Australian Car Advice | News Blog

Don’t know about you, but I’m convinced that Australia operates on a different set of road rules to the rest of the civilised world, when it comes to right and left lane, road rules.

I thought the law stated: no driving in the right lane unless overtaking. Is that it? If not, please correct me.

It’s a rule which very few Australians seem to have heard of. No matter where you drive here, the right hand lane will almost always be your slowest route and the left, the quickest.

It’s incredibly frustrating when you are traveling on a superb piece six-lane dual carriageway, only to find both the right and centre lanes, populated by various slow drivers or worse still, trucks.

And don’t bother flashing your high beam at these guys - as they will protect their right lane ownership with the the same vigour as they would if protecting their house from an intruder.

Right hand lane hogs are an epidemic in Australia. There is no doubt that the constant lane changing by frustrated motorists is dangerous and has been, and will continue to be responsible for many unnessary road deaths in this country.

In contrast, driving throughout much of Europe is an intoxicating experience. Yes, the high speeds you can legally drive at, seem far safer than our miserable 110km/h speed limit. Apart from some of the finest highways in the world, European drivers know the difference between right and left lanes.

In the UK, France and Germany at least, you only need to appear in a rear vision mirror and the driver will quickly move over a lane, to allow you to pass. Over there, it’s just plain driver courtesy.

Perhaps the Highway Patrol bosses across Australia, should think about issuing tickets to right lane hogs, rather than going after folks who have momentarily forgotten that they have passed through five different speed zones, all in 10kms, and end up being hammered for doing 110km/h in a 100km/h zone.

Should they heed this advice, then driving in Australia might be a far more enjoyable experience and a hell of a lot safer without Playstation-like lane changing manoeuvres.

Anthony

I’ve had this boxed up inside me for some time now and it can’t remain any longer, I have to share with everyone my Fog Light Fury.

Most middle of the range cars now come with fog lights, along with a bucket load of DIY maestros who fit their own fog lights, caring little about their alignment and positioning.

During total daylight, without even an ounce of darkness, you are likely to find no less that one in five people driving with their fog lights on - that’s according to my personal day-to-day tally. Unbeknown to the driver, their fog lights are pissing me - and quite a few other road users - right off. Is there any logic whatsoever in using your fog lights during the day, or even during the night when there is absolutely NO fog around? Absolutely not.

Drivers that have mis-aligned fog lights manage to get at me the most, surely if they knew how bloody annoying and dangerous their showboating attempt was, they would realise that there is absolutely no logic in the use of their fog lights. Earlier model Subaru WRXs, along with VT-VZ Commodores must be the worst offenders, every single one of them - with fog lights on - seems to have their fog lights aligned directly at oncoming traffic.

And then there are rear fog lights…Hyundai Excels anyone? Rear fog lights are the bane of all evil and should not - under any circumstances - be operated during conditions where there is no fog! Surely drivers of these offending vehicles wonder what the little red fog light symbol on their dashboard means?! Unbeknown to them, they are irritating the absolute crap out of everyone else. They are subtle enough not to stand out at first, but the second you notice them, your eyes don’t drift away until they’re gone.

My rant does serve a purpose. It is in fact illegal to operate fog lights and rear fog lights during conditions where there is no fog. Unfortunately, Police are always too busy doing other things, opposed to booking serial offenders who think their fog lights somehow impress other drivers.

So next time your finger goes for that fog light switch - STOP. Because you are annoying the crap out of every other motorist on the road.

- Paul Maric

Each afternoon, I sit needlessly in a queue of traffic for at least 20 minutes because four or five cars choose to park in the left hand lane of a major through road. You see, the road in question is a four-lane road which has effectively been cut to two lanes, due to occasional parking on both sides of the road.

I don’t know what the cost of a 2km stretch of road is, but you would think it would be well over a million bucks. So why does the RTA (Roads and Traffic Authority) allow expensive roads to be turned into car parks for the chosen few, in peak hour?

I might add, there are no units on this street, just houses which all have their own driveways and/or garages.

I went through the torturous task of calling a government authority, and after no less than ten transfers to different departments, each requiring my complaint to be retold, I finally got on to someone who said that it would be too difficult to ask these few residents to keep the road clear during afternoon peakhour.

Oh, they also said that they had not noticed any queues on this particular road. Yeh, right! Perhaps they did their research after 10pm when they were paid a loading on top of their weekly earnings.

- by Anthony

Here I am again at Brisbane airport waiting for my flight to Sydney, but don’t worry, this time I am not getting picked up in a Lamborghini Murcielago upon my arrival, in fact I am most probably going to be picked up in a Falcon of all things, not exactly my type of car.

It’s not the car that worries me though; it’s the drivers in Sydney that make me feel a little funny inside. I am from QLD, and I am willing to admit QLD drivers are not the best in the country, but Sydney drivers? I like to divide them into two groups, the “Stig wannabes” and the “I’ve been driving for forty years so I can make a right turn in the middle of the highway if I want to” types.

There seems to be no ordinary drivers left in Sydney, perhaps they all hide and only come out at night in small groups? In Brisbane – foreign drivers (as in those who’ve passed the test in another country – such as my parents) and older drivers seem to cause the most headaches.

On the odd occasion that I am willing to put my life in danger and get in the car with my mother or father behind the wheel, I wonder to my self how on earth they both still have all 12 points. Surely every single road rule is broken every 5 minutes, no I am wrong, every single rule except speeding.

My father’s idea of indicating involves thinking about merging right and hoping the innocent person in the right lane can somehow read his mind. He believes stop signs are for P platers and Speed limits are only a maximum guide. He even waves to traffic cops as he drives past with his indicator still blinking from a right turn he made 60 KMs ago.

Admittedly apart from not following any road rules, my dad is a good driver – he knows where the car is on the road and comes from a time when ABS brakes were unheard of.

My mother on the other hand, is not a good driver….Read More

Less than one month (July 2007) remains between new Queensland drivers and the new draconian P plate restriction laws set to destabilize the transport system in QLD.

All the details regarding the laws can be found here, this is has been discussed countless times before on Car Advice and all of us agree that the new laws will send QLD into the dark age. However, we only realised this morning just how bad the new laws really are.

QLD transport sent out a letter to all those affected last week and the first word reads “Tragically”, which is ironic, because the laws are truly a tragic event for new QLD drivers.

All new learners will need to conduct 100 hours of driving prior to booking their practical test. This is great, in theory, but here is the problem. Firstly, driving with a driving instructor (credited - from a school) will count 1 hour as 3 hours, (maximum of 10 hours), so that means, if you do 10 hours with an instructor, it will count for 30 hours. So you still have another 70 hours to go.

For those lucky enough to have access to a family car, this shouldn’t be too hard, after all, how hard would it be to convince parents to “sign” the log book confirming your hours? For those who don’t have access to a car, 80 hours of paid driving is a massive amount. Specially given it will cost you $45/hr. So roughly $3,600 to gain the hours.

Some argue that it is necessary for the well being of young drivers to undergo this many hours, and we agree. It is crucial for young drivers to gain as much experience prior to driving solo. However there is a better way.

QLD transport are in denial. They have refused to admit that Driving Courses will help young drivers become better drivers. They have done this by snubbing the driving training centers with the new laws. While it will cost you roughly $45/hr for a lesson with a driving instructor, it will cost you around $250 for an advanced driving course (whole day).

So if an hour with a driving instructor will count as three hours (to a maximum of 10 hours), how many hours will you be credited for attending an Advanced Driver Training Course? None! Brilliant.

QLD’s most recognized driver training centre is SDT, Safe Driving Training. The company’s manager Joel Nielsen is not at all happy being snubbed,

“This is a slap in the face to defensive driving courses, we are not necessarily asking for the same triple-credit deal as driving schools but surely an hour spent learning emergency car handling procedures in the safety of a supervised training facility should be credited to logbook hours.” Mr Nielson said

Of course QLD transport were fully aware this issue would arise, so they’ve worked hard to come up with an excuse as to why learning how to handle a vehicle in an emergency situation is not useful to new drivers. Queensland Transport young driver project team spokeswoman Linda McIntyre said the new laws were to :

“encourage young drivers to interact with and be exposed to a range of traffic, road, and weather conditions. Therefore, supervised driving undertaken in an artificial driving environment , such as a driver trainer centre-facility will not count towards the completion of the 100-hour driving experience requirement.”

Again, absolutely brilliant. From all of us at Car Advice we would like to congratulate Mrs McIntyre for winning the 2007 Absolute Rubbish award. Seriously though, it must take a lot of courage to label advanced driving courses as having no benefit to young drivers.

The problem doesn’t stop there, Mrs McIntyre will have to share her award with RACQ who have also jumped on the bandwagon, supporting QLD Transport’s stance on driver training.

“We do not believe that off-road training, especially that most commonly described as advanced driver training is an appropriate form of driver education for learners. At worst, such training could, in fact, encourage even greater risk-taking behaviour in younger male drivers, in particular,” RACQ exsternal affairs general manager Gary Fites

Its obvious that RACQ and QLD transport do not understand the most important and basic principle of human behaviour. Knowledge is power. The idea behind driver training is to teach young (and old) drivers how to control their vehicle in an emergency situation. RACQ believes it is better for drivers to be unskilled in an emergency situation in case they take advantage of their new found confidence.

We have mentioned before how QLD transport hates car enthusiasts and this again comes through here. The comment regarding “off-road training” is nonsense. It seems that no one from RACQ or QLD transport has ever visited Mt Cotton driver training centre (which is government owned!). The idea behind the centre is to familiarize drivers to a whole range of driving conditions that may occur on actual roads.

In other words, RACQ believes its better that drivers experience an out of control vehicle on the road for the first time, (and most likely the last time) as oppose to in a safe training environment. Thank you RACQ for simply bowing down and following QLD transport’s lead.

While QLD’s road toll continues to grow and campaign 300 fails, miserably, QLD transport (and now RACQ) fail to see the bigger problem. RACQ’s argument follows the same thought pattern of “If we teach our children different political ideas, they might use it against us” - After all, all under 25s are hoons and a menace on the road? We might as well just ban all under 25s from driving?

Recently, BMW put its weight behind Driver Training. BMW’s own research has shown that drivers going through the driver training program are far less likely to crash. Dr Draeger who is in charge of the BMW driver training says:

“Governments should make it compulsory to go through driver training schools”

Now here is BMW and the majority of the motoring world in one side yelling and screaming (and even begging) to make driver training compulsary for all new drivers, and on the other side you have QLD transport and now RACQ who discourage training.

Our hearts and minds are with those affected by these new laws. Let us be the first to say, there is absolutely no merit for improving road safety in these laws, it is a simple band aid solution to a problem which requires MORE education for younger drivers, a system which should force drivers to undergo driving training - not discourage them!

It should be obvious to us car lovers in QLD that QLD transport would much prefer it if we all just packed up and moved to another state. While fear campaigns fail trying to bring the road toll below 300, genuine car enthusiasts looking to have some fun on the track are being shut down and forced back on the road.

Brisbane-based company Safe Drive Training (SDT) is the pioneer of drift training in Australia, having recently launched their overseas drift school in Japan, SDT currently runs schools in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and India, yet they are not allowed to run a school in their home town of Brisbane.

SDT had conducted a drifting school at the Government-owned Mt Cotton Driver Training Centre before Transport Minister Paul Lucas put a stop to it.

“There is a definite need for more facilities in south-east Queensland, we are currently not offering something but talking to the people at Lakeside (International Raceway in northern Brisbane) and other land owners to establish a skidpan in the greater Brisbane area.” Safe Drive Training managing director Joel Neilsen

A few months ago I attended the Large Vehicle Maneuvering Area (LVMA) at Mt Cotton Driver Training centre to not only improve my driving skills in the wet and dry, but also (lets be realistic) to have some fun in a safe environment.

Arriving at 9am and waiting for the event to begin was perhaps the most exciting part of the whole day. Don’t get me wrong it was meant to be a good day with excited first timers (like myself) and experienced drivers all keen to participate, learn a few things and have some fun. That is all before the Nazi Noise Police showed up.

You would think that being at a Driver Training centre, the idea is simple, you are there to learn new skills and improve your driving ability whilst also putting in the effort (and paying money) to practice on a safe environment as oppose to breaking the law and performing the maneuvers on public roads and putting lives in danger.

Nonetheless, the noise police were more concerned about cars breaking the 90dB noise barrier than anything else. Not only was the testing conducted incorrectly (testing was conducted whilst other cars were on the track resulting in massive background noise) but given the relative remoteness of the area, the noise limit seemed a little irrelevant.

Either way more than half of the cars were told to go home (without a refund) as they did not meet the noise limit barrier, the whole event was stopped for a good 2 hours whilst these tests were conducted and the whole day turned into one big mess (although as you can see from the picture below, before the noise police showed up, we had some fun)

Of course QLD transport argues that residents living around the training centre complain about the excessive noise. Now I ask you Mr Lucas, what scenario would you rather prefer?

1. Driver training is conducted on public roads by disgruntled enthusiast late at night endangering the public.
2. Driver training is conducted in a safe environment by responsible enthusiasts wishing to have some fun, safely.

You have to remember that the Mt Cotton Driver training centre has been there long before the residents moved in around the area, and as the name suggests, it has one purpose, driver training.

Whilst we push for more alternative approaches in reducing the road toll, the QLD government simply goes the opposite way to block all possible means for Car enthusiasts to enjoy their cars on government owned property.

Shame on you QLD transport. When will someone in power wake up and realise that the current fear and “speed kills” mentality has not and will not reduce the road toll, we are no longer blind, revenue raising is not a safety initiative.

For our loyal readers the theme of our writing should have become rather obvious by now, we simply do not support the state governments in their efforts to blame speed as the cause of our nations road toll. We have argued countless times that speed is simply a contributing factor at the best of times and most definitely not the cause.

In our battle against the State Governments (and many other media organisations) we have found a few friends who have also stood up against the state government’s “Speed Kills” policy. Road Sense is Australia’s leading website helping to shed some light on the reality of Speed Cameras and their ineffectiveness to save lives.

We have a special treat for our readers today, a special report written by Mr Bruce Josephs has been kindly donated to CarAdvice for our readers. The report clearly, thoroughly and truthfully shows how the NSW Government’s speeding policy is failing.

Report highlights:

• The false premise that Speeding Kills which the government uses in order to justify taking hundreds of millions of dollars from the motoring public.
• The false and misleading propaganda used to back up this false premise.
• The unreliability of the speed measurement devices used to infringe motorists.
• How radar operators break police guidelines in order to infringe innocent motorists.
• The situation where many motorists whilst not breaking any law are subject to losing points, time, money, etc.
• The extraordinary lengths the government goes to, in order to prevent justice and maintain their cash cow.
• Highlighting the fact that many innocent motorists are losing their livelihoods, time and money, etc when they have not even broken the law, let alone done anything wrong.
• This report aims to highlight the truth behind the NSW Government’s failed speeding policy and offers suggestions to improve the current situation.

You can download the Full article in PDF format : Does speed kill? Government Putting Revenue Before Safety (500kb)

Excerpts from the Article follow :

Does speed kill?

The current use of speed cameras (including radars and lidars) is generating hundreds of millions of dollars for State Governments at the expense of Australian lives.

The current NSW Government road safety policy uses a “speed kills” mentality with lower speed limits stringently policed by speed cameras, radar and lidar. Sadly, its justification is based on lies about how many lives speed cameras can save and that speeding above the limit is the major cause of road fatalities.

There is no government scientific data or study available that states how many lives are lost above the speed limit. The major studies and reports referred to by the Government, used to justify speed cameras, are grossly misleading - some would say fraudulent. The vast majority of the data presented is from crashes that occur below the speed limit…. (read entire article)

Current speeding policy is not saving lives

The “speeding” lie would be easier to accept if it was saving lives but it is not. Prior to the introduction of speed cameras the road toll was declining steadily due to common sense policies, more visible police on the road, safer vehicles, improved roads, improved paramedic skills and more.

Between 1980 and 1992 the road toll declined by around 40%. And as more vehicles are fitted with air bags, electronic stability control and other safety features, we would expect that along with the NSW Government’s justification for using speed cameras, the road toll would decline - it has not. It has halted the decline in deaths, abruptly.

According to RoadSense.com.au, based on Australian Transport Safety Bureau statistics, the road toll would have been less by 500 lives in 2004 had the previous beneficial trend been allowed to continue. Similar trends have been shown in New Zealand at www.fastsafe.org.au and on www.safespeed.org.uk in the United Kingdom.

The main reason for the failure of this speed kills policy is that in urban areas driver focus has changed from getting safely to their destination to not getting caught by a speed camera. Speed cameras are a massive distraction. And in addition to this distraction, low speed limits lead to boredom, inattention and drowsiness. And obviously from the statistics, the NSW Government is focusing on the wrong culprit of Australias road deaths….. (read entire article)

Problems with lowering speed limits

There are many problems associated with lower speed limits. Lower speed limits mean more congestion, longer delays, higher transport costs, increased pollution, and greater driver fatigue. Motorists become frustrated and may take unnecessary risks, to get to their destination more efficiently. Furthermore, accidents are caused by the implementation of
slow speed limits as drivers are distracted from the act of driving and are more concerned with watching their speedometer or watching for speed cameras.

Harsher penalties force motorists to watch their speedometers more, and motorists brake suddenly when approaching fixed radar and speed camera sites. This is backed up by research by British Sociologist, Dr Alan Buckingham. Sudden braking on approaches to speed cameras causes accidents and has been shown by Paul Smith at www.safespeed.org.uk. …. (read entire article)

You can download the Full article in PDF format : Does speed kill? Government Putting Revenue Before Safety (500kb)

Update (original article follows):

As one of our readers pointed out. There were 26 deaths on Australian roads during the Easter break and despite the State governments blaming speed, the reality paints a different picture:

• 1 person was killed after suffering a heart attack at the wheel (ACT)
• 1 crashed into a tree after being awake for 3 days straight, smoking cannabis and drinking bourbon (WA)
• 1 pedestrian was killed after lying on the middle of the road after an argument (WA)
• 1 child was killed by a rubbish truck reversing (NSW)
• 1 cyclist fell off his bike and was run over by a truck (VIC)
• 3 army special forced counter terrorism personnel veered off a bridge into the water under what appear to be suspicious circumstances (VIC)

• 1 person died after hitting the trailer of an oncoming vehicle (VIC)
• - Was the driver attempting to overtake and did not see the trailer?
• - Was there a severe wind that caused the trailer to sway into oncoming traffic?

Of the other 17 all were in NSW, VIC or QLD where harshest speed restrictions apply

• 4 were motorcyclists (with less protection than a car)
• At least 5 were where the driver was 68yo or older
• 2 are head on collisions (Did the drivers take their eyes off the road? Perhaps to check their speedos)

——————–Original Follows——————–

The State and Federal governments have failed miserably in keeping the road toll down this Easter long weekend. As it stands now, 21 people have died on Australian roads since Friday. Victoria’s Easter road toll is now nine. NSW has recorded six deaths, three fatalities on Queensland roads, two in Western Australia and one in the ACT.

What I do want to focus on however, is QLDs police’s attitude to QLD drivers. more than 8,000 drivers have received their yellow infringement notice for speeding (with a likelihood of it reaching 11,000 by monday night), 340 people have been cought drink driving, and 320 drivers have been cought driving without a seatbelt.

Since last monday, eleven people have died on QLD roads. If we compare the current QLD road toll to last years, a quarter of the way in to the year, the state’s road toll stands at 98, 18 more than the same time last year. I am going to go out on a limb here and say QLD’s Campaign 300 is a dismal failure.

Of course, QLD police continue to blame the entire problem on, yes you guessed it, speeding.

“I am particularly concerned about the excessive speeds being detected by police on our roads.” Police Minister Judy Spence said.

QLD Police have given 3 examples,

• a motorcyclist on a restricted licence caught travelling at 178km/h in a 80km/h zone;
• a driver who tried to run away from police after recording 172km/h in an 80km/h zone;
• a motorist who was caught driving at 185km/h in a 100km/h zone;

Out of all those 3 examples, no one has actually died. As for the 98 people who have died on our roads this year? Police like to mention that speed has been a contributing factor. But the reality is, when you can’t blame anything else, Speed is always a good cause.

However, QLD police have admitted defeat. Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson admitted police need the help of the community to combat irresponsible driving.

“The next phase for us as a community is to say we shouldn’t speed, we shouldn’t drink and drive, we should wear seatbelts, we shouldn’t drive while we’re tired. That that behaviour is no longer acceptable,” he said.

“And as much as (it’s about) enforcement, it’s as much about changing people’s attitude as well. I think we’ll achieve that. I genuinely believe that we can do it. But I think we have a little way to go before we do achieve it.”

So lets go back to the Speeding tickets, currently set to reach 11,000 tickets for the easter period. An average speeding ticket is for 13km over, but 20km under the speed limit. Which equates to 3 demerit points and $150. That works out to be $1.65 million dollars in speeding ticket revenue. Not a bad Easter bonus for QLD police?

As for QLDs fear driver campaign 300, which aims to bring the states road toll below 300, if the current trend continues (and there is no reason why it wouldn’t) Queensland would record more than 400 deaths in 2007.

“The road toll can be unpredictable. Some years, for the first six months, it’s been well over for six months and come back and vice versa. It’s still too early to call but if the current trend continues unchanged it will be close to 400.” Mr Atkinson said.

The state’s road toll has only been under 300 deaths once since 1956 and that was in 1998. QLD transport has been using a fear campaign to scare drivers into slowing down, a tactic which has obviously failed. One memorable poster involves a Police car with the police lights engaged, and the text reads “There is no where to hide”.

So, if you put your self in Mr Atkinson’s shoes, with the road toll 12% higher than last year, and more speeding tickets given to drivers than last year, what would you do to combat the problem? Bring in Fixed Speed Cameras of course.

Mr Atkinson said legislation for fixed speed cameras, to come into effect from July 1, might help to reduce the high number of fatalities this year.

It seems that QLD police and QLD transport are governed by senile decision makers unable to comprehend the real problems on our roads. When will QLD transport wake up and realize that there really is an alternative way to combat the road toll as oppose to using speed cameras to raise more and more revenue whilst using fear as oppose to education to improve driver maturity and reason.

I stumbled across a website today called RoadSideWatch, a website setup by Loraine McElligott on the Sunshine Coast who hopes to catch “Hoons” in action and have them reported to police. Usually when I come across a website as stupid as this, I don’t bother writing about it, but this site has been getting a little bit of media attention.

The idea is relatively simple, they lend you a camera for the weekend (for $150 - plus a $1,500 bond - this site seems more concerned about money than safety), you video tape the hoons in your area and they will forward it to police in the hope that the cops will do something about it.

This all sounds like a great idea doesn’t it? I mean wouldn’t we all love to get rid of these “hoons” on our roads. There is one big problem with it all though. It is nothing more than a reactionary response jumping on the anti-youth driver bandwagon. It hopes to catch people in the wrong using a sort of big brother system of in car cameras and microphones.

It hopes to get the community involved to go out there, and try to video tape drivers breaking the law. Not exactly the most subtle way to combat bad driving. I would like to point out that, the majority of people who will be getting these cameras to video tape the hoons are going to be doing this at night, and unless they have night vision cameras (which they dont), the technicality of this is nonsense - but it makes good news.

So far it hasn’t been a great success, the site has all the sections regarding how to buy cameras and tshirts finished, whilst the important things like statistics and facts are left with a “coming soon” section, there are hardly any videos on the site and more importantly, the idea behind it shows a little bit of vindictiveness to get back at anyone under 25 driving a modified car.

It appears to me that some correlation between someone ‘endangering your life with a gun and someone endangering your life by driving dangerously in a car can rightfully be made.

This is always the best way to start, by comparing bad/reckless drivers to armed gunmen! The ironic story behind this site is that the support is coming from the parents of these very so called hoons. The parents who see their children as angels on the road whilst the reality is a different story.

If you saw a gunman in the street you would pick up the phone and call the police without hesitation. We ask people to take a video/photo, and send it to us, if they see someone in a car endangering the lives of others. Or better still, hire /buy a car camera and forward the footage to us.

I would love to see Ms McElligott go through and redo her driving test. How many mature drivers are out there who put the lives of everyone else on the road in danger by breaking every road rule known to man? Nonetheless, they don’t speed, their cars are quite and most importantly they are not young, so therefore they are mature and experienced drivers who cause no one harm.

But it all makes sense, the media loves this sort of knee-jerk response. Target the youth, bring out more restrictions, video tape them being stupid - makes great news, and put them all in jail. Fantastic.

Perhaps someone should remind Ms McElligott that teenagers are going to be teenagers, its part of being a teenager to take unnecessary risks and put ones life in danger. To put it simply, its natural. Recently RACV’s Ken Ogden made a comment that I, for once, agree with :

“Young people, especially males, are inherent risk takers,” he said. “They can’t just turn that off when they’re driving.”

All statistics back up this claim with road fatality rate for young males three times higher than young females. Furthermore, a good portion of these “hoons” that RoadSideWatch wants to bring to justice are also young males.

The site has also received its fair of bad and rude comments from these so called Hoons. So there has been a little section put up to mention:

I want to make it clear that this campaign is not directed against young people any more than anyone else.

Thankfully though the voice of reason has caught up with the site as well, with comments like this left by visitors:

Just saw your segment on Today Tonight and I am absolutely disgusted at this pathetic attempt to make a quick buck with the use of scare tactics and senile citizens with an infinite amount of time of their hands.

Haven’t you people got something better to do? How about you go help the under-privileged or disabled children? Why waste your time with fruitful attempts to curb what is a nationwide problem that can’t be solved by grandma’s with cameras.

I notice I can buy a roadside watch t-shirt now - congratulations on reaching phase two of any online revenue spinner!

and even better:

Instead of jumping on the generalisaion band wagon i think you should be more focused on banding together with car enthusiasts and youths to lobby they government to upgrade their roads, implement new driving schemes like drivers ed in schools, make driving instructors more accessible and affordable, fund more places where it is legal and affordable for drivers to feed their erratic behaviour such as racing burnouts and drifting

and most importantly make it mandatory for all drivers to undergo intensive driver training courses. Not just slap a few more years onto newer drivers and hope their parents, partners and friends teach them he correct way to drive.Older drivers also need to be tested more regularly to ensure they no the every changing road rules.

It seems like our message is getting through to some!

Previously whenever we’ve discussed the Toyota Aurion, readers have gotten themselves into some sort of argument for and against the upcoming performance orientated Aurion from Toyota Racing & Development. In Australia, when it comes to home grown performance cars, for decades now, there has only been two choices, a HSV (Holden Special Vehicles) or a FPV (ford performance vehicles).

The TRD Aurion is expected to cost more than the Ford XR-6 Turbo and Holden’s SS Commodore but less than the HSV/FPV cars, so the question is simple, would you buy a Toyota TRD Aurion (poll at the end of article).

So whilst Toyota Australia continues to deny that the Aurion is a direct competitor to any HSV/FPV car, its obvious that Toyota’s reasoning is due to the fear that the TD Aurion will not live up to the standards of HSV/FPV cars. Firstly, its not a V8, and whilst that is no longer an issue with the 6 Cylinder Turbo-charged FPV Typhoons putting the majority of HSVs stable (and V8 offerings from FPV themselves) to shame, the biggest issue is the Front-Wheel-Drive factor.

However, one aspect that needs to be questioned is Toyota’s entry into the “aussie performance car” market. Both Holden and Ford have been doing this for decades and whilst Toyota as a brand has a huge and rich motorsport history, as far as Australian bred performance cars go, its not exactly a household name.

Essentially the Aurion follows the same principle as the other two big name manufacturers, take your standard family sedan, put some performance parts in it and call it a performance car. For Holden & Ford this works wonders, but whether or not it will work for Toyota is another story.

“We don’t want Toyota drivers to think it’s too loud, but Toyota buyers must think it’s more sporty. The key to attracting people to the Toyota brand is to have something different.” TRD corporate manager Greg Gardner.

So what do you get? a Supercharged V6 engine putting out around 235kW of power (not yet official), six-speed auto box (no manual), bigger wheels and tyres, improved brakes, upgraded seats & interior, and a sports body kit to give the car a mean and aggressive look.

Toyota has been working hard for the last two years to get this car to the showroom, initially starting with a supercharged Camry and then moving onto the Aurion. No doubt that TRD has taken note of the success of Fords XR-6 Turbo range and realized that the Australian buyer is no longer just after raw V8 power, that there is now a market for force fed six-cylinder engines in the performance sector.

The whole idea of the TRD Aurion isn’t really to make money, the idea is to create a halo car that will help increase sales of the basic car. In saying that, TRD hopes to sell around 1,000 cars in the first 12 months.

“I will be happy if a TRD car brings someone into a Toyota dealership and they buy something else in the range.” Mr Gardner said.

Pricing for the TRD Aurion has not been finalized but there are some clues to what we might expect :

“It’s going to be more expensive than a Falcon XR6 Turbo ($44,000) or a Commodore SV8 ($45,000) … but it won’t be as expensive as an HSV or FPV car. It will not be priced against the Falcon XR6 turbo, though. It’s a lot more than just an engine upgrade.” Mr Gardner said.

From that we can gather that, one, Mr Gardner hasn’t realized the Holden have dropped the SV8 model from its lineup (there is the SS and SS V now), and two, that the Aurion is going to cost around $47 - 50,000.

So if we just simply compare the SS commodore and the XR-6 Turbo to the TRD Aurion (which is more expensive) this is what we get.

Ford XR-6 Turbo : Power 245kW Torque 480Nm @ 2000rpm-4500rpm - $44,000
Holden VE SS Commodore : Power 270kW Torque 530Nm @ 4400rpm - $45,000
Toyota TRD Aurion : Power 235kW Torque unconfirmed - ~$47-50,000

So will we buy a TRD Aurion? Its not an easy question to answer before we get our hands on the car. But as far as spending around $50,000 on an aussie performance car goes, its hard to look past choices from the big two established brands!

The TRD Aurion will be on sale from August 13th.

If you haven’t voted already:

After the Columbine School shootings in the states, the media and the government did everything possible to put the blame on Computer Games and Music for the cause of teenage aggression. However as time went past, gamers were able to once again play their favourite shoot-em-ups without the fear of their school teachers calling the cops.

Nonetheless, a new study has found that for a quarter of young Motorists, driving a car is like a game (men being the worse offenders), and that being the case, the study has found that more than a third of young drivers are more likely to drive faster in real life after playing on-screen driving games!

Thats not even all the bad news, with 27% of motorists aged 16 to 24 admitting that they become bigger risk-takers after a gaming session. The survey was conducted on behalf of a driving school in Britain with more than a thousand drivers participating. Of course, the results have led to criticism with road safety consultant Robin Cummins labeling the results as an ‘indisputable‘ link between gaming and dangerous driving, one which we absolutely disagree with!

The survey also found that 34% of the 1,000 young drivers questioned think computer games can improve real-life driving ability, with 40% confident that games can help their reflexes.

These assumptions were given some support with statistics showing that over half of frequent gamers pass their driving test the first time, whilst for those who are not avid gamers this figure drops to 45%.

Thankfully though there is some voice of reason with US-based games designer Mr David Perry rejecting the results (it has to be pointed out that he is in the business of making driving games).

“Anything that affects your emotions will affect how you drive. The guy in front, the music on the stereo…those are the things that make you speed up, not a game you played an hour ago.” Mr David Perry said.

Its interesting to note that many military pilot training courses put their pilots through aircraft simulations on the ground to help enhance their flying skills prior to actual flight time.

One would assume that whilst driving games available on consoles and PCs are not a direct reflection of real life driving conditions yet, with the introduction of more advanced consoles and hardware it would seem obvious that perhaps the first step in getting potential drivers on the road is with a driving simulation!