True Road Safety: Where Is The Line Drawn?
Naturally, as part of my role as a vehicle evaluator, I’m out and about a fair bit. There’s smart road rules, there’s smart drivers (well, a couple….) and there’s just way, way, way, WAY too many bad ones. Australian governments tell us all about road safety, with the focus on all road safety deemed to be speed-centric.
I ask you: what’s truly more dangerous: travelling at 115 km/h on a freeway that is zoned 100 or 110 under sunny blue skies OR driving at late afternoon, mid winter, with cloud cover and rain with no headlights on….with your car a silver or dark colour. What’s more dangerous; driving along a straight, rural road, with clear vision, doing 80 and the road is zoned 70 OR being in a small car, changing lanes suddenly so you’re in front of a B double whilst not indicating then jumping on the brakes?
Holden Out On Cuts For The Long Term
Today’s (June 18, 2013) announcement from Holden has sent another collective shiver through the automotive fraternity; with the feeling from many that the request for staff (and, allegedly, not including management) to cop a pay cut to reduce costs is a prelude to Holden announcing it will, like Ford, cease local manufacturing. Holden’s chief honcho, Mike Devereux, is quoted as saying that it costs, in Australia, $3750 more to build a car, than anywhere else in the world. The cut for workers, in the two plants Holden operates (Elizabeth in South Australia and Port Melbourne, Victoria), is said to be in the order of up to $200 per week, a substantial dent. It’s in order to continue and reinforce the building base Holden has, but it is more far reaching than that. Should Holden up stumps, it effectively condemns Toyota to do the same, as one local manufacturer simply cannot sustain Australia’s part supply industries. Devereux also said that some workers aren’t being paid what they’re worth, with many at management level not receiving a pay rise for over three years.
As always, there’s two sides to every story; it’s rumoured that some Holden execs that have been with the company for less than two years are said to be on wages of over four hundred thousand dollars. That’s a fair bit of coin, considering Australia’s Prime Minister isn’t being paid much more. Having said that, if an average worker is being asked to cop a pretty decent pay cut and the subsequent adjustment to their living conditions, one would think it’s only fair that a commensurate reduction in wages and lifestyle adjustment be applied to the higher end of the ladder.
Information Overload!
Does this sound familiar? I’m doing the Mum’s Taxi thing, picking kids off and running them down to after-school activities like the typical parent these days. It might not be a long drive, but the amount of signage that I go past is fairly large.
You’ve got the school speed limit sign complete with the times that these apply. You’ve got a roundabout or two to go through with all the signs associated with those (at least they’re not multi-lane roundabouts). There are a handful of Give Way signs on the way, a couple of Children Crossing signs, a No Parking sign outside the school and some Bus Stop signs on the way to the activities. I’m lucky that the route I use doesn’t involve traffic lights with all the umpteen different signs that are involved there depending on the lane that you want to go to. Signs everywhere – flashing, in some cases.
Going to California: Holden Malibu
Holden has always had a contender for each of the categories that make up the Australian automotive landscape; some work (Commodore, Barina) and some don’t (Epica, Viva). Since the, well, epic failure of the Epica, the red lion’s presence in the medium car segment has been lacking. Cue, the Malibu.
It’s a physically large car, not far off Commodore size at 4865mm long, 1855mm wide and 1465mm wide and will come with a choice of two engines; a 2.4L petrol with 123kW/225Nm of torque or a 2.0L diesel (117kW/350Nm) with no choice for transmission 
but a six speed auto, with gear ratios adjusted to suit the different engine characteristics, with towing capacity at 1200kgs. There’ll be two trim levels and keeping with the majority of the Holden family nomenclature will be called CD and CDX. In reality there’s very little to differentiate between the two, with LED tail lights, some leather trim, fog lamps and rain sensing wipers the main standouts however the CD will get electrically assisting steering while the CDX gets hydraulic. The CD will roll on 16 inch wheels with the CDX getting 17s. As expected, safety is not compromised, with the usual suite of passive and active electronic aids, such as curtain airbags and traction control plus the new MyLink integrated entertainment system.
Level 2, 9 Help Street