Safe Child Restraint in Modern Cars: Australia V Europe

Volvo's Lotta Jakobsson says Australian laws allow children to face forwards far too earlyNew child-restraint laws are being enacted across Australia right now, placing a hefty burden of additional responsibility on parents. Babies up to six months must ride in rear-facing baby capsules, while children from six months to four years must be secured in an approved child restraint, and from four years to seven kids must ride in an approved booster seat.

The new rules are a step forward for child safety in Australia. Some lives will be saved. But how far forward have the new rules taken us? Experts overseas claim Aussie kids remain second-class citizens

safetyJohn Cadogan17 October 2010 Comments

Petrol and fire risk: How to avoid blowing yourself up with static electricity

etrol and static electricity don’t mix. Here’s how to keep them apart

Find out how NOT to make a Molotov of yourself at the fuel pumpStatic electricity is the commonest cause of service station fires. This is not because motorists are closet pyromaniacs - it's because many are unwittingly stupid. Most of us underestimate the wickedly destructive potential flowing from the massive amounts of energy locked into conventional liquid fuels

safety, tech, fuelJohn Cadogan17 October 2010Comment

More news about airbag safety

How to keep yourself safe in a car full of explosive airbags

Airbags explode towards you at 300km/h to soften the blow of a serious car crash. They have to deploy that fast to get into position ahead of the crash ‘pulse’ catching up with you.

To see why airbags (and seatbelts) are a really good idea, watch the comparison crash video below (two otherwise identical cars; one with and one without a front airbag).

safetyJohn Cadogan17 October 2010 Comment

Petrol (Gasoline) V Diesel

Diesel car sales have for years propped up a stagnant Australian passenger car market. In both the ‘private’ and ‘business/government/fleet’ sectors, petrol was responsible for the overwhelming bulk of the passenger car action – but petrol car sales have gone nowhere-to-backwards since 2005.

Diesel sales – we’re talking passenger cars here, not SUVs, 4X4s, light commercials or trucks – have grown more strongly than

fuelJohn Cadogan17 October 2010Comment

Natural Gas as an Alternative Fuel

Natural gas is a medium-tern solution to the demise of petrol ... but not the greenhouse problem

How would you like it if, perhaps in the future, your energy company delivered fuel direct to your door? You could refuel in your garage, or at the office. If we can home-deliver everything from groceries to roses – why not fuel? Think of the real estate it would free up via suddenly redundant servos; the time it would save. It’s not as if the service station experience is sentimental … being asked, ad nauseum, if you have a shopper docket, or Fly Buys, or if the notion of two-for-one Kit Kats appeals.

As a sweetener, how about if the home-delivery option meant – kilojoule for kilojoule – you’d get the equivalent of a tankfull of petrol for less than half today’s going petrol price?

fuelJohn Cadogan17 October 2010Comment