Will new 20mph limits on London red routes leave people looking at the speedo instead of the road?

Motorists face £100 fines as 20mph limits are imposed on some of Britain’s busiest roads.

Until now, the lower 20mph speed limit has been restricted to smaller roads in residential areas or near schools. However this is about to change with 20mph limits to be introduced on major arterial roads (policed by the latest digital speed cameras).

London Mayor Boris Johnson has revealed that eight pilot schemes will be run on ‘Red Routes’ – the main arterial roads that carry a third of the capital’s traffic. 

Other towns and cities including Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh say they also intend to introduce the new limits.

The minimum fine fore motorists caught breaking the 20mph limit will be £100 fine and three points on their driving licence.

The AA says the new limits are being driven more by ‘dogma’ than road safety. A spokesman said: ‘These 20mph zones are popping up like spring daffodils.

‘There is a lot of fear among drivers that, with 20mph being a relatively unfamiliar speed, widespread speed camera use will make them look more at their speedometers than at what is happening on populated streets in front of them.’

If the trials in London ( due to last 18-months)  are judged a success, the 20mph limits will be made permanent and imposed on 30 miles of key ‘Red Routes’ considered by transport bosses to be ‘more local road than motorway’. Some 175 miles of residential streets.

Under the new London scheme, the first road to convert to 20mph next month will be Commercial Street in Shoreditch, linking into plans for Tower Hamlets and Hackney to become 20mph boroughs.

Rod King, founder of the ‘20’s Plenty for Us’ campaign group, said: ‘The current 30mph national limit is being rejected as “unfit for purpose” for communities so we’re setting out a series of government actions required for a planned transition to a UK default urban limit of 20mph by 2020.’

A Department for Transport spokesman said: ‘Research shows 20mph zones can save lives and this government has made it easier for councils to introduce them.

‘It is for local authorities to set speed limits and for the police to decide how best to enforce them.’

The spokesman added: ‘We are undertaking a three-year research project to better understand the effect of 20mph zones and their impact on local communities.’

Watch out on the roads this summer

So its the first official day of summer today there’s nothing like cruising along with the sun glinting off your shades.Unfortunately even warm, dry roads are full of  hazards.

Image Daily Mail

More Bicycles - leave 'at least a meter' between you and the bike when passing .

More Horses  -  pass slow and wide, with no loud noises.


More Motorcycles -  Double check at junctions, as these are blackspots


Rain after a dry spell - It takes a few days for the dust, oil and diesel to wash away. After three dry weeks, the risk of a fatal crash is almost 10% higher than if it rains all along.


More teenagers about - Holidays mean more teenagers on the roads. Men aged 17-20 are seven times more at risk than any other group. Under 25s are also more likely to fail a breath test, a 2012 police campaign found.


More kids in the street - Good weather means children playing outside.


Distracted holidaymakers -  People who are unfamiliar with the roads that they are driving with their eyes being distracted from the road by GPS, phone calls, food, drinks, children etc



More Tractors - Tractors don't need brake lights or indicators, and they're loud. The driver may not know you're even there – and you may not see the field it's about to turn into. Take great care overtaking.


Deer in the road - Deer spread from breeding grounds in late spring to early summer, and are most active around sunrise and in the darkness before midnight. 


Breakdowns - Hot weather increases your chances of a breakdown as older cars go on long hot trips. Look for leaking hoses, low water levels and broken fans before leaving, and watch for breakdowns blocking the road.

A roads to be turned in to new ‘mini-motorways’

On busy A-roads roundabouts and traffic lights will be stripped out – to cut delays and transform them into ‘mile-a-minute expressways’.

Details, included in a strategy by the Highways Agency presented to Parliament, also include new slip roads to make the roads flow and banning slow moving vehicles such as tractors and bicycles.

There are up to 18 A-roads that are likely to be transformed in the first tranche with seven more to follow. The strategy document says: ‘Our ambition for the next 25 years is to revolutionise our roads.

’Our busiest A-Roads will become expressways, providing improved standards of performance, with technology to manage traffic and mile-a-minute speeds.

‘Users of motorways know they can expect a broadly consistent standard from the whole of their road, and that this ensures they have a safe, free-moving journey.’

But it notes: ‘The same is not true of A-roads, where piecemeal upgrades have often resulted in inconsistency and substandard stretches of the road that are often less safe and a regular cause of congestion.

‘By 2040, we want to have transformed the most important of these routes into expressways: A-roads that can be relied upon to be as well-designed as motorways and which are able to offer the same standard of journey to users.’

These will be ‘largely or entirely dual carriageway roads’ that are ‘safe, well-built and resilient to delay.

They will be built so that ‘traffic on the main road can pass over or under roundabouts without stopping’.

The strategy document seen by the Daily Mail says: ‘An expressway will be able to provide a high-quality journey to its users.

‘Most expressways should be able to offer mile a minute journeys throughout the day, particularly outside of urban areas.’

The Highways Agency has presented the Road Investment Strategy to Parliament ahead of it being transformed on April 1 into the new private sector roads operator called Highways England. 

WHERE THE CHANGES WILL HAPPEN

 

The first group of nine expressways is expected to include the A303 and A30 from the junction with the M3 in Hampshire to Exeter.

The A1 north of Newcastle, which motorists have long campaigned to be made into a motorway, is another, as is the A14 from Huntingdon to Cambridgeshire.

These will also link with up to 400 miles of ‘smart motorways’ where hard shoulders are used at peak times to reduce jams.

A dual carriageway is planned for ‘the entire A303 from the M3 to the M5 at Taunton’, as well as building a tunnel as the road passes Stonehenge.

There will also be a new bypass on the A27 at Arundel together with improvements at Worthing and Lancing in West Sussex.

Also featuring will be construction of the Mottram Moor link road together with overtaking and safety improvements and duelling the A61 to improve Trans-Pennine connectivity.

A range of duelling and junction improvement schemes on the A47/A12 corridor supporting growth at Peterborough, Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft is also planned.

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£20 fine if you leave your car engine idling!

Twenty Pounds

Motorists face £20 fines if they leave their engines idling in what has been branded ‘another stealth tax’ on drivers.

A hit squad of ‘traffic marshals’ will target stationary cars as part of the crackdown aimed at cutting pollution to meet strict European environmental targets.

Motoring organisations accused Westminster council of ‘picking on car owners’ when the real problem is emissions coming from large vehicles.

There will be 85 traffic marshals at any one time scouring its streets when it introduces the scheme on May 1.

Islington Council, in North London, which introduced a similar clampdown last August, has 24 such marshals prowling roads and known hotspots with powers to hand out the £20 on-the-spot fines.

The fines, which rise to £40 if not paid within 28 days, are intended to be a ‘last resort’ if drivers refuse to turn off their vehicles.

Motorists outside school gates, on shopping runs or waiting to pick people up at stations are likely to be hit by the ‘draconian’ clampdown, which is aimed at those who leave their engines idling after pulling over rather than motorists stuck in traffic or at red lights.

Other councils around the country are also likely to start enforcing the ‘stationary idling offence’, which was quietly introduced by the Government in 2002.

Several councils, including Corby in Northamptonshire, Torfaen in Wales and Havering and Wandsworth in London already warn motorists that they face a £20 fine if they leave car engines idling when stationary.

Havering Council also warns parents dropping off children at school not to leave engines running because youngsters with asthma are particularly at risk from car pollutants – and urges people to contact the council if they know areas where cars are regularly left idling.

West Sussex County Council have introduced signs urging motorist to turn off their engines in Shoreham-by-Sea. 

The crackdown comes despite most modern cars being fitted with stop-start technology whereby the engine automatically cuts when it is stationary for a few moments.

The move angered motoring groups, who said it would do little to help cut pollution but would enrage already hard-pressed car owners and was simply a way of extracting more cash from drivers.

An AA spokesman Luke Bosdet said: ‘The real test will be how heavily they enforce this. If you get people nabbing motorists first thing on winter mornings as they are trying to clear frozen windscreens so they can drive safely to work then it really will be worrying.’

Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, told the BBC: ‘One of the real problems is cars stuck in traffic; research has shown pollution is up by 30 per cent in areas of heavy traffic. Do something to help get the traffic moving.’

The fines enforce Rule 123 of the Highway Code, which says: ‘If the vehicle is stationary and likely to remain so for more than a couple of minutes, you should switch off the engine to reduce emissions and oil pollution.’

Westminster councillor Heather Acton said: ‘We want to raise motorist awareness of the impact engine idling can have on the environment, with air and noise pollution affecting overall health, as well as it being an unnecessary use of fuel.’ 

Honda Civic trouble going over 40mph - what mechanics found....

An elderly driver, from Poole Keynes in the Cotswolds, drove her Honda Civic to the local garage when she was unable to drive at more than 40mph for some unknown reason.

Mechanics trying to figure out why the car would not exceed 40mph were more than a little surprised to find that the engine was filled with nuts, stashed there by a squirrel - every space and opening had been filled – with nuts.

The squirrel had been squeezing himself into the air filter to stash his nuts (Pictures: SWNS)

‘It was rammed solid with nuts,’ said David Evans, who owns the garage.

‘I’ve been doing this job for 18 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. I couldn’t believe it.
‘(The animal) had been getting into the garage, where she parked the car, and had been climbing right inside the engine bay and squeezing himself into the air filter.’

 

Beep Beep! campaign urges drivers to slow down to save little lives

Road safety charity Brake (the road safety charity) and Churchill Insurance are urging drivers to ‘go 20’ and take more care in communities, as their latest survey puts the spotlight on irresponsible driving around schools and nurseries.

Three in five parents (59%) reported witnessing speeding outside their child’s school or nursery in the past year, with the same number (60%) also reporting drivers pulling out or turning without looking properly.

The findings come as up to 26,000 tots across the UK take part in the first national Beep Beep! Day of 2015, a road safety project for nurseries and infant schools run by Brake and Churchill and aimed at helping keep young children safe on the roads.

To read more about Beep Beep Day click here 

Ferrari Driver Arrested In UK For Speeding on M25

A 25 year old driver was arrested by Surrey Police for driving his Ferrari California doing 150 along the M25 between junction 8 and 10. The driver was arrested and his car seized by police.

 A brand new California will set you back a massive £150,000. It has a top speed of 193 mph a figure the driver was doubt testing when he was caught by police.

The rumor mill suggests that the police caught up to the driver in two BMW 530s, which, according to BMW have a top speed of 155 mph.

Pictures from Surrey Police.