Britain’s zebra crossings were first introduced in Slough in October 1951. The pedestrian crossing typically gives extra rights of way to pedestrians.

The crossing is identified by having black and white stripes on the road, parallel to the flow of the traffic. However, back in 1949 the zebra crossing was introduced to 1000 sites in the UK and had blue and yellow stripes.

Zebra crossings are used around the world however, they all have slightly different rules and meanings. In North America they are often called crosswalks and to cross in an area of the street other than the crosswalk is an offence called jaywalking. In New Zealand, if a pedestrian is crossing within 20m of the crossing they must use the crossing.

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The cold season is entering the higher area of its rev band and Mercedes-Benz is here to help us cope with these driving conditions. The Mercedes Benz Driving Academy offers us tips on how to handle winter and also takes things further – in the UK, it is introducing the Mercedes-Benz Winter Driving Course.
Held at the low-grip track surfaces at Mercedes-Benz World, Weybridge, the training session, which places customers behind the wheel for one hour, uses a controlled environment to simulate snow and ice driving. The experience includes one-on-one guidance from a qualified Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy Coach.

The term beer goggles is often applied when an individual makes advances towards somebody who is deemed less attractive. ‘Beer goggles’ are thought to distort your vision making someone appear more beautiful after consuming alcohol.

Now the DIA have got involved and really do offer beer goggles. The Vision Impairment Goggles they sell are meant to simulate the effects of being over the drink-drive limit. They are meant to show drivers the effects drinking can have on perception, distance and peripheral vision, as all these things are reduced if you drink and drive.

Those that have worn the goggles were surprised at how difficult it was to perform basic tasks and their message is don’t drink and drive.

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There appears to be an alarming new trend emerging whereby drivers are taking to the road without having passed their driving test, as according to the results of a recent study, 13% of drivers in Britain know someone who is getting behind the wheel without passing their test.The survey was carried out by car insurance price comparison website, GoCompare.com, which found that 20% of those who hadn’t taken their driving test revealed they hadn’t done so because they couldn’t afford to.In figures released by the Department of Transport, between April and August of this year fewer than 640,000 driving tests were taken, signalling a significant fall of 5% in the number of driving tests being taken during this period compared to the exact time frame last year.The huge rise in the cost of motoring, including spiralling fuel and car insurance costs, has been blamed for deterring drivers from taking their driving test. Young drivers are also being worst hit by the hike in car insurance with annual cover for a 20 year old male costing over £4,000 according to figures from the second quarter of 2011.Car insurance price comparison website, GoCompare.com, described the practice of not taking a driving test as a “shocking new trend” with one in eight people estimated to know someone who is currently driving without a valid licence.

A pensioner from Aldershot has been banned from driving after racially abusing another driver. Mr Fitzpatrick aged 65 was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment.

Witnesses told courts that Mr Fitzpatrick has been constantly braking in front of the victim causing him to keep breaking. When the other driver finally overtook using the bus lane, Mr Fitzpatrick decided to follow him. Both drivers came to a stop and Mr Fitzpatrick was heard racially abusing the driver, threatening to kill him and grapping his car keys off him.

Madeleine Di Matteo, defending Fitzpatrick stated that he was the sole carer of his ex-wife who is very unwell and not mobile, he was using his ex-wife’s mobility car at the time of the incident and by banning him from driving, her quality of life would be severely impacted.

However, Mr Fitzpatrick has history of four similar offences, one only taking place in February this year. Based on this he incurred a £230 fine, £100 in costs and has been banned from driving for 12 months.

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A woman who caused another woman’s death by careless driving has walked free from court.

Ms Olayemi originally from Nigeria crashed her car into a bus shelter, killing a devoted mum aged 44 and injuring her nine-year –old son.

Olayemi has only held her driving licence from 2009 and passed on the fourth attempt. There were nine people at the bus stop that day and the outcome of her driving could have been very different.

Miss Scott’s family and neighbours of Ms Olayemi are outraged at the Judge’s decision, after he imposed a 12 month community order with 240 hours unpaid work and a 12 month driving ban. Miss Scott’s father said “life is worth crap”. She was also given 60 hour unpaid work when she was sentenced for stealing clothes the day she was charged.

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The new iPhone 4S is making it possible for motorists to legally text while driving in Iowa. The Department of Public Safety says Iowa’s ban on texting while driving does not apply to Siri, Apple’s new virtual assistant.Features like Siri or any of the similar voice-command applications let users tell their phone what to text. Captain Mike Winter is with the Iowa State Patrol.“We do have a law banning texting while driving, however if you do have a handheld electronic device that’s voice operated and hands-free, which allows you to either write, read or sent a text message without using either hand, you can use that device in your vehicle,” Winter explained.Motorists so be aware, however, once they pick up the phone to check spelling or dictation, they’re no longer hands-free and in violation of the ban. An exemption to the texting ban notes sending a text message through voice command is allowed, so long as you only touch the phone to turn that feature on and off.“As long as you’re hands-free, you’re okay,” Winter said. “There’s an exemption in the law which lets you activate or deactivate a feature or function on that kind of device.” Motorists caught texting while driving in Iowa can face a $30 fine, but with court costs added, the full bill could be $100.

Rubbernecking describes the act of gazing at something of interest. In the driving sense rubbernecking refers to drivers slowing down to view a traffic accident or something unusual.

Research has shown that rubbernecking can in turn contribute to other road traffic accidents. It can also cause huge delays as traffic flow is affected. Drivers will then often find that once they have passed the accident the road is clear and many drivers then take this opportunity to speed in order to make up time. This of course is something else resulting from rubbernecking that could lead to an accident.

It is human nature to be curious so it is not just drivers who want to view the aftermath of an accident but also tourists who are interested in sights that are new or unusual. However, it’s a dangerous act and its often disrespectful especially if the accident involved a fatality.

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UK motorists have been advised to keep an eye on their acceleration and power when driving during the winter months.

Simon Elstow, head of training with driver training specialist IAM Drive & Survive, has come up with a few tips to ensure people stay safe while on the roads, including maintaining a safe speed when the road is slippery, wet and cold.

He also suggested being aware of how a car applies power to the road, as the wheels of front-wheel drive vehicles spin more easily in bad weather.

“Power and acceleration are no good without control. This is especially true when drivers are faced with cold, wet and slippery conditions,” Mr Elstow remarked, adding that people should think twice about whether they really need to make their journey before setting off in icy conditions.

This comes after the new Toyota Yaris gained the top five-star rating in Euro NCAP crash testing for all-round safety performance, so motorists may want to consider investing in one if they think they’ll be doing a lot of driving in bad weather.

You here of a pile-up on the motorway and normally our first thoughts are why do drivers not keep a big enough distance between them and the cars in front but what happened on Friday 4th November was a tragic incident which resulted in 7 people losing their life.

The 34-vehicle pile-up left 51 people injured and seven people dead and is thought to be the work collision on British roads since 1991. Mr Craker, who was involved in the pile-up commented on the road conditions and said “It was like someone turned out the lights. I have never seen anything like it. It was like a wall of pitch black fog…there was one car in front of us, then suddenly it was black and the car disappeared. We might as well have been blindfolded”

The pile-up involved so many vehicles including heavy duty vehicles which led to a fireball on the carriageway, this made it incredibly difficult for the emergency services and other individuals to help. But the bravery that members of the public showed was inspiring, with less impacted drivers and passengers pulling people out of burning vehicles and taking them to safety.

The police are doing their best to understand the accident and to hold accountable anyone that may have contributed to the awful road conditions that day. Taunton Rugby Club had held a bonfire and fireworks event nearby and it is thought the smoke from this played a huge part in the fog that engulfed the M25. It was however, also dark and wet on the road. The important thing is how can we stop anything like this happening again? It is important these innocent people did not lose their lives in vain, but for now we have to let the police carry out their investigations.

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