A wave of new driving laws will be amended and introduced throughout June that all motorists should familiarise themselves with.
Violating some of these laws could result in major fines that could otherwise be avoided. The list of new laws includes changes to the installation of electric car home charger points, the new clean air zones and new powers handed to councils for issuing certain fines.
In fact, some experts have suggested that the new driving law changes could lead to an "avalanches of fines," according to the Nottingham Post.
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Electric car home chargers
After June 15, all new homes and buildings will be required by law to have an electric vehicle charger installed. The rules will only apply to any new residential buildings with associated parking.
If you drive an electric vehicle and are expecting your new house to already have an electric charger installing, make sure that the property you are buying qualifies under the new law. It will also require buildings undergoing large scale renovations to install EV charge points, however, they must have more than 10 parking spaces.
Tomas Edwards, head of marketing at GoWithFlow, told the Express: "This law is a necessity as reliance on a roadside, on-demand fuel supply model will not be cost-efficient, nor will it be possible for an audience of majority-electric vehicle users.
"Electricity prices are rapidly increasing, and further national demand will only heighten this trend. This law change is part of its wider plan to cut carbon emissions, with £1.3billion of investment being committed to electric vehicle charging infrastructure rollout."
Smart electric vehicle chargers
From June 30, new regulations will be introduced to help manage the strain on the National Grid with thousands of electric cars charging at once. Homes and businesses which have existing EV chargers will be required to ensure they have smart charging capabilities.
The change is aimed at encouraging drivers to use smarter tariffs to avoid charging during peak hours, mostly throughout the daytime.
Council powers
Starting today (June 1), council across England and Wales be able to apply for new powers to fine drivers for traffic offences. They will be able to issue penalty charge notices for moving traffic offences which includes things such as yellow box misuse and making an illegal U-turn.
Nicholas Lyes, head of roads policy for the RAC, commented on the rule change, saying: “[This] could lead to an avalanche of penalty charge notices being wrongly issued and then having to be appealed.”
Clean Air Zone
More clean air zones will begin to be introduced this year with the government website explaining: "If your vehicle exceeds emission standards, you may have to pay a charge if you drive in a clean air zone". While not official date has been given for these plans, Jason Longhurst, Strategic Director at the Department of Place at Bradford Council, said: “The Council is meeting with the Government in May where we expect them to give a start date for the CAZ.”
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