Category: Safety Issues

Categories
Safety Issues Video

What kind of driver are you raising?

TAC parental role modelling TVC

The Victorian Government’s Transport Accident Commission (TAC) first made its name in the 1980s and 90s with shocking and confronting television commercials. Here’s a more subtle response alerting us to the example we set for children.

From the YouTube description:

The truth is that your kids learn more from your behaviour than you think they do.

Positive role modelling by parents of 5-12 year olds has the potential to have a huge influence on their child’s future driving behaviour.

The TAC has used this key piece of research to develop this, our latest campaign and the next stage of our long-term Parents and Road Safety Strategy. The goal of the strategy is to reduce road trauma for young drivers in their first months of solo driving and beyond.

Instilling safe driving behaviors and attitudes from a young age is key to achieving this goal.

You can watch the ad below.

Continue reading “What kind of driver are you raising?”
Categories
Safety Issues

It can wait

It can wait campaign, AT&T

US telecommunications provider has been running the “It can wait” campaign for five years. When the campaign first began it focused on the lives of real people affected by accidents caused while texting and driving.

To mark the campaign’s fifth anniversary AT&T has launched this long-form ad that is expertly filmed and reinforces the original message.

[Via: Creativity Online | Thanks to Stu for the tip]

Continue reading “It can wait”
Categories
Bathurst 12 Hour Motorsports Safety Issues

Why the Safety Car sucks

2015 Bathurst 12 Hour race

I will preface what you’re about to read by saying that the Safety Car is a necessary part of motor racing. This is especially the case on a track like Mount Panorama with its narrow concrete chasms. I would never advocate for the removal of the Safety Car as a concept and as a means of limiting the risk of injury to drivers, officials and spectators.

However, in yesterday’s Bathurst 12 Hour race there were 20 Safety Car periods. Yes, 20! On average, that’s one every 36 minutes.

There’s no evidence to suggest that any of those Safety Car periods were not warranted. Thankfully, there was only one concerning incident, involving David Brabham and it appears he has suffered nothing more than a few bruised ribs.

When it was appropriate, Race Control allowed time for spinning drivers to right themselves and if they couldn’t only then was a full course yellow called.

In terms of the safety aspect, then, I have no complaints at all. What I dislike about the Safety Car is that it robs us of competition.

In an event like the Bathurst 12 Hour, time spent following the SC lessens the endurance aspect. There’s less demand on the cars; drivers get time to relax. Rightly or wrongly the Safety Car makes endurance racing easier. And this was especially the case yesterday.

Inevitably, it now seems, we can no longer have an endurance race at Mount Panorama without having a Safety Car in the closing stages. This artificially closes any hard fought leads drivers and teams have worked so hard to establish.

All throughout the commentary yesterday we were told, “You just need to stay on the lead lap, because you just know there’ll be a Safety Car to bunch up the field leaving a sprint to the flag.”

I want to see a 12 hour endurance race, not a two-lap sprint!

Yes, it is a test of endurance to stay on the lead lap in a race of such time. But that’s not really the point. With the pace Markus Winkelhock showed at the start of yesterday’s race nobody was going to stay on the lead lap! The distance record would have been smashed and, potentially, a new Bathurst legend would have been born.

Alas, we were robbed yesterday. We’ll never know if Winkelhock’s pace in the opening stint of the race was sustainable. We’ll never know if it was a considered strategy to try and blow his opponents off the track, or if the other teams were deliberately holding back. Could the R8 really have gone a full 12 hours setting lap times around the 2:03 mark? Did Winkelhock and his teammates have the mental strength to maintain that pace, let alone their car?

I’m a little sad that we’re only ever going to be able to theorise over what may have happened, because the price we rightly pay to limit the risk of injury through the use of the Safety Car is to increase the risk of limiting competition.

Categories
Safety Issues Volkswagen

Keep your eyes on the road

Volkswagen eyes on the road advertising campaign

Volkswagen has produced this excellent piece to warn of the dangers of using a mobile phone while driving. It was presented to cinema goers in Hong Kong and employs a clever use of technology and shock value to get its message across.

[Thanks to Mick for the tip]

Continue reading “Keep your eyes on the road”
Categories
Safety Issues

A lesson on tyre selection

Bridgestone TVC

When it comes to buying tyres we’re pretty sure most AUSmotive readers won’t skimp out and will buy something that will provide better than average performance in wet and dry conditions.

However, we think it’s a pretty safe bet that you all know someone who does buy tyres on price. Everyone loves a good deal, of course, but setting a budget for tyres and finding something that fits that price bracket with no concern for how those tyres will perform is not the way to go about choosing tyres.

If necessary forget who has made this TVC currently airing on television screens across the country and just pay attention to the message. It’s well made and quite effective, too. Perhaps you know someone who might benefit from seeing this ad.

Continue reading “A lesson on tyre selection”
Categories
Safety Issues

VIDEO: Other people make mistakes

Other people make mistakes

One of the biggest issues we all face as road users is the ability to self-critique. We all think we’re good drivers. So, perhaps, when we see a road safety campaign we might think to ourselves, “Yeah, but I’m a good driver so that message doesn’t relate to me.”

Hopefully, you do have the willingness to assess and modify your own behaviour, when required, while sharing the road. But, if you’re unable to see the mistakes you might make, maybe it’ll be easier for you to turn the tables and think about the mistakes other people might make.

What if two people, about to meet at an intersection, do one thing each, which in isolation is not so bad, but could combine with dramatic results?

This new road safety campaign for the New Zealand Transport Agency shows what could happen next:

No one should pay for a mistake with their life. When we drive, we share the road with others, so the speed we choose to travel at needs to leave room for any potential error.

[Thanks to Matt for the tip]

Continue reading “VIDEO: Other people make mistakes”
Categories
Safety Issues

2013 national road toll falls by 8 per cent

The headline stat from the 2013 national road toll is promising news showing fatalities fell by 8 per cent. New South Wales and Victoria registered record low numbers, with South Australia and Tasmania the only jurisdictions to record an increase compared with 2012 numbers.

A total of 1193 road users were killed on Australian roads last year, down from 1298 in 2012. While the drop in the headline figure is encouraging a closer look at the stats shows 14 cyclists were killed in 2013, twice as many as 2012. Also, older road users registered an increase in fatalities.

Speaking to ABC’s AM program Professor Max Cameron from the Monash University Accident Research Centre said consideration needed to be given to the speed limit on the country’s rural roads.

“Our analysis has clearly shown that on our traditional Australian undivided roads that the speed limits are too high,” Cameron said. “The idea of travelling at 100km/h on our poor quality rural roads is really not justified on any grounds.

“The analysis suggests that it should be speed limits of no more than 90km/h, and preferably around 80km/h.”

While acknowledging Cameron is speaking from a more informed position than myself, I would have to question what the outcome of a 20% reduction in the speed limit on country road’s would have on driver fatigue.

Australia is a big country and we’re used to covering long distances on the road. It would take a massive cultural shift for road users to embrace such a measure as Cameron proposes.

Despite the increase in representation of cyclists in the road toll Sean Sampson from the Amy Gillett Foundation says there is ongoing discussions with state and territory governments to broaden the awareness of road safety for cyclists.

“Queensland have announced they will be having a trial of minimum overtaking distance,” Sampson said. “Tasmania in the last couple of days have said that they’ve got a strong interest in looking at the parameters of implementing their own trial. And there’s an inquiry in the ACT as well.”

ACT Policing Traffic Operations Officer in Charge, Station Sergeant Rod Anderson, sums it up best: “There is no magic wand for preventing tragic deaths on our roads. At the end of the day it all comes down to driver attitudes behind the wheel.”

[Source: ABC | Pic: News Ltd]

Continue reading “2013 national road toll falls by 8 per cent”
Categories
BMW Green Machines Safety Issues

Stars fail to align for BMW i3

BMW i3 Euro NCAP crash test

As an all-electric city car the BMW i3 is going to have to deal with its fair share of naysayers and detractors. So word from Euro NCAP saying the i3 failed to achieve a maximum five-star safety rating will come as a blow.

Ever since the Renault Laguna was the first car to score a five-star rating for occupant protection in 2001 such results have become rich marketing fodder for car makers. BMW would have loved to follow Renault’s lead, but these days four stars doesn’t cut the mustard.

According to the Euro NCAP results the i3 rated quite well for occupant protection, scoring 86% and 81% for adult and child protection respectively. Where the electric city car was let down was in pedestrian and safety assist ratings, achieving scores of only 57% and 55%.

In contrast, other cars tested in the “Small family” segment, the Mazda3 and Peugeot 308 both recorded five-star results.

[Source: Euro NCAP]

Continue reading “Stars fail to align for BMW i3”
Categories
Safety Issues Volkswagen

Volkswagen AG announces international recalls

Volkswagen

Volkswagen AG issued an international recall notice on Friday which will affect over 2.6 million vehicles worldwide.

A total of three campaigns are being run:

  1. Tiguan vehicle lights (affecting approximately 800,000 vehicles)
  2. DQ200 DSG oil change (affecting approximately 1.6 million vehicles)
  3. Amarok fuel pipe (affecting approximately 240,000 vehicles)

Tiguans built between 2008–11 will have a fuse replaced to remove the possibility of a faulty fuse blowing and causing one of the two light circuits to fail.

All vehicles fitted with a DQ200 7-speed DSG which use synthetic oil will be recalled to replace the synthetic oil with mineral oil. This is to prevent “electric malfunctions” on vehicles “subject to a hot and humid climate, coupled with a high proportion of stop and go driving”.

Volkswagen Australia says it has already issued a recall covering 25,928 vehicles with DSG gearboxes built between June 2008 and September 2011. About 40% of owners affected by this recall have already had their gearbox oil changed and they will not need to return their vehicles for further attention as a result of this new recall.

Some Amarok models fitted with a 2.0 litre TDI engine can suffer from a leaking fuel pipe in the engine compartment. Volkswagen Australia will contact owners of affected vehicles and bring them in to fit a chafe protector to the affected areas.

Continue reading “Volkswagen AG announces international recalls”
Categories
Safety Issues Volkswagen

Victorian Coroner clears Volkswagen in Ryan case

Volkswagen Golf V GTI

On Friday Victorian Coroner Heather Spooner delivered her findings into the investigation of the death of Melissa Ryan in 2011. The case came to prominence earlier this year after a concerted campaign from Fairfax Media.

Ryan died from head injuries suffered after her car was hit from behind by a B-double semi trailer. The truck driver, Ivan Mumford, told Police at the scene: “She was in my peripheral vision; all of a sudden she had almost come to a stop in front of me. I stood on the brakes and at this time there was only about eight feet between us. I hit her, pushed her forward and then her car took off and stopped against the wire.”

Fairfax Media reported on the incident with the headline “Death prompts VW owners to speak out”. Whether by intention or otherwise the article and subsequent intense coverage from Fairfax gave the impression that Ryan’s death was linked to ongoing issues with Volkswagen models, most fitted with 7-speed DQ200 DSG transmissions and 1.4 litre TFSI engines. Ryan’s car was a 2008 Golf GTI fitted with a 6-speed manual transmission and a 2.0 litre turbo engine.

Continue reading “Victorian Coroner clears Volkswagen in Ryan case”
Categories
Safety Issues Video

And there was heaps of bananas

NZ drug driving ad

Driving when you’re stoned, or blazed even, is not a particularly good idea. Sure you might get a few laughs, but deep down you know it’s pretty stupid. As these three Kiwi kids show.

Continue reading “And there was heaps of bananas”
Categories
Safety Issues Volkswagen

It’s the hot weather, stupid

Volkswagen Golf VI

Volkswagen UK has felt the need to clarify a few things after being asked if they would join countries like Australia, China, Europe, Japan, New Zealand and the United States in carrying out a voluntary recall relating to the 7-speed DQ200 DSG transmission.

In short, the answer is: No!

“It is a problem that relates only to temperate countries with a high incidence of stop and start driving,” explained a VW UK spokesperson. “It requires a set of circumstances—humidity, temperature, dust and congested driving conditions—that we simply don’t see in the UK.

“We have robust systems in place to monitor potential problems and, although we have around 48,000 cars on the road equipped with DQ200 gearboxes, we haven’t seen any failures that we can attribute to this problem.”

Mechanically speaking, the specification of DQ200 transmission is the same for UK delivered cars as it is for models sold in Australia. There are country-specific software differences, though.

Volkswagen UK is at pains to point out that they have not received any complaints in line with the issues encountered in Australia. “The DSG mechatronics are programmed differently according to the country in which a vehicle will be sold,” a VW UK statement reads. “The issues recently experienced by some customers in Australia have not been repeated in the UK, nor indeed in other temperate countries.”

Volkswagen UK may very well be correct in their statement regarding the differing climate between the UK and elsewhere; we’re not suggesting it isn’t. However, prior to initiating their own voluntary recall Volkswagen Australia, too, fobbed off local complaints saying there were differences between Australia and other countries that had already issued recalls.

[Source: Autocar]