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TGA ratings hit a bump in the road

October 7th, 2008 98 Comments

With just two episodes under their belt, the Top Gear Australia team has taken a battering with only 674,000 viewers returning for the second episode, a drop of over 250,000 viewers compared to the premiere episode.

TGA finished last in its time slot to become the 26th most watched show last night, hinting that the new series may be taking a while to bed in with Aussie audiences.

Common sense loses in LCT debate

September 23rd, 2008 33 Comments

Common sense is yet to prevail over the current Luxury Car Tax debacle, with the Senate rejecting an Opposition bid to raise the luxury price threshold to $90,000.

- George Skentzos

The proposal was an acceptable compromise, maintaining the current LCT rate of 25 percent for vehicles over the existing $57,180 threshold, and applying the proposed 33 percent LCT to vehicles priced $90,000 and over.

2008 Easter road toll

March 25th, 2008 24 Comments

This year’s Easter road toll has hit 21 and going by the latest police reports, it might go even higher.

So far Queensland has had the worst record with seven deaths, Western Australia has hit five, Victoria is currently sitting at four, Tasmania is three and the Northern Territory and South Australia have each recorded one. Amazingly, there has been no deaths on New South Wales or ACT roads.

Despite the massive increase (and intensely advertised) number of speed cameras and police on QLD roads, the sunshine state has once again, recorded the worst toll for the nation.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has blamed speeding motorists, saying her government will review its road safety campaign with the potential for tougher penalties. QLD police have also expressed that they are at “wits end” with motorists’ behaviour.

“As a result of the continued speeding on our roads, and as a result of the continued drink driving on our roads, I’ll be talking with the Queensland Police Service and the minister for transport (John Mickel) about what else we can look at.” Premier Bligh said.

Unfortunately for Premier Bligh, she has missed the point. Last year QLD launched campaign 300, aimed at reducing the road toll below 300 for 2007. The operation involved substantially more speed cameras and RBTs.

The result? Not only did it fail, the road toll actually increased by almost 7 per cent (337 in 2006). The extra speed cameras have so far proven to be nothing more than a successful revenue-raising scheme.

What tends to concern us though, is that Premier Bligh has not even bothered to account for how the seven deaths occurred, opting to instead blame speeding without hesitation or merit.

Saturday saw a male pedestrian hit and killed by a vehicle at Craignish, north-west of Hervey Bay. That was followed by the deaths of a six-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy when the car they were in left the road, rolled and hit a tree at Murphys Creek, north of Toowoomba.

A teenager died when his motorcycle left the road and slammed into a tree. An elderly man died after a two car collision in the Brisbane suburb of Mansfield while a man in his 50s died when his motorbike collided with a cow about 10km outside Boulia, in the state’s west.

So, two motorcycle deaths, one caused by a cow, one pedestrian, two deaths in one car due to driver error and dark roads (Police did not blame speed as the primary cause), but it gets better, because according to QLD police the elderly man’s death could have been caused by a pre-existing medical condition!

What gets the blame? Speeding! Remember folks, if you can’t blame anyone else, blame speeding! At least that makes money.

When we said massive increase in speed cameras, we weren’t exaggerating, 14,731 QLD drivers were issued with speeding tickets during this holiday period, nearly twice as many as Easter in 2007. Almost 500 were caught drink driving.

What more can we say? Twice as many speeders caught, yet the road toll is higher? Perhaps, just perhaps, it’s not speeding?

Perhaps Premier Bligh should look into advanced driver training for all, compulsory re-licensing for older drivers, separate licenses for 4WD and high performance cars and focus the speed cameras on blackspots, not on straight roads.

Moving on from QLD, NSW Police issued just under 5000 speeding tickets, about 1/3 of QLD’s count, despite the state having a higher number of registered drivers. The number of speeding tickets also didn’t affect the state’s roads remaining fatality free.

Lotus Exige NSW Police Car

It’s worth noting, however, that despite the minimal speeding tickets, 6780 NSW motorists were charged with other driving offence ranging from reckless driving, using a mobile phone while driving and not wearing a seatbelt.

The motorist which topped the state’s idiot list was a 23-year-old disqualified driver, who passed a speed camera at 160km/h coming off the Anzac Bridge.

Moving to Victoria, a mother and daughter were killed when their car slammed into the side of a passenger train today in yet another level crossing disaster for the state.

Police have confirmed that the vehicle was a four-wheel drive and the incident occurred at an unprotected country level crossing at Moriac, near Winchelsea (picture below).

The second worst state was Western Australia with 5 deaths. An eight-year-old and a 21-year-old died when the Holden Commodore sedan they were in turned in front of a Holden Rodeo - the Rodeo had right of way.

Despite wearing seatbelts, the 21-year-old woman and the eight-year-old boy were thrown from the Commodore and died of their injuries.

On Friday a woman was killed when her car slammed into a tree on the South-West Highway, 30km north of Walpole. Another women died in the State’s north, after she was thrown from her car as it rolled on a bend. Police believe she was not wearing a seatbelt at the time.

Going by the WA Police’s own press releases, excessive speed was not the primary factor in these deaths.

These unfortunate souls that have perished on Australian roads this Easter period, have perished in vain. The State governments continue to deny the need for better driver training, while insisting, without merit, that excessive speed is the primary and root cause of the majority of accidents.

All we can ask is that you consider the facts and figures before blindly swallowing the Speed Kills propaganda. Sticking to 60km/h in a 60 zone does not guarantee your safety. If you want to improve your driving ability and lower your chances of being in a car accident, book yourself into an advanced driving course, it may just save your life.

Alborz Fallah

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European driving - the right way

March 14th, 2008 59 Comments

Driving isn’t so a much a right as it is a privilege. That’s the issue we’re faced with in Australia and it’s part of the reason the greater majority of road users infecting our roads are incredibly poor at driving.

My recent venture through Europe highlighted several things that Australia seriously lacks when it comes to driving.

Firstly. The cost of owning a car and getting a license in Australia is very cheap in comparison to our European neighbours. In Holland for example, the public must only complete driving lessons with qualified instructors – not with a parent who has probably learnt a myriad of bad habits over the years.

Upon completing the scheduled number of hours with a driving instructor, a learner must then go through a rigorous driving test – again, unlike Australia. I recall my driving test was a 15 minute job. Part of the test included a point-to-point reverse – which I’m certain an ape of average IQ could complete with both eyes closed. To think that anybody could possibly fail a driving test in Australia truly shocks me and makes me wonder why they are allowed to hold a license.

Secondly. The mentality of drivers on our roads is beyond belief. Many drivers share the belief that sticking exactly to the speed limit is both safe for them and all drivers around them. In Australia, if you approach a driver sitting in the right hand lane, driving under the speed limit, they instantly get defensive and won’t move no matter what you try – this kind of mentality is unheard of in Europe.

The other thing that totally plagues Australian drivers is hidden speed cameras. Around Australia - in Victoria especially - the public is too scared to drive watching the road because of the risk of going several kilometers/hour over the speed limit - resulting in a fine from well positioned cash-cameras. Drivers are far too paranoid about their speed, so much so that they don’t bother watching the road in front of them. This results in inattentive driving, which is not only dangerous for the driver, but the people around them.

Our trip to Italy had us drive on many Autostrades. The Autostrades were limited to 130km/h. Take a guess how many people were actually doing 130km/h? You guessed it – not many. The majority of the drivers were sitting on a casual 150km/h, while the rest were happy to cruise past at 200km/h. In Australia, this would be seen as deadly. Government officials would be dumbfounded at how incredibly unsafe this practice is. Now take a guess how many car accidents we saw on the motorways during our stint in several European countries? 0. None. Zilch.

Why were there no car accidents? Because drivers don’t have an unfounded sense of pride when it comes to other drivers. There was rarely anybody who was in the left hand lane for longer than the time needed to overtake. The drivers are also trained to look ahead of traffic and spot any problems that are about to arise.

Arriving back in Australia was fantastic in many ways – after all, it is the best country in the world. But one thing that continues to amaze me is how bad Australia is when it comes to driving. It shocks me to think how many accidents are caused in Australia due to uneducated drivers that wholeheartedly believe that driving is a simple task that anyone can and should do.

I guess I’ll just have to bite my tongue – the Government seems to be far too focussed on ripping every last penny out of driver’s pockets via speed camera fines, opposed to actually thinking about ways to properly train drivers before they are handed a deadly piece of machinery which can potentially wipe out a family in a heartbeat.

- Paul Maric

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The Victorian Police Force, Hard at Work

October 29th, 2007 56 Comments

Two acts of hypocrisy and idiocy have enraged me this week, both originating at the hands of the Victorian Police Force.

Firstly, according to the VicRoads Road Rules manual, in particular -

Part 11 - Rule 130 - 1: b) - http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/Cars/RoadRulesRegulations/

130. Keeping to the left on a multi-lane road
(1) This rule applies to a driver driving on a multi-lane road if—
(a) the speed-limit applying to the driver for the length of road where the
driver is driving is over 80 kilometres per hour; or
(b) a keep left unless overtaking sign applies to the length of road where
the driver is driving.

You would assume that if anyone, the Police would understand the road rules and if not, big white signs that read “Keep Left Unless Overtaking.” Unfortunately, the undercover Police officer I followed from Melbourne to Geelong not only didn’t adhere to the sign on any occasions, he also felt it necessary to exceed the speed limit for the entire 80km trip.

If breaking the ‘keep left’ rule wasn’t bad enough, a marked Police car then approached the undercover vehicle out of nowhere. After two or three seconds, the undercover Police car moved from the right hand lane to let the marked Police car pass. Soon after passing, the marked Police car accelerated to approximately 115km/h and continued at that speed all the way into Geelong and through two fixed speed cameras deviously attached to the back of overpasses.

After catching up to both vehicles again at the set of traffic lights entering Geelong, I was able to follow both vehicles back to the Geelong Police station where they pulled in. At no point during the entire journey did either vehicle have lights or sirens on. Also, at no point during the journey did either vehicle make a stop. So it can only be assumed both vehicles were exceeding the speed limit for no valid reason.

It can also be assumed that any pending speeding fines will happily be cleared from the register soon after the vehicles in the photos are identified as Police vehicles. It’s nice to see the Victorian Police Force employing double standards.

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The second gripe I have encountered this week was with regards to a stolen vehicle and the lack of attention given by the Police. Just over one month ago, I reported a stolen vehicle to the Police that had been dumped at a highway-facing car park (KFC car park, Westgate Freeway, city bound).

I reported that the vehicle had a smashed driver’s side window and had several people surrounding the car soon before I drove over. To my surprise, after arriving back at the same location one week ago, the same car was still there, in the same park.

The part that sent my levels of rage into the red occurred yesterday evening, when the same car was in the same spot, except vandalised within inches of its life:

So if you ever encounter the unfortunate circumstance of having your car stolen, rest assured that the Police are hard at work - doing absolutely nothing about it. Obviously charging people for exceeding the speed limit by 3km/h is a greater priority than returning one’s form of transport and stopping hooligans from vandalising anything that moves.

- Paul Maric

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Evo X .vs. New STi - You decide

October 25th, 2007 114 Comments

We have decided that our company car is either going to be the new Evo X or the MY08 Subaru Impreza WRX STi. Although we are leaning a little bit in favour of the Evo X, we want you to tell us which car you’d buy.

The Evo has the looks, performance, dual-clutch gearbox, more gadgets than a Russian spaceship, while the STi.. ummm… it has a big boot?

P-Plater Vehicle Restrictions Under Fire

September 26th, 2007 52 Comments

The recently introduced P-Plater laws which prohibit young drivers from driving supercharged, turbocharged, V8+ or modified vehicles in QLD and Victoria have come under some considerable scrutiny.

Holden VE Commodore SS

In another attempt by the State governments to simply cover-up a much more complicated problem of rising P-Plater accidents, the blanket restrictions have caused a massive headache for the car industry.

So far the NSW, QLD and VIC transport authorities have all failed to produce any sort of evidence linking the blacklisted vehicles to higher accident rates amongst P-platers.

Not to worry though, frustration is not just limited to P-Platers and car enthusiasts, GoAuto reports the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Andrew McKellar has put his weight behind the move to pressure the Victorian government to reconsider the bans.

“To be banning vehicles on the basis that they constitute some sort of safety risk to young drivers when in fact, quite the contrary, we are talking about brands with some of the best safety track records going around, just highlights the ludicrous nature of the regulations,” Mr McKellar told GoAuto.

Just to point out an example before we continue, the new laws have banned all supercharged C-class Mercedes-Benz vehicles, even though most produce minimal power (as low as 105kW!), but provide five-star safety rating for passengers and pedestrians, however cars like the Holden Barina, which manage a dismal two-star safety rating are presented as a safer choice.

The P-plater vehicle restrictions, which have also found their way to Queensland recently, were designed to stop young and inexperienced drivers from getting behind the wheel of performance cars.

The problem, of course, is that not all turbo and supercharged cars are performance cars, in QLD and Victoria the only vehicles that transport authorities have officially excluded from the supercharged/turbocharged blacklist is the entire range of cars from Smart, the Daihatsu Copen and Suzuki’s long forgotten Cappucino.

Unfortunately, that leaves the likes of Audi, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot, to name a few, in a bad situation.

Peugeot’s 206 CC Turbo (110kW), the new 1.4-litre twin-charged Volkswagen Golf GT (125kW), Audi’s 1.8-litre turbo A4 (120kW) etc, are all banned due to forced induction.

However, in Queensland, cars such as the 3.5-litre Holden VE Commodore (180kW), 4.0-litre Ford Falcon (190kW), Volkswagen’s 3.2-litre AWD performance car, the Golf R32 and any other naturally aspirated vehicle below 200kW is allowed!

2006 Volkswagen Golf R32

In Victoria, the previous laws allowed for a maximum of 125kW of power per ton, and this appeared to be a well thought out plan, however cars such as Subaru’s trouble-making Impreza WRX managed to slip through (~120kW per tonne) and Victorian Police had a hard time working out which cars were banned.

Nonetheless, under the old laws cars such as Honda’s roadrocket, the S2000, was kept at bay, but not any more!

VicRoads website says the old laws will continue for current P-platers, but all young drivers that have been licensed since July this year will come under the new laws. Meaning a 17-year P1 plater can get behind the wheel of a 176kW Honda S2000, but not a 110kW Peugeot!

Apart from the blanket restrictions on V8+/Turbo/Supercharged/Modified vehicles, the following are also banned for young drivers in Victoria.

Make	Model	Release Year/s	Cylinders
BMW	M	1998	6
BMW	M3	1994 - 2004	6
BMW	M5	1990	6
BMW	Z4	2006 onwards	6
Nissan	350Z	2002 onwards	V6
Honda	NSX 2 Door Coupe	1991 – 2002	V6
Porsche	911	1993 - 2006	6
Porsche	Boxster	1999 - 2006	6
Porsche	Cayman	2006 onwards	6
Mercedes Benz	SLK 350	2004 onwards	V6
Mercedes Benz	C350	2005 onwards	V6
Mercedes Benz	C36	1995	6

The list appears very incomplete with many high performance naturally aspirated vehicles, such as the Honda S2000, BMW Z3, Volkswagen Golf R32, Audi Quattro 3.2-litre AWD missing.

Let’s put the argument in some simple hard facts, the 1.8-litre four-cylinder turbo Audi A4 gets from 0-100km/h in 8.6 seconds while its performance orientated brother, the 3.2-litre V6 Quattro AWD (naturally aspirated), does the same run in 7.2 seconds, which one would you ban?

The 1.4-litre twin-charged Volkswagen Golf GT does the dash in 7.9 seconds while the performance prepared Golf R32 beats it by 1.7 seconds!

Surely no one at VicRoads or QLD Transport actually bothered to look this up! Obviously if it’s a turbo or supercharged, it means it goes fast… and somehow leads to late night hooning activities… right?

The question still remains, when will transport authorities start training young drivers and introducing mandatory advanced driving courses instead of simply putting blanket bans on a whole list of cars and installing more and more speed cameras?

Instead, transport authorities have bad-mouthed driver training courses as producing over-confident drivers that are more accident prone, despite all evidence to the contrary.

What really needs to be done, is the introduction of mandatory advanced driver training for all new drivers and a five-year re-licensing scheme to make sure the nation’s drivers are up to scratch with their driving skills.

Yes it’s expensive, but so is the human and financial cost of the nation’s rising road toll. As the new saying goes:

Don’t ban high performance cars, ban low performance drivers!

Think of it this way, when a learner undergoes a current driving test, a simple emergency braking procedure is not performed, so the first time a new driver experiences emergency braking is to avoid an accident, however it is a criteria of the driving test that the leaner perform a parallel or reverse park…

Now how many times have you practised a fire evacuation in your workplace, university or school and have had to actually use your experience to escape a fire? And how many times have you had to slam on the brakes to avoid an accident? They are just as important as each other, yet one is completely neglected.
Make sure you head over to GoAuto and read the rest of their report.

Alborz Fallah

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Drivers not too keen on ignition interlocks

August 23rd, 2007 14 Comments

Drink and Drive, you’re a bloody idiot. We all know it, we have all seen the ads and we all know, not to do it. Whilst here at CarAdvice we are not shy of criticising the state government’s “Speed Kills” revenue raising campaigns, we are 100% behind the anti drink-driving campaigns.

Unfortunately, being the arrogant species that we are, there are some who still don’t get the message, for those select few, there is the option of installing ignition interlocks, devices which will control the vehicles ignition and are activated by the driver (e.g. a breathalyser controls the ignition - if you’re clean, it starts, if you’re not, it doesn’t).

Being the over cautious society that we are, many are trying to push for the next stage, so that all new vehicles come standard with these devices, regardless of driver history.

The argument? In the U.S. around 80 percent of drivers drink very lightly or not at all, and only about 0.5 percent of vehicle trips are piloted by drunk drivers. However 40 percent of the U.S. road toll (43,000) is caused by drunk drivers (no Australian statistics available from Australian Bureau of Statistics).

Since they can’t stop the 0.5 percent, they want to inconvenience the 99.5 percent, a very American approach. Of course, this isn’t going to happen here, Australians are not going to buy cars that come standard with these devices (are we?), and if we were forced to, we would simply remove them.

Obviously that’s not going to work, so we move on to the next-next stage, smarter devices. Recently we showed you this Nissan concept, a car which doesn’t simply rely on the breathalyser method, it can sense your odour, it can use the sweat from your palms and, it can even tell, by measuring your eye movement, if you are actually paying any attention to the road (it can even make you coffee…).

The question remains though, would you like your car to breath test you every-single-time you get in the car? Would you be happy to have your integrity questioned and be inconvenienced every time you get behind the wheel? If it means someone, somewhere, will end up walking home and possibly not run over your dog, or worse, your neighbour?

Tell us:

Do you support mandatory ignition interlocks on all new cars

Hyundai’s back baby

August 2nd, 2007 4 Comments

Hyundai’s short lived Santa Fe ad is back, albeit with a few modifications.

Hyundai Baby The ad was pulled from air five months ago by the Advertising Standrards Board after over eighty mindless complaints from viewers (who clearly had nothing better to do) claimed the ad was a bad influence on children and that it could lead to toddlers driving cars or even hitch hiking.

Give me a break!

It seems in our politically correct world that some light hearted, imaginative advertising is too much for our fragile minds to take (though somehow pinky finger wiggling insults to our manhood are acceptable).

Personally I thought it was a good ad, cute even, but clearly I am mad and should be outcast from society.

So for now it’s a case of no fast cars in ads, no toddlers surfing in nappies, and no ‘fancy’ driving. Perhaps we should just look at a car static on the screen for thirty seconds, engine off so as not to offend our ears, or hug some trees and catch the train instead.

But I digress. For now, at least, the ad is back. There’s no driving scenes and no hitch hiking babies, but at least, in part, it’s a small win for common sense.

Matt

0-100km/hr in… does anyone still care?

August 1st, 2007 29 Comments

My girlfriend and I went to a hardware store yesterday to try and find some bricks to elevate a guinea pig cage we had recently bought. Not too hard of a task you would imagine, walk into bunnings, buy some bricks, and walk out.

I asked an elderly gentlemen wearing a bunnings uniform where I can find some bricks, he started talking about all sorts of weird and confusing things, maybe we can try some timber from an ancient rainforest, or maybe some organic plates? Maybe we can suspend the cage in mid air using wires? Or, maybe we can just buy some bricks?

We ended up with some Hebal Bricks, these weird, organic-like, pink, brick looking things that according to the bunnings guy are strong enough to build houses from, even though they nearly fell apart on the way to the car. A hebal brick? Has the world gone mad?

It’s obvious that certain groups come up with their own language just so that everyday people don’t understand them, be it mechanics, IT people, lawyers and even the men in blue. Take IT people for example, when was the last time you had any idea what a computer salesmen was trying to sell you, “…it has 2GB of RAM, a 300gb hard drive and has a dual core 2.2ghz CPU…”… uha.

What most of us fail to realize is that we, the car-lovers, also have our own language, you can’t be a car person if you don’t understand the terminology; RWD, FWD, AWD, N/A, EBD, ESP, DSG the list goes on and on…

However the most important of all these car terms is the all important, 0 to a 100, “nice car mate, what’s the 0 to a 100?“. What is the 0-100? It is the time (in seconds - unless you have a Proton) it takes for your car to go from a standstill to 100km/hr.

Back 25 years ago, 0-100 of around 7 seconds was regarded as really quick. A 1980s SC Porsche 911 would go from 0-100 in 7 seconds while a Lamborghini Countash would do it in a blistering 5.9 seconds - supercar performance for the 80s.

Today your everyday turbocharged Japanese car or the XR6-Turbo will keep up with the Countash and put the SC 911 to shame (although the new 911 GT2 does the 0-100 in an unbelievably quick 3.7 seconds). So cars have gotten faster and faster over time but the real question is no longer what does it do 0-100, but more so, does anyone still care?

Anyone that judges a car on its 0-100 times has missed the point. Sure it goes a long way to show the car’s accelerating ability, but there is so much more to a car than 0-100 times. HSV’s recent GTS claims to get from 0-100 in 4.9 seconds. I simply don’t believe this to be true, at least not for your everyday driver.

Firstly no one in their right mind would ever drive their own car at its maximum capacity. To achieve the best 0-100 times, one needs to be extremely brutal on the clutch, a treatment that no drive shaft or gearbox will withstand for long.

Launching the car from at least 4,000 RPM (around 5,500 for AWDs on average) a sudden burst of power is applied to the entire car, this usually causes extreme pressure on all the cars components - not something you’d want to do in your brand new HSV more than a few times a day.

But that’s not all, the biggest problem is gear changing, at least with the autoboxes and DSGs getting better and better, you can come close to achieving the quoted figures but for a manual car, when was the last time you flat shifted, or even thought about it? What you need todo to achieve the best 0-100 times is to redline and simply wrench the lever from first to second without touching the clutch! Try that tomorrow if you dare…but make sure you have a few grand ready for a new box.

So how did HSV achieve 4.9 seconds from a car that weighs nearly 1800kgs? Was the track wet or dry? Was the wind in their favour? How many gear changes were needed? Who was driving? How many clutches/gearboxes were broken to achieve the result?

The clutch in my car recently died on me after I attempted one too many 5,500 RPM launches in a night. Sure my car can do the 0-100 dash in 5.5 seconds, but at the expense of my clutch does the extra 0.5 second really matter? Besides comparing 0-100 times for cars can be meaningless when one car can achieve 100km/hr in 2nd while the other has to be in 3rd.

So how shall we do it? Should we use the American quarter-mile system where cars are measured for how long it takes them to travel 402 meters? I don’t think so, the point is, while your super-cool heavily modified Skyline R32 GT-R can do the 0-100 in under 5 seconds and do the quarter-mile in mid to low 12s, something will break every few weeks - so what’s the point?

But if we ignore the quarter-mile and 0 to a 100 times, how can we brag about our cars to our mates? You would be the ridiculed if you decided to quote your fuel economy figures or how little pollution your car produces, and I’ll personally punch the next person that tells me they have a hybrid and I should too…

What are your thoughts? Do 0-100 times mean anything to you for your next purchase?

Do 0-100km/hr figures still matter to you?

The scooter files - Two-wheeled trouble

July 19th, 2007 25 Comments

The VACC reported this week that scooter sales are set to reach record numbers, with sales up 40% over this time last year. This trend is highlighted by Vicroads stats showing a one-third increase in scooter registrations since 2001. But as motorists, does this just denote two-wheeled trouble?

Simpsons Scooter A survey conducted by Melbourne based insurer AAMI has found most drivers are “annoyed with the increased presence of scooters” listing lane splitting, under-taking and cutting-in as just a few of the risky moves leading them to loathe sharing the road with our pint sized pals.

Let’s face it, some riders do have poor road manners, and whilst they are required by law to attend a class in order to obtain their license, most come away from that course thinking they’re Casey Stoner, when in reality, they aren’t fit for riding a pushy.

Riding, like driving, takes practise, lots of practise. Balance, maintaining speed, lane position, and braving the elements must all be learnt and practiced. Add this to memorising the existing road rules and displaying good road etiquette, makes it seem absurd that one’s license is picked up from completing a six-hour course on a closed course with no interaction from traffic. Sadly this is reflected by statistics showing a six-fold rise in rider fatalities over the last five years.

But scooter clubs insist that whilst there are some riders who set a bad example, the majority are just chasing convenience and are all about enjoying the journey, whilst at the same time avoiding high fuel prices, lack of parking, and poor public transport.

They also hint that driver ignorance is to blame for our newfound aggression, and that our car culture that isn’t ready for the Vespa invasion. We haven’t grown up with scooters on our roads and it’s high time we learnt to recognise the growing trend.

Either way, they’re here to stay and although we may be peeved by poor riding, just remember that it is a person atop that scooter and even a small accident will result in them coming off second best. So, be the bigger person, be patient, remember to head check, leave a gap and perhaps go for a ride yourself some day to see what it’s like. It may surprise you.

Matt.