Fast lessons for speeders....and more.

Speeding school a success story
A trial scheme that sends speeders back to school instead of putting points on their licence has proved a big success. The number of drivers caught over the limit in Northamptonshire has more than halved since the course began there in 2001.

The new scheme has applied to motorists stopped for driving slightly too fast in 30mph zones. They have been able to dodge penalty points by attending a £60 three-hour safety workshop. In the first year, 86,000 were caught speeding, but that fell to 33,500 in 2007. A spokesman for the Road Casualty Reduction Unit, which runs the courses, said: “Speed workshops are a chance to directly influence driving attitudes and behaviour.”

Tunnels shamed in safety survey
Drivers on the Continent should steer clear of Italian tunnels. That’s the advice from a group of European motoring clubs, which voted Lake Como’s Cernobbio Tunnel as the most dangerous in Europe. German auto organisation ADAC says the 2.4km tunnel had no staffed control room, and no emergency telephones, smoke alarms or extraction systems were fitted.

Named best of the 31 tunnels was Andorra’s Pont Pla, which opened in 2006. The 11-nation tunnel survey was conducted by the European Tunnel Assessment Programme (EuroTAP).

Metal catalyst for crime wave
Thieves are taking cat burgling to a whole new level! Police say there has been an alarming increase in the number of catalytic converters being stolen from cars around the country. And it’s being blamed on the soaring price of platinum – which trades at around £1,000 an ounce.

Converters contain between 1g and 3g of the precious metal, and it’s thought that the units – worth around £120 – are shipped to Eastern Europe and China for the platinum to be extracted. Police in York say it’s becoming a major problem, as they recently had 10 cats stolen in one night. Meanwhile, cops in Warwickshire claim incidents of this type have gone from zero to at least one per day.