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This year’s Road Safety Week will debut a new interactive map that will provide a look at what other companies are doing across the UK.

Fleets urged to register for UK Road Safety Week 

Fleet operators can now register for a free action pack for Road Safety Week 2017 to help them raise awareness and promote safer road use to staff, contractors and the wider community.

This year’s Road Safety Week, which is co-ordinated by Brake, takes place 20-26 November and will focus on the topic of ‘Speed Down Save Lives’, including looking at how employers can encourage staff not to speed.

Brake Professional is also running a free webinar on Wednesday 20 September 2017 that will give advice on how to support this year’s theme.

According to this year’s ALARM survey, one in six UK local roads need to be repaired or even face closure in the next five years.

Potholes posing windscreen risks

Drivers are being warned about the risk of damage to windscreens as the size and number of potholes on UK roads increases.

Commenting as the A14 in Cambridgeshire suffers two lane closures due to emergency pothole repairs, Pete Marsden, managing director at National Windscreens, said: “Even at 30mph, a small piece of tarmac from a pothole can cause damage to your windscreen that could render your vehicle unsafe to drive.”

Marsden also warned that hitting a pothole could mean that recalibration of windscreen-mounted cameras may be needed to ensure critical safety systems are working correctly and could also mean that any existing windscreen damage such as small chips or cracks develops into more extensive damage, necessitating a complete replacement instead of a small repair.

In response, the company has warned drivers to slow down on poor condition roads and also make sure any chips or cracks are fixed as soon as possible.

Heathrow has deployed 18 eVolt at airside locations.

Heathrow Airport gets eVolt rapid chargers 

Heathrow Airport has deployed 18 rapid chargers from eVolt in the first phase of a new project.

The new units have been installed at eight of the airport’s airside locations and will be used by the airport’s growing fleet of EVs.

The deal, signed following a tender process, includes three compact rapid chargers, which can simultaneously charge two EVs to 80% battery capacity in 30 minutes at 50kW DC, and a 43kW ACA Semi-Rapid Raption 22kW Triple charging unit, which charges to 80% in one hour. The contract also includes the supply of eVolt 7kW and 22kW AC Wall mount charging units, which typically take up to four hours to charge an EV, and are in line for use for ‘off-duty’ EVs to ensure they’re fully charged when a shift starts.

Tantalum Corporation is running a six-month trial of its Air.Car solution to estimate real-time NOx emissions.

Tantalum wins ‘Innovation in Connected Services’ award

Technology specialist Tantalum Corporation has taken the ‘Innovation in Connected Services’ title at the inaugural TechXLR8 awards.

Judged by industry specialists, the awards recognise and celebrate excellence in innovation and disruptive technologies, with Tantalum scooping its title in honour of its Air.Car platform, which provides real-time NOx emissions estimation capabilities and is currently available for fleets to trial, and the Pay.Car service that enables cars to find and pay for their own parking.