The Australian Capital Territory Government has announced an audacious plan to lease only electric vehicles by 2021, following on from its commitment to using 100 per cent renewable energy by 2020...
Uber has lost its autonomous driving permit in Arizona, after one of its self-driving cars struck and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona last week. Having welcomed the ride-hailing service to his state with open arms in 2016, Arizona Governor, Doug Ducey, used a letter to Uber CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, to suspend its testing permit...
Proposed changes to the Victorian Road Safety Act and Crimes Act will open the door for more advanced autonomous tests on public roads. Should the new amendments pass, self-driving test permit holders would be subject to the same legal obligations as human drivers under the current Road Safety Act and Crimes Act...
The New South Wales Government has committed $1.6 million to upgrading the ANCAP Crashlab, which will enable the facility to assess autonomous vehicle safety technologies. Minister for roads, maritime and freight, Melinda Pavey, made the announcement this week, which will support local crash-testing authority, ANCAP, in the testing of driver assistance systems...
The New South Wales Government has announced a crack down on drug driving in the state, strengthening current legislation and boosting roadside drug testing. According to Premier Gladys Berejiklian, 392 people lost their lives on NSW roads in 2017, with preliminary data indicating drug-affected drivers were a major contributing factor in 36 fatal accidents during that period - resulting in 42 fatalities...
Proposed changes to the Motor Vehicle Standards Act promise to bring low-volume hypercars to our roads, crack down on car resellers over missed recalls and punish dodgy dealers for misleading consumers. The planned tweaks, published today in an 'exposure draft' ahead of debate in Federal Parliament next year, are the biggest in 30 years...
Drivers who spend more than $25 per week on tolls will get free registration in New South Wales, under a new State Government plan. NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, says the move is designed to help drive down the cost of owning a car in New South Wales. "The majority of eligible motorists will save $358 a year on registration costs, with potential savings of up to $715 a year," Berejiklian said today...
The United Kingdom could have fully-autonomous cars driving on its roads by 2021, according to new reports. Autocar says the British government is expected to announce plans to introduce legislation allowing driverless vehicles to be tested and driven on public roads as part of this week's Budget, which will require a change to the UK Road Traffic Act...
Proposed changes to Victorian drink-driving laws would see first-time offenders lose their licence for three months. Anyone caught driving with a blood-alcohol content (BAC) between 0.05 and 0.069 face licence cancellation and disqualification for three months, while all drivers caught over the 0.05 limit will be forced to have an alcohol interlock fitted to their cars for six months...
An independent review says Victoria's Graduated Licensing System is saving the lives of young drivers in the state. Luke Donnellan, minister for roads and road safety, announced the results of the study this week - including the statistic that drivers who have been through the new system are 20 per cent less likely to be involved in a serious collision in their first two years of driving...
Victoria's Andrews Labor Government has announced it will offer short-term payment options for vehicle registration from 1 January 2018. With the annual fee now sitting at $800.80 for light vehicle registration, Victorians will soon have the choice of additional three-month or sixth-month options intended to help ease the cost-of-living pressures for millions of people...
The South Australian Government has announced it will roll out technology to allow driver's licences to go digital from October. Available to anyone in South Australia with a learner's permit, provisional, full, or heavy vehicle licence, the new feature is optional and is accessible through the mySA GOV smartphone application...
The Australian Federal Government has proposed a compulsory recall for all vehicles fitted with potentially life-threatening Takata airbags, following an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). With the global tally of affected vehicles now exceeding 100 million units, the Federal Government says it's prioritising the safety of consumers with its proposal, in an effort to warn all potentially affected owners...
Transport for New South Wales (NSW) has announced "major improvements" to its Graduated Licensing Scheme, with the changes largely aligning with the process used in Victoria. Coming into effect from 20 November 2017, the revised scheme comes with three main changes. Firstly, learner drivers will now be required to complete the Hazard Perception Test before undertaking the practical driving test...
Independent crash-testing authority, the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), has voiced its support for the Federal Government's inquiry into the effectiveness of the National Road Safety Strategy as part of the 2017-18 Budget. The strategy aims to reduce road deaths and trauma on Australian roads by at least 30 per cent between 2011 and 2020...
Transport for New South Wales (NSW) has announced this week that residents of Dubbo will be able to trial digital driver licence technology in November. Accessible through a mobile phone app, the digital licence can be used for proof of identity and proof of age to enter pubs and clubs, along with roadside police checks...
Plans to loosen laws preventing 'parallel' vehicle imports have largely been shelved as part of the federal government's re-jigged Road Vehicle Standards Bill, designed to take effect in 2019. As you may recall, representatives from the Turnbull Government early last year flagged changes to the extant Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1987, to allow parallel ‘grey’ importation of near-new cars from 2018...
Australia's consumer watchdog wants car manufacturers to drastically improve the way they handle customer complaints, to share their proprietary vehicle data with independent repairers, and to support real-world fuel economy and emission tests. These are three key findings in the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) draft report into the new car retailing industry, which is open for stakeholder comments until September 7...
The Queensland Government has announced it will create an electric highway connecting the state's north and south coasts, in an effort to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs). The strategy is similar to that which led to the 'Electric Highway' established by RAC WA in Western Australia...
Statistics sourced from Transport for New South Wales (NSW) show that more people aged between 17-20 are choosing to go without a driver's licence, with the last five years showing a slow, but steady decline. While licence rates across all age groups are slightly up from 10 years ago, 17 to 20-year olds and 21 to 25-year olds are showing a decline over the last five years...
