Welcome to Total Drive Industry Round-Up, the place for any need-to-know industry news. Our updates are aimed directly at you, the driving instructors of Britain, and are full of all the things you should know. Here’s what has been going on recently:
New homes in England to have electric car chargers by law
New homes and buildings in England will be required by law to install electric vehicle charging points from next year, the prime minister has announced.
The government said the move will see up to 145,000 charging points installed across the country each year.
New-build supermarkets, workplaces and buildings undergoing major renovations will also come under the new law.
The move comes as the UK aims to switch to electric cars, with new petrol and diesel cars sales banned from 2030.
Announcing the new laws at the Confederation of British Industry’s conference on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK was going to “radically” change its cars, trucks, buses and other modes of transport.
“The force driving that change won’t be government, it won’t even be business…it will be the consumer. It will be the young people of today, who can see the consequences of climate change and will be demanding better from us.”
Credit: BBC
Despite drop in traffic, private parking fines are up
This year UK drivers have been given a near record number of parking fines from private firms, despite being quieter during the pandemic.
According to new figures, 1,95 million motorists were charged in the first three months of the 2021-22 financial year, compared with 497,678 in the first quarter of last year (2020-21) when lockdown restrictions were in full force.
If parking fines continue to increase over the next three quarters, it will near the record high of 8.4 million tickets issued in 2019/20, which saw 2.1 million issued in the first quarter.
With fines capped at £100, private firms issued demands for up to £840 million in 2019/20 and £195 million in the first three months of this financial year alone.
Credit DIA
Snow driving laws that could land you with a £100 fine and 9 points on your licence
As heavy snow blankets Yorkshire and more ice warnings are set for the coming week, drivers are being urged not to risk a fine for these common cold motoring mistakes.
There are several ways in which the police can issue a fine for driving in the snow – and it could be pretty easy to overlook them.
For example, if you’re caught driving with snow on your car – even piled up on the roof – and an officer sees it fall from the car while you’re driving, you could instantly be hit with a £60 fine and have three penalty points added to your licence.
That’s because it could fall foul of Section 229 of the Highway Code, which states that drivers must ‘remove all snow that might fall off into the path of other road users’.
So you’ll want to thoroughly sweep all the snow off your car before setting off.
Another rule relates to visibility through windows including the windscreen and back window.
The Highway Code stipulates that if driving in adverse weather conditions you must, by law, be able to see out of every glass panel in your vehicle.
This is set out in section 41D of the Road Traffic Act 1988, meaning it is a legal requirement to have a clear view of the road ahead before you set off.
This also means ensuring your windscreen is de-iced on the outside and thoroughly de-misted on the inside – even condensation on the window could land you with a fine.
According to the RAC, this carries a £100 fine and as many as nine penalty points if you were to cause an accident.
Credit Yorkshire Live
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