With Jan 31st coming fast, and tax returns due to be processed and entered.. as you are all filling out the fat cheques to the tax man, remember this is how they plan to spend it..!

The government is to spend £1.3m on providing driving lessons for some of the UK's 200,000 van drivers, to make them more considerate behind the wheel.

They will also teach 'white van man' - the stereotype aggressive driver - how to reduce fuel consumption by using the right gears and better braking.

Launching the scheme, transport secretary Alistair Darling said he had been 'driven mad' by bad van drivers (so that's his excuse). However, he said all motorists could improve their driving.

'If we can persuade the driving population as a whole to drive better, you'll get a cleaner, safer, cheaper drive, and that must be a good thing,' he said at the launch of the scheme

The Safe And Fuel Efficient Driving Scheme will pay for the training of 200 instructors to teach advanced van driving techniques and will then fund lessons for 3,500 drivers.

The Department for Transport said annual savings of up to £500 in fuel costs per van and a quarter of a tonne of carbon could be made by using techniques such as a better use of gears, keeping correct distances from the vehicle in front and better road awareness.

Peter Lee from the Transit Van Owners' Club said he welcomed the idea.

He said it was worrying that people could take their driving test in a smaller vehicle but then buy a van which 'is five, six times bigger than the car you've passed your test in, and you can just jump in and drive away, having no experience of driving a van at all'.

Yeah like this is going to work!!!

Doncaster Council is to launch a 'pace car' scheme in an attempt to slow down traffic on the borough's roads.

In track-based motorsport, a pace car is driven by an official around the track, usually following an accident or fuel spillage. It sets a 'safe pace' until the hazard is cleared.

The Community Pace Car Scheme is outlined on Doncaster council's website. It invites members of the public to perform 'a mobile traffic calming role, keeping the overall speed of traffic following you at the speed limit.' Drivers will be registered with the council's Public Safety Unit and will receive a sticker to put in their car window.

'All you have to do is obey the law and make a commitment to drive at or below the speed limit for the road you are driving on.'

Isn't that what all drivers should, by law, be doing anyway? The scheme hardly seems a substitute for proper enforcement.

I saw the white van proposal last night these people make me puke What about HGV drivers what about teenagers what about the very elderly what about foriegn nationals ( imigrants ) what about the un-insured the list is endless ( & I have'nt even mentioned WOMEN ).......... a complete waste of money

As for Doncaster Council - this must be a laugh - is it April 1st yet? All that will happen is ............ car in 40 zone trunddles along at 35 ... car behind ( lots of them ) peed off....... put foot down to overtake, probably dangerously as well.

IDIOTS THE LOT OF THEM  
" WITH MORE EXTRAS THAN A HOLLYWOOD EPIC "

We'll be back to the days of flag men again on our roads before we know it!! And since when is a Transit van 6 times bigger than a car??? All the more reason to buy an uninhabited island in the South Pacific with enough space for us and our RRS's (and a Spearmint Rhino, of course)  

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shmoogle wrote:

We'll be back to the days of flag men again on our roads before we know it!! And since when is a Transit van 6 times bigger than a car??? All the more reason to buy an uninhabited island in the South Pacific with enough space for us and our RRS's (and a Spearmint Rhino, of course)

I think I'll keep quiet on this one!  2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
2009 Alaska TDV8 - Gone and much missed.



WINNER - 2009 �Idler Of The Year� Award
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MDP wrote:

I saw the white van proposal last night these people make me puke What about HGV drivers what about teenagers what about the very elderly what about foriegn nationals ( imigrants ) what about the un-insured the list is endless ( & I have'nt even mentioned WOMEN ).......... a complete waste of money

As for Doncaster Council - this must be a laugh - is it April 1st yet? All that will happen is ............ car in 40 zone trunddles along at 35 ... car behind ( lots of them ) peed off....... put foot down to overtake, probably dangerously as well.

IDIOTS THE LOT OF THEM

YOU MISS OUT 4X4 DRIVERS