A man has been charged after claims of repeatedly soaking pedestrians by deliberately driving through large puddles. The 20-year-old is alleged to have committed the offences on three separate occasions and on two different days earlier this month.

Officers from Police Scotland were made aware of the incidents after receiving reports of soakings, which are said to have taken place on 4^th July and again on Monday. It is alleged a man soaked the pedestrians while driving along the Esplanade at Broughty Ferry. There is regular flooding at the side of the road.

It is not known what the man has been charged under but it is most likely s3 of the Road Traffic Act, careless and inconsiderate driving.

This comes after a motorist in Essex was charged under that section after allegedly drenching young children by driving through a puddle as they walked to their primary school. He was caught by a passing policeman, who witnessed the incident in Colchester.

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Fitness to drive amongst older people is purely a matter of self-regulation. Licences must be renewed at the age of 70 and every three years after that. Yet the onus is on the driver to self-certify as being fit to drive.

At the end of last year a judge told elderly drivers that they must ‘face up to facts’ if they are no longer safe on the roads after  sentencing an 84-year-old woman who killed an 80-year-old man in a head-on smash. The judge also urged families and friends to ‘monitor’ ageing relatives as he imposed a five-year driving ban on the 84-year-old and a 24-week jail sentence suspended for 12 months.

Despite worsening eyesight, poorer reaction times and, all the other changed which come with getting older, its down to the individual to stop driving. In addition, it is accepted that a patient wouldn’t want an 85-year-old surgeon, so why should an 85-year-old be allowed to drive?

Motoring lawyers have called for a review of the current system. They have argued that bearing in mind the density of the traffic these days, that some better system is put in place to check a person’s ability to drive which might be by way of a medical or by a driving test.

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This is a difficult question to answer and it differs between people.

We have seen a general change from people having one lesson per week over a few months to people booking an intensive course whereby they have intensive lessons over a few weeks.

Some of the common reasons people choose to have an intensive driving course is that they have a new job that requires them to drive, they’ve moved away from their family and need to be able to get back, or they are needing to get on the road before moving to university.

One the things we’ve noticed that people really enjoy with intensive lessons is how quickly they see their progress develop in a matter of days. All of a sudden things begin to click, you remember how to safely pull-up and pull-off, the mirror-signal-manoeuvre becomes common knowledge and you find it easy to turn corners.

You can test-drive (excuse the pun!) an intensive driving course to see if it’s right for you, after you’ve had your first few lessons, you could book in for two 3-4 hour lessons and see how you get on.

Safe driving from Britannia!

A driver has been caught on camera driving the wrong way on a busy motorway in Leeds.

The image taken by West Yorkshire Police shows the motorist driving the wrong way on the M621 near junction four at Hunslet on Saturday evening.

The force’s Roads Policing Unit posted the photo on social media shortly before 21:00 BST after the incident.

Officers said the driver was reported for dangerous driving.

Police Tweeted: “M621 J4. Driver decided he didn’t want to wait and decided to drive the wrong way. Reported for dangerous driving.”

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Some people seem to just ace tests and if you’re one of them – I’m sadly not – I must admit to being very jealous!

One thing we’re asked by a lot of our pupils is the best way to prepare for their theory test, unfortunately, we don’t have a magic bullet.

If you’re like me, then it’s a case of: revise, revise, revise.

The theory test involves 50 multiple choice questions randomly chosen from a total of over 1000. In order to pass the test you need to get 43 questions correct.

I know this sounds overwhelming to begin with, but the fact that 1000’s of people have passed shows you that it is possible to pass your theory test.

We recommend taking mock tests to get your practice in. Mark down which questions you’re getting wrong. Write the question out and write down the right answer. A good thing to try and do is really try and understand the question and think about what the correct answer is. Don’t just try and memorise the answer, but ask yourself, “why is this the correct answer?”

It really is worth the practice.

Safe driving from Britannia!

One of the key aspects to learning to operate a car proficiently is the ability to master the steering wheel – While this sounds like a simple task, there might actually be more to this task than meets the eye.

Studies have shown that whatever you are looking at whilst driving will draw you in – So if you are staring at one fixed point on the road (i.e. another car), you will be more likely to hit it!

We recommend to keep your eyes straight ahead of you – And to continually move your gaze around – This will give you the best view of everything that is happening around your car, as well as score you extra brownie points with your examiner on your driving test!

Safe driving from Britannia!

Harold Veazy from Melton, Leicestershire, is 96 and is determined to keep on driving until he’s 100. He is the first pensioner to feature in a new documentary, 100 Year Old Drivers Ride Again.

The programme gets behind the wheel with some of Britain’s oldest drivers to find out why they still drive. However, the trip out with the cameras was not without incident for Harold, who was last year named Leicestershire’s oldest athlete and who works out at the leisure centre three times a week.

Viewers saw him narrowly miss colliding with an articulated lorry at the junction of Mill Street and Burton Street in the town. When asked how he felt about the incident, Harold said he felt stupid.

Harold will be 97 in September and recently got his licence renewed for a further 3 years. He says he prefers driving today compared with the time when he passed his test as cars are more comfortable. He says this is due to sat-navs and heaters.

Harold learnt to drive in the 1930s and argues that if God thinks he is okay to drive at 100 then he will drive at 100. Drivers older than 70 must renew their licence every three years, but they do not have to take a driving or medical exam.

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In modern-day driving, there are plenty of hazards to watch out for – From children and animals stepping out unexpectedly in front of your car, to those drivers who don’t seem to observe any rules of the road and cause you to react suddenly – We’ve all been there!

When approaching a hazard, it is best to know what to do ahead of time – But if a hazard is unexpected, how can we do this?

The best way is to have a Hazard Routine – A pre-planned process to follow when approaching any hazard. Everyone knows about Mirror-Signal-Manoeuvre – But if you also append this with Position-Speed-Look-Assess-Decide-Act – You have your Hazard Routine all ready!

Safe driving from Britannia!

After passing your driving test, you are likely going to want to be driving as much as possible – With friends, with family, on road trips during summer days and on nights on, so that you get to experience all conditions of driving.

But beware – When driving this often, especially at night time, it is likely that you will feel tired at some point behind the wheel. This can be incredibly dangerous, particularly if you are travelling long distances or on a motorway – As when driving at 60 mph, falling asleep for just one second will mean your car moves around 30 metres under no control at all!

Make sure to take a break whenever you start to feel drowsy when driving – Otherwise you are putting yourself and others in danger.

Safe driving from Britannia!