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Problem tyres played a role in nearly 15% of fatal passenger car and van accidents in Finland from 2000-2009, based on the accident database kept by the Finnish Motor Insurers' Centre. During the 2000s, passenger cars and vans have been involved in 2,647 fatal road accidents. In 393 of these, the accident was caused or at least partly caused by the installation of bad or wrong type of tyres. In some accidents, there was also found to have been problems with the tyre pressure.

Nissan is working on an innovative intelligent vehicle technology it calls autonomous drive. The company believes it can make this ready for the market by 2020. The system is intended to make driving safer and more efficient, reducing the risk of crashes, increasing mobility for the disabled and elderly and also optimising driving with a reduction in fuel usage and vehicle wear. To help with the development programme, Nissan is constructing a test area where the vehicles can be driven around a series of roa

A new highway in Ethiopia will provide a key link for the country’s future economic development. The 218km Modjo-Hassan highway is expected to cost US$720 million to construct. The highway will be constructed in two stages. The first section of the route will stretch 93km from Modjo to Zeway and is expected to cost $350 million to complete. The second section of the highway will be 125km long and link Zeway with Hewassa and this stretch is estimated to cost $370 million to build. However, funding for the hi

Estonia-based TMB (formerly Tartu Maja Betoontooted), one of the leading producers of precast reinforced concrete elements in the Baltic states, is expanding its Latvian production subsidiary. Company CEO Jaan Luts said the company’s expansion follows its forecast of strong growth in the Latvian construction market. Luts said he also expects exports of precast reinforced concrete to Sweden and Norway will remain relatively high. However, exports to Finland have dropped.

Republican Congressman Bill Shuster has told a gathering of public and private sector leaders that improving and maintaining the American transport system is critical to staying globally competitive, and that a broad education process is needed to improve awareness of infrastructure needs. Shuster, chairman of the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, was the keynote speaker at the 26 August 2013 annual meeting of Build Up Greater Cleveland (BUGC), a Northeast Ohio coalition of agencies i

The Smart Transport market is forecast to rise at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 23.6% to US$102.31 billion between 2013 and 2018, according to a new research report by MarketsandMarkets (M&M). The M&M report claims the still to be confirmed 2012 Smart Transport market value is around $26.7 billion. During the 2013-2018 period, the CIS + Eastern European, Middle East and African and Latin American Smart Transport markets are expected to grow at 31.4%, 39.1%, and 45.8%, respectively.

A new panel has been created in support of the €2.28 billion (CHF 2.8 billion) plan to build a new road tunnel alongside Switzerland’s Gotthard tunnel. The panel includes Filippo Lombardi, the president of the Council of States, and two national councillors, Olivier Français and Fabio Regazzi. The new road tunnel project will see full closure of the current 30-year-old road tunnel, one of Europe’s major north-south transit routes, for two-and-a-half years, as opposed to partial closure over a longer peri

Liebherr has started building a new components development and manufacturing plant in Biberach an der Riss (Baden-Württemberg) in southern Germany. The development and manufacture of switchgear and also electric motors and generators, currently functions of the company's existing factory in Biberach, are to be relocated to the new site. With the new plant, Liebherr-Components Biberach will have the additional capacity necessary to meet the growing demand of these products in the long term.

Work is now starting on the first construction phase of US Route 219 from Somerset to Meyersdale in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The project will see the route widened to four lanes, with the work being constructed through three main contracts and taking an estimated five years to build. The project is expected to improve safety along a 17km stretch of US219. The work includes two new interchanges, one at the Mason Dixon Highway and the other at Mud Pike. The project was originally conceived in the 1970s

The outgoing president of Europe’s largest engineering body is calling for more universities to give small and medium sized businesses open access to the intellectual property (IP) that they create. Professor Andy Hopper CBE is making the plea as he prepares to step down after his one-year term as president of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). “Tax payers are already funding the creation of innovative intellectual property in our universities, so it seems reasonable that more of t