A US company has developed a two-way camera designed to record the antics of teenage drivers at the wheel.

One lens is pointed at the driver, while the other looks out of the windscreen and captures the action on the road.

DriveCam, the San Diego-based firm that makes the camera, claims that it doesn't record every moment of travel. It documents the ten seconds before and after an irregular movement made by the driver.

The device also has a microphone to record the sound inside the car.

The...

Toyota has announced a new precautionary recall that will affect a total of 18,600 owners in the UK. The checks relate to the fuel systems of certain versions of the Toyota Avensis and the Lexus IS.

Certain examples of the Avensis produced between July 2000 and September 2008, powered by the 2.0- and 2.4-litre petrol engines, are part of the recall. Two issues have been identified. The first is the potential for small cracks to appear in the fuel pipe; the second is insufficient tight...

The rumour mill can rest easy, as Pagani's long awaited replacement for the Zonda supercar has been revealed in full. It's called the Huayra and it promises to be one of the most sensational new cars of 2011.

Pagani has been developing the Huayra (pronounced 'wirer' with a Spanish accent apparently) for seven years and it's due to cost as much as £900,000.

Full technical details have yet to be officially released, but we do know that the new supercar will be powered by a bi-turbo 6.0-...

The Jaguar E-Type, a car some believe is the greatest ever made, turns 50 in 2011.

The iconic British sports car, which was once named number one by Jeremy Clarkson in his top 100 cars list, was launched in 1961.

Jaguar claims that its appeal 'transcended the automotive world' at the time it was launched. Whether that's true or not, the car certainly found instant success and has enjoyed a legacy that's endured for half a century.

The first formal event of Jaguar's celebrations will be...

Measures being considered by MPs could see fuel rationing put in place to cope with future oil shortages and climate change.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil (APPGPO) has proposed a Tradable Energy Quote (TEQ) scheme, which would see energy 'tokens' issued to households.

A token would represent a certain amount of fuel burned either at home or in a car. Each household would receive a limited amount of tokens, but would also be able to buy and sell them.

The TEQ scheme is de...

Aston Martin will begin production of the Cygnet city car with two limited edition versions, priced at £30,995.

The Cygnet is the British performance car maker's smallest ever model. It has divided opinion since its unveiling because it is so obviously based on the Toyota iQ city car - which costs just over £10,000.

The order book for the limited edition Cygnet White and Cygnet Black versions (both pictured) is open now, with deliveries scheduled for April.

Aston says that these edit...

James May, one of the trio of Top Gear presenters, has stated his reasons for hating the new American presenters tasked with making a success of an all-new Top Gear USA series.

May's column in The Telegraph yesterday (20 January) was titled "Top Gear US: why I hate the presenters already".

Following a few rambling paragraphs that typify the geeky reputation May has garnered, he went on to talk about the three new American presenters.

First up is Tanner Foust, an incredibly successful ra...

Unveiled on ferrari.com, the Ferrari FF is one of the company's most revolutionary models yet. The name is an acronym for Ferrari Four, referring to the four-seat layout and the adoption of four-wheel drive. This is the first ever Ferrari to put its power to all four wheels.

In fact, the FF purports to be the most practical and versatile Ferrari model yet. Boot capacity is 450 litres, which is as much as many family saloons offer. It can be extended to 800 litres by folding the rear seats.

Each year DSA asks its customers to take part in a satisfaction survey. Your feedback helps the agency understand which services work well for you and which need improving.

This year the survey is available online and only takes around ten minutes to complete.

If you’re an ADI, motorcycle trainer, an LGV trainer or on the ORDIT register, you can take part in the survey that’s relevant to you:

Driver trainer survey closing date: 11 February
Rider trainer survey closing date: 18 Fe...

One of the key measures of a Government white paper "Creating Growth, Cutting Carbon" is a new Local Sustainable Transport Fund. Full details of the £560m boost to local authorities were published yesterday (19 January).

The overall aim of the fund is to encourage greater use of public transport, walking and cycling in a bid to dissuade people from using their cars and hence cut down on nationwide emissions of carbon dioxide.

The money will be spent on schemes that deliver cleaner envir...

Some say he used to work for 'Top Gear' but was sacked for writing a book - all we know is that he's now the star of an electric racing series called the EV (electric vehicle) Cup.

Ben Collins, formerly The Stig, has confirmed his participation in a new racing series featuring electric cars only.

Collins made his announcement at this week's Autosport International event at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham.

The EV Cup will kick off August 6 at Silverstone before headin...

An American Mercedes dealership is offering customers the ultimate van.

Known as the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Grand Edition, the limited run luxury vehicle costs $190,000 (£120,000) from Mercedes Manhattan.

Available now, it costs more than most high performance AMG Mercedes models (except for the SLS AMG 'gullwing' supercar) but it offers the sort of luxury usually reserved for Simon Cowell's limo of choice, the Maybach. The top-end Sprinter has even been referred to as the 'stand up ...

Is this the world's toughest wheelchair? The DVLA seems to think so, because it has ordered its disabled user, 36-year-old Jim Starr, to keep it off the footpaths.

The amazing Tank Chair, a custom made wheelchair, is too wide and too heavy to be categorised an invalid buggy according to the DVLA. To use it in public, therefore, Mr Starr needs to obtain a category H driving licence.

That's the licence tank and track laying vehicle drivers must obtain. The Tank Chair certainly lays track...

Independent fuel retailers in rural areas are at major risk of closing due to soaring fuel costs, says the Retail Motor Industry Foundation (RMIF).

But there is a lifeline, as a rural area fuel discount is being considered by the Government. Talking to the BBC, Treasury secretary Danny Alexander said that he favoured a plan to cheapen fuel in rural areas, where prices are traditionally higher due to increased distribution costs, among other factors.

There are no specific details, but ...

MINI is going to debut its hottest diesel car ever in the shape of the Cooper SD at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

Currently MINI has two diesel cars in its line-up, the One D and Cooper D, both of which slip into the 'free to tax' VED band because of their 99g/km CO₂ ratings.

And while the Cooper SD won't be too far away from that sort of efficiency, its true remit will be performance. It will reportedly have a 143bhp power output and, more importantly, around 225lb.ft of torque - tha...

This picture shows a Bugatti Veyron owner spending £192 on a single tank of fuel at the UK's most expensive fuel station.

Granted, an £800,000 Veyron owner is not a typical snapshot of the UK motorist, but the ludicrous fuel figure is possibly the highest price paid for a road car fill up in UK history.

This driver can probably afford to soak up the lofty petrol cost, but spare a thought for the other motorists forced to use this Texaco garage in Chelsea, West London. It's charging ...

Two teams bearing the Lotus name are due to race in the 2011 Formula One season, which could lead to a legal brawl.

The first race, the Bahrain Grand Prix in March, will see Lotus Renault GP and Team Lotus compete against each other - but only one is an official Lotus team.

That title goes to Lotus Renault GP (pictured), a team formed when the Norfolk-based firm bought into the Renault F1 team last year (2010).

The move is supposed to be the start of an F1 revival for Lotus and a retur...

'What Car?' magazine named the Audi A1 supermini Car of the Year at its annual awards ceremony.

The glitzy ceremony took place at Grosvenor House on London's Park Lane and also saw the Audi A1 nab the 2011 Supermini of the Year award.

'What Car?' editor-in-chief, Steve Fowler, said: "If ever there has been a car that has hit the nail squarely and firmly on the head, the Audi A1 is it.

"It's the right car at the right time: a car that combines desirability and ability alongside frugal f...

The Government is ready to approve the use of drug testing devices to catch motorists under the influence of illegal substances at the wheel.

Known informally as 'drugalysers', the devices will be introduced to police stations in a matter of months.

Mobile devices for testing drivers at the roadside are expected to follow shortly afterwards.

It may be a landmark move for the authorities, but the UK lags behind many other countries, which already screen drivers for drug use. Police in A...

Lotus has donated one of its Evora sports cars to the traffic cops operating in the West Midlands.

Dressed in full panda car livery, the Evora will be a worrying sight for speeders.

Of more concern for law-breakers is the car's 276bhp 3.5-litre V6 engine, which propels it to 60mph in 4.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 162mph, rendering it Britain's fastest police car.

The Evora starts at £48,550 and it's the first car of its type to be used by a police force in the UK.

However, it's ...

Fairly dramatic changes to the London Congestion Charge came into being at the start of 2011 (4 January, to be precise). The good news is that the controversial Western Extension is removed, though the remaining zone is now subject to increased fees: £10 if paid on the day of travel; £12 the following day; £9 for those using Auto Pay.

But the change we're really interested in here is the Greener Vehicle Discount, which any driver with a qualifying car can register for. It entitles ...

The Government is set to give insurance companies greater access to drivers' records in an effort to crack down on insurance fraud. The new rules are expected to be announced this week.

Under current regulations, an insurance company has no right to access DVLA records showing previous driver convictions - consent must be given by the driver to release them.

However, the new rules will allow car insurers access to the DVLA database and information about a driver when an application is...

Mercedes-Benz has revealed early details of its next-generation SLK roadster.

The new model is the third incarnation of the compact, folding hard-topped sports car and Mercedes is promising more sporting appeal combined with greater efficiency.

The range will be introduced with two four- and one six-cylinder engine, with the SLK 200 developing 184bhp and returning 46.3mpg when had with Mercedes' 7G-Tronic Plus automatic transmission.

Covering the 0-62mph sprint in seven seconds, the ...

A woman from Chorley in Lancashire has covered her Peugeot 306 Convertible in images of Shane Richie.

Tattoo artist Mandy Crowther, 43, is such a huge fan of the EastEnders star that she decided to take him with her wherever she goes.

She paid £1,000 for a complete vinyl wrap of her car, covering its original blue paintwork with dozens of images of the soap star and TV presenter.

It's not just fan indulgence, though, as Miss Crowther is now asking for people to sponsor the car to rai...

Kia has unveiled a set of striking sketches of the new Rio, showcasing a car decidedly sportier than today's bargain basement model.

The next generation Rio will make its global debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March before going on sale in the UK later this year.

It's quite a transformation from the old car, with Kia saying it will be lower and wider, and feature a massive leap up in quality.  I guess some excellent CAD drafting has been made to accomodate all the upgrades they wanted....

Vauxhall is the new England football team sponsor. The car company has announced a three-and-a-half-year deal, which means its name will adorn the England team shirts for the 2012 UEFA Euro Championships and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

As well as becoming lead sponsor for the England senior team, the British firm will also sponsor the other 23 England sides, including women, youth and disability.

The deal will also see Vauxhall provide the FA with vehicles, and sponsor footbal...

A 1965 Ferrari 330 GT, formerly owned by Beatles frontman John Lennon, is to be sold by auction house Bonhams in Paris on February 5.

Experts have predicted that it will sell for €120,000-170,000 (£100,000-140,000).

Lennon is better known for his Rolls-Royce Phantom V Limousine, which he bought two months after the Ferrari and had sprayed in psychedelic colours.

However, the distinctive blue 330 GT is arguably just as significant, as it's the first car that the Scouse star bought a...

Some of DSA’s online systems won’t be available from midnight Friday 14 January to 6.00 am on Monday 17 January. This is due to essential maintenance work.

It will affect access to:

• online instructor services on Business Link
• the online booking service for practical tests on Directgov
• all online Driver CPC services
• DSA’s national speech recognition service for changing practical tests

You'll still be able to use online theory test services by visiting direct.gov.uk/t...

With just two degrees of vision in one eye, 76-year-old Joseph Naulty is registered legally blind.

However, his lack of sight hasn't stopped the tenacious Australian from pursuing his hobby of restoring cars in his garage in Melbourne.

Naulty has just about completed the restoration of his 26th car, despite deteriorating sight since an accident when he was 14.

He restores and rebuilds his cars by touch, using Braille to identify both the parts and his tools.

The Ford Model A (pictured) t...

The government has passed legislation cancelling identity cards for British citizens. From 21 January 2011, those identity cards that have already been issued will no longer be legal forms of identification.

This means you’ll no longer be able to use the identity card as a valid document to prove your identity for a practical driving test or for Driver CPC periodic training.

If you don’t have a photo card licence and counterpart to prove your identity but have an old-style pa...

You can now use DSA Direct to stay up-to-date with the latest news about products from DSA’s official publishers.

You’ll get updates about the range of impartial, informative and authoritative books, CD-ROMs, DVDs and downloads - written and produced by DSA.

We can’t sign you up automatically - you need to opt in to get the information:

• sign up for updates from DSA’s official publishers

New powers to tackle uninsured driving will come into force within months, Road Safety Minister Mike Penning announced today.

Under the new powers it will be an offence to keep an uninsured vehicle, rather than just to drive when uninsured.

Currently every responsible motorist pays an average £30 each year within their premiums to cover crashes involving uninsured and untraced drivers. It is also estimated that uninsured and untraced drivers kill 160 people and injure 23,000 every...

The driver of this dump truck can count his lucky stars that he's still with us after his dump truck sank deep into a boggy lake.

A digger was apparently rescuing the truck from the side of the water when the rope snapped, catapulting it to full submersion.

Watch closely and you'll see the cab separate completely from the truck as it sinks, with the driver behind the wheel.

The perilous accident was caught on tape - apparently by a mobile phone - and uploaded online.

It's not clear how or...

The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) has published a new video on its YouTube channel about eco-safe driving.

Watch the video for tips on how to be an eco-safe driver and contribute to road safety as well as reducing your fuel consumption and vehicle emissions.

• 'How to be an eco-safe driver' video

Ferrari could soon unveil a supercar that reads the mind of its driver and alters the car's set up accordingly.

According to 'Autocar', Ferrari's amazing new system analyses the driver's mental and physical state, then uses that information to alter settings like traction control.

Currently in early development, the system uses cameras and sensors to measure the driver's respiration, blood pressure, heart rate, blink rate and brain activity. It can then determine stress levels and ale...

Skoda's astounding transformation from butt of the joke to the top of the class continues, as the company announced yesterday (January 6) that 2010 was its best year for sales ever.

The Czechoslovakian maker, owned by Volkswagen, sold 762,000 cars worldwide in 2010 - that's an 11.5 percent increase on its 2009 figure.

Skoda sales in the UK went up by 10.5 percent, as over 41,000 cars left dealerships last year and the company now has a record two percent UK market share.

That's not a...

Pikes Peak: you may not have heard of it, but before Nürburgring lap times were the benchmark for a car's performance a good time up 'America's Mountain' (as the tourist info people call it) was a serious measure of performance. Ask anyone who's seen Climb Dance, a five-minute film of Ari Vatanen driving his Peugeot 405 T16 up the mixed gravel and tarmac surface, and you'll understand.

Every so often someone comes along and reminds everyone just how amazing Pikes Peak is, and at the m...

Vauxhall has issued a statement denying claims that its lifetime warranty advertising campaign has been banned by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), despite being forced to correct misleading elements.

Reports circulated yesterday (January 5) that the campaign, which reportedly cost £7 million, had been banned as a result of complaints, most of which came from TV viewers objecting to the lifetime warranty claim.

Vauxhall's statement in full reads: "Contrary to a number of media...

The Government has announced a serious of measures to lower parking charges and increase the number of parking spaces.

A statement by Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said: "The Government is calling off Whitehall's war on the motorist by scrapping the national policy restricting residential parking spaces and instructing councils to push up charges.

"Whitehall's addiction to micromanagement has created a parking nightmare with stressed-out drivers running a gauntlet of unfair f...

A one-off amphibious car is for sale on online auction site eBay for £500,000.

Called the Dobbertin Hydrocar, it's the brainchild of owner and creator Rick Dobbertin, who took almost 19,000 hours over nine years to build it.

That's perhaps why he's seen fit to put a $777,000 (£502,457) price tag on it. At under £27 per hour, it's not a bad return.

By its creator's admission, the Hydrocar is not ideal regular transport. In the car's lengthy eBay listing Dobbertin warns: "If you're look...

Kia has released images of the striking new Picanto supermini. It's much more handsome than the outgoing model and offers more space inside.

The Picanto will be unveiled in the metal at the Geneva Motor Show in March, and, aside from the images, Kia is playing its cards close to its chest with details about the car.

However, we know that it will be available with 1.0-litre and 1.2-litre petrol engines. Kia claims they'll emit class-leading CO₂ emissions, which means they could slip belo...

The New Year has only just begun but it's not a happy one millions of UK drivers. VAT went up from 17.5% to 20% today (January 4 2011), which added to the January 1 fuel duty rise means record price highs at the pumps.

It's also more expensive to buy a car today than it was yesterday, as the 2.5% VAT increase has added £250 to the price of a £10,000 car. The average price of a family car has therefore gone up by around £300-400.

Fuel costs have risen by an estimated 3.5 pence per l...

Swiss company Rinspeed has revealed its latest concept car, the BamBoo.

Sporting an inflatable roof and an interior made from bamboo, the unusual vehicle will be officially unveiled at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show in March.

Rinspeed compares the BamBoo to a golf cart, but claims that the car evokes the spirit of the South of France and St. Tropez in the 1970s.

In an unusual statement, the firm also said that it: "Would expect to find Brigitte Bardot behind the wheel with playboy Gunther...

Fee increases from 4 January 2011 due to VAT change

VAT will increase from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent on 4 January 2011. This increase will affect the Driving Standards Agency non-statutory test fees for:

• large goods vehicle (LGV) instructors
• fleet driver trainers
• motorcycle trainers
• taxi and private hire tests
• special tests for car and motorcycle trainers (Cardington)

The fees listed below are effective from 4 January 2011.

Every Christmas is the same: Police and drink-drive awareness groups go into overdrive because our collective alcohol consumption does.

Drink-driving doesn't go up because we all of a sudden drop our morals for Christmas; rather, it's because we drop our defences - the morning after is a real issue.

Drink-drive related deaths have fallen by more then 75 percent since 1980 according to drinkaware.co.uk. Yet recent research by road safety charity Brake has found that four in ten drivers...

The same handful of colours vies to become the 'new black' every year. Silver, grey, and red are always there or thereabouts, and like a denim-on-denim outfit, white has made an Eighties-style comeback of late.

So what's 2010's new black? The following is a list of the ten most popular colours for new cars in the UK, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). But before we get into that, here are a few things to consider when it comes to car colo...

Expert Rating:

What is it?

Terrifying. My experience of racing cars is limited to a handful of opportunities and this Aston Martin V12 Vantage is a very serious piece of kit. With around 510bhp from its 6.0-litre V12, a manual transmission, proper racing specification brakes, tyres, suspension and aerodynamics Kermit isn't a friendly little frog. It looks like an angry, difficult and expensive way of making myself look like an idiot. A wet track at Silverstone doesn't help; the worry...

Expert Rating:

What is it?

A revised version of Honda's best-selling hatchback with hybrid power. The Jazz is the Japanese company's most popular model in the UK and it has a fiercely loyal band of repeat customers who know what they like.

For 2011, Honda has made a number of very small changes inside and out to the Jazz range, as well as introducing the hybrid model, which has an electric motor in between the engine and gearbox and a battery pack mounted beneath the boot. It's now t...

In an effort to prompt car companies into making more environmentally friendly cars, and us into buying them, the Government decided it would levy Vehicle Excise Duty (or road tax, as it once was) based on CO₂ emissions, split into 13 groups labelled A to M.

The lower a car's emissions, the less the owner pays, ranging from an absolutely free tax disc for a car with 100g/km or less of CO₂ (Band A), up to £435 per year for those emitting over 255g/km (Band M). However, there's a disti...

The Government has officially announced the cars that will qualify for its £5,000 Plug-In Car Grant from January 1 2011.

Nine cars qualify for the £5,000 discount, which despite the potentially misleading title, covers full electric cars and plug-in hybrids.

Buyers of any car on the list, which includes the Nissan Leaf, the Chevrolet Volt and the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, will receive a 25 percent discount on the car up to the value of £5,000.

To qualify for the grant, a car must...