New Year news round-up

Noble GT snapped; scameras don't work; speeding loses jobs

By PH Staff / Tuesday, 4 January 2005 / Loading comments

Though not a huge amount happened in the PistonHeads world over Christmas and New Year period, one man could lose his job over speeding, it's now all but proven that speed camera policies don't work, the government's transport Web site launches (are they trying to hide it by doing so on 31 December?), and the Noble GT car is snapped by a quick-witted PHer.

Speeding causes job losses -- at least in the case of the Duke of Gloucester, the Queen's cousin, who could lose his 32-year tenure as chief of the Institute of Advanced Motorists as a result of being stripped of his driving licence. Why? His fourth speeding offence in three years -- this time 70mph in a 60mph limit -- generated 12 points and an automatic ban under the totting up rule. The ban will last six months and the IAM decides whether to axe him at its next meeting on 8 March 2005. He will however lose his membership.
The number of motorists in Scotland trapped by the insidious rise of the Gatso went 56,000 to 181,000 in 2003, with North Lanarkshire topping the list of total convictions, according to figures released just before Christmas. At the same time, the number of road deaths rose by seven per cent between 1999 and 2003, with the number of children killed shooting up by a massive 20 per cent. Reaction from opposition politicians and motorists groups, including Safe Speed's Paul Smith focused on how the Gatso campaign isn't working because siting was about making money, not saving lives.
The Department of Transport stealthily launched the Transport Direct site on 31 December 2004. We reported late last year that the system was overpriced, slow, late and didn't work properly. Feedback from PHer's welcomed... More here: www.transportdirect.info/ and here: www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=9561
And finally, the pictures at the top tell it all -- that's the new Noble GT car, taken at the Britcar meeting at Brands last month. Note the car did not race and was only out of the transporter for 20 minutes. Thanks to photographer Steve Webb for his nifty camerawork.