The fact is that cars are jam-packed with flammable liquids and parts. Petrol and oil, for example, burn fiercely. Upholstery and most plastics burn readily, too. In addition, car batteries manufacture hydrogen gas (flammable) and also spray sulphuric acid all over the place should they explode. The vehicle's electrical system is a godd (or is that bad?) source of ignition. In any case it is a powerful one.

In many countries the most common cause of vehicle fires is arson (ie they are intentional). Another common cause is unwittingly introducing static electricity into the refuelling process. You can read about preventing refuelling fires by clicking the link to our story on that. Crashing and mechanical malfunction are also common causes of car fires.

Let's assume, however, you don't intentionally burn your car down. Let's assume you're not refuelling. Let's assume you're driving along and your car catches fire. (Often this is only visible in the rear-view mirrors because you're leaving the smoke behind you as the car cuts into the air in front.) What do you do?

DIY, video, safetyJohn Cadogan15 November 2010car, fire, car catches fire, car on fire, car fireComment

The 10 most dangerous countries to drive a car in

Fed up with driving in the first world? Assumed the roads are getting worse? You just need to get out more.

The esteemed World Health Organisation (WHO) has taken some time off, away from AIDS, genocide, H1 N1 influenza and malaria, and instead issued some stark findings about the increasingly motorised, car-infested world in which we live. Part of those findings - all 297 pages of them - are a list of the top 10 most dangerous countries in the world to drive a car. A download link for the full WHO report is at the end of this post.

safetyJohn Cadogan13 November 2010dangerous driving, dangerous countries, road death, road trauma Comment

Fuel & Safe Refuelling in Detail

Safe handling and storage of petrol (gasoline)

Petrol deserves respect – and not just because it’s running out. Last month we went over the awesome destructive power the stuff. There are regulations about how you must store petrol, but it remains easy to catalyze disaster using perfectly legal quantities of petrol. (It’s why they’re suddenly so twitchy about passengers carrying liquids onto international aircraft.)

Click here for the full story on static electricity as a fuel fire hazard.

Here’s how not to dice with death using petrol.

safety, fuelJohn Cadogan5 November 2010 Comments

Driving techniques for safer cornering

Cornering is one of the most complex open-road driving activities

Australia’s rural road network is often second-rate in terms of both engineering and signposting. You need to compensate for any deficiencies and steer a steady, safe course, and get it right every time.

See what happens when drivers misjudge cornering, and it all goes horribly wrong, on the video below.

Amazingly there is no official ‘how-to’ advice about cornering in any

safetyJohn Cadogan5 November 2010Comment

Skids and slides: Managing oversteer (it's shorthand for 'sideways')

ut how many different kinds of oversteer do you think there are?

Classic oversteer - driver needs to steer right to negotiate a left-handerThere are two 'flavours' of sideways in a car - but let’s recap. Oversteer is where the rear wheels lose traction first. The car turns (or ‘yaws’) harder into the corner than its steering input would otherwise dictate, it literally over-steers - hence the name. From the driver’s seat, you notice the rear end trying to overtake the front. The car goes 'sideways'. It is unnerving, especially

safetyJohn Cadogan4 November 2010Comment