Transportinfo.org.uk - today's transport news in the uk, hand picked for you each morning

Friday, 01 July 2016

Department for Transport

• 20 years of the theory test making roads saferThe driving theory test is today (1 July 2016) marking 20 years of helping to make Great Britain’s roads safer.
• Cash boost for cleaner, greener vans and lorriesTransport Minister Andrew Jones announces £19 million funding to help freight industry cut vehicle emissions and unveils accreditation scheme.

Financial Times

• Tesla reveals first self-driving car deathRegulators probe role technology may have played in accident

The Guardian

• Tax new diesel cars up to £5,000 to cut pollution, says reportMoney raised should be spent on improving public transport, cycling and walking, advise researchersThe purchase of highly polluting diesel cars in the UK should be discouraged with a tax of up to £5,000 to help tackle the public health emergency of air pollution, according to a new report. The policy could be particularly important following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, which until now has set most pollution rules. Continue reading...
• Tesla driver dies in first fatal crash while using autopilot modeThe autopilot sensors on the Model S failed to distinguish a white tractor-trailer crossing the highway against a bright skyThe first known death caused by a self-driving car was disclosed by Tesla Motors on Thursday evening, a development that is sure to cause consumers to second-guess the trust they put in the booming autonomous vehicle industry. The 7 May accident occurred in Williston, Florida, after the driver, Joshua Brown, 40, of Ohio put his Model S into Tesla’s autopilot mode, which is able to control the car during highway driving. Continue reading...

The Mirror

• Tesla confirms first death involving Autopilot car after vehicle smashes into tractor trailer The driver was killed while operating in Autopilot mode in Williston, Florida, in what the company has described as "extremely rare circumstances"

Birmingham Post

• Plan to axe hard shoulder on the M6 and M42 'are dangerous and must be stopped' MPs slam plans to speed up traffic on Midland motorways by axing hard shoulders

The Shields Gazette

• Work to start on major South Tyneside transport schemeMotorists are being reminded that a major highways improvement project is to get underway..
• Joy for drivers as A1 roadworks finally end - and extra lanes openDrivers will see an end to months of misery as works finally come to an end on a stretch of the A1.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Scrapping the hard shoulder would compromise motorway safety, says committeeConverting the motorway hard shoulder into a permanent driving lane is not a safe solution to Britain’s increasingly congested roads, MPs comprising the Transport Select Committee have recommended. Around 300 miles of motorway could see their hard shoulder converted into a permanent traffic lane before 2025 under 30 schemes currently being proposed. However, the Transport Select Committee has called for plans for ‘all lane running’ to be dropped amid safety concerns.   Committee chair Louise Ellman MP said that the permanent loss of the hard shoulder would be “a radical change and an unaccepta...
• BT is “London's worst roadworks offender”, says TfLBritish Telecom (BT) has been forced to pay out almost £8,500 for causing disruption on London’s roads and compromising pedestrian safety during work carried out between January and March this year. Transport for London (TfL) successfully prosecuted the telecoms operator, which pleaded guilty, over unsafe street works on Brixton Road, as well as failing to serve necessary statutory works notices following the completion of work on Clapham Road. A lack of proper planning and safety measures during the work meant that pedestrians were forced to walk on the carriageway while workers just stood an...