Australian great-grandmother Mrs. Griffiths turns 100 on Monday and still enjoys the freedom driving her car brings.

She recalls being taken too school when she was a child in a horse and buggy and when her family got their first car, she had learnt how to drive it by the early age of 12.

At 18 years old, she visited her local police station, took the officer for a drive (you had to show the policeman you could do it, there were no tests back then) and has been driving ever since.

She has been driving for 82 years now and in that time has never received a speeding fine, parking ticket or been involved in an accident.

She still enjoys driving and will take to the wheel at least 10 times per week and on Monday she will drive herself to her 100th birthday party that friends and family have organised.

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We often make mistakes when complacency starts creeping in! The experts claim it to be the major reason behind most of the fatal incidents taking place on the roads. The night-time driving has its own set of safety guidelines to be followed. We cannot run away from the fact that a feeling of tiredness starts growing as we approach towards later half of the day. You should not drive in case you are not able to focus properly. This is the golden rule. You can take a break or drink coffee to get it started again. A recent study suggests that a huge percentage of drivers cannot read road-signs properly due to poor eye-sight problems. It is a shame!. There is every possibility that someone would take a wrong turn or ignore the instructions to cause an accident. It is highly advisable to wear spectacles or contact lenses.

All such warning signs are too common to be taken seriously. Isn’t it right? We fall victim to our own poor judgments in the end. You cannot drive on the roads without following the rules carefully. These rules are meant to be followed by one and all.

With February set to see even more snow, ice and cold weather conditions, drivers are being warned.

Police have released video clips giving drivers tips on how to drive in these wintery conditions.

The advice starts with ensuring you prepare your car before you even start the journey. Making sure your car is safe to drive and that you have the necessary provisions should you get stuck in your car.

Other information includes, making sure the car is fully defrosted and that you have complete visibility out of all windows and mirrors, how to control the car should you skid or get stuck and many other tips to help reduce an accident in these cold weather conditions.

Holly Harper of Britannia Driving School said: “I think the most important piece of advice I could give to drivers in harsh weather conditions is, don’t drive unless you really have to, the easiest way to avoid an accident is to not be on the roads in the first place.”

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Gwent police have had to pay out nearly £100,000 in legal costs, repairs and compensation after they smashed in 73 year old Robert Whatley’s car in 2009 when he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt.

One police officer hit the window glass 15 times with his baton, whilst another jumped on the bonnet and kicked in the windscreen.

The grandfather claimed he was not wearing his seatbelt as he had been reversing earlier and was fined for failing to stop for police and not wearing his seatbelt to a cost of £235. However, Mr Whatley said ‘The police went completely over the top – you would have thought I had robbed a bank…I feel the rogue officers were too quick to turn to aggression. I brought this claim as a matter of principle and not for compensation’.

Mr Whatley sued the police for post traumatic stress disorder and was awarded £20,000 out of court, along with having his car repaired and his legal fees paid.

Gwent police force, removed the two officers from front-line duty to carry out internal enquiries but they were allowed back on duty after the force claimed they ‘met the highest standards of professional behaviour’.

Yet Mr Whatley’s solicitor feels that by the police paying outside of court, they were concerned that an independent court would not reach the same conclusions as they had.

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The new program is aiming at making young drivers stand committed to the rule-book guidelines. The ‘More 16 and More Drive’ program would offer three workshops on safety, maintenance and driving skills. The primary objective is to infuse a strong sense of ownership and responsibility in youngsters while driving on the roads. It is an interesting proposal as young people in Central Bedfordshire can learn a great deal of experience from the best in the industry. We can expect a better approach from young drivers now. Can’t we? The workshops are focused on bringing the experience and support of the family members into practice as well. They can also come up with different ideas to make their kids learn in the right manner.

It is a positive initiative. We often complain about the kind of immaturity or restlessness shown by young drivers. This is the time when we can enroll our sons and daughters to find a solution to it. A family or society should encourage it for all the right reasons. It educates young drivers to stay alert and active while driving. The underlying purpose is to spread a message of awareness.

Vehicle damage costing £409m a year is all down to the poor reversing skills of UK drivers.

Research has found that more than 500 reversing accidents happen each day and that the cost of repairing that vehicle and potentially the object they hit (normally another vehicle) comes out at an average of over £2000.

Unfortunately for us females who like to shop, figures show that the most reversing accidents happen in busy car parks during the Christmas and New Year period.

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The official records suggest that not everybody is lucky to pass the driving test in the first few attempts. How strongly do you believe in destiny? There were nearly 300 people who took the driving test last year and only 88 out of them came out feeling good and happy about it. There is an unevenly balance here. The irony is that as candidates try harder and appear for tests again, it starts becoming tougher and tougher for them.

It is only human to become nervous or conscious after unsuccessful attempts on previous occasions. They start feeling anxiety and a kind of desperation growing within. The pressure continues to build from there on. The financial costs have also proved to be an obstacle or hurdle along the path. They cannot keep on taking driving tests one after another. There is also a belief that these tests have become technically difficult than to what the situation was thirty years ago. You need to look at the situation and either take it as a warning sign to prepare harder or lose the hope and sit on the back seat of a driving car.

As many as 39 offices, providing over 1200 jobs will be at risk under new government plans to close all DVLA offices except the Swansea HQ.

The Department for Transport said the proposal could save as much as £28m a year and make many of their systems easier to use, with most applications made accessible online.

They are looking to move forward into the 21st century, currently you have to make phone calls to process many applications but by having them available online, yet still having a head office to contact should you need too will make the most sense.

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A 65 year old man from Devon faced charges for drink driving when police pulled him over to find he was four times the drink drive limit, whilst riding his mobility scooter.

Mr Spangenberg-Ferrelli was arrested and charged and was due to appear at court for the third hearing in connection with the offence. However, his defence lawyer argued his case claiming that despite the scooter having its own number plate for use on the road it was too small and lightweight to be covered under the drink drive laws he was pulled up on.

He has since been let off and free to wheel away.

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A Greater Manchester Police officer has written off a £33,000 undercover high performance vehicle.

The VW Golf R crashed mid December last year, it was said that no other vehicles were involved in the accident.

The driver suffered back injuries and is currently suspended from driving duties whilst an internal investigation takes place.

The police force is now considering changes to their driving policies and the rules surrounding officers test driving cars. This particular vehicle can reach speeds of over 150mph and go from 0 to 62mph in under 6 seconds, making it a more difficult car to handle.

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