1. Tax Hikes For Diesel Cars
Road tax rates for diesel cars will climb once again from April 1st this year. In fact, the entire calculation system is changing. Instead of being fixed at £140 per year, road tax rates will now be calculated based on a car’s carbon dioxide emissions.
For your diesel car to be put on the naughty step by the DVLA, it will have to output over 255 g/km of carbon dioxide. To be fair, in emissions terms that’s like driving around in a coal-fired power station, and the DVLA will sting you for a shocking £2000 if it’s the first year rate. We’re entering a new era of electric cars and environmental concerns, and it seems the government has had enough of stinky diesels once and for all.
2. Learner Drivers Can Hit The Motorways
Under the old laws, learners were banished from motorways until after passing their test. New drivers’ first experiences of motorways often ended up as fraught and dangerous experiences as a result.
In an attempt to educate and inform, all learners will now be allowed onto the country’s busiest roads. Parents with speed-demon children can breathe easy — they won’t be forced onto the M25, peeking out at the road from behind their fingers. Well, not yet.
The new system will be tightly controlled — only a qualified instructor in a car with dual controls will be allowed to accompany learners onto motorways.
3. Leave Space When Overtaking Cyclists
More people than ever have taken to two wheels in recent years, and cyclist deaths and injuries have rocketed as a result. The Highway Code already recommends that drivers leave a 1.5m gap when overtaking cyclists. This is now being solidified by fines.
Failure to leave the 1.5m gap will land drivers with a £100 fine and three points on their licence.
Anyone who has had the unpleasant experience of being close-passed by a car while riding a bike will surely appreciate this new change to the law.
4. Major Changes To MOT Rules
MOT categories have been redefined, and it’s important for drivers to understand the definitions in order to avoid a nasty shock at the test centre. The new categories are:
Dangerous — Direct risk to road safety or the environment. Results in a Fail.
Major — Could affect safety or the environment. Results in a Fail.
Minor — No effect on safety, but should be repaired as soon as possible.
Advisory — Could have an effect in future.
Pass — Meets the current legal standards.
A host of new requirements have also been added to first time MOTs, including:
- Under-inflated tyres
- Contaminated brake fluid
- Fluid leaks posing an environmental risk
- Faulty brake warning lights and missing pads or discs
- Reversing lights (on vehicles used from September 1, 2009)
- Daytime running lights (on vehicles newer than March 2018)
- Headlight washers (on vehicles used from September 1, 2009)
Not everything is new. The government had considered lengthening the wait for a vehicle’s first MOT from three to four years, but this will remain the same — presumably once legislators realised how much money they would miss out on.
5. Smart Motorways
Ever wondered what the red Xs mean on those automated motorway signs that have popped up around the country? Now’s the time to get it right once and for all: the Xs mean that the lane is closed due to an accident or roadworks.
Under new proposals, the government is considering fines for motorists who drive in the closed-off lanes. Those who ignore the warning signs will be penalised with a £100 fine and three points on their licence.
Whether roadside cameras have the technology sufficient to capture the faces and number plates of offending drivers is another matter.
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