Monday, January 9, 2012
Colds can cause crashes
A recent study undertaken by a young driver car insurance company in partnership with Halfords, and backed by research from Cardiff University’s Common Cold Unit, has revealed that having a cold may be more dangerous than previously thought.
By using telematics technology to monitor driving behaviour in motorists suffering from the sniffles, it was found that driving skills reduced by more than 50%.
Reportedly, that’s the same as having four double whiskies!
As well as having reduced reaction times, and as a result having to brake sharply much more often, the drivers tested were less aware of the road around them and cornered poorly, making them 33% more likely to hit a kerb.
The co-founder of the insurance firm stated, “This small-scale trial provides a warning for motorists. A heavy cold can impair a driver's mood, concentration and judgement.”
Well, that’s a good reason to ask to be chauffeured everywhere when you’re feeling poorly, isn’t it!
Photo © William Brawley via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: brake, Cardiff University, cold, Common Cold Unit, driving, Halfords, kerb, reaction times, telematics technology, young driver car insurance
Friday, October 28, 2011
Wisdom of old
Perhaps it’s all a myth that young driver car insurance is more expensive than the equivalent for older drivers.
Perhaps, instead of receiving cheaper quotes, older people are simply better at making decisions.It’s long been the prejudice, that far from being less able to make smart decisions, older people are less able than us, as the wear and tear of years fogs their senses and slows their faculties.
However, a recent study by scientists at the University Geriatrics Institute of Montreal reveals that older people are less likely to be thrown off course by making a mistake and more likely to make sounder decisions.
One of the researchers comments, "The older brain has experience and knows that nothing is gained by jumping the gun. It was already known that aging is not necessarily associated with a significant loss in cognitive function.
"When it comes to certain tasks, the brains of older adults can achieve very close to the same performance as those of younger ones.
"We now have neurobiological evidence showing that with age comes wisdom and that as the brain gets older, it learns to better allocate its resources.”
So perhaps older people are simply more adept at comparing car insurance quotes and choosing the one that is cheapest – but seeing as you’re here and you’re choosing Hoot, we know that’s not always true, don’t we.
Photo © giopuo via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: quotes, young driver car insurance
Monday, September 26, 2011
Flying high in the sky with my beautiful balloon
Here’s a novel way to save on your young driver car insurance costs – travel by helium balloon.
American pilot Jonathan Trappe has proved that it can be done and has carried out two epic journeys powered solely by wind and the lift of a multitude of colourful balloons.
Last year he crossed the English Channel and his most recent trip saw him crossing the Alps in a 12-hour journey which covered 94 miles.For the mountain crossing he used 54 balloons which allowed him to have one of the best views imaginable of the sun rising over the Alps as he drifted in silence at 15,000ft.
Setting off from Gap in France and landing near to the Italian town of Andezeno, the daredevil flyer said, “I would have probably died had I come down while flying over the Alps in the dark.
“Not just because it was dark, but because the terrain is so rugged there would be no place to land.
Adding, “The experience was just amazing though and it goes to show you can accomplish your dreams.”
The video of his ballooning experience does look amazing and I guess he was lucky to have had such a perfect day, but I don’t think I’ll be swapping my nice warm car any time soon for a bunch of balloons and a harness, no matter what the savings would be on motoring costs.
Image © katerha via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: helium balloon, motoring costs, young driver car insurance
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Space debris warning – Antarctica is the only safe place to be
There’s plenty of danger on the roads for Britain’s young drivers without the potential threat of redundant space hardware dropping onto the road in front of them, but it’s a distinct possibility say Nasa.
Apparently, the space bods have been tracking a six-tonne satellite which, they say, could fall to earth on Friday 23rd September, give or take a day or so.
Scientists reckon the UARS (upper atmosphere research satellite) could break up into around two dozen pieces as it closes in on earth and although there is a one in 3,200 chance that one of these chunks could hit someone on earth, Nasa officials believe that the risk to individuals is “extremely small”.Gene Stansbery, Nasa’s orbital debris chief (cool job title), said, "Things have been re-entering ever since the dawn of the space age; to date nobody has been injured by anything that's re-entered."
If you want to be completely safe, the only continent on earth that isn’t at risk of a debris strike is Antarctica, but that’s a long way to take your car. Let’s just hope that should your vehicle be hit by the falling wreckage, you have full young driver car insurance and any damage caused will be repaired as soon as possible.
Image © Joe Hastings via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: Nasa, satellite, young driver car insurance, young drivers
Monday, September 19, 2011
Crooks exploit pregnant roadside pause
One young driver and mother-to-be got a huge shock last week after having her sapphire-blue Porsche 911 stolen by a couple of opportunistic and morally-deficient thieves on a motorway in Northamptonshire.
The 28-year-old driver had pulled over after realising that she had a flat tyre. Heavily pregnant and worried about having to wait around too long, she was delighted when a couple of men pulled over in a white van and offered their services.
However, after putting a fresh tyre on, they waited until the woman had her back turned then sped off – one in the white van, the other in the Porsche.
The woman was so distressed she worried she might go into premature labour. She said, “It’s absolutely disgusting – these men have no morals. They couldn’t have cared less about leaving me stranded, even when it was obvious I’m just weeks away from giving birth.”
She added, “The man who got out was a bit of a Jack the Lad, very chatty. There was nothing that alerted me to what was really going on until he got in the car. It all happened so quickly.”
Now it is possible that the young woman will not see her Porsche 911 again, in which case she’ll have to make a claim on her young driver car insurance.
Image © Ed Callow [ torquespeak ] via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: Porsche 911, woman, young driver car insurance
Monday, August 15, 2011
Dad’s taxi, 80 years of service and counting
We’re all living longer. If your parents were born in the 1950s, chances are that they will now reach, or get very close to reaching their 80s and many may even reach their 90s – a far cry from life expectancy in the early part of last century, where reaching a half-century was considered for some a sign of venerable old-age.
Yet here we are in 2011. How things have changed, for example a baby girl born this year has a one-in-three chance of living to 100. In fact, according to the Office of National Statistics by 2066 there will be more than half a million people in the UK over the age of 100.
But how many of them will be drivers?
Recent figures show that there has been a 19% drop in 17 to 22-year-olds taking their driving test since 2005. The figure looks even more startling when you realise that is a drop of 200,000 drivers.And the chief reason for this fall?
Well, sadly its not improved public transport services but increases in the costs of motoring, particularly the price of young driver car insurance.
And this may not be a good thing for the drivers of the future. Not only is it harder to teach a new dog old tricks, but it’s also true that there is no substitute for experience. Simon Douglas, from the AA comments, "It doesn't matter what age you learn to drive, the longer you spend behind the wheel the better you'll be as a driver."
So perhaps we better hope that our parents live much longer than predicted, and for completely unsentimental reasons: without them we’ll be entirely reliant on the bus to get home, even when we’re using our OAP Freedom Pass.
Let’s keep our parents alive, we need the lift.
Photo © moonlightbulb via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: driving test, life expectancy, young driver car insurance
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
What do kids know about road safety anymore?
Do you know your Green Cross Code? I asked my little sister about it the other day (she’s 12) and she said she didn’t know what it was.
Yet, I remember being taught it at primary school (the same school as her – I was a pupil six years earlier) and was even part of a Green Cross Road quiz team which made it to the regional round of a national road safety competition.
The reason it came into my mind was because, as a young driver who’s constantly on the look out for road hazards, I recently came across a group of kids who just ran into the road without looking and I was forced to slam on my brakes so I wouldn’t hit them.
Luckily, I was driving well under the speed limit and, as I watched them running along the pavement a few metres ahead of me, I had a sneaky suspicion that they weren’t going to “stop, look and listen” before attempting to cross the road.
I was right!
As I screeched to a halt and let out a massive “phew” because no car accident had occurred and my young driver car insurance would not be compromised, I thought to myself, “Just what are they teaching the kids in schools these days?”
Then I realised I sounded like my mum and decided to drive on peacefully, vowing to always look and listen out for all road users.
And for anyone who’s interested you can find out about the Green Cross Code by clicking here.
Yet, I remember being taught it at primary school (the same school as her – I was a pupil six years earlier) and was even part of a Green Cross Road quiz team which made it to the regional round of a national road safety competition.
The reason it came into my mind was because, as a young driver who’s constantly on the look out for road hazards, I recently came across a group of kids who just ran into the road without looking and I was forced to slam on my brakes so I wouldn’t hit them.Luckily, I was driving well under the speed limit and, as I watched them running along the pavement a few metres ahead of me, I had a sneaky suspicion that they weren’t going to “stop, look and listen” before attempting to cross the road.
I was right!
As I screeched to a halt and let out a massive “phew” because no car accident had occurred and my young driver car insurance would not be compromised, I thought to myself, “Just what are they teaching the kids in schools these days?”
Then I realised I sounded like my mum and decided to drive on peacefully, vowing to always look and listen out for all road users.
And for anyone who’s interested you can find out about the Green Cross Code by clicking here.
Image © fiskfisk via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: car accident, Green Cross Code, road safety, young driver car insurance
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Young driver to old driver, it’s a slippery slope
It’s funny to think that all the prejudices and stereotypes that exist about “old fuddy duddies” will also one day apply to us.
My grandfather likes to berate me, saying things like, “You young drivers, with all your satnav gizmos and electric cars, your brains will go stale.”
When I ask him why, he tells me it’s because we don’t use them enough. He argues, perhaps more accurately than I care to admit to him, that “in his day” all young men used to read maps, whereas these young drivers “just let microchips do all the work, while their brain cells lose muscle mass”.
With his words still ringing in my mind, I wake the next day and go to the gym. I even drop round to his place the same evening and offer to help him chop firewood.
Granddad effortlessly slices his way through log after log – I’m still stuck on my first. Soon I complain that the axe is blunt. No it’s not, he says, you’ve been cutting against the grain. I wish he’d told me that five minutes ago, but, truth be told, I know he’s enjoyed it, watching me struggle as I learn the hard way.
Yes, one day, I’ll be old, however much I may struggle to comprehend it now. Pretty soon I won’t even need to find a young driver car insurance policy and from there it’s a slippery slope.
But when I am old, I only hope that I can manage to pull off being grumpy with half as much insight and humour as my dear old grandfather.
Image © cogdogblog via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: young driver car insurance