With the dark mornings and evenings still hanging around, it means our cars are still at risk of being a victim of theft. IAM RoadSmart's head of driving and riding standards, Richard Gladman, suggests a few top tips.

I read a lot about autonomous and connected cars every day in my work but very little about how these technologies could help improve motorcycling safety. This week however, I have come across two reports which suggest great potential if we can get researchers, bike manufacturers and riders to work together to embrace new technology.

The new year is finally here and for a lot of us that means a fresh start; a new job, an expensive gym membership or the tempting thought of buying a new or used car. However, today’s high-tech cars can be concealing unknown wallet-crunching problems. Fortunately, you don’t need a degree in electronics or a mobile diagnostic machine.

Hopefully you will have seen some of the publicity around our #FormulaDriveSmart event held at the start of December, run in partnership with the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) where we put 15 of the brightest young racing stars in the UK through the advanced driving test at Silverstone in an intensive two-day schedule.

Welcome to 2019! I hope you’ve made it to the other side of the festivities in one piece and are looking forward to putting dark nights, grey days and winter chills behind you. After an eventful 2018, I for one am pleased to have turned over this new leaf.