Products

From the UK’s Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) comes data revealing a future funding crisis many governments will face. The IFS study, commissioned by the RAC Foundation, shows that income from motoring taxation will fall as traffic volumes increase. The problem is that increasing fuel efficiency of new generation vehicles, plus the introduction of electric cars, will deliver smaller and smaller returns on fuel taxation. Although fuel is taxed heavily in the UK, and right across Europe, projections show t

In the UK mobility scooter sales are soaring, with overcrowding and traffic jams becoming a problem in certain areas. The battery powered scooters are supposed to be driven solely by the disabled, however a new breed of tarmac terror has appeared in the shape of the severely lazy. Questions are being asked in the corridors of power as to why comparatively young and healthy people are now using mobility scooters. Many owners are aged or disabled but there are growing numbers of users who are not. This is pro

Red faces abounded when a Ferrari supercar was driven on top of a historic structure in China. The Ferrari was driven onto the wall as part of a publicity stunt, presumably by an overeager marketing team, but the Chinese authorities were understandably somewhat less than amused. Apologies were made and luckily, the 600 year old Ming dynasty wall was not damaged in the incident.

In the UK the listed building status normally reserved for architectural masterpieces has been awarded to two canopies originally built for petrol stations. The structures, erected in the 1960s, are located at Markham Moor in Nottinghamshire and Red Hill in Leicestershire. The canopies both feature a circular parasol design and are the last remaining of a series of similar structures commissioned by oil firm Mobil. The structure at Markham Moor was converted into a roadside eatery although the Red Hill can

A Chinese child has been given stern advice on road safetyfollowing an impromptu journey he made recently. The boy rode his motorised tricycle across a busy junction at Wenzou in Eastern China. His journey was viewed live on traffic cameras as the boy crossed the junction, apparently unconcerned at the rush hour traffic all around him. Footage that would turn any parent prematurely grey showed the boy happily driving his tricycle through the melee, as buses and cars roared past. The boy was being looked af

Police in Chile confiscated a truck laden with ice taken from a glacier. The ice had been destined for use in cocktrails in bars and restaurants in Chilean capital Santiago. The ice is thought to have been frozen 1,000 years ago, somewhat before current regulations governing food safety were introduced.

A South African cyclist suffered a serious crash during a race in his country, due to an antelope’s lack of awareness of road rules. The cyclist was knocked off his bicycle by a Red Hartebeest buck, which charged across the dirt road he was riding along. The cyclist saw the animal spring from the side of the road but there was little he could do to stop. The antelope dazedly stood up following the impact and then bounded away, apparently unhurt. However the cyclist was left sprawled in the grass.

In China’s Guangxi Province, a cyclist is employing his dog in a bid to dissuade would-be thieves from stealing his bicycle, instead of using a chain and lock. When the man pops into a shop, he leaves his dog outside with his bicycle. The golden retriever patiently waits beside the bicycle, with a paw resting on the frame. Once the man returns and mounts the bicycle, the dog hops onto the rear carrier before barking to tell the owner he is safely seated. Local campaigners are working on providing the pooch

The new Caterpillar M318D MH Waste Handler is a wheeled excavator designed for use in indoor or outdoor work areas with limited space. The new model, said by Cat to meet with accepted industry criteria for safe operation and high production when working in close quarters, incorporates significant undercarriage and boom modifications. It also retains what Cat says are the proven features of its conventional M318D MH counterpart. These include a fuel-efficient Cat C6.6 ACERT engine that meets EU Stage IIIB e

Atlas Copco’s new BP3050 bulk pulveriser was due to get its UK exhibition debut this month at Hillhead 2012. The Swedish construction industry giants claim that due to the machine’s innovative angled shape, the BP3050 is ideal for a wide array of demolition tasks. It features huge jaw dimensions that facilitate energy efficient high throughput, with speed valves shortening the opening and closing time of the jaws to ensure less fuel consumption during pulveriser operation.

‘Before I get down to this month’s main agenda, I’d like to draw your attention to a range of improvements that we’ve made to the content of World Highways. In conjunction with a fresher look, we have introduced features both long and short: At the ‘long’ end of the scale in our World Report…this month the subject is Australian roads…and at the ‘short’ end of the scale is the five-minute interview with an industry personality. Our equipment features have been beefed up with more analysis, and the signpostin

The first of 3M's innovative new frangible post units are now being installed on the UK's M54 and M6 motorways. These units are designed specifically to reduce the risk to drivers in the event of a crash. At present 20% of road fatalities in the UK result from a collision with a road side feature, such as a post, a street lamp or tree. By replacing rigid steel posts with frangible posts that minimise occupant injury when impacted by a vehicle, this risk will be reduced. Passive posts are now being used on s

New infrared asphalt restoration technologies, such as the Patriot system, are more reliable than before and offer cost benefits over time-consuming, cut-and-fill asphalt repairs. This technology offers benefits over conventional repairs which leave seams that can allow water penetration. Where thes eams are not watertight, the repaired, filled-in portion can fail within a year or so, however infrared technology blends the new asphalt with the old by heating an area 152-203mm beyond the perimeter of the rep

Leica Geosystems says that its Leica MobileMatriX v3.0 package can be used to synchronise survey data with an enterprise geodatabase, transfer digital images taken from a mobile phone via Bluetooth and link it with a feature, in addition to many other improvements. The firms says that its MobileMatriX v3.0 package offers a flexible and powerful mobile GIS application and can be used in both large projects and small projects involving only a few field crews. Survey data can be replicated within the editing p