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Good news on the horizon for Hauliers

March 18, 2011 By

And motorists it would seem.

Prime Minister David Cameron today gives his strongest hint yet that his government will ease the burden on hard-pressed motorists and hauliers.

Less than a week before Chancellor George Osborne delivers his Budget, Mr Cameron made it clear to the Press and Journal that help is on its way. He said he understands how drivers’ wallets “are being hit hard” because of soaring world prices. He added: “The Budget is coming up next week, and we are considering the options, including a fair fuel stabiliser which could support motorists when oil prices are high.”

Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/2184115?UserKey=#ixzz1Gz7X8pvk

Sarah

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Prepping for driving in the dark

November 1, 2010 By

Darker mornings and darker early evening means prepping for winter driving. You may have read in the papers that more accidents happen when British Summertime ends.  You don’t have to sit back and be a statistic, you can make sure you are tyre safe. You also need to make sure you have the best visibility possible. Good visibility and good tyres will go a long way to seeing you are safe this winter.

A Toyota Corolla in Finland 2005, full beam pr...
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Many accidents happen to van drivers due to restricted visibility, so that extra hour should have been put to good use with vehicle checks.

  • Check the screen wash
  • Check the wiper blades
  • Check the headlights and sidelights work correctly
  • Check that full beam and fog lights are working, before you need them.
  • Check your battery.

A clear and clean windscreen is vital when driving in poor weather conditions. Wiper blades that don’t wipe or only partially wipe are dangerous, they obstruct you vision.

As the light begins to fade, put on your side lights and then your full lights. Be as visible as possible to other road users.

If you don’t like driving in the early morning light or twilight, then outsource that aspect of the journey and drive when you feel the most comfortable with the light and road conditions.

Be prepared for driving in through fog pockets, they can appear from nowhere (or so it would seem). Add a torch to your glovebox and check the batteries are working. Make sure your mobile is fully charged before you leave on a journey.

An hour spent checking and topping things up can make all the difference this winter, so drive safely.

Kevin

For same day deliveries when you can’t do it yourself

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Driving made worse by video games?

September 8, 2010 By

When Sarah was learning to drive, her driving instructor told her that boys over the last few years had got better at driving and he thought that was due to playing video games. His experience as an instructor led him to believe that blokes had better steering control and ability than women merely because the played far more driving games.

Grand Theft Auto
Image by Juanedc via Flickr

Ann Godridge, our ebook editor and proofer, shared an article this weekend that was interesting. It was from the New Scientist and it suggests that computer driving games (like Grand Theft Auto) may mean teen drivers are more aggressive in their driving through game playing. That there is a real world cross over.

I can remember when I first passed my driving test, there was a rush at being able to drive without correction. Did I drive more aggressively? Yes,  I probably did. The reason I mention this was because as a teen I didn’t play computer games at all (they were banned in my parents house), let along driving games.

Most teens know right from wrong and that if they run over a granny Grand Theft Auto style, they would be looking at a prison sentence.

I personally think that the first ‘freedom’ a teen achieves is being able to drive and there is a certain amount of grandstanding involved. Their first accident usually sobers them up, it did me. My first and only accident seriously injured a car and a railing. I was very lucky, Oldchurch Roundabout was very lucky too. Did I drive recklessly again? No. Never. Lesson learned.

In Sarah’s first accident she reversed into a wall, she’s had a thing about walls, trees and kerbs ever since. She doesn’t do any of the driving in our business because she’s in her own words not a very confident driver. Knowing this, she drives slower (yes, that’s her in the middle lane ;) ) and is meticulous in ‘signaling her intentions’ to other drivers. She never forgets she is driving a one tonne killing machine.

One of the reason we always give preference to those that have more driving experience is, you get better with practice. 5 years experience over  2 years experience, providing everything else checks out, will always get you the job in our business.

What is your driving experiences? Do you think video has affected the way you drive at all?

Kevin

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How’s my driving?

May 27, 2010 By

You often see stickers on the back of vans, especially white vans, asking “how’s my driving”. Driving

Often there is a misconception that white van men are the worst drivers on the road, well those that have never seen “school run mum” or “school run dad” in action, would change their mind immediately. The rules of the road are, if you are reversing you stop,  wait until the other vehicles have passed, then continue reversing.  If you are on the school run, that rule is immediately thrown out of the window.

It’s seems that when on the school run, reversing vehicles have priorities, even if they are reversing into oncoming traffic.

Parking and road markings? you can forget them in an instant. Those yellow boxes, they don’t mean no parking to a parent on the school run, they mean emergency parking, close to the school as like the 50 or so other parents you have a child to drop off.

Let’s talk white lines…

In the UK we drive with the white line to the right of the steering wheel, we should not cross that white line. Now if a car is illegally parked and you have to pull around it, you will cross the white line into the oncoming traffic. What you should do is wait until you can go around, what happens is parents pulling around these vehicles as they are in their way *and* accelerating into the oncoming traffic, almost playing chicken, and then swerving back onto their side of the road.

How I wish they had some “how’s my driving?” stickers for me to call them.

Which leads to a question that needs to be answered – How am I supposed to call about how their driving is, whilst driving myself? The honest answer is I can’t drive and use the phone.  Doesn’t stop the parents on the school run though. A fellow courier company was just on the phone telling me they have had a spate of such calls, from parents in their vehicles complaining about their driver blocking a parking spot near the local school, they checked their tracking and they didn’t have a vehicle in the area at the time. They were quite puzzled and on the third such call, they asked where they had got the number from. From the van in the high street came the reply, it looked just like the one blocking the road at the school…

Not all school run mums/dads are the same, and not all white van men are the same.

Have a good look, see beyond the van.

Sarah

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Let’s talk transport!

May 17, 2010 By

Seriously, let’s sit down and talk about transport, not delivering your cargo or freight safely, you know I do that already.

What about driving? some fuel saving tips?    

Smoother driving and how to save petrol or diesel (part one) are just two of my recent blogs over at Kent Business Buzz, a new blog focusing in business bloggers in Kent.

Sarah spoke about the Difference in Delivery and tries to justify her watching of the Beeb’s costume dramas. It’s better than her essential driving tips for women!

I also have wrote about the fab women that drive for us, we are lucky to employ some great drivers and also in that blog I write about how transport has changed in the last 20 years.

Transport will continue to change, better safer driving as well as drivers from all kinds of backgrounds, with the love of the road in common.

Also I will be doing some more talks at networking meetings about safer driving, fuel saving driving and what you can do to keep your loved ones safer on the road. I will post up when they are happening, you are welcome to drop by, listen and share your tales of the road.

Kevin

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