My keys aren’t bulky, but my car key is.
Category: driving
Tony Abbott, in a way, was right: “The humblest person is king in his own car.” Tony Abbott, Battlelines I can see his point here. I don’t know about them being humble, but (especially as a pedestrian or a cyclist) you see plenty of people in their cars who think they are royalty. The problem ... [More]
My car has a spot in the central console area thingy that looks like it has been designed to store your mobile phone so you can kind of see the screen while driving, for navigational purposes. At least, the manual doesn’t seem to document its purpose, and I can’t figure out what else it could ... [More]
Sorry PT fans, this is a blog about driving. I’ve had the new car, a 2017 Mitsubishi Lancer bought brand new, a year now, and have got to just on 10,000 kilometres so far. The average in Australia is about 15,000 km per year, but some drive a lot further. My past average is about ... [More]
One of the issues that contributes to excessive car use is that it’s not straightforward to calculate the cost of driving. Once you have the car, the cost of each additional trip you take in it is obscured. Apart from tolls and fuel costs, many might see an already-paid-for car sitting in the driveway as ... [More]
I am discovering that there’s some powerful psychology going on when you get a new car. Playing into this for me is that my old car was wearing out, and was getting difficult to drive, plus the change from manual to automatic. This means the new car seems like a breeze to drive. The “new ... [More]
Categories
Retail therapy
Just a quick few points while I work on a more complicated post that’s (inevitably) transport related… Shopping bags Many major retailers are phasing out single-use plastic bags. Or to be precise, they’re phasing-out free bags. Woolworths: 20/6/2018 Coles, Target, Big W: 1/7/2018 Aldi never gave away bags. K-Mart is phasing out free bags during ... [More]
Apologies for the following long ramble about buying a car. The costs of cars (Do I even need one?) My prolonged hunt for a new (used) car got me thinking about how much they have cost me… and how long I’ve kept them. My first car was a 1993 Mitsubishi Magna (pictured above), which I ... [More]
I mentioned last year I was thinking about upgrading my car, which is frequently unused during the week, but still needed on occasions. Car share hasn’t reached our area yet. Buying cars is not something I do lightly. In 18 years of driving, I’ve only owned two vehicles: a 1993 Magna (owned 2000-2008), and a ... [More]
I’ve posted about Rule 128 before. Rule 128 says: Entering blocked intersections A driver must not enter an intersection if the driver cannot drive through the intersection because the intersection, or a road beyond the intersection, is blocked. Penalty: 3 penalty units. The Age recently got hold of figures revealing there were just 18 fines ... [More]
You may have noticed that some intersection markings, including pedestrian crossings, are changing. Solid white lines are becoming dashed white lines. Ditto turning lines at intersections. This change brings Victorian practice into line with the Australian standard. NSW (and probably other states) used to have solid lines too, but sometime in the last few decades ... [More]
I described this on Twitter the other day, but I’ll expand on it here. I was heading out in the car on Saturday afternoon. Got in, beeped, looked behind me, slowly backed-out of my driveway. BANG! A cyclist riding along the footpath with his dog (roughly at running pace) collided with my car. I stopped, ... [More]