Category Archives: Road transport

Call for UK utility firms to face higher fines for ‘street scars’ on pavements

Posted on by

Government adviser says water and telecoms privatisation is to blame for disfiguring streets with concrete slabs

The government must increase fines on utility companies that dig up pavements for roadworks, then pour in concrete rather than fixing the mess, a government adviser has said.

Telecoms and water companies are creating “street scars” in a “wasteful process” that is marring British high streets, Nicholas Boys Smith, who chairs the Office for Place in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has said in a report.

Continue reading...

Ulez fines scandal: Italian police ‘illegally accessed’ thousands of EU drivers’ data

Posted on by

Italy’s data protection body investigates claims police shared names and addresses with firm collecting penalties for TfL

The names and addresses of thousands of EU drivers were unlawfully accessed by Italian police and shared with the company that collects Ulez penalties on behalf of Transport for London (TfL), investigators believe.

The Italian data protection authority is investigating claims by Belgium’s government that an unnamed police department misused official powers to pass the personal details of Belgian drivers to Euro Parking Collections, which is employed by TfL to issue fines to enforce London’s low emission zone (Lez) and ultra-low emission zone.

Continue reading...

Fuel efficiency standards: Labor unveils proposal, highlighting petrol savings of $1,000 a year for motorists

Posted on by

Coalition-led scare campaign predicted for plan to place yearly cap on emissions for new cars sold in Australia

The Albanese government has unveiled its long-awaited plan for fuel efficiency standards for new cars while highlighting potential savings of $1,000 a year and predicting a Coalition-led scare campaign.

The proposed model, announced on Sunday, would place a yearly cap on the emissions output for new cars sold in Australia to incentivise carmakers to supply low- and zero-emissions vehicles and penalise companies that do not.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘It’s unfathomable’: speed hump saboteurs join Italy’s pro-car vandals

Posted on by

First cameras were torn down by someone calling themselves Fleximan – now traffic calming measures are being targeted

Renzo Bergamini, the mayor of Gualtieri, was on his way to buy the newspapers on Tuesday morning when he noticed something was amiss with one of the two speed humps positioned on the town’s ring road.

“I saw that the sections of the hump were slightly misaligned,” he said. “The bolts had been unscrewed.”

Continue reading...

Deadliest six months on Australian roads since 2010 leaves industry demanding answers

Posted on by

Motoring association criticises data quality and say Australia has ‘no credible plan’ to reduce incidents as nation records 677 deaths since July 2023

The second half of 2023 was the deadliest six months on Australian roads since 2010, but there is “no credible plan” to make roads safer, the industry claims, as it pleads for better data to understand what is causing the surge in fatal crashes.

In the three months to September 2023, there were 341 road deaths nationally. The following quarter’s figures decreased only slightly from that, with a further 336 deaths recorded to the end of December. The total 677 road deaths in the final six months of 2023 was the largest half-yearly road toll since the first half of 2010, when 688 people died on roads across Australia.

Continue reading...

Multiple crashes on Maryland bridge injure 13 and force temporary closures

Posted on by

More than 40 vehicles involved in collisions on Chesapeake Bay Bridge starting at 8am, says local transportation authority

Several crashes involving more than 40 vehicles occurred on Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland on Saturday, injuring 13 people and forcing temporary closures.

In several announcements on X throughout Saturday morning, the Maryland transportation authority said that all lanes had been closed following a multivehicle crash on westbound lanes and warned of major delays. According to the MDTA, its police dispatch received initial calls of the crash at 8am.

Continue reading...

‘It was so worrying’: EU motorist tells of £11,000 run-in with London Ulez rules

Posted on by

Driver was unaware he had to register French hire car with TfL’s collection agent even though it was emissions compliant

Christian Ducarre received three fines totalling nearly £11,000 after driving his French hire car to London to attend his son’s wedding. The car, which was fully compliant with ultra-low emission zone emissions rules, was mistakenly classed as a heavy goods vehicle and deemed to be in breach of the separate low emissions zone (Lez) and well as Ulez. Lez covers lorries, vans, buses and coaches, and fines are between £500 and £2,000 a day depending on the vehicle’s weight.

“I had checked that the car’s emissions standard was Euro 06 and so was not liable for the Ulez charge,” he said.

Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands of EU citizens ‘wrongly fined for driving in London Ulez’

Posted on by

Exclusive: EU states accuse TfL of huge data breach over clean air zone penalties, with many given to compliant vehicles

Hundreds of thousands of EU citizens were wrongly fined for driving in London’s Ulez clean air zone, according to European governments, in what has been described as “possibly one of the largest data breaches in EU history”.

The Guardian can reveal Transport for London (TfL) has been accused by five EU countries of illegally obtaining the names and addresses of their citizens in order to issue the fines, with more than 320,000 penalties, some totalling thousands of euros, sent out since 2021.

Continue reading...

Tourists heading to Europe could face 14-hour queues at Dover from October

Posted on by

New EU entry-exit system could lead to gridlocked roads if scheme goes ahead as planned, MPs hear

Tourists heading to Europe could face waits of up to 14 hours at border controls under a scheme to be launched in October, MPs have been told.

The Port of Dover and the surrounding area could face significant disruption when the EU entry/exit system is introduced unless measures are taken to prevent delays, parliament’s European scrutiny committee has heard.

Continue reading...

Tiny proportion of e-scooter injuries appear in official UK data

Posted on by

Study warns that lack of reporting may mask the dangers of still-mostly-illegal scooters on roads and pavements

The majority of e-scooter accidents that involve someone needing hospital treatment are not being recorded in official road accident figures, a new study reveals, sparking fears that their dangers have been underplayed.

The analysis found that just 9% of injuries involving e-scooters and recorded by 20 emergency departments over a two-month period were found in official figures. And just over a quarter of the most serious injuries were recorded in road casualty data.

Continue reading...

Sadiq Khan backs sending 4x4s due for scrappage under Ulez to Ukraine

Posted on by

London mayor had claimed law stopped him allowing vehicles beneath emissions standards to be donated to war effort

Sadiq Khan has pledged to send 4x4s and other vehicles to Ukraine that would otherwise be scrapped under the Ulez scheme.

The mayor of London has asked the transport secretary, Mark Harper, to enable people to donate suitable vehicles to Ukraine through scrappage schemes.

Continue reading...

Keep UK trains running at Christmas and save engineering works for January, say campaigners

Posted on by

‘It doesn’t have to be this way’: Britain’s transport networks again grind to a halt during festive period

There was a familiar sense of misery for many travellers in the week before Christmas as hundreds of trains were cancelled, motorways were closed and ferry passengers queued for miles waiting to board their ships.

But it doesn’t have to be this way, transport campaigners say, as politicians and transport bosses have the power to ease some of the problems facing travellers.

Continue reading...

Christmas getaway travel disruption likely to continue through weekend

Posted on by

Weather warnings issued for drivers and London’s King’s Cross and Paddington stations will be closed

Christmas getaway travel disruption is expected to continue throughout the weekend, with millions of car journeys under way and major London railway stations due to close on Sunday.

The AA estimated that 16.4m car journeys will take place on Saturday and warned of “lengthy jams”.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Daniel Andrews fires up over ‘Dictator Dan’ moniker; festival-goers warned about heatwave conditions

Posted on by

Former Victorian premier gives first interview after resignation, saying ‘the haters hate and the rest vote Labor’. Follow the day’s news live

James Ashby to stand for One Nation in Queensland seat

James Ashby, the chief of staff to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, will stand for the party in the seat of Keppel at next year’s Queensland state election, AAP reports.

The Nationals are dead in Queensland’s parliament while the Liberals are lurching further left in their attempts to secure inner-Brisbane seats.

Continue reading...

London’s biggest minicab firm Addison Lee makes emissions U-turn

Posted on by

Lack of public chargers blamed for decision to be only ‘zero-emissions capable’ by April 2024

London’s biggest minicab company has U-turned on plans for all its cars to produce zero emissions this year, blaming a lack of public chargers in the capital.

Addison Lee said it had spent £30m on new Volkswagen Multivans, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which combine a small battery with a polluting internal combustion engine, and admitted that the switch to electric cars had been harder than it had expected.

Continue reading...

EU hatches backup plan to lessen impact of 10% Brexit tariff on EVs

Posted on by

Exclusive: ‘Cushion’ for carmakers facing looming tariff under deal for vehicles traded between EU and UK from start of 2024

The European Commission has hatched confidential Plan B proposals to “cushion” the impact of a looming 10% tariff on imports and exports of electric vehicles, the Guardian has learned.

The proposal was presented to member states on Monday in response to pressure from carmakers to amend some of the conditions imposed when the UK left the EU in January 2021.

Continue reading...

When is a car not a car? When it’s a Swedish A-traktor

Posted on by

Vehicles modified to not go above 19mph became a teenage rite of passage, but amid a rise in accidents, there are calls for a ban

It began as an agricultural necessity and grew into a beloved rite of passage for teenagers in rural Sweden. Invented in the early 1900s by farmers who were short on equipment, the A-traktor lives on as the vehicle of choice for motorists as young as 15.

But the cars, which are supposed to have been modified to have a maximum speed of 30km/h (19mph), are increasingly causing concern. Guidance introduced in 2020 made it easier to convert almost any car into an A-traktor and the change appears to have led to a sharp rise in related injuries and deaths.

Continue reading...

‘Disrupting in every way’: LA faces chaotic commutes after interstate fire

Posted on by

Hazardous materials teams clear burned material from underneath Interstate 10 as crews assess damage

Arson was likely the cause of a raging fire over the weekend that has closed a mile-long stretch of the I-10, a major elevated interstate highway near downtown, the California governor said on Monday.

The California department of forestry and fire protection fire marshal made a preliminary determination that the fire was set intentionally, Gavin Newsom said during a press conference at the fire site. He said investigators have received some tips from witnesses but did not say if there were any suspects or persons of interest.

Continue reading...

Vehicle breakdowns due to potholes hit record level in 2023, says RAC

Posted on by

Calls over pothole incidents hit 6,000 in usually benign summer months amid ‘substandard’ roads

Vehicle breakdowns caused by Britain’s pothole-ridden roads reached record levels this year, according to the RAC.

The motoring organisation said it received almost 6,000 calls for pothole-related incidents from July to September – its highest total for the relatively benign summer period since it started collecting data in 2006.

Continue reading...

Former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon passes driving test at 53

Posted on by

Ex-SNP leader says she passed first time but the challenge of learning took her well out of her comfort zone

Nicola Sturgeon has announced on social media she has passed her driving test at the age of 53.

The former first minister of Scotland said she was successful on her first attempt. She posted a photograph of herself and Andy McFarlane, her driving instructor, on Instagram on Monday.

Continue reading...