The ‘beast from the east’ left many things in its wake; poor retail sales figures, an extended skiing season in the Scottish mountains and of course lots of potholes! Even before the storms, my phone had already started ringing with local journalists looking for comments on poor road surfaces and social media was full of pictures of bathtub sized holes.

This week’s tips, provided by IAM RoadSmart’s head of driving and riding standards, Richard Gladman, are all about how to filter through traffic safely on a motorcycle. No matter if you’re a new rider who’s nervous about filtering, or an experienced motorcyclists, it’s always good to be reminded of the following key tips...

At IAM RoadSmart we talk a lot about the dangers of distraction when it comes to driving – and yes distraction plays a very large part in many accidents. Music can be both a distraction and a way of keeping the driver alert. Too loud or too high the bpm, the greater the chance the driver will go faster and less able to hear of other things around them.

We’re all aware of certain things around us that we need to look out for when we’re driving, such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorbikes. But how often do we check what potential distractions we have inside our vehicle? Richard Gladman, IAM RoadSmart’s head of driving and riding standards, lists five items that could cause a distraction while driving.

It probably won’t come as much of a surprise that autonomous vehicle technology was a theme that came up repeatedly at the recent Parliamentary Advisory Committee for Transport Safety (PACTS) ‘Streel Legal’ conference on 28 March. Over the last couple of years, it seems like almost every day has brought with it a new headline about vehicle technology in general, often centring on the latest developments in driverless cars.