Sat Nav blunders ‘have caused up to 300,000 accidents’
Satellite navigation systems have been blamed for causing around 300,000 people to crash in Britain, a survey has found.
A further 1.5 million drivers admitted performing sudden manoeuvres or changing direction because they were following the devices’ directions, while five million said they had driven the wrong way down a one-way street.
A total of 14 million drivers – half of Britain’s driving population – now use satellite navigation in their cars to get them where they want to go.
But campaigners fear that the devices can often replace common sense and believe many users may be putting their lives in danger as a result.
One in five of the 2,000 motorists polled blamed the gadget for making them hesitate on a busy road and lose track of the traffic, while more than one in 50 said it had caused or nearly caused an accident.
Recent examples of sat nav blunders include the Syrian lorry driver transporting luxury cars from Turkey to Gibraltar who ended up in Skegness because his system was confused by the Rock’s status as part of the UK.
Meanwhile in Gillingham, Dorset, four actors from a touring theatre company had to be rescued from the roof of their pink Mercedes van after their sat nav directed them through a flooded ford.
Maggie Game of insurance giant Direct Line, which carried out the survey, warned: “If a satnav gives you an instruction that is likely to endanger other road users, ignore it.
“Motorists must realise that while they are a helpful navigation tool, they should not follow their instructions to the detriment of road safety.”
The Government has announced that the Lloyd’s building at One Lime Street, London, has been awarded Grade 1 listed status on the advice of English Heritage.
Heritage Minister John Penrose announced the accolade today, crediting the building’s ‘architectural innovation, historic interest and celebrated design’. The Lloyd’s building is the youngest ever to receive graded status.
Grade 1 buildings are considered to be of ‘exceptional interest’ and extremely rare – only 2.5% of the 375,000 buildings listed by English Heritage are classified as Grade 1.
“Lloyd’s was ahead of its time when it approved the building of One Lime Street,” says Richard Ward, Chief Executive of Lloyd’s. “It’s a world famous building that has gone on to embody the world famous Lloyd’s brand.”
The building, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, was designed to meet the Lloyd’s market’s future demands by allowing the underwriting space, ‘the Room’, to expand or contract as required by the market.
“The building is still modern, innovative and unique – it has really stood the test of time just like the market that sits within it,” continues Ward.
“The listing decision will protect it against unsuitable alteration or development whilst retaining its flexibility to adapt with the market’s needs.”
Some of the explanations people give for how they got involved in an accident make for interesting reading. Here’s a selection:-
Coming home I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don’t have!
The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intent!
I was thrown from my car as it left the road, and was later found in a ditch, by some stray cows!!!
I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way.
In my attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole.
I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.
I told the police I was not injured, but upon removing my hair, I found that I had a fractured skull.
I was sure the old fellow would never make it to the other side of the road when I struck him.
The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth.
To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front, I struck the pedestrian.
The pedestrian had no idea which way to run, so I ran over him.
A truck backed through my windshield into my wife’s face.
I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law, and headed over the embankment
The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him
Making headline news this week has been the sinking of the Costa Concordia.
This is shaping up to be the most expensive individual shipwreck in history where the situation has not been made worse by pollution clear up costs following leakage of fuel
When you combine the value of the ship, compensation for injuries and deaths and lost revenue from future cruises the total bill could well exceed £500 million.
It’s hard to see how the vessel might be salvaged and it is likely to be declared a total loss.
Here’s what happened in December 1991. You can click on the links to go to Wikipedia for fuller details
- December 1 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Ukrainians vote overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union in a referendum.
- December 4
- Journalist Terry A. Anderson is released after 7 years’ captivity as a hostage in Beirut (the last and longest-held American hostage inLebanon).
- Pan American World Airways ends operations.
- John Leonard Orr, one of the most prolific serial arsonists of the 20th century, is arrested in California. In the ensuing years, Orr is convincted in both Federal and state court.
- December 8
- Leaders of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine meet and sign an agreement ending the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), in the Białowieża Forest Nature Reserve in Belarus.
- A referendum on the constitution of Romania is accepted as valid.
- December 12 – Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR denounced Union Treaty of 1922 and ratified Belavezha Accords instead.
- December 15 – The Egyptian ferry Salem Express sinks in the Red Sea, killing more than 450.
- December 19 – Paul Keating replaces Bob Hawke as the new prime minister of Australia.
- December 20 – A Missouri court passes the death sentence on Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria, for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
- December 21 – The North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NAC-C) meets for the first time, the day on which the Soviet Union ceases to exist.source
- December 24 – Russian SFSR President Boris Yeltsin sends a letter to UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, stating that Russia should be a successor to collapsing Soviet Union within the United Nations Organization.
- December 25
- Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union, from which most republics have already seceded, anticipating the dissolution of the 73-year-old state.
- Russian SFSR officially changes its name to the Russian Federation.
- December 26 – The Cold War ends when the Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union.
Lloyd’s and the London insurance markets are inextricably linked.
London as a world financial centre has expanded well beyond the Square Mile in the past 20 years. But insurers and brokers have resisted the lure of Canary Wharf – base of many of the world’s biggest banks – and the attractions of Mayfair – home of many of the most powerful hedge funds – to remain firmly situated within sight of Lloyd’s gleaming steel-and-glass building.
John Muir, a Senior Partner and Head of London Markets at Willis, says: “Lloyd’s has always operated from this vicinity: Edward Lloyd’s coffee house back in the 17th century was situated five minutes’ walk from the current building.”
Lloyd’s has always acted as a magnet for lawyers, accountants, loss adjusters and other professionals in what is the global centre of the insurance market. Muir says: “It is this extraordinary concentration of expertise in London that makes it unique.”
Richard Ward, Lloyd’s CEO, agrees: “Many of the best brains in insurance operate in London, around 50,000 of them. Together they represent the largest concentration of insurance knowledge anywhere in the world – a unique mix of underwriting and broking talent with more than 320 years of experience.”
Magnetic attraction
Lloyd’s exerts an enormous attraction on those in the insurance business. For many it is the industry’s spiritual centre. Ralph Van Helden, Lloyd’s Benelux Country Manager, is based in Rotterdam but comes to London at least once a month. “As soon as I step into the Room I feel at home,” he says.
“The Lloyd’s Room, where people can come and trade, provides a centre for the London insurance market,” Van Helden says. “As a result, what is a multi-billion-pound industry is transformed into a village industry, because everyone knows and sees each other every week. It’s what makes Lloyd’s and the London insurance market so unique.”
Muir says: “We have clients visit London from around the world who have never been insured by Lloyd’s but who want to visit it because of its historic and enduring significance to the world insurance industry.”
Ward adds: “Lloyd’s sits at the heart of this tiny space of EC3. Just as London is the financial centre for the world, so are we the insurance market for the entire globe. We cover risks in more territories than the UN has members.”
In the shadow of Lloyd’s
In 1986 when Lloyd’s moved into its new home at 1 Lime Street, the iconic “inside out” building stood out on the city’s skyline. Today, although a number of new skyscrapers are overshadowing its neo-Gothic steel towers Lloyd’s role as the heart of the London insurance market persists.
In 2008, Willis moved into a new 410-foot, 28-storey skyscraper directly opposite the Lloyd’s Building. Aon is set to become the principal tenant of the “Cheese Grater”, the 736-foot office tower due to open in 2014 a stone’s throw from Lloyd’s.
“The fact that both Willis and Aon have chosen to locate so close to the Lloyd’s building, to huddle up to Lloyd’s if you like, is a real vote of confidence,” says Muir.
“It is great to be sited right at the world’s nerve centre for underwriting complex insurance risks,” he adds.
Here’s what happened in November 1991. You can click on the links to go to Wikipedia for fuller details
- November 5 – The body of publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell is found floating in the Atlantic Ocean.
- November 6
- The KGB officially stops operations.
- CPSU, and its republic-level division, Communist Party of the Russian SFSR, banned in the Russian SFSR by Presidential decree N 169.
- November 7
- Los Angeles Lakers point guard Magic Johnson announces that he has HIV, effectively ending his NBA career.
- The last oil well fire in Kuwait is extinguished.
- The first report on Carbon nanotubes is published by Sumio Iijima in the journal Nature.
- November 9 – The British JET fusion reactor generates 1.5 MW output power.
- November 14
- American and British authorities announce indictments against two Libyan intelligence officials, in connection with the downing of thePan Am Flight 103.
- Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk returns to Phnom Penh after 13 years of exile.
- Kidnappers in Lebanon set Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland free.
- November 18 – Serb troops take Vukovar after an 87-day siege, and commit the worst massacre in Croatian history.
- November 20
- An Azerbaijani MI-8 helicopter carrying 19 peacekeeping mission team with officials and journalists from Russia, Kazakhstan andAzerbaijan is shot down by Armenian military forces in Khojavend district of Azerbaijan.
- Süleyman Demirel of DYP forms the new government of Turkey (49th government, coalition partner CHP).
- November 26 – National Assembly of Azerbaijan abolishes the autonomous status of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast ofAzerbaijan and renames several cities back to their original names.
- November 27 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution opening the way to the establishment ofpeacekeeping operations in Yugoslavia.
China Trek October 2011
Friday afternoon 14/10/11
Met up with the group at Heathrow for our flight to Beijing. We flew with Emirates with a change in Dubai arriving in Beijing mid afternoon on Saturday.
Both flights were pretty much on time. Very comfortable flights with award winning in-flight entertainment. There were literally hundreds of Film, TV, Music and Game choices available.
Saturday 15/10/11
On arrival at Beijing joined coach transfer to Dong Fang Hotel. Experienced traditional Beijing traffic problems and the 40 minute trip ended up taking closer to 2hours. Arrived at Hotel and after checking in had time for quick shower and change before meeting up for welcome dinner. Nice meal (Chinese cuisine naturally) and a couple of beers before heading out to explore Beijing at night. Didn’t get very far as discovered local bar just 100 yards from Hotel where beer was only 60p for 600ml bottle.
Not too late a night and slid into bed to sleep off jetlag before our trip started in earnest the next day.
Sunday 16/10/11
Coach transfer to Huangyaguan which was to be our base for the next night. Checked in and then out to the courtyard for our first hike and taste of the Wall.
Quickly discovered how hilly the terrain was having to climb for a while before actually reaching the Wall. Then trekked along the wall for around 4 hours which include some lung bursting flights of steps. It’s not just the number of steps that is tiring but also the fact that they are of irregular height which means you can’t settle into any sort of rhythm. I was puffing like a good one and dripping in sweat (nice) but I kept up pretty well finishing towards the head of the group. We walked back down to our Hotel for a shower and change before heading off to a local Restaurant. Had another good meal and afterwards they lit a huge bonfire which we sat around drinking beer and playing Charades until the wee small hours. Slightly staggered back to Hotel and slept right through until the wake up call. For most days we got started pretty early so no lie ins or recovery time from the previous day’s exertions.
Monday 17/10/11
Early breakfast and picked up packed lunch before heading off for full day trekking. What a day this was. Starting from the Hotel we joined the Wall and then proceeded to climb for around an hour up countless steps before even reaching the big challenge of the day…Heavens Ladder, a near vertical flight of 300 or so steps to reach the mountain top. I found it really tough going but again I made it towards the front of the group. Although we had all done a pretty extensive training programme nothing in the UK can prepare you for the terrain here. Once everyone had finished the climb we set off across country on mountain paths towards our destination. I really enjoyed the afternoon trek during which we had a break to scoff down our lunch packs. After six hours we reached our destination which was a small village miles off the beaten track where we were to stay in a farmer’s house. Needless to say the facilities were a bit basic including traditional Chinese squat toilets but they were clean and everyone seemed happy with arrangements. It was a pretty exhausted group that sat down to dinner that evening before again clustering around an improvised campfire for beer. My calves were giving me a bit of gip so I was thrilled to find one of our group was a masseur. Half an hour of pounding and kneading later and I was feeling great and ready for the next day.
Tuesday 18/10/11
Another early start, pretty poor breakfast and we were off again. This time a mega climb to reach a local beauty spot. It was very hard going but the views when we got there were certainly worth it. While resting some of the group took the time to tell us why they were doing the trek. There were some very moving stories and it was quite an emotional experience. It wasn’t just a few of the girls that had tears in their eyes.
We then headed back downhill to where we had stayed the previous evening for lunch before hiking cross country to meet our coach and a ride to our next stop. We arrived at Jinshanling as the sun was setting. Once again after checking in a quick shower and change was followed by a meal washed down with the local beer. There are a load of local traders there so throughout the evening we had a constant stream of people trying to sell us everything from T shirts to Panda hats through to chopsticks, snow globes and just about anything else you could imagine.
Wednesday 19/10/11
This was to be the hardest day physically. Once again an early start and we were off on a circular hike that would bring us back to Jinshanling for a second night. We really scaled the heights this day and just over 10 hours later we crawled back to our rooms. I was shattered but somehow after a shower and a couple of beers I got a second wind and we had a fun night just relaxing and fighting off the traders who still had piles of stuff they wanted us to buy. During the evening we went to a paper cutting place where they make just the most amazing things simply out of cut paper. We were given a demonstration and then invited to buy a sample or two which we pretty much all did.
Thursday 20/10/11
We were taken by coach to our starting point this morning and then had a five hour trek on some parts of the wall and also across country to our destination where we met up again with the coach which took us to Mutianyu our base for the night. Once again this was a pretty challenging trek with the first couple of hours being straight uphill until we reached the wall. Mutianyu is closer to Beijing than our other bases and as we were to find out a very popular place for day trippers to the wall on excursions from Beijing. We had a good meal in the evening and settled down in the bar for a quiet session. This got completely out of hand and as a result we suffered our first casualty. One of the group (not me) partied a little too hard and failed to make roll call the next morning. We left her still semi conscious in bed when we set off in the morning.
Friday 21/10/11
The start to this days walk seemed the hardest of all to me. We were literally climbing constantly up very step gradients for nearly two hours before we reached the sanctuary of the wall. Having battled our way uphill we were astonished to find the wall itself absolutely heaving with tourists. We were later to discover that just a mile or so from where we had begun our climb there was actually a chairlift, hence a very popular access point for day tourists. We hiked along the wall for an hour or two constantly bumping into people before reaching the end of our trek. Here we had a celebration drink of Champagne before making our way down to the car park and our coach which was to take us back to Beijing. For all of the previous days we had pretty much been on our own with little contact with other people but here it was very different. It was so commercial there was even a “Subway”. I have to admit that after many days of Chinese food most of us tucked into a sandwich. Hot Roast Beef with Cheese and all the trimmings washed down with a Coke was my choice.
We then clambered into our coach for the trip back to Beijing, our trek was over.
Checking back in to the Dong Fang we had a short while to prepare before we all headed out for our celebration dinner. What a fantastic night. A truly sumptuous feast was followed by a night of bars and clubbing. Being something of a lightweight these days I called it a day around 2am and joined by a few others we headed back to our hotel in a cab. The next morning I headed into breakfast and sat down at a table with one of our group to discover that he and four others had made a proper night of it and had only just got back to the hotel
Saturday 22/10/11
Our last day in Beijing was taken up with a full on tour of the tourist spots with visits to Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Olympic Park, A market where you could get just about any fake designer goods, A Rickshaw ride, a local house, A silk Factory, and A Tea Ceremony. The day was rounded of with a trip to a local theatre to see an amazing performance by acrobats. After packing I slumped into bed to grab a couple of hours sleep before we had to be at reception to head to the airport and our trip home.
Sunday 23/10/11
We arrived back at Heathrow pretty much on time and it was really emotional saying goodbye to a group of people with whom I just shared 10 of the most amazing days of my life. We’ve all promised to stay in touch and many of us are inspired to take on another trek next year.
I really hope that happens.
On a downside I’m gutted that that the pictures I took haven’t turned out well but if you go to my Face book page you will be able to see literally hundreds of others posted by my fellow trekkers.
Check them out at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000136897974
I raised just under £2,900 for my charity. Thanks to all of you that made this possible.
