Unnamed sources have told The Telegraph that the government Department for Transport (DfT) is being shut down. At the same time it appears that the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Energy and Climate Change are also being axed.
Councils across the country have won nearly £21 million of funding from the government to promote green forms of transport, it was announced recently. The funding is being given out for 23 sustainable travel initiatives across England that boost local economies by supporting people’s ambitions – offering cheap, clean and healthy travel options to access […]
A new report by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers is calling for urgent Government and industry action to encourage the greater use of autonomous and driverless vehicles. Philippa Oldham, head of transport at the Institution of the Mechanical Engineers and lead author of the report, said: “We need to urgently resolve legislative, technological and insurance […]
Following the Department for Transport’s announcement that they have no immediate plans to lower the drink-drive limit in England and Wales to the same as Scotland’s, alcohol safety experts have responded to the news as “astonishing” and stated that the Department for Transport is ignoring the facts.
The Department for Transport has ruled on its investigation into allegations of malpractice by Klarius Products Ltd. The principal allegation made against Klarius was that unapproved replacement catalytic converters were being placed on the market in breach of regulation 8(1) of the Motor Vehicle (Replacement of Catalytic Converters and Pollution Control Devices) Regulations 2009.
Anyone who doubts the need for a campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of worn or badly-maintained tyres should consider the following statistics, released by TyreSafe and sourced from Department for Transport ‘Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain’.
Brake, the road safety charity, is urging the government to show strong leadership in the face of the first calendar year increase in road casualties in 17 years. The charity believes the reintroduction of ambitious casualty reduction targets, axed in 2010, must be a key first step in an urgently needed fightback against road danger and it points out that people on foot and bike bore the brunt of the rise.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) says more needs to be done to protect vulnerable road users after new figures revealed a rise in the number of deaths on Britain’s roads. The statistics released by the Department for Transport show an increase in the number of people killed or seriously injured, in particular pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, in 2014 compared to 2013.
An article has recently appeared in the British Medical Journal warning of the dangers to public health in the UK caused by air pollutants. In 2011 a report from the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee suggested that the costs to society from poor air quality were on a par with those from smoking and obesity. Air pollution has fallen sharply over the last 25 years, in particular nitrogen oxide levels have dropped by two thirds and particulates have halved. However, whilst the pollution levels have fallen, the medical profession is now better able to quantify the damage caused.
The Freight Transport Association has expressed concern over the discrepancy between industry opinion and government statistics following publication of official figures from Highways England showing that journey time reliability, although still below 80 per cent, marginally improved over the past year.
“A move to allow private HGV-MOT Testers could only be a step in the right direction”, said Sue Robinson, director of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA), which represents franchised car and commercial vehicle retailers across the UK.
No new 20mph speed limits should be allowed until a Department for Transport study is published in 2017, says the Alliance of British Drivers (ABD).
AA research reveals that the UK continues to levy the highest level of road fuel tax in the EU – despite four years of a fuel duty freeze. Analysis of road fuel tax levels in Europe shows that, despite UK fuel duty being frozen at 57.95p since March 2011, drivers in this country still pay the biggest chunk (69 per cent) per litre than those in other European countries.
The Department for Transport recently announced that the number of deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s road rose by 4 per cent to nearly 25,000 in 2014, with some commentators suggesting that in-car technology is distracting drivers behind the wheel. This concern is echoed in consumer research undertaken by BCA, Europe’s leading used vehicle marketplace, which found that 95 per cent of respondents had seen other motorists using a hand-held mobile phone whilst driving.
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.
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