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UK car manufacturing to hit record high by 2015

Britain is on track to hit a new all-time car manufacturing high by the end of 2015. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders forecasts that car production is set to top 2 million a year in three years' time. That's enough to eclipse the 1.92m record set forty years ago in 1972.

More than 5,000 fines issued for lane hogging and tailgating

Dan Chung | Newscom | RTR Following MSN Cars’ exclusive freedom of information investigation into lane hogging, it has emerged that more than 5,000 drivers have been stopped under new careless driving laws since 16 August 2013. A series of freedom of information requests by Auto Express revealed that 1,454 people have been issued with on-the-spot fines for careless driving – which includes lane hogging and tailgating – in Scotland alone.Police authorities turning a blind eye to lane hoggersFixed Penalty Notice driving offences explained   Thames Valley police the biggest issuer of fines for lane hogging Although many areas won’t provide specific information on exactly why drivers have been stopped (usually just classing it as driving without due care and attention or inconsiderate driving), out of those that did Thames Valley issued the most fines for lane hogging – prosecuting 48 drivers for this offence since August last year. This compares with 84 undertaking offences and 46 tailgaters.

Worth a read: Wired's 'Why Getting It Wrong Is the Future of Design'

Wired has just published a series of short articles entitled 13 Lessons for Design's New Golden Age. While there are some interesting examples cited in the piece, the concluding article, ‘Why Getting It Wrong Is the Future of Design' by the former creative director of Wired magazine, Scott Dadich, feels like it has particular resonance for car design. Dadich's Wrong Theory uses disruptive examples from the world of art, plus his own experience of working at Wired, to explain how design goes through phases: establishing a direction, creating a set of rules that define that direction and finally someone who dares to break from that direction.