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This page is the first of
the update pages for the Third Edition which was issued in early December
2007. By the beginning of February 2008, much of the previous update
in this web-site will have been erased as they are in the new Edition book
where applicable.
Readers are reminded that
also included here are items of general interest that are not updates to the
new book. As far as I know, Motoring in Spain is the only book of its
type (info. on living in Spain) that has web site updates by the author.
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South Africa: 3 000 lose driving licences
This is nothing to do
with Spain except that South African licence holders may move to Britain and
after one year and exchange their SA licence for a British (EU) one.
Frightening isn't it? South Africa's driving test used to be
very strict and thorough before 1994.
Date Posted: Thursday 13-Dec-2007
Johannesburg - About 3 000 driving licences had been
cancelled during an operation to root out fraud and corruption, said the
Department of Transport on Wednesday.
In addition, more than 1 000 people and 70 officials have been arrested
during the drive by the national Department of Transport and the special
investigating unit (SIU).
Spokesperson Collen Msibi said that 2 792 driver's licences were cancelled
during the joint operation.
He said the arrests were linked to the issuing of invalid driving licences.
This led to the department committing R20m a year until 2011, towards
rooting out corruption.
Msibi said: "The SIU has so far audited close to a million licence files and
has identified more than 56 000 invalid driving licences and 2 792 licences
that already have been cancelled."
Some have been jailed.
Court proceedings were continuing and so far 600 people and six officials
had been convicted and fined up to R9 000. Some were sentenced to five
years' imprisonment.
"The department's internal deterrent programme also had yielded impressive
results, with 57 officials being disciplined and 42 dismissed.
"The key objective was to identify and cancel invalid licences and also to
clamp down on corrupt individuals and officials who were taking part in
fraudulent activities within driving licence testing centres."
The SIU had conducted an extensive review of these centres and found 40 to
be non-compliant with minimum requirements. These centres were now being
upgraded.
Msibi said: "Some of the improvements include the implementation of
document-control systems, training filing clerks to comply with the
requirements of the National Road Traffic Act and also repairing defective
testing equipment."
Source URL:
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2237648,00.html
Posted By: Carla
*AfricanCrisis Volunteer*
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INSURANCE COMPANIES MUST PROVIDE COVER
EVEN WHEN THE PREMIUM HAS NOT BEEN PAID.
In
response to a question in the Costa del Sol News this week (December
20 - 26), Ilagoson Lawyers stated that an insurance company must
provide Third Party cover for up to six months after the end of the
insured's cover period in the case of an accident where the insured was at
fault. Although this may seem a little unfair to the insurance
companies, we must remember that every one pays a premium amount on their
policy, as explained in the book, to cover accidents caused by uninsured
drivers. This is a very important point to remember although in most
cases your insurance company would sort this point out for you.
It still means though the the deriver was uninsured legally at the time of
the accident and will suffer the new penalties which are getting very tough
as many drivers were ignoring the older ones.
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CARRY A CAMERA WHEN DRIVING!
I have
advocated and practice myself, the carrying of a camera in the car or on the
bike which will take good quality pictures in the case of an accident.
In the book, I stress this point and I have used one when I was involved
with a speeding señora to the satisfaction of all except her. Refer to
pages 232 - 235, "Anatomy of an Accident". Now I see that one
insurance company, IBEX gives away a small kit with a throwaway camera and
pen and paper with the accident form in a neat folder to all who sign up with
their motor insurance. Good advice and a throwaway camera costs
under €10 with
flash and 24 photos. It is film, but that allows the photos to
be blown up without loss of detail, something most mobile phone cameras
cannot do. And hopefully, you will not need to use it; for yourself
anyway.
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The new heavy penalties for
driving offences kick in.
As
noted on page 66 in the new book, the stringent penalties for certain
offences are now in force, so "watch out". The European
Parliament has set targets for the whole EU to reduce road accidents, most
of them not being accidents but stupidity. The word accident usually
describes an incident that cannot be avoided. You cannot describe such
incidents as crashing while using a mobile phone, or while way over the
limit for alcohol or after taking illegal drugs as accidents. Nor
while speeding at 80 kph in a 30 kph zone with parked cars, pet animals and
children likely to be around.
Let us
be honest, I have no objections personally to drivers or riders of high
powered cars or motos going fast as long as they are sensible.
And of course this includes being on fairly empty open roads with no local
people likely to be around such as on an autovia. But now, if you are
caught exceeding 200 kph on a 120 kph road, it means almost certainly that
you will do jail time. The same applies if you are doing 80 kph more
than the limit in an urban area. All sensible stuff really to the good
drivers. I know that I am fortunate to have survived the many
years of especially riding motorcycles at high speeds all over the world,
but I always followed basic self-imposed rules such as not following
vehicles too close, overtaking when it was not allowed or when I could not
see, or just before a road junction.
I know
that the good drivers will agree with the above, but from now on in Spain,
we have to be very careful to avoid looking sheepishly at the partner on
visiting days: - if we get caught.
Most
important, as I keep pushing, if you are resident here, make sure your
foreign EU driving licence is legal. Take the medicals just in
case. They are a legal requirement as noted in the book.
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CORRECTION TO PAGE 127 - Motorcycle
licences. (27 dec 2007)
Just
as the book was going to print, the new classifications for motor-cycle
driving licences were briefly announced and to save delaying the process I
stated that the fully qualified DL for motorcycles was to be called the A3.
It has now been clarified that it is to be just "A". The idea as
stated is that to cut accident rates motorcyclists are to be even further
restricted to gain time and riding experience from small machines to the
powerful large ones, some of which now develop more horse-power that a
sporty family car. It seems incongruous that car drivers can pass
their test and after the year's probation, if they can afford the insurance
costs, are able to get behind the wheel of even a Ferrari. But such is
life. The statistics do not warrant such a restriction in this case.
The changes from the book are:
A1
as in the book. A2, up to 35 Kw, not 25. A -
all over 35 Kw plus the time experience as in the book, or not before age 24
if no 2 years experience on an A2 licence. It is a simple
matter to note these in your book, pages 126 & 127.
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Update to Third Edition.
"Plan
Prever" to fall away. On the 1st January 2008 when the new
purchase taxes based on the pollution factor for each car comes into being
as on page 253, the system where the government paid the owner of a
vehicle which was 10 years or more old since first registration an amount as
an incentive for the car to be scrapped to reduce the numbers of old
polluting cars on the roads. This system is described on page 255.
As the new cars have a built-in incentive with lower taxes for
less pollution, Plan Prever is now discontinued.
One of
the advantages of having this web site is that changes can be advised almost
as soon as they are officially announced so the book is always up to date.
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