In other news… 17/06/2011
UK is Europe’s most congested
Britain was certified the most congested country in Europe this week [full story].
Although Belgium’s Brussels topped the list, 16 British cities appeared in TomTom’s list of the 50 most traffic-clogged countries.
London was the UK’s highest charter at third with Manchester just managing to sneak inside the top ten with Bradford, Belfast and Oxford all following in quick succession.
France may have claimed four of the top ten places, with Paris just ahead of Manchester at ninth, but only two other French cities appeared thereafter.
Giles Margerison, a Director with TomTom Business Solutions, said: “With traffic congestion already costing the UK economy £8bn a year, it’s no great surprise that so many UK cities feature in the European top 50.
“For businesses that rely on drivers getting from A to B as quickly as possible, fleet management technology can be used to cut journey times by as much as 15% by automatically routing around congestion.”
Visit ContractHireAndLeasing.com for the full story and complete top 50 list.
Bad service – 750k cash-strapped motorists skipping their annual service
More than 750,000 drivers are not bothering to have their car serviced to save money, it has been suggested.
Robin Reames, Claims Director at Swiftcover – who commissioned the research – said avoiding an annual service was a false economy.
“A well serviced car is less likely to go wrong,” explained Robin. “In the long-term, servicing your car is likely to save you money by keeping it running smoothly.
“No-one wants to hear that their expensive car problems could have been prevented by shelling out a few pounds for a service.”
“It’s encouraging to see people are at least trying to service their cars themselves rather than not service their cars at all; however, if it’s the first time you’ve done it, it’s recommended that you get help from someone who is experienced in doing such a task themselves.”
The hole picture – clever clogs get creative with potholes
They are the bane of driving life for nearly every driver to get behind the wheel but two Montreal-based artists have given potholes a fun twist.
Husband and wife Claudia Ficca and Davide Luciano roped in some of the friends to transform these ghastly holes in the road into something quite special and are now touring the world with their My Potholes exhibition.
We’ll let mymodernmet.com fill you in with the rest of the back story but here’s a taster for now…
The new Yaris says hello
Toyota has dropped the veil on its third generation Yaris, ahead of its launch this summer (click the image for a closer look).
Based on the concept of “compact outside, spacious inside”, the Yaris will be available in 1.0-litre VVT-i and 1.33-litre dual VVT-i petrol units and a 1.4-litre D-4D diesel.
Toyota’s Touch & Go multimedia unit – a 6” touchscreen which works out the most ‘ecological’ route – will come as standard for 95% of sales.
Didier Leroy, President and CEO Toyota Motor Europe, reckons it the new Yaris will be Toyota’s strongest supermini ever.
He added: “With its new levels of ingenuity, efficiency and quality, we are confident it can build upon Yaris’s previous success and help Toyota rejuvenate its presence in Europe and move towards one million annual sales in the region in the medium term.”
I guess we’ll see later in the year…
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