» Home > (Page 4)

Category Archives: Car ownership

One Reason Why I Hate Cars

Thursday, January 26th, 2012 | warai03p | No Comments

From Peter Hitchens’s blog, Daily Mail

“I think our roads are statistically safer largely because soft targets, particularly child cyclists, have almost entirely retreated from them. But the roads are not really safer. It’s just that people have learned to avoid them unless they themselves go out in armour, and have narrowed their lives as a result.” – Peter Hitchens

On Sunday morning a woman rushed out of a side road in a quiet Oxford suburb, violently knocked me off my bicycle and mangled the machine I was riding.

Quite understandable, some of you may think. It’s the only sort of treatment I would understand. But in fact the person involved had nothing against me, didn’t know me, and was quick to apologise for the hurt (even quicker and more comprehensive,  once she had been given quite a large piece of my mind). She also paid for the damage to be repaired.

But, as some of you will have guessed,  there was another element in all this – an element which makes an apparently shocking and inexplicable event make perfect sense.

My assailant was driving a car.

Continued at original site

2:50 am

Monday, January 9th, 2012 | warai03p | No Comments

Cherie Howie & Russell Blackstock NZherald.co.nz

January 8, 2012. 2:50 am. One life lost. Another changed forever…

“A young man died yesterday when his souped-up car was completely crushed in a high-speed smash – allegedly T-boned by a boy racer aged just 15.

Shaun FitzPatrick, 22, had signed up to participate in the controversial CannonBall Run street-legal car rally yesterday, in which 270 amateur racers circle Auckland in everything from Suzukis to Ferraris.

But at 2.50am yesterday morning, just hours before the rally was due to start, the Pakuranga man was killed by one of several cars racing through industrial Mt Wellington.

A stolen Subaru Forester ran a red light on Carbine Rd and hit FitzPatrick, who had right of way, shunting his car through an iron lamp-post and into a fence.”

Continued at original site

Millennials Prefer Car “Access Over Ownership”

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 | warai03p | No Comments

From The City Fix and Zipcar

Zipcar, Inc., the world’s leading car-sharing network, released its second annual independent study of Millennials (18-34-year olds), which examines this generation’s attitudes toward personal transportation and car ownership.  Millennials are an important segment for Zipcar, comprising more than half of all members. Millennials account for about 23 percent of the general population, according to the 2010 US Census.

  • 55 percent have actively made an effort to drive less, compared to 45 percent in the same 2010 study
  • 78 percent say owning a car is difficult due to high costs of gas and maintenance
  • 53 percent would participate in a car-sharing service, like Zipcar – mobility and convenience is still important
  • Millennials are the most likely age group to participate in the “sharing economy” (67 percent would participate in media sharing and 49 percent in home/vacation sharing)
  • 40 percent say they would participate to save more money for retirement or buying a home

Millennials & Driving: A Survey Commissioned by Zipcar

“I Love Me Carz an Burnouts”

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 | warai03p | No Comments

– By Hamish McNeilly
Otago Daily Times

The following is a news story about the implementation of a new New Zealand Law aimed at controlling “boy racer” burnout behavior. It reminds us of the sub-culture of youth, active in many parts of the world, for whom the automobile is an important outlet for adolescent exuberance and sometimes rage. What is known about these cultures? What drives some youth to partake in these behaviours and not others? What harm is done? What works to refocus the emotions on display?

– Editor

A 1982 engineless Toyota Corolla DX parked in a Milton garage will become the first car to be crushed under boy racer legislation. Self-confessed car lover Karn Clarrie Forrest, of Milton, will have his car confiscated and crushed, after his third conviction for driving a vehicle with a sustained loss of traction.

Despite initially agreeing to an interview with the Otago Daily Times, the 18-year-old remained elusive after appearing before Judge Stephen O’Driscoll in the Balclutha District Court, sitting in Gore, yesterday. Forrest was stopped by police after performing two “doughnuts” in his car on State Highway 1, north of Milton, on September 29.

Forrest was stopped by police after performing two “doughnuts” in his car on State Highway 1, north of Milton, on September 29. A passenger in that vehicle, Rhiane Dunn (18), of Milton, said his flatmate would be devastated to have the car he was doing up crushed.

Forrest, in his expletive-laden Facebook profile, wrote someone had “narked” on him for doing doughnuts, and he was planning to put a turbocharger in the Toyota. “i love me carz an burnouts,” he wrote.

Continued at original site

Car Ownership Puts Teens at High Crash Risk

Friday, December 9th, 2011 | warai03p | No Comments

From CARRS-Q Safety Visions

A recent CARRS-Q survey suggests that three out of four young Queensland drivers own a vehicle within the first six months of receiving a Provisional licence, increasing their risk of being involved in a crash.

The survey findings, published in the international journal Traffic Injury Prevention, indicated that nearly 80% of inexperienced, new drivers aged 17 to 19 responding to the survey had primary access to a vehicle.

PhD Scholar Bridie Scott-Parker said research showed car ownership and high mileage led to increased rates of crashes, traffic offences and risky driving for newly independent drivers.

“We found 78.4% of young drivers with less than six months of independent driving experience had their own car despite being our newest drivers on the road,” she said.

“The first six months is the most dangerous time for new drivers. We would prefer they get experience driving in shared vehicles with parents monitoring their driving as much as possible.”

Continued at original site