Driver awareness courses

Postcode lotter y over the cost of driver awareness courses

■ Auto Express reveals fees for driver alertness and speed awareness courses vary by up to £100 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

TRAINING

Offending drivers in parts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland can sit course as an alternative to penalty points and fines –but fees vary

EXCLUSIVE

Martin Saarinen

Martin_Saarinen@dennis.co.uk AE_Consumer

SPEED and driver awareness courses differ in price by as much as £100 across the nation’s police forces, an Auto Express investigation has revealed.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, some motorists caught by the police can opt for a course as a substitute for penalty points and a fine. However, our survey revealed there’s no flat rate for how much you’ll pay – and where you’re caught can determine how much it’ll cost.

We reported in Issue 1,377 how police forces offer a range of different courses –some up to seven – and now we’ve found out the wide range of fees charged, too. For instance, a driver caught in Dorset for driving without due attention can opt to take a £200 national driver alertness course as an alternative to a court hearing. Yet a careless driver caught in Essex would pay only £100 for the same single-day course. Auto Express calculated that the average driver alertness course fee was £154.

Last year, more than 1.3 million motorists opted for a course instead of the fine and penalty points – an increase of a million from only five years ago. While Essex offers the cheapest driver alertness course, its speed awareness, What’s Driving Us and Driving4Change sessions are actually the highest priced. An Essex Police spokesman told Auto Express: “We decided to standardise the pricing structure of the courses to encourage more people to take them up. Each course costs £100, which is the equivalent of the fixed penalty notice amount.”

While the fees remain something of a postcode lottery, police forces do allow drivers to attend the course in another force area if requested.

“There’s no flat rate for these police-run courses – and where you’re caught can determine how much it’ll cost” How costs compare

Priciest driver alertness courses es

Dorset £200

Suffolk

£185 Warwickshire £180 Sussex £175 Cheapest driver alertness courses

Essex

£100 South Yorkshire £120 Lancashire £120 Avon and Somerset £124 North West Wales £124

Priciest speed awareness courses ses

Essex

£100 Humberside £95 Nottinghamshire £92.50 30

Cheapest speed awareness courses

Merseyside £79 Greater Manchester £79.50 Lancashire £79.50 Warwickshire £80 Avon and Somerset £80

Price is right for turbo 911 range

PORSCHE has announced further pricing and performance information about the facelifted 911 range, including details on the Carrera 4, Cabriolet and Targa models.

Kicking off the newly turbocharged line-up is the rear-wheel-drive Carrera, at £76,412 – a £2,000 price increase over the outgoing model. The new four-wheeldrive Carrera 4 starts at £81,398 – which is £3,000 more than before – with its 3.0-litre flat-six turbo engine developing 365bhp and 450Nm of torque. That’s enough to fire the car from 0-62mph eight-tenths faster than the previous version, in 4.1 seconds.

The more powerful Carrera 4S boosts power to 414bhp and 500Nm, completing the sprint in 3.8 seconds – seven-tenths quicker than the old naturally aspirated 3.8-litre model. That’s faster still than an Aston Martin Vanquish, which is more than

OFFICIAL

Prices and info revealed for turbo 911 coupé, Targa and Cabriolet

twice the price. The top speed has also increased to 190mph from 185mph.

The new 911 Targa and Cabriolet will debut at November’s LA Motor Show. They take exactly the same form as the previous cars, with the Targa featuring a fabric roof panel that slides away electrically behind the glass canopy; the Cabriolet sticks with a fully retractable folding soft-top. The Targa 4S and Cabriolet 4S cost £99,684, with the less powerful Targa 4 and Cabriolet 4 priced at £90,240 and £90,843 respectively.

Old tyres a risk to human health

AN invisible pollutant given off by degrading tyres causes emphysema and other health problems, US scientists have discovered.

Researchers were investigating the effect of carbon black and smoking on the lungs, and found the substance is also produced when tyres wear down.

The nano particles are impossible to remove once absorbed by the lungs, and turn the inside black. They’re invisible to the human eye, too, which makes them all the more dangerous.

As well as causing emphysema, carbon black can attack human DNA. Dr. James Tour from Rice University in Houston, Texas, said: “It is going to have to change. It’s imperative that risk assessments be conducted.” www.autoexpress.co.uk