Private equity firm Kelso Place has acquired the business as a going concern and will continue to trade under the Red brand as normal.

The firm told the BBC it had full confidence in LVG’s management and had no plans for any redundancies.

It said Red was profitable and had just suffered from cash-flow problems.

Red, established in 1992, is the UK’s third-largest driving school.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8528435.stm

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Since 2007, a £15 surcharge has been added to the fines of all people convicted of a crime, to raise money for support services for crime victims.

Now ministers want to extend the scheme to on-the-spot fines and fixed penalty notices for a range of offences.

They say the offences that could be targeted are not victimless crimes.

Under the current scheme, anyone fined by the courts pays an extra £15.

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8437440.stm

The website pages explain that for an everyday activity, travelling by road is probably the riskiest thing many of us do on a regular basis.

On average, some seven people are killed every day on the roads in Great Britain. Hundreds more are injured, many of them seriously, often with life changing consequences.

In 2008 alone, 2,538 people died and nearly a quarter of a million were injured.

In the last ten years, the death toll has amounted to 32,298. As such road crashes are the largest single cause of accidental death for people aged between 5 and 35 years.

Crash – Deaths on British roads in graphics

Road deaths in Britain 1998 to 2008 – interactive map

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8412891.stm

Ministers want the national speed limit of 60mph lowered to 50mph on selected main roads in rural areas.

They are advising local authorities to introduce gradually 20mph zones in all residential areas and near schools.

The government says more ambitious targets are needed for reducing deaths as it enters the final year of its decade-long road safety strategy.

More than 32,000 people have died on British roads in the past 10 years but the country’s record has improved.

The government’s target of cutting deaths and serious injuries by 40% by the end of 2010 has already been met but ministers are planning more ambitious goals.

Poor driving

On Wednesday they will issue guidance to councils urging blanket speed limits of 50mph, rather than 60mph, on rural single-carriageway A roads with a history of accidents.

The government also says the standard limit should be 20mph around homes and schools.

BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds says the move will not be popular with those opposing tighter restrictions on motorists.

But safety experts say deaths are still not falling fast enough, partly because of poor driving.

The BBC News website has launched an interactive map which plots the location of every death on the roads in the last decade. Interactive map of road deaths of the past ten years.

For the first time it allows users to examine accident blackspots near where they live.

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8415351.stm

It found 2.6% of car drivers used hand-held phones in 2006 – when fines rose to £60 and three points could be added to licences – compared with 2.8% now.

Phone-using drivers are four times more likely to crash. The TRL said drivers’ “reaction time is likely to be slower”.

Its study in London involved almost 12,000 cars and taxis and 2,500 vans.

The report’s authors believe there is no reason to think the picture at the 30 sites in London is not the same right across the UK.

Researchers said the 2.6% of car drivers using hand-held mobile phones in 2006 almost halved to 1.4% the following year, when tougher penalties were brought in.

The fine was doubled to £60 and three points were put on offenders’ licences. But since then the number has been rising.

This year 2.8% of car drivers were found using a hand-held mobile – more than before the tougher penalties came into force.

And it is the same picture with taxi and van drivers. They too are now more likely to use a hand-held mobile phone than they were before the penalties were increased.

The researchers split drivers into three age groups and found women aged 17-29 were most likely to use a hand-held mobile whilst driving, while men aged 30-59 were most likely to use a hands-free mobile.

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8407142.stm

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A road safety campaign for school children has been launched in Surrey by motor racing star Lewis Hamilton.

The educational scheme for pupils aged 14 to 18 will offer hands-on driving experience and training.

Pupils will also have discussions about the responsibilities of being not only a driver, but also a passenger and a pedestrian.

It was developed by council, fire and police officers, with the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy in Weybridge.

Former Formula One world champion Hamilton launched the scheme on Sunday.

He said “It’s a great thing for young kids to come here and at least raise awareness.”

And he added: “Hopefully, they’ll come here and they’ll walk away with a little bit more knowledge which will equip them even better for when they take their own driving lessons and tests.”

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/surrey/8397872.stm

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Deaths or injuries to cyclists and motorcyclists are all too common in the news.

Hampshire Safer Roads Partnership’s ‘Think Bike’ campaign is encouraging road users to take care of themselves and take responsibility for each other.

The campaign is reinforcing the message to two-wheel riders – cyclists, scooter-riders and motorcyclists – particularly those who travel in poor light conditions.

A lot of effort is put into encouraging the use of high-visibility vests to make the cyclists and pillion passengers more noticeable to car drivers.

Police are targeting their efforts on roads such as Southampton’s Northam Bridge, using vital safety messages on routes heavily used by cyclists and motorcyclists and pulling over those not wearing high-visibility vests.

In 2008 24 motor cyclists and one pillion passenger were killed on Hampshire and Isle of Wight roads (Source: Hampshire Constabulary).

There have been nine fatalities this year, but as we head into the dark winter mornings and afternoons, keeping these figures low is reliant on making cyclists more visible and drivers more aware.

HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT ROAD CASUALTIES 2008

Cyclists – killed or seriously injured: 116

Cyclists – all severities: 642

Motorcyclists killed or seriously injured: 252

Motorcyclists – all severities: 849 (Source: Department for Transport’s Reported Road Casualties)

Sixty five percent of all the injury-collisions involving motorbikes or scooters occur at at junctions.

In 35% of those incidents, the other driver failed to see the motorcyclists (Source: Hampshire Constabulary).

Source:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/hampshire/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8310000/8310245.stm

The Think Bike initiative is a campaign organised by the Hampshire Safer Roads Partnership, Hampshire Constabulary, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service and Southampton City Council.

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There was some confusion about road laws, including the fact that it is illegal to cycle on pavements, the Public Accounts Committee said.

It was responding to a National Audit Office report on road safety.

The Department for Transport said it could devise new rules but had to be satisfied police could enforce them.

In its response to the committee, the department said enforcing cycling offences “was typically not high on the agenda of most police forces due to competing demands on their time”.

It also pointed out anti-social cyclists represent only a small number of total cyclists.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8319630.stm

Many of the fatalities involving cyclists happen in collisions with a heavy goods vehicle (HGV). This year, seven of the eight people killed by lorries in London have been women.

Considering that women make only 28% of the UK’s cycling journeys, this seems extremely high.

There are no national figures but there’s little reason to think it is any different. In August, a 27-year-old woman died in Leeds after her bike was in collision with a lorry.

These deaths could be attributed to a tragic anomaly, but some cycling campaigners are concerned whether there is something about how women cycle which puts them at greater risk from lorries.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8296971.stm

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The National Audit Office’s report found the UK was the fifth safest globally on the number of road deaths.

But it was 11th out of 24 developed nations on pedestrian deaths and 17th on child pedestrian deaths.

Ministers said such child deaths had dropped 57% since the 1990s, but they were working to reduce them further.

The audit office’s report, Improving Road Safety for Pedestrians and Cyclists in Great Britain, said the Department for Transport (DfT) was on track to meet its 2010 road safety objectives.

But the government needed to set separate targets for those killed and those seriously injured because road death numbers were declining slower than those for serious injuries, it said.

It also argued ministers needed to work more closely with a number of different organisations to ensure objectives were met, especially within those groups most at risk.

The report admits the reasons are complex but says cyclists are most at risk of being killed by lorries and children are more likely to die on the roads after school.

Darker evenings after the clocks go back are also a factor.

Source:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8038661.stm

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