Private rentals of ours for the Christmas period are coming in fast so if you know you will need to rent a car, let us know as soon as possible.

The road safety charity Brake has been highlighting the dangers to cyclists during 2018 Road Safety Week.  It says that those travelling on two wheels are 63 times more likely than drivers to be killed or seriously injured when out on the road and that a rider is killed or seriously injured on UK roads every hour, two thirds of these accidents occurring on rural roads.

Last year, according to Government figures, 100 cyclists died on UK roads and 470 pedestrians were killed, an increase of 5%.

Among Brake’s tips for drivers are giving cyclists more space, leaving riders a 150cm gap when overtaking and opening a car door using the ‘Dutch Reach’ method. The procedure involves the driver or passenger opening their door from the inside with the hand that’s furthest away from the door handle, which forces them to turn their body and increases the ability to look out of the car and spot passing cars and cyclists.

This technique may feature in an updated Highway Code, which is among the possible measures the Government is considering to improve cycle safety.

Among other suggestions is encouraging insurers to offer motorists cheaper insurance if they take a course to make them more aware of cyclists on the roads and giving local councils more powers to tackle parking in cycle lanes.

The rise of the SUV

This is the time of year when we start to put in our orders update our fleet of rental cars and we have discovered that many of the manufacturers are discontinuing the large saloon cars, such as the Toyota Avensis and the Vauxhall Insignia.

The popularity of these cars has been diminishing in recent years, making them uneconomic for the manufacturers to produce as demand has risen for SUVs.