Archives for July 2015

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.

Visit our blog page for more Driving Lesson Liverpool tips!

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.

Learn manual and automatic lessons Liverpool from the best driving school today!

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.