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Car advice for people whose age and IQ are both over 50.

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  • When will the message get through? Driver education reduces teen crash rates.

    FOR SOME REASON, police and motoring associations persist in claiming that better driver education only makes teen drivers over-confident and so continue to campaign against it.  If we were to apply the same logic to teaching kids to swim, the argument would be that once they know how to swim, they’ll become over-confident, and be […]

  • Survey shows Aussie drivers are too easily distracted.

    A SURVEY BY Queensland law firm Smith’s Lawyers has uncovered that Australia is a nation of distracted drivers, with an alarming number of people citing inattention on the road due to selfies, social media and even attractive pedestrians. The findings, the first in a series of surveys by Smith’s regarding Australian driver safety, confirmed that […]

  • How many drinks is too many?

    One of the problems with .05 is that not many of us can tell if we’re under, at, or over that limit. The safest method, of course, is not to drive if you’ve had anything at all to drink, but that’s not always possible or practical. ALL THOSE CHARTS AND pieces of advice about how […]

  • Do we expect too much of car companies?

    THIS WEEK, I HAVE had some problems with a couple of things I own, and these little niggles got me to wondering if our expectations of car companies may be higher than we apply to other companies. The first problem concerns a pair of spectacles. As with all fashion specs, the frames were over $500. […]

  • Do you really need to change your timing belt by the book?

    Replacement of a timing belt is quite an expensive operation, and many owners put it off for as long as possible. It can be false economy. Timing belts began to replace chains in the late 70s and early 80s as part of the push to reduce weight and save money. As engines have become smaller […]

  • Do pushbike helmets save lives?

    SOUNDS LIKE A NO-BRAINER, but a recent study by Canadian health experts suggests bike helmet legislation has little effect on cyclist safety. But before we rush to discard our Styrofoam and plastic headwear, as usual it’s worth questioning the data. The Canadian study was published in The British Medical Journal, one of the most respected […]

  • Is diesel the right choice for your next car?

    After years of denial, Australians are embracing diesel-powered cars. But for some buyers, diesel may be a poor choice. Is diesel power right for you?  FOR DECADES, AUSTRALIAN CAR BUYERS resisted diesel power in their cars (although trucks have been predominantly diesel-powered for as long as anyone can remember). Now, the pendulum seems to be […]

  • What to do if you are being tailgated

    ONE OF THE SCARIEST THINGS on our roads, and increasingly one of the most common, is being tailgated by a following motorist. Tailgating (or travelling too close to the car in front) is one of the most dangerous on-road behaviours, for both the tailgater and the vehicle being tailgated. It happens to everyone, but often […]

  • Hyundai i30 Fastback N launch review

    Paul Murrell tests the 2019 Hyundai i30 Fastback N with pricing, specs, ride and handling, safety, verdict and everything the over-50 driver needs to know. Summary: It wasn’t too long ago that Korean manufacturers would do anything to keep their cars, motoring journalists and race tracks as far apart as possible. With its N range, […]

  • Danish study shows increased speed limits can actually reduce the road toll.

    A TWO-YEAR EXPERIMENT by the Danish Road Directorate shows accidents fell on single-carriageway rural roads and motorways where the speed limit was raised. When the speed limit on some stretches of two-way rural roads was increased from 80 to 90 km/h, accidents decreased due to a reduction in the speed differential between the slowest and […]