News.Scotland.Org

Scotland is battling to ward off a shortage of salt to grit its roads as the country is facing two weeks of heavy snowfall. The Scottish Government was forced to step in last night to ensure there was enough salt to grit roads in Fife. The salt supplies were said to be at “critically low levels in many councils across Scotland“.

The transportation in Scotland has almost come to a still and, if the situation prevails the public life will be numbed. There are already warnings of a fresh snowfalls in central and northern parts of the country. Temperatures at nights in central Scotland are expected to be between -5C and -10C but could reach -15C, creating instant ice problems where there is snow or rainfall. Several road mishaps and accidents have reported in the country on contrary to the heavy snowfalls.

The severe weather conditions are said to affect the major businesses that would impact Scotland’s economy as poor travel conditions stop people from returning to work from the Christmas and New Year break. Yet, the Transport Scotland seems to reassure the public that there is enough salt to keep Scotland’s motorways open.

July, 8

Adding another count to the rising number of accidents in the UK, last day one more such tragic accident occurred in the county Antrim. In this fatal accident two Indian men lost their lives.

According to sources the accident occurred on the A8 between Belfast and Larne near the Bruslee here yesterday. The crash involved two cars and a bus in which several passengers were traveling.

The eye-witness of this tragic crash described it as a horrific accident; those Indian origin men who lost their lives were reported to be in their early 40s and were in the same car. The passengers in the bus and the person driving the second car have escaped with minor injuries.

Meanwhile Councillor Paul Girvan, who was one of the witnesses of the accident, said the part of the road where the accident occurred is an extremely dangerous one, and often vulnerable to such accidents.

June, 16

Good news for all those pedestrians who were walking down the street with a fear in their mind of being a victim of the rising road accidents in the UK. Coming up with a new idea, a Toyota subsidiary is planning to deploy airbags at the front of the bonnet and below the wind screen in cars. This new addition in cars will help to avoid loads of deadly accidents killing several innocent pedestrians every year.

This major car company has introduced this innovative idea for exterior airbags keeping in view the rising number of accidents. This unique system uses sensors linked to a computer system which constantly scans the road ahead and thus calculates if and when the car is about to hit a pedestrian. In such untoward situations the airbags opens up to cushion the impact. Till now cars do use to come with interior airbags for resistance of the accident to the people driving the car, but this unique idea will be a great addition for all.

If we look at the figures, we can find that about 675 pedestrians dies each year in road accidents and many suffer from injuries. In context of these figures this new exterior airbags will definitely prove to be a great help to some how drop the rate of deaths caused by accidents every year. These airbags are developed by the Nagoya- based Toyoda Gosei, who manufactures airbags and other safety equipments for various car companies around the world. It was known that the company has recently presented its new airbags in the motor show held in Japan where it was appreciated.

The design of the airbags is made making sure it reduces the impact of the accident to the pedestrian. The front airbags will help to reduce the waist injuries in adults and head injuries in children. Meanwhile works are still going on to make sure the airbags can fit in to any car model and can go off at the right time.

May, 20

If you are clue less why suddenly the number of cars in the streets of UK has dropped, then check out the soaring prices of petrol and diesel. Travellers in UK are now-a-days are sweating a lot with the confusion whether to travel or not to travel by their cars, this jump in fuel prices has made the life of travellers restless.

If we look at the prices of petrol we can make out how sharply the rates have gone up this year. Even the petrol retailers association had predicted a further rise in petrol by 5 pence a litre by the weekend. In a poll done by AA which included about 17,500 members found that 16% people have cut short their traveling using cars, other 27% people had slashed their spending on other areas to meet the extra price, while about 21% had done both the ways to meet the increased prices of petrol.

It is said that one of the reasons for the jump in prices of petrol and diesel is the rise in the wholesale price of oil which has affected the retail price of fuel. If we compare the present price of petrol and diesel, we can clearly find the difference in the previous and present price which is further expected to go up. The official figures have shown that the car traffic had suddenly fallen by 2% with this surge in petrol rates. Now all eyes are whether the current trend of petrol and diesel price will drop or will remain the same in near future.

April, 21

To keep a check to the rising numbers of accidents in Scotland police have launched a crackdown on the divers who don’t use to wear seatbelts while driving. It is evident that road accidents has been a serious cause of worry for Scotland since a long time, which so far has claimed many lives.

To bring down the soaring incidents of road crashes a drive was initiated by the Scottish police to watch out for all driving parameters one has to flow on roads. In this drive police patrolling will be put in to action in all most all busy roads to crackdown rash drivers. In one of the survey carried out by the Scottish government it was found that over 11 per cent of the motorist don’t wear seatbelts and over 22 per cent back seat passengers also avoid putting their seatbelts.

It was also known that the over speed at which people use to drive is also a major cause for these road accidents. The study has clearly shown that huge number of accidents has occurred due to the high speed driving. The motorists are not at all following the prescribed speed limits and are not only risking their lives but also of others.

This drive by Scotland police will look into all these aspects and will make sure all road safety regulations are followed by the drivers.

November, 23

In a latest survey it was revealed that, the British manufactured cars are one of the most and least reliable on roads. This shocking fact was disclosed after a study on the older car models was done. In this survey Toyota Corolla models manufactured in Derbyshire topped the charts as the most reliable car. It was noticed that this car has been the least complaint car and reported just three faults per hundred models. In second position was Honda CR-V manufactured at Swindon with only five complaints.

The survey highlighted that the Japanese car models were built using a modern state of art techniques in comparison with the UK counterparts. This is quite visible from the study which showed, about six of the top ten most trustworthy cars are UK made Japanese models. Out of this the Land Rover and Jaguar are among the worst ten car models.

The main reason for this is the outdated car manufacturing factories; it also raises a question mark of the highly skilled workers and experts involved in the manufacturing process of these cars. This survey has highlighted the grey side of the British car sector which needs improvement.

Just giving some reasons to cheer for the British car manufacturing giant, the UK based MINI was named the fifth most reliable manufacturer. In the list for top cars the car making giant Honda has six of its different variants sitting quite happy.

Whatever the survey has revealed but still the British car industry has some reason to be happy for. Now one can hope in coming years that the British car manufacturers will improve they will gift some really reliable cars to the UK car lovers.

Scotland, Sept.26: The helicopter crash that took place last Saturday, which claimed the lives of rally ace Colin McRae, his son and two other passengers, could have been happened by the mechanical failure of a component which links the engine to the rotor blades.

The helicopter in which Mc Rae was travelling crashed in a wooded area on his Lanark estate last Saturday afternoon. The deceased include the driver, aged 39, died instantly along with his five-year-old son Johnny, his best friend Ben Porcelli, aged six, and family friend Graeme Duncan, aged 37.

Expert team from the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) joined hands with Strathclyde Police to investigate the reason behind this crash. Although the official report regarding this tragedy will not be made public for at least few months, initial findings point finger on to a fault with the aircraft and not the pilot.

Police sources are almost certain that the tragedy was caused by mechanical failure rather than pilot’s mistake. One of the theories being examined is whether the Twin Squirrel’s drive belt failed, causing a sudden loss of power. A police source further added that “It looks as if it was a mechanical fault, something which they knew nothing about and something they could do nothing about once they took off.”

Traces of the belt have not been found yet, it is considered as a possible indication of the damage or disintegration of the vital component immediately after take off. The drive belt transfers power from the engine to spin the rotors and must be regularly maintained and replaced. So the inquiry is focusing on a specific part of the Eurocopter Twin Squirrel, which possibly could be the reason behind the tragedy.

The helicopter, which costs around £500,000 new, is one of the world’s most popular aircraft and has an excellent safety record but previously involved in other high-profile incidents. Eurocopter, the French-based manufacturers of the Squirrel aircraft has not expressed their version of things. Aberdeen based aviation expert Jim Ferguson said: “People like the Squirrel. They are a nice little aircraft and they are very popular, reliable and normally safe.”

The McRae family declined to comment on the reason behind the accident. Colin’s father, Jimmy, has already stated that he does not believe his son caused the crash. Meanwhile condolences began to pour from various parts of Scotland. More than 51,000 people had signed an online book of condolence in memory of the rally supremo and the three other victims of the crash.