Spaghetti Junction puts drivers in a spin

Birmingham’s Spaghetti Junction has been voted Britain’s most intimidating road junction, according to motorists.

Road rescue company Britannia Rescue asked drivers to vote on the UK’s most hair-raising intersections and Spaghetti Junction was revealed as the most intimidating, followed by the M8 junctions 13-21 through Glasgow.

London’s Marble Arch, Swindon’s ‘Magic Roundabout’ and the Hanger Lane gyratory system completed the top five most intimidating junctions. They were followed by the M5/M6 intersection in Birmingham; London’s Piccadilly Circus, Birmingham’s Five Ways junction, ‘Magic Roundabout’ in Hemel Hempstead and Kingston Bridge in Glasgow.

The research revealed that one in twelve motorists (8%) avoided scary junctions, driving on average an extra 238 miles a year on detours to avoid having to use them.

Some particularly nervous motorists (2%) even admitted to avoiding taking right turns at all costs, because they were so concerned about their safety.

Large cities also came under fire from anxious drivers, with one in seven (14%) saying they avoided urban driving altogether. The complex road systems in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds were labelled by motorists as particularly difficult to navigate.

Drivers also identified specific features of urban roads which were confusing and had a negative impact on their driving. Large roundabouts were considered the most problematic (by 30% of drivers), followed by one way systems (14%), speed humps (11%), cameras (9%) and box junctions (7%).

Simon Stevens, general manager of Britannia Rescue, said: “All drivers have to deal with particularly hairy intersections from time to time. But what this research shows is that badly designed and confusing junctions are spoiling the driving experience for many motorists. Some will even drive hundreds of miles out of their way every year to avoid difficult junctions.

“We urge motorists to familiarise themselves with tricky road junctions so that they are better prepared when they have to use one.” (Britannia Rescue: November 27).

Renault and Moscow agree on Avtovaz

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and bosses at Renault have signed a memorandum of understanding on restructuring Avtovaz (see press release on Newspress).

Under the terms of the agreement the Russian government has pledged €1.67 billion in financial support for Avtovaz and Renault has pledged €240 million in kind, but no cash.

Renault has a 25% stake in the Russian carmaker, which has warned that it is near bankruptcy. (Financial Times: November 27).

PSA to launch four electric vehicles in 2010

PSA Peugeot Citroen will launch four electric vehicles in Europe in late 2010 – two commercial vehicles, two cars and a scooter.

The roll-out will put the motor manufacturer just ahead of rival Renault, which plans to begin selling three electric cars and a commercial vehicle in 2011 and 2012. (Financial Times: November 27).

RAC urges festive motorists to know drink-drive limits this Christmas

As the Christmas party season kicks off, many motorists are still unsure of exactly how many drinks they can have before being over the limit, it has been claimed.

This year’s RAC Report on Motoring found that 85% of UK motorists wanted more information on drink-drive limits and units of alcohol.

Now, RAC is calling on the government to help clear up the grey area surrounding units of alcohol by reducing the drink drive limit to 50mg. This reduction, says the RAC, which has joined the call regularly made by road safety campaigners, would go some way towards making it clear to motorists that any more than one drink is likely to put them over the limit.

RAC is also urging the Government to provide more education on the effects of ‘morning after motoring’, as many motorists might be unaware they are still over the limit the morning after the Christmas party.

Adrian Tink, RAC motoring strategist said: “Drink driving ruins lives and has rightly become socially unacceptable over the last two decades. So it’s a huge concern that we’ve seen the total number of people killed last year in drink-driving related incidents rise for the first time since 2003. We need to make sure that this is a one-off blip and not the start of an unacceptable trend. It’s time for the limit to be re-examined.

“We also need to see greater and clearer guidance for motorists on ‘the morning after’. We’re now in the run-up to the Christmas party season and there’s a real danger a lot of drivers will jump in their cars the next morning and unknowingly still be over the limit.” (RAC: November 27).

Car dealers fear recession is not over

Car dealer business owners fear the recession may still have a year to run, despite the worst being over.

More than half say the recession is set to continue for 12 months or more, according to the findings from a new survey by Clifton Asset Management.

However, it also reveals some positive news – more firms have been able to avoid cutting staff in the past six months.

Three months ago, more than a third of car dealers found they’d had to cut staff. This time round, the number has fallen to 28%. What’s more, far less businesses fear they will have to cut staff in the coming months.

More than a third (35%) reckon business has improved, although the same number say nothing much has changed. However, both outweigh the 27% who say things have got worse.

“Our survey is starting to reveal real cause for hope, on the jobs front at least, that the worst is over,” said Anthony Carty, director at Clifton Asset Management.

“However, SMEs are at the eye of the storm and over half believe the recovery will be long and slow. This seems to chime with forecasts that we could be into 2011 before the recovery is properly under way.

“Any recovery will be slow at a time when they are bracing themselves for the ‘double whammy’ of tax increases and public spending cuts.” (Car Dealer Magazine: November 27).