As the driving test reaches its 80th anniversary in the UK, leading road safety charity the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) says it’s time the way we teach new drivers received a comprehensive overhaul to keep it relevant to todays driving landscape and to the problems faced by young people on the road.
The Independent Garage Association (IGA) is assisting the Department for Transport (DfT) with a project to reassess statutory MOT test fees. The DfT is analysing garage running costs to validate the justification for an increase in MOT test fees to present to the next government, but to make this happen it needs financial costings for MOT test stations as a starting point to the project.
Motor Wheel Service Distribution (MWSD) has welcomed the Department for Transports report into wheel safety and the governments classification of CV wheels as safety critical. However the company remains sceptical of the report’s findings and industry awareness of the issue. MWSD has long campaigned for legislation requiring operators to carry out more stringent checks on commercial vehicle wheels to be introduced.
David Gauke MP, financial secretary to the Treasury, has written to the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) in response to the RMI’s pre-autumn statement submission.
“Make traffic education part of National Curriculum” – IAM
Leading road safety charity the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has called for traffic education to become an integral part of the National Curriculum, in an effort to cut the numbers of young people killed and injured on UK roads. The call ties in with a survey by the FIA (Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile) which found only eight of 15 European countries had mandatory traffic education in schools.
Police Scotland tested 17,504 drivers for alcohol as part of their four week drink-drive campaign over the festive period and caught 351 drivers under the influence, compared to 434 drivers last year – a 19 per cent reduction. Figures from the Scottish Government also show that drivers are five times more likely to be caught just over the new legal limit the morning after. The suggestion is that tougher rules are a bigger deterrent.
RMA proposes tyre registration, TIA ‘disappointed’ in legislative solution
Tire Industry Association has promised to fight a proposal by the US Rubber Manufacturers Association to reinstate a mandatory tyre registration programme, US journal Tire Review reports. During a panel on tyre registration and recalls at the Passenger Vehicle Tire Safety Symposium held by the National Transportation Safety Board, the RMA cited low registration rates of tyres sold by independent retailers as the reason behind the proposal. RMA reported that overall fewer than 20 per cent of all tyres are registered.
The Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) is highlighting the new Quality Protocol option (QP) accompanying the existing Publically Available Specification (PAS) 107:12, which covers the Manufacture and Storage of Size-Reduced Tyre-Derived Materials.
Brake ‘disappointed’ with planned HGV speed limit increase
Brake, the road safety charity, has expressed disappointment at Government plans to raise the speed limit for large lorries on dual carriageway roads to 60mph, despite serious concerns from a number of road safety groups. The move comes on the back of the Government’s decision to increase the speed limit for HGVs on single carriageway […]
The exceptions: what’s not covered by US tyre import tariffs
When is a tariff-able tyre not subject to an import tariff? When there are exceptions. With the latest round of US tyre import tariffs aimed squarely at imports of Chinese-produced tyres, it is useful to know what isn’t covered and why.
Following the news that the preliminary ruling is effective 1 December 2014 and retroactive for 90 days prior to this date, further details of what is and what isn’t covered by the rules have emerged. But first a couple of clarifications. There are two categories of import duties that the US government has and is deliberating over. Details of the first – countervailing duties – have already been reported and preliminarily decided upon. All things being equal, the final verdict for these will be issued “no later than 6 April 2015”. Within 45 days after this, the US International Trade Commission will make its own decision about what anti-dumping import tariffs to impose. Therefore total tariffs could be very substantial.
‘UK Autodrive’ to lead the way on driverless car integration
Innovate UK has announced that ‘UK Autodrive’, a consortium of local authorities, the UK’s leading technology and automotive businesses and academic institutions, has won the UK Government’s £10 million ‘Introducing Driverless Cars’ competition. In short this means a semi-autonomous Range Rover research vehicle will now be used to test driver reactions on the roads around […]
Giti ‘disappointed’ with US anti-dumping/countervailing duty decision
Giti Tire has stated that the company “is very disappointed” with the recent US Department of Commerce (DoC) preliminary decision to impose 17.69 per cent tariffs on tyres produced by Giti in China for sale in the US. The Singapore-based manufacturer suggests that to do so is contrary to free market business: “Giti is a […]
Analysts predict Chinese tyre anti-dumping duties of 25 – 35%
Following the news that the US Department of Commerce (DoC) had set the preliminary countervailing duty for Chinese consumer tyres, market analysts have begun estimating what they think the outcome of final determinations will be when they are announced on 6 April 2015. Preliminary details of anti-dumping duties are expected in January 2015. Writing in […]
The US Commerce Department (USDOC) has moved to impose import tariffs on tyres manufactured in China and imported into the US. The USDOC has also agreed to initiate work on an additional nine subsidy programs identified by the USW. The preliminary finding suggested that Chinese-made tyres in this category are unfairly subsidized and should be subject to countervailing duties of 17.7 per cent and 81.3 per cent. The precise percentage depends on the manufacturer in question, but the standard rate is reportedly 15.69 per cent. This is the second round of passenger vehicle and light truck duties since the millennium. The first round ran from 2009 to 2011 and ranged from 35 to 25 per cent.
EU removes ‘discriminatory’ aftermarket phrase from roadworthiness legislation
The Independent Automotive Aftermarket Federation (IAAF) has claimed victory after an obligation to check non-OEM replacement parts was removed from the latest EU legislation on the roadworthiness testing of vehicles (Directive 2014/45/EU), which entered into force in May 2014. A technical expert committee is currently discussing and drafting the implementing measures that will define the […]
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