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"The difference between men and little boys is the price of their toys."

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"Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car."- E.B. White

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"And I, I took the road less traveled by. I was using a GPS system."- Robert Brault

Green Cars

"Environmentally friendly cars will soon cease to be an option ... they will become a necessity."- Fujio Cho

Safe Cars

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves." - Albert Einstein

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

New restrictions for young drivers


It seems the government and the insurance industry have got it in for young drivers.

After a letter was published today in the Daily Telegraph urging tougher rules for young drivers, it looks likely there will be action taken to impose curfews, a zero limit on alcohol and a minimum one-year learning period for all young motorists.

The coalition of police chiefs, insurance companies and road safety campaigners are lobbying the government to fulfill its promises to get tough on road safety, particularly on boy racers and inexperienced young tearaways who cause more carnage behind the wheel than any other demographic.

2,500 people aged 16 to 25 were killed or seriously injured in cars driven by young drivers in the last two years. But it’s unclear how effective – or indeed how fair – it is to penalise all young drivers. If we were talking about female or elderly drivers, it’s unlikely the government or the road safety lobby would feel comfortable in making such arbitrary proposals.

It will be nigh-on impossible to police a night-time curfew, and the zero-tolerance for alcohol could be difficult to avoid miscarriages of justice. Traces of alcohol remain in the blood long after the effects have worn off, and to prevent night-time driving, the over-stretched police force would have to stop and identify people who look young behind the wheel after dark.

The answer may be in longer training periods or more effective practical driving tests. But discrimination on this scale is simply replacing one societal ill with another.

Thursday, June 06, 2013

New car sales rise again

As we previously noted, it’s making more sense to buy a new car. A lot of other people seem to think so too, as the number of new cars rolling off the forecourt increased 11 per cent last month.

May was the fifth consecutive month of growth for the UK car market, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, who carried out the survey. Private car sales are back at their pre-recession levels of 2008.

The Ford Fiesta was the most popular new car, its big brother the Ford Focus coming in second, while the Vauxhall Corsa slipped a place to third. Most of the cars in the top ten were hatch-backs or small family cars, which remain popular as the cost of fuel continues to rise and people’s wages in real terms are on the slide.

“While it is clear that buying confidence among UK motorists is very strong, continued economic uncertainty abroad, particularly in the rest of Europe, will mean that manufacturers remain cautious about performance in the second half of 2013,” says SMMT interim chief executive Mike Baunton.

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