Unsuspecting movie-goers were treated to a shocking advert intended to raise awareness of the dangers of texting whilst driving this week, as the film fans were caught off-guard by a hi-tech advertisement campaign.

The ingenious marketing ploy by Volkswagen has left many viewers in shock and awe after it’s ground-breaking and innovative strategy, which involved hi-jacking the viewers mobile phones without their consent, and involving them indirectly into the advert itself.

As the unsuspecting cinema-goers filed into the movie theatre, they were unaware that the room had secretly been bugged with a location-based broadcaster, that can send a text message to anyone within a certain proximity without the need for their phone number.

Suddenly the advert began – showing, from a first-person perspective, a person entering a vehicle, starting the ignition, and heading off along a straight road.

Then, without warning, the advanced gadgetry sent a text message to every person sitting in the theatre, causing all of the movie-goers to pull out their mobile phones simultaneously -and thereby distracting their attention from the on-screen road ahead.

This split second was all that it took – as the audiences attention was diverted momentarily to their handheld device, the advert, timed with military-style precision, showed the vehicle suddenly swerve dramatically off the road and plummet head-first into a roadside tree, shattering the windscreen and leaving the car decimated in a thick cloud of white smoke, with the chilling message:

“Mobile use is now the leading cause of death behind the wheel. A reminder to keep your eyes on the road.”

The advert certainly caught viewers attention – and highlighted the fact of the dangers of using a mobile whilst driving.

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Safe driving from Britannia!

Technology is being developed for driverless cars either side of the Atlantic, and the UK government has been pushed to draw up laws by Google’s drive to see its cars legally used on the roads in California.

Ministers have admitted that the current Highway Code and rules of the road are inadequate for the new generation of driverless cars.

Last month Google unveiled its ‘hands-free’ self-driving bubble car, which has no steering wheel, brake or accelerator pedals. It is made up of buttons for start, pull over and emergency stop and a computer screen showing your route.

Science minister David Willetts is currently in talks with the Department for Transport about rewriting the law to allow cars on to UK highways without anyone in the driving seat.

The British version, currently being developed in Oxford, has so far clocked up less miles than the Google version and so it needs the opportunity to be tested on a wide range of environments. It is for this reason that new regulations must be drawn up.

Williets has said that the government’s infrastructure plan commits to reviewing the law to ‘ensure there is a clear and appropriate regime for the testing of driverless cars that supports the world’s car companies to come and hand test them here’.

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Calls have been made for greater enforcement to reduce excessive speeding on motorways rather than increasing fines.

Maximum fines imposed by magistrates in England and Wales are set to rise sharply in an effort to crack down on offenders.

The government’s proposals could see the highest fine for speeding on the motorway increase from £2,500 to £10,000.

But it has been argued that the current maximum fine is already a strong enough deterrent for the majority of drivers.

This comes after stealth cameras being introduced on the motorways in order to prevent speeding.

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Although one of the main points of modern motoring is the task of maintaining safe driving, this is the real world, and so we much accept that accidents can and do happen often. In a lifelong career of driving, you are likely to experience at least one accident whilst in the car, and so it is good to ensure that you are fully prepared for what to do in this incident.

– Stop the car. Regardless of how small you think the collision was, or if you think no-one is watching, you are morally and legally obliged to stop your car immediately in the first safe location after the site of the accident. Failure to stop is an offence. Also remember to turn on your Hazard lights as soon as you are stopped.

– Call any emergency services necessary. If you or your passengers are injured, or any other road user or pedestrian, then you must call an ambulance immediately. Likewise, if the accident requires Police attention (such as if the road has become blocked) then Police must be called immediately.

– Your are legally obliged to provide any party involved in the accident your name and address, and they are obliged to provide theirs to you. But remember not to accept responsibility for the accident at this time – this could hinder any claim you may need to make at a later date. If the other party is not present (such as hitting a parked car) then you must leave your details on the windscreen.

– Report the accident to the Police. This must be done within 24 hours of the accident, or as soon as possible if you need to make a claim against the other party involved.

– Collect any information you can. Giving your name and contact details to the other parties involved is a must, but it is also recommended to acquire as much evidence from the site of the incident as possible – make notes of the details of the accident, such as how and when the accident happened, which cars were involved, the weather and road conditions, and also try to get some photographic evidence of the accident to back up your claims. If you can also get the contact details of a witness to support you, that would be a great help.

With the right amount of safe driving when behind the wheel, you can minimise the chance of an accident occurring when driving. However in the unfortunate event that you are involved in an incident, at least now you will be well prepared with how to handle the situation.

Safe driving from Britannia!

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The government are considering tougher penalties for mobile phone use whilst driving after research showed that it slowed a driver’s reactions more than drink or drugs.

Robert Goodwill, the road safety minister, said he would make a case to the Ministry of Justice for imposing tougher penalties. In addition, campaigners, including the Alliance of British Drivers, are now calling for the penalty to be raised to match the drink-driving punishment, which is an automatic year’s ban and a fine.

The study by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) found that a driver’s reaction times slowed by 46% when he or she was making a call on a hand-held mobile, by 37% when texting while driving and by 27% during hands-free calls. For those on the drink-drive limit of 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, reaction times were reduced by 13%. For those who had used cannabis it was 21%. Both of these figures are clearly lower than the figures when phone use is concerned.

Robert Goodwill also called on police to increase their action on the menace stating that ‘the best deterrent for this kind of dangerous behaviour is the certainty of being detected.’ As it stands, mobile phone used hasn’t been a priority with the focus being more on drink-driving. With smartphones now owned by nearly three-quarters of adults, with emails, social networking and maps all adding to the temptation to use them, it is becoming increasingly important to crackdown on mobile use.

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For many young or new drivers, one of the hardest tasks to tackle is that of driving on the Motorway. And whilst many drivers do manage to manoeuvre an entire motoring career without ever having to face that particular challenge, learning to drive on the motorway is one of the essential skills of any advanced driver.

Whether you will be working in a career that involves long distance driving or even a motorway-based commute, or whether it is just so you can enjoy long drives to far-off places without the necessity to follow multiple A-Roads, motorway driving really is a must – and you can learn more about this on our Pass Plus course here at Britannia!

Due to the difference between driving on normal roads and driving on the motorway, many are calling for compulsory motorway driving lessons – however we believe that with a good amount of common sense and an awareness of how motorways work, you will be just fine. And there is no better place to learn that than Britannia Driving School!

Safe driving from Britannia!