Councils Left With Pothole Headache Following Icy Winter

Councils have been left with huge bills of up to £100 million for repairs to roads following the extreme cold snap Britain has suffered.

The weather conditions have left more than one million potholes, with some craters up to a metre wide. Estimates state that there is a now one pot hole every 100 yards.

According to The Mirror, in the worst hit areas these potholes are equivalent to craters, with huge drops befalling cars that try and negotiate through them. This has already led to damaged exhausts and suspensions, and numerous punctures.
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Hazardous Driving in Hazardous Weather!

As I am sure you are aware, we have authored a few articles over the last few weeks on the weather and discussed some useful driving advice in these times of perilous motor conditions! But not all drivers out there appear to be taking heed of the safety warnings and advice that have been plastered all over the news in recent weeks!

According to sources form the Daily Mail (source) police were gobsmacked as they witnessed an elderly motorist driving through the snow with only a small peephole to look out from! Her vehicle was so covered in snow it resembled a frosted topped desert!

The motorist was spotted and pulled over by police driving in hazardous icy conditions with a thick layer of snow and ice covering the majority of the windscreen of her blue Nissan; attending traffic officers kindly provided the elderly lady, whom had nipped out to purchase some food, with an ice scraper! Nearby pedestrians were stunned as they watched her struggle to see out of the small peephole in the windscreen, and the images taken by Devon Police are now being used to remind drivers to use common sense and clear their vehicles of snow and ice before travelling.
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Alcohol Misuse & Personal Injury

We all like a good drink every now and then – and we all know the increasing safety concerns over Britain’s drinking habits that have hit the news over the last few years. And alcohol can often play a major part of a claim for compensation.

In fact, the BBC has authored a few articles recently on the issue. According to one report (source), the Conservative Party has called for a complete revamp on alcohol labelling. The centre-right party have stated that confusion is evident from the use of the term “units” on labelling; they are calling for more specific descriptions in line with most of Europe in an effort to encourage safer drinking.

The Tories (Conservatives) have suggested labelling should detail “centilitres of pure alcohol” and perhaps have a more specific breakdown of the contents, including calorie intake information. Reportedly research has shown only just over half of alcoholic beverages labels adopt the voluntary code of units contained within the drink; despite industry moves to improve compliance. The proposals come as part of the Conservatives new public health strategy, amid claims that the rising levels of alcohol abuse now include the figure that 1 in 10 people are classed as hazardous drinkers; a startling statistic!
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Snow Puts The UK in to Turmoil!

The UK has been surprised by unreported snow fall over the weekend which has sent the country in to turmoil due to the lack of preparation!

Heavy snow fall has caused congestion across our roads and at many airports…not to mention the channel tunnel we have all been hearing about!

The Daily Mail has reported this evening that blizzard like conditions hit some parts of the UK this afternoon again causing major disruption to the nation’s road and airports. Gatwick airport was forced to divert its flights this afternoon after it had to close its runways for de-icing and Luton airport shortly followed suit.
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Keeping Cyclists Safe On Our Roads

We more often than not write our blogs about road traffic accidents involving cars but what about your cyclists out there? How much risk are you guys or gals on our roads?

A study released earlier this month revealed that for every 100 motorists whom are injured in road traffic accidents there are at least 68 injuries to cyclists and pedestrians. This is an alarming statistic given that there are fewer cyclists on our roads than motorists.

Extra care needs to be taken to ensure that there are no cyclists in your path before your proceed. Double check your blind spot before changing lanes and always check that there are cyclists to either side of the vehicle before you turn or set off from traffic lights.

We have given out a lot of advice over the last couple of weeks for motorists but are cyclists at risk too?
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MOD Compensation Scandals – In the News Again!

I have authored a couple of articles on the MOD and the seemingly problem-filled compensation schemes in place for our injured war heroes – and Defence Chiefs have once again appeared on the wrong side of the news with a crazy compensation payout that you might not even believe!

According to sources from The Sun (source), a poultry farmer has been paid £42,000 in compensation because his chickens have “laid less eggs” due to noise from the Red Arrows scaring them! In fact, the MOD has paid out around £7.6 million in damages to people for noise related complaints… So why on are our brave injured soldiers receiving just a fraction of that sum?

According to the report, the Ministry of Defence spent the massive sum over a period of four years due to noise complaints from the Staffordshire poultry farmer, which came to light from a Freedom of Information request from The Sun. In fact there is more; see if you can match these sums to the victim:
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New Year Catch Up

Hope you had a lovely…incident free…New Year and are ready and raring to go for 2010!

Unfortunately, as you have all probably seen the cold weather is still upon us and appears to be worse than ever. Temperatures dropped below freezing and many of us seeing snow showers (some more than others!), it’s not the warmest welcome to 2010 I have to say.

I know it may seem that we keep ‘banging on’ about how dangerous the cold weather is but that’s because it is a daily reality and the ongoing cold weather can only lead to more problems on our roads. We want our blog readers to be as safe as they can be over the next few weeks.

Sky News have this evening reported on only a small handful of incidents around the country due to the snow and ice which is causing havoc on Britain’s roads.
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Unhappy Health Care

We all feel that we have been let down by our local health authority on some occasion whether it be the length of time you had to wait for your appointment or being told that you can’t have an appointment for ‘X’ number of weeks.

For some people they only know too well how it feels to be let down by the people whom you should be able to rely on the most.

The family of a patient under the care of Hywel Dda Health Board (Carmarthenshire Local Health Board) will be the first to tell you of their disappointment of the care provided to their severely injured son.

The young gentleman whom is only being referred to as ‘Mr B’ was left with serious brain injuries after being assaulted in July 2006. He was hospitalised for 10 months and required 24 hour nursing care.
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Driving; Just Why Are So Many Getting it Wrong?

We have more on negligent drivers and near serious accidents on Britain’s roads – which all come during our big freeze which I am not going to write about, as I am sure you are all quite tired of the same press coverage on the issue, and my many recent articles on the subject!

Ashley Cole and a Swiss millionaire – two people I recently wrote about in my articles related to speeding offences. Well how do these new names grab you – Harriet Harman and Jermaine Defoe. One is the Labour Party Deputy Leader and the other is a well known striker for Spurs. Both have been recently convicted of driving offences:

According to The Sun (source) Harriet Harman has pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention – she has been fined £350 and ordered to pay £75 worth of costs, and a victim surcharge of £15. She has also received three points on her driver’s license. Not the heaviest of penalties; my only hope are these fines don’t turn up on her next MP  expense claim form!
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Safe Driving, Speeding, and the Weather… Again – Because it Won’t Stay Out the News!

So the arctic conditions are continuing and the freezing temperatures have frozen the snow layered grounds causing what I am going to describe as ridiculously slippery conditions! Just this morning walking to my car (no more than 40 metres) was an epic battle as maintaining my footing and the pathway was difficult at best. The ice was around an inch thick alone, and not fun to walk (or should I say, skate) on.

So, what’s the best thing to do if you must use your vehicle? The BBC has very handily provided some solid advice for motorists on how to prepare for a journey out in to the snow:
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