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Seriously, Turn Off Your Phones!

April 11th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

You might recall reading a few weeks ago on these very pages about our dreadful habit of using our phones while we’re on the road. We told you that it was a serious problems, and suggested a few ways in which we might get the behaviour under control. Well, it seems that despite our intervention, the situation has gotten a lot worse. Data revealed by the RAC this week revealed that a whopping 47% of drivers between 25 and 34 made or received calls from behind the wheel – a 7% increase from the previous year. When we consider drivers as a whole, the figure was 25%: an increase of 1% from the previous year. This is despite all of the increase in penalty points and fines we were talking about last time. Which just goes to show that when you’re addicted to something, a fine isn’t really enough. An RAC spokesman named Pete put the problem down to “some groups of drivers” – which we’re interpreting as a thinly-veiled dig at young people who can’t go five minutes without looking at a square-shaped photo of someone’s breakfast. Texting and Social Media Of course, some forms of phone usage are…

Bridge Bashing: A Cautionary Tale

April 11th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

This month saw an all-too-familiar tragedy unfold in Ely, Cambridgeshire. Despite great efforts having been taken to daub the local low-hanging railway crossing in black-and-yellow warning signs, an overly-optimistic HGV driver still managed to crash into it. Cambridgeshire Live reports that, in the wake of the mishap, a Network Rail official pointed to the organisation’s ‘wise up, size up’ campaign, which encourages drivers to know how tall their vehicles are. According to Network Rail, it costs around thirteen grand to clean up a smash-up of this sort, which adds up to £23 million for the taxpayer over the course of a year. This particular bridge has seen more than a hundred collisions in the last decade, making it a veritable hotspot. How low do bridges get, anyway? You might think that this bridge, at 9’, is a little bit of a squeeze – but this bridge is far from the lowest in the country. Head over to Newport in Wales and you’ll find the 5’6’’ Bishton Road Railway Bridge. Even lower than that is the one in Coppermill Lane in Walthamstow, London, at just 5’ flat. You can see both bridges documented here by a helpful bridge-enthusiast. Out-of-the-way curiosities like…

Average Speed Checks Explained: How do They Work?

April 3rd, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

If you’ve ever caught sight of a series of white lines on the road surface and had to slam on your brakes, then you’ll probably appreciate that a speed trap can often do more harm than good. Average speed checks have been linked with safer roads, and they’re getting cheaper as the cost of building the cameras comes down over time. It’s therefore worth spending a few moments pondering what it is that they actually do. How is average speed measured? The principle behind an average-speed check is a simple one. Two cameras are placed a given distance apart. If you cross that distance in a quick enough timespan, then they’ll know that you must have been speeding. How can I fool an average-speed-camera? The point of an average-speed is to determine whether you’ve been speeding. So one sure-fire way to deal with the problem is to refrain from speeding. But if you’ve just noticed that you’re halfway through a speed check and you’ve been doing five miles over the limit for the past ten minutes, then this advice might not cut the mustard! Unfortunately, unless you know exactly where the two cameras are, and you’ve very good at mental…

What are Smart Motorways and How Should We Use Them?

April 3rd, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

These days, it seems that everything in life has to have the word ‘smart’ bolted onto the front. We take calls on our smart-phones, we look at the time with our smart-watches, we drive around in smart-cars, monitor our water usage with a smart-meter and watch hours of Netflix on our smart-TVs. Now, this is mostly just a marketing gimmick – after all, who’d want to buy a product that isn’t ‘smart’? But there are some instances where the prefix really is warranted, and a smart-motorway is one of them. But it seems that not all of us are quite so clued-up on how to use them. Why does the speed limit change? Smart motorways come with electronic signs which advise motorists of changing road conditions. Among the most obvious of these changes are those to the speed limit. If it’s snowing or raining, the limit might come down to sixty or even fifty. This reduces the risk of someone getting rear-ended. Besides this, reducing the speed limit prevents everyone from having to constantly speed up and slow down during periods of high traffic. This keeps things flowing nice and smoothly during rush-hour. If the speed limit is encircled with…

Google Maps Rolling out Speed Camera Alerts

March 1st, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

In recent months, Google have been rolling out new speed camera icons onto their maps application. This will surely come as welcome news to the nation’s motorists, however much it might worry to treasury. In 2016, more than two million drivers were caught speeding, a significant portion of which will have been served with a £100 fine and three points, and a minority of which will have been served far heftier fines. That’s a lot of pot-hole repairs (or a world-class centre-forward). The new function hasn’t received much in the way of fanfare. Google have preferred to slyly roll it out around the world in select locations like San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro, with the feature finally coming to British roads in January. You’ll get speed limits displayed on the bottom left corner of your phone, and the speed cameras themselves will appear as little yellow dots. The app will also provide an audio warning of new changes to the speed limit, as well as advance notice of a speed camera. That way you won’t have to actually look at your phone and risk another hefty fine. It’s been six years since Google bought out Waze, a GPS app…

Why do we Salt Roads?

March 1st, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

At this time of year, drivers across the country should be especially grateful of a special chemical substance: one that keeps the roads safe and tastes delicious when sprinkled across a plate of fish and chips. We’re talking, of course, about sodium chloride, or salt. But how exactly does salt do its job on the roads, and why do we use it? Let’s explore the question! Does salt stop water from freezing? If you were to ask most drivers why salt is used, you might get a broad consensus that salt stops things from freezing. But this is only true to an extent. Salt stops water from freezing at 0°C, but it’ll still freeze when the temperature drops a little below that – typically -10°C. It’s for this reason that really cold countries, such as the Nordic ones, have to take extensive measures to prepare for a snowy spell. Rock salt comes mixed with various impurities, like sand, which not only helps to cut costs; it’ll also improve traction during spells of cold weather. This lowering of the freezing point has a special scientific name: freezing point depression. It’s the same phenomenon that prevents anti-freeze and vodka from solidifying alongside…

How do We Stop People Using Phones on the Roads?

March 1st, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

According to recent figures by the Department for Transport, around 2.1% of drivers in the country have been spotted using their phones behind the wheel. This is a figure that rises to around 4% when we consider just the 17-29 year olds, which signifies a worrying trend. Obviously, every motorist (and passenger and pedestrian) should be concerned at the prospect of sharing a road with someone who’s barely paying attention. But exactly how are we to deal with this problem, and thereby help make our roads that little bit safer? Legal Repercussions In the UK, whether you’ve got the phone pressed against your face or you’re just holding it in a free hand, you’re in breach of the law. And if you’re supervising a learner driver who’s doing either of those things, you’re also in the wrong. If you’ve got the phone tethered to a hands-free device, then you’re legally okay – though satnav systems must be secured to a holder. Finally, you can use your phone when you’re parked up, but not when you’re waiting at traffic lights. If you’re found guilty of breaking these laws you could end up with a whopping £200 fine and a career-endangering six-point…

What’s Going on With the Price of Fuel?

January 22nd, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

You might have noticed over Christmas that filling up the van wasn’t quite as painful as it was just a few months prior. A fall in the price of oil was reflected at the pumps, with the RAC reporting a drop of around 3p per litre on diesel. You might feel that this is a welcome relief. But hold on! The price of oil fell by around 15% over the course of December. Even accounting for fuel tax and VAT, we should surely have seen a far more precipitous fall in forecourt prices. So what’s going on? The answer is that three of the four major supermarket chains are choosing to keep their prices high and enjoy a greater portion of the profits. Given that these supermarkets account for a sizeable proportion of UK fuel sales, and that smaller forecourts generally tie their prices to those of the nearest supermarket, this decision has effected just about everyone in the country with a driving licence. And those of us who drive for a living are feeling those effects even more keenly. The one exception to this rule seems to be ASDA, whose prices are that little bit more aggressive at around…

Cleaning your Van: Why it Matters

January 22nd, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

First impressions count for a great deal when you’re trying to forge relationships with prospective customers. If you turn up to an unfamiliar house in order to fix a gas leak, provide a quote on a rewire, or simply deliver a package, then the appearance of your van is going to count for more than you think! Clean It Up Turning up to a job in a van that’s caked in dirt is going to leave a poor impression, in much the same way that turning up to a job interview with a big greasy beard might. Regularly running your motor through the local car wash, or pressure-washing it on the drive, is therefore likely to reap dividends. Research by Vanarama has put this conventional wisdom in stark terms: 75% of homeowners questioned by the survey stated that turning up in ‘dirty old van’ would make them think twice about hiring. If you’re on the way to deliver a quote, in other words, it’s worth swinging by the local car wash to make sure that everything’s appropriately spick and span. Provided, naturally, that you don’t make yourself late in the process. A better solution is probably to set aside twenty…

Eye-popping Tech from CES

January 22nd, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

Every year, the giants of the technological world get together in Las Vegas for a shindig called CES, where they show off their wares (and presumably treat themselves to a night out). Among the most eye-catching products on display each year are usually those which involve vehicles and transport. After all, there’s nothing more aspirational than a flashy motor! Most of this new technology, of course, will never make it to production, never mind the second-hand market. But if history is any guide, a fraction of the gizmos and gadgets on display will eventually become ubiquitous. Just think about how wacky satellite navigation, lane assist and anti-lock brakes must have once seemed. Let’s run through a few of these feats of engineering and see if we can spot which are going to make the difference to our driving experience in decades to come, and which are going to flash momentarily in the pan. Automated Valet Parking In conversations about the automated future of driving, one of the strongest objections you’ll find is that driving a car is great fun, and it would be a shame to allow a robot to take that fun away. Well, that’s a point of view:…

Ethylene Glycol and the Risks it Poses to Pets

December 19th, 2018 by Rebecca Webb

At this time of year, anti-freeze poisoning among dogs and cats is a pressing concern. Pets find the stuff left out in the open, or leaking under parked cars, and decide to investigate. Just a few teaspoons of the ethylene glycol, the active ingredient in many anti-freezes, can be fatal; once ingested, it breaks down into two highly toxic acids and causes calcium crystals to form in the kidneys. The problem is made worse by the fact that the substance has a naturally sweet aroma, which might tempt many an unsuspecting animal to drink a lot of it. Before we go any further, if you suspect that an animal has ingested this stuff, then it’s critical that you get them to the vet as early as possible. Every second counts in preventing fatal damage to the internal organs. How can I tell if an animal has ingested antifreeze? The first twelve hours or so after drinking antifreeze, your pet might appear to be drunk. They’ll stagger around, drool, and become lethargic. They might start to vomit. After around twelve hours, they’ll enter into a second phase of symptoms, where they’ll appear less like they’re drunk, and more like they’re undergoing…

Making your Own Screenwash

December 19th, 2018 by Rebecca Webb

If you’re making early starts in December, then the chances are that you’ll appreciate the merits of a good screenwash. Something that isn’t going to freeze in the pipes when the going gets tough, or provide the legionella bacteria with a never-ending holiday camp, in the same way that water might when it’s kept in your tank for years on end. Since many of us stick gallons of screenwash into our vans every year, especially around winter time, you might be tempted to try and whip up a batch of your own. But given that you can get cheap stuff from concentrate down at your local petrol station, is doing this even worth the effort? We’ll take a look at a few homebrew remedies and see what they’re made of, exactly. Vinegar To soak up all that grime and break apart the ice, you’ll want something a little acidic. The best way to do this is with vinegar. We’re thinking the malt stuff that goes on your chips rather than the posh cider stuff that you might drizzle over a salad. Water the stuff down to taste and blast it across your windscreen. What could be easier? Now, we can…

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