Tips and Blogs

Are you starting university this September or returning after the summer break? Maybe your parents are driving you there instead of you taking your car. Whether it’s your first year or the last, travelling to university can be an emotional rollercoaster.

The summer holidays are nearly over. Order and normality will resume along with the dreaded school run which starts again for another year. This week’s tips, provided by IAM RoadSmart’s head of driving and riding standards, Richard Gladman, offer advice on how to survive the term time road rush.

If you’re planning a bank holiday getaway then be sure to read our tips on how you can make your journey a safe and stress-free one. Here’s IAM RoadSmart’s head of driving and riding standards, Richard Gladman, to help you prepare for your trip. Because a little preparation goes a long way.

We’re having a typical English summer, sun for a couple of weeks and then downpours for days on end. IAM RoadSmart’s head of driving and riding standards Richard Gladman advises a few ways to keep safe in heavy rain and floods.

You may see more horses on the road during the summer months, and more than likely they’ll be on a country lane. Here are IAM RoadSmart’s tips on how best to pass a horse safely on the roads.

In 2016 I was approached by the Mum and Baby Academy (part of Life Cycle Marketing) for my expertise as a midwife and internationally renowned midwifery academic to become part of their professional consultant editorial team that review online modules covering a range of topics relevant to the role of practising healthcare professionals.

What do you get if you cover your entire car windscreen in cardboard? Zero vision. This is not to be confused with Vision Zero: that is something quite different, which I’ll explain in a moment. And in fact, if your car happens to be equipped with 360-degree cameras, then having zero vision through the windscreen is not the insurmountable obstacle that you might assume it to be. I’ll come back to that a bit later too.

I always find a driving holiday in France a splendid way to unwind, but it’s been a few years since we’ve managed to arrange a trip over the channel. Technology makes life very easy these days – a couple of smartphone apps made light work of booking the ferry and a cottage in the Dordogne. It’s a long drive, but more trusty apps mean we can find a hotel easily wherever we feel like stopping for the night.

As I drive around the corner, there it is. A bright orange beak, elongated curved neck and white feathered body are before me. Small dark beady eyes cautiously survey the growling monster which is my car as I come to a brisk stop on the road.

I recently had to take my seven year old cat, Mojo, on a short 10 minute car journey. From previous experiences driving to the vets, I was already aware that she wasn’t too keen on her cat carrier – this probably had something to do with the size of her!