Are cars better than buses? Judge for yourself.

All of the environmental advantages of taking the bus to work are negated by two things:

First, hundreds of freeloading pensioners, who 'need' to get their shopping at rush hour, taking all of the seats.

Second, drivers like these:

Don't tut a woman driver...

According to the esteemed Asia Insurance Review, researchers at Queensland University in Australia have found that :

A woman who is chided or criticised by her husband or male companion while she is driving is more than twice as likely to have an accident.

Apparently, 168 female students underwent a computer simulated psychological driving test. Half of the group were informed that the test would find out why men were better drivers then women, the other half were simply told the researchers were exploring the mental processes in driving.

Almost half the former group struck a (computerised) pedestrian who appeared suddenly, but only a quarter of the second group did.

The result of this - if women are bad drivers, it's probably a bloke's fault, hence womens' car insurance is cheaper.

Yep, that must have been what happened here. After a quality attempt at parking, this lady is attempting to reverse out for another go.

Award Winning 'Hot Girl' video.

This video, made for a Lancaster District Community Safety Partnership has just scooped an award at the New York film festival.

The film initially looks like it might be a rather naughty romp in a car, but gradually reveals a very serious anti-drink drive message that really merits the 2.5 million views it already has on Youtube. Don't watch it if you're easily distressed.

Insurance Claims Question - what do you think?

Here's one for those of you sitting insurance exams...

Is this situation covered on the truck insurance, home insurance, breakdown policy or the bridge owners' public liability?





They'll probably leave it there, where an estate agent will describe it as

"a charming bungalow in a unique location, river views, good road access"

Makes me glad that people don't generally try delivering fully assembled houses on trucks in this country.

The dangers of modifications

That's modifications to your body.

Today's Times carries the story of Welsh teenager Jessica Collins who was involved in a serious car crash in Germany. Apparently her injuries were exacerbated by her belly-button stud being pushed by her seat belt through her body and almost to her spine. Doctors described the injuries as being like a bullet wound.

There's more on icwales.

Unlike a certain satire site, I'm not going to suggest that removing your seatbelt would be an appropriate course of action if you have a navel piercing. And much as I understand the distraught parents' pleas for teenagers to remove their piercings, the circumstances of the accident suggest that this was a freak incident.

But what you might do, if you have a piercing somewhere in your abdomen, but which you should certainly do anyway, is to check whether the seatbelt fits you correctly. For correct operation the lap part of your seatbelt should go over the pelvis region and not the stomach. The diagonal strap should pass over you shoulder and not your neck. If your seatbelt doesn't fit, you can usually adjust the height of the seatbelt via the b pillars, and often the c pillars too.

The danger of news stories like this is that they will either put people off wearing a seatbelt, or - more likely - give the 10% of muppets who still drive without one another convenient but bogus reason to not belt up.

By wearing your seatbelt you will significantly raise your chances of surviving a serious accident - over 2,500 lives are saved a year, which means 250 are still being lost needlessly, and that's to say nothing of the serious injuries prevented.

In contrast injuries caused by seatbelts are rare, usually amounting to bruising, often in the course of preventing more serious injuries, and only vanishingly rarely anything as serious as has afflicted poor Jessica.

You can find out more about seatbelt safety in this pdf download from RoSPA.

So remember - "Clunk, click - every trip" - and by all means get rid of your belly studs if you want, I'm not a fan.

And remember that modified car insurance is comparatively safe!

Finally a guy driving badly...

After months of wanting a clip of a guy driving as badly as some of the women previously displaying their distinct lack of driving talent, I've finally got one.

This is why cars come with a handbrake - shame he was too dumb to use it...

It was all going so well, but just as I was about to post this, Gerry sent me this.

Now, just imagine you've had a really bad smash. For any sensible person, the priority would be, get out of the car and move to a safe distance, maybe call 999.

Not this lady...

Taking your car for a service?

Then don't do this!




And don't be tempted to save money on a carwash either...

The Bollards are back....