drugs.

Edmund King, president of Automobile Association, said that while he welcomed the news that the number of people injured in crashes related to drink-driving has continued to fall in previous years, the overall total is still far too many. So, it’s also disheartening that the number of people who died due to drink-driving has risen in the past two years between 2012 and 2013.

King said the lesson we need to take from these figures of deaths is that drug and drink-driving remains a road menace. So, we need additional traffic police force on our roads to catch these offending motorists and then educate them further so that there will be more and more drivers who can realize that they’re actually playing a dangerous game by risking themselves at wheel when they’re over the drink-drive limit.

King is hoping that the safety net provided by the government will be tightened further against drink and drug-driving by putting up more evidential testing equipment at the roadsides to make them become common-place.

On the other hand, RAC spokesman Simon Williams said these estimates will indicate more reduction in the number of reported road fatalities due to drink-driving. He added that drink-driving is a topic that’s still subject to high-profile regional and national awareness-raising and hard-hitting campaigns.

William said there’s definitely a message for government here to have long-term investments in campaigns to make our roads safer and have a positive and tangible impact.

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Learning who the Worst Drivers in Britain are, is still far from your concern as a learner driver in driving schools Liverpool but seeing the significance of knowing this from a new study could help you have a glimpse of the complex world you’re getting into as you progress in your chosen career in driving.

You may be surprised to know that ironically, the highly skilled and educated medical professionals like doctors of medicine are number one offending drivers. These people are actually working as general practitioners who have been found to be the worst drivers in Britain for already a second year in a row. These drivers are topping in the list of most likely to make car insurance claims.

A study showed that more than a quarter of doctors or 28 % of them claimed on their car insurance in the past three years. This figure is two times higher than the national average of only 14 %. With all these figures, a learner driver could already think how complex the world of driving they’re going into.

Its complexity lies in a perplexing situation that if highly professional people, who are supposed to be highly disciplined individuals of our society being doctors in their chosen fields could make it to the top of the list of offenders, would it mean that non-professionals are more educated and law-abiding than them?

If you get in-depth, you’ll know the answer. A study showed such doctors’ offences can be traced not to their lack of discipline or unwillingness to follow the rules rather to the stress associated in the practice of their profession.

The study also showed that other medical professionals claimed second place in the list of offending drivers for already two consecutive years. This accounts 26.9 % of all hospital consultants who claimed their car insurance in the last three years. The counsellors for drug addiction got to the third spot with 25.6 %. The health visitors got to the fourth place with 24.9 %.

The non-health profession vocations got fifth and sixth places making them as the only group to make it to the top 10 of car insurance claims, whilst the probation officers got 24.4 % which is still in the fifth spot and environmental health officers are also in the sixth place at 23.6 %.

The remaining places in the top 10 professions most likely to claim are community nurses at 23.3 %, speech therapists at 23.2 %, dental surgeons at 22.9 % and clinical psychologists at 22.6 %. The occupations such as professional footballers, painters, couriers and plasterers have the lowest number of claims in their car insurance.

Andrew Smith, a professor who is an expert on health and occupational psychology opined that stress could have a dramatic effect on the body’s cognitive functions and its overall health. When people experience a stressful day, it’s often that they find themselves become absent-minded or especially clumsy as they struggle to concentrate on certain tasks.

In any context, stress symptoms can be a serious thing, and it can be potentially dangerous when you’re behind the steering wheel. So, as doctors and other medical professionals are doing highly stressful jobs, it’s not surprising that they had the highest proportion of claims in their car insurance. However, the incidents were usually minor bumps caused by lapses in driving concentration, so they weren’t serious accidents.

The government of the United Kingdom (UK) has been accused on the car phone use which has resulted in many fatal road accidents across the country. The accusation has been hurled on political leaders failing to be tough against the offenders whom they can get some votes from during elections.

The person behind the accusation is Gloucestershire Chief Constable Suzette Davenport. She has accused the Government of intentionally failing to be tough against the offending drivers who use mobile phones behind the steering wheel, because in doing so, wouldn’t be winning votes during elections.

“If a driver has been caught twice using a mobile phone behind the steering wheel within a period of time, the government should be considering things such as disqualification from driving for a short period of time, because I firmly believe that if the authorities wouldn’t do something different fundamentally, we’re going to lose the essence of the law,” said Davenport, a leader for road policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers.

With the May, 2015  General Election looming across Britain, Davenport opined the Government doesn’t want to be tough in implementing the laws in order to win votes. But she doesn’t think this inaction or leniency of the government would be popular to a lot of people.

She also said that there’s a lot of things she talk about with government and with a lot of different interest groups. The government listens to those people if an election is just too far away, so today she is sure they don’t want to run and pick up with anything they feel isn’t likely to be helpful to them in the coming election. But they should bear in mind that using mobile phones at wheel will create some risk.

On the other hand, Roads Minister Robert Goodwill MP has denied Davenport’s claim saying the government is currently considering to increase the penalty for using a mobile phone whilst driving from three to six penalty points.

However, the increasing of penalty points is a lot more different from an action taken right after an offending driver is seen using a mobile phone whilst at wheel. Even how many penalty points are added to the existing provision of the law, it won’t take any difference if no action is taken to implement this.

So, it was suggested that the crime commissioners, the police and chief constables will look at the resources they put into this prohibition of phone use at wheel as compared to the other more-easy-to- detect crimes such as speeding.

The incumbent government officials should always think of the facts they preach about mobile phone use at wheel rather than thinking more of the votes they will get in the coming election.

These are the facts:

(1.)  Study shows that slower at recognising and reacting to road hazards are experienced by drivers using a hand-held or hands-free mobile phones.

(2.)  Even the most careful driver can be distracted by a text or call, and just a split-second a lapse in concentration could result in a road accident.

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Driving lessons liverpool Tips: Driving in fog is now the most dangerous situation a driver has to experience in the practice of his/her profession. It’s actually more than any other situation such as driving in wintry weather or in heavy snow. There are more road accidents recorded in driving in fog than in any other climatic condition.

So, the award goes to fog if we will look for the most dangerous weather condition. Hence, it takes a truly foolish and suicidal driver to drive in fog at high speed. When fog becomes worst, make sure to park your car somewhere that is safe and wait until the fog will pass or subside. However, if you find yourself within such situation where you couldn’t avoid driving in fog as pushed by circumstances, you should do the following:

(1.)  Reduce your speed because in doing so, you’ll still have plenty of time to avoid collision against other unseen oncoming vehicles.

(2.)  Turn your headlights to dip because it could increase your sight ahead and your visibility to the other motorists.

(3.)  Turn on your fog lights if visibility is less than 100 metres.

(4.)  Turn on your demisters and your rear and front wipers because they will increase visibility.

(5.)  Brake early and gently so that your brake lights could warn drivers behind you so that it would be far from any possibility that their cars will collide with your vehicle.

(6.)  Drive to the point that you could always stop within the distance that you could see to be clear in front of you.

(7.)  Travel at a safe following distance when you’re following traffic.

(8.)  If fog prevents you from seeing the oncoming traffic at a junction, you should wind down your windows and listen for the traffic.

(9.)  Keep yourself always on alert because other drivers may have been driving in an appropriate manner such as failing to use their lights or reduce their speeds.

Remember that it’s difficult to locate your road position if you’re unable to see road markings ahead. To help yourself in this dangerous situation, you may frequently change your focal point. Move your eyes around the scene and scan your surroundings, searching for views that will help you gain some useful perspective.

Keep your foot on the brake pedal when you’re waiting to turn right into a minor road. Doing this, will activate your rear brake lights and the approaching motorists will see you. Never follow slavishly the tail-lights of the vehicles in front of you because they may take the wrong direction and crash over there. Also, it’s essential that when you’re on a motorway, it’s important that you’ll know the locations of reflective studs which have different colours.

When it’s red, it’s located between the carriageway and the hard shoulder. If it’s white, it’s in between lanes. Amber, if it’s between the central reservation and right-hand edge. And green, if it’s in the exit or entrance of a slip-road.

If the fog clears suddenly don’t relax and think that you’re already out of danger. Remember that fog is often quite patchy, starting from a light mist it will suddenly turn into a thick cloud in a matter of metres. You can turn just a corner only to find your car blanketed with a dense of fog.

In Europe, almost half of all parents of learner drivers have supported the black box technology for driving lesson Liverpool. They account for around 46 % of the number of parents in the European continent. This new technology is allowing them to monitor their child’s driving behaviour and speed.

A study conducted by tyre manufacturer Goodyear showed that the strongest of all the parents’ support for the black box technology is overwhelming in Italy with 73 %. Another strong support comes from Poland and Romania with the same 72 %.

But, how about driving instructors? According to the study it’s only 47 % of all driving instructors across Europe are backing for the black box technology which is also known as telematics. There’s however no known reason why a large gap has surfaced between the driving instructors’ and the parents’ support for the technology.

It may be understandable because with the telematics, probably the monitoring can be done by the parents not only to their kids behind the wheel but also to the instructors themselves and then everything would be clearly seen if they really have got their money’s worth.

The findings were published by a Goodyear Europe, Middle East and Africa or Goodyear EMEA. The company made the survey on the more than 6,800 parents of learner drivers from 19 countries across Europe. Obviously, this overwhelming support of parents to the new technology is an indicative of their heightened concern over the growing number of novice drivers involved in road fatalities across Europe.

The study also showed that the black box technology has been a subject of a growing research and trend indicating that novice drivers are more likely to improve their driving skill when they’re aware that they are being watched by their parents at wheel.

European Driving Schools Association President John Lepine said: “The voluntary use of telematics or black box technology by young drivers is actually helping them to keep to rules of the road and curb any “moments of madness” they might be tempted to undertake. As long as they remain voluntary there are few objections to their use.”

The emphasis on Lepine’s statement is more on freedom which should not be compromised in exchange for safety of novice drivers. Thus, it should remain voluntary. So, if a novice driver doesn’t like to be monitored by the black box, then he or she has all the right which should be respected in a free society.

However, the kid who wouldn’t want to be monitored by his/her parents behind the wheel probably has some reasons which need to be settled as it may have some negative connotations. Because if there’s nothing wrong, then what’s the reason of hiding from the black box?

On the other hand, there’s another initiative which is designed at improving road safety that has garnered strong support from both driving instructors and the parents. It is known as graduated driving licence.

The study also showed that 42% of parents of novice drivers across Europe favour this graduated licence system. In the UK, support amongst parents for this system is the highest across Europe where 66 % whilst the lowest was recorded in Sweden with only 15 % supported the idea.

Motorists across the United Kingdom (UK) should realise that driving isn’t environmentally friendly. On the average, a car that travels around 12,100 miles per year is producing carbon dioxide at 3.51 tonnes. Cars have produced around 50 % of Britain’s overall carbon monoxide emission which affects the quality of the air that people breathe. Therefore, it’s highly imperative for us to get our driving greener.

So, here’s how to limit the impact of your driving lessons Liverpool to our environment:

(1.)  Switch off the engine of your car when you’re not moving or stationary for more than two minutes. It definitely saves fuel. Never let your idle hours consume more fuels by staying inside your tinted car with your loved one in a parking bay with its aircon, car stereo and engine on. This will waste a lot of fuel. Thus, it will have more emission of pollutants. You may be more friendly to your loved one inside your car but unfriendly to the environment.

(2.)  Control your speed only up to 50 miles per hour (mph). Be aware that to drive at 70 mph could cost up to 25 % more in fuel consumption compared to 50 mph.

(3.)  Share the journeys of your car. Remember that the average car in Britain has 1.2 passengers in capacity. So, if two motorists have shared their car journeys, they can reduce their contribution to overall pollution by 60 %.

(4.)  Don’t often take the car ride. A study showed that 80 % of journeys in the UK are under the distance of five miles and 33 % are under one mile. These two distances mentioned could easily be travelled by bicycle or by walking which couldn’t only save fuel but maintain a healthy body.

(5.)  Make sure that you have the correct pressure of your tyres. Because when you drive your car with under-inflated tyres, you increase your fuel consumption by one per cent.

(6.)  Think that the more fuel you’re using, the more contribution you’re doing to air pollution. Remember that a car with more efficient fuel consumption is more environmentally friendly because it only has lower emissions compared to larger car.

(7.)  Consider using diesel engines or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or compressed natural gas (CNG). These alternative fuels have lower CO2 emissions compared to standard petrol cars.

(8.)  Consider using or driving a hybrid car. This type of vehicle has a combination of conventional engine, electric motor and battery. It offers a much reduced CO2 emission and very minimal fuel consumption. It is characterised with potentially lower emission of all pollutants that a car could give off to the environment.

(9.)  Whilst petrol and diesel cars couldn’t be considered environmentally friendly, diesel vehicles are less damaging to the environment because they have lower CO2 emissions.

(10.) Keep your vehicle well-maintained. Because when you maintain your car well and it’s often been in tip top condition, this will improve its performance and reduce fuel consumption. And if your fuel consumption is reduced it also minimised emissions of pollutants. Then you’re keeping well your driving lessons Liverpool to be environmentally friendly.