Queensland now has the toughest penalties in Australia for people caught illegally using their mobiles while driving. According to the latest Budget Direct survey, most people think heavy fines ($1,000 or more) and demerit points will deter people from texting. Yet, more than a quarter say nothing will stop them! Read More
As we wrote last week, there are two huge problems for programming driverless cars. One is, they may be safer than human drivers in the long-term but until then, they are considerably more dangerous than humans. Second, we want to program them to make decisions just like a human – yet we don’t want them to drive just like a human! Read More
You would think from everything you read and hear that driverless cars are inevitable. Carmakers have already spent billions developing them. But lately their message about driverless cars is changing. It could be a decade or more before they can drive on the roads. Some believe a truly driverless car are a fantasy and may never even exist. Read More
Middle aged men now have more chance of dying on NSW roads than young people. Latest figures for 2019 show 13 more men aged 30-59 lost their lives in 2019, compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, there was a historic low of 14 deaths of young people 17-20. Why are men of all ages still the main casualties? Read More
Next time you see a cyclist climbing a steep hill without panting, look at their bike. They might be riding an e-bike, which has a battery to take some of the sweat out of cycling. These bikes may help make cycling more mainstream. According to some, e-bikes could even be better than electric cars for reducing emissions and congestion. Read More
In 2018-19, Australian motorists paid fuel excise tax of $19.68 billion or 40.9 cents a litre. The more fuel we buy, the more tax we pay. This means gradual uptake of electric vehicles, which don’t use fuel, will shrink fuel excise. Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA) has called for a road user charge now – on EV owners. Read More
There is a tug of war going on between vehicles we are supposed to be driving – small, electric – and vehicles we want to drive – big, conventional. Some 200 million SUVs are on the world’s roads today, up from about 35 million in 2010. Yet the International Energy Agency says SUVs were the second biggest contributor, after the power sector, to increases in global emissions of CO2. Growing demand for SUVs could even negate all the environmental benefits of electric cars. Read More
Think about how many human skills have been lost in the last century. It seems we are becoming less skilful and relying on experts to do things for us. A local business charges hundreds of dollars to service a bicycle. NRMA comes to change a tyre. Will we resist driverless cars because we don’t want to lose yet another skill? And what would we do instead – watch more movies? Read More
The last thing you want to think about at holiday time is having your car stolen. Yet 20% of all car crimes happen in December and January and 60% of car thefts happen while the car is parked at home. Remember you can take steps to deter thieves this holiday break. Read More
In the crazy lead-up to Christmas, our attention turns to gifts, Summer holidays and road trips. Everyone is on the road and the potential for accidents is high. Is it possible smart cars are making our driving increasingly dumb? Perhaps it’s time to encourage smart driving – even if you own a “dumb” car. Read More
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