The Andretti Green drivers...
The Andretti Green drivers duelled fiercely, but it was the Scot (image) who triumphed for his second win of 2007. Franchitti said: “It was one restart after another and at one point we were four-wide going across the start-finish line.” He now holds a healthy series lead over another team-mate, Tony Kanaan. Brit Darren Manning had his best finish of the year for the Foyt Racing squad in fifth.
Safety experts are dismayed...
Safety experts are dismayed that last December"s law banning hand-helds hasn"t proved more effective. "The message has not got through that using them reduces safety," said a spokeswoman for the Royal Society For The Prevention Of Accidents. "People have to learn it"s unacceptable to risk lives just to make a call."
The Government plans to increase penalties from the current í‚á£30 fixed fine. "We intend to make the offence subject to a three-point endorsement and a í‚á£60 penalty," a Department for Transport (DfT) spokesman said. "You are four times more likely to crash when using a mobile and driving."
The case for stiffer penalties has been boosted by a DfT report written by scientists from the Transport Research Laboratory. They used microwave detectors and trained spotters to survey traffic, and found that the number of car drivers using hands-free kits has "crept up" since 2002.