Your fast car’s a slow coach

Motorists are endlessly lectured about the need to slow down, but most of us go below the speed limit because car manufacturers always calibrate speedometers to show less than the car’s real velocity.

Drive to survive

A New South Wales academic with expertise in flying and psychology wants to change the way young people learn to drive to reduce their disproportionate road toll of deaths, injuries and accidents.

Battery blues

Electric vehicles are slowly becoming more common on the nation’s roads, but ideologically appealing developments can easily produce more intractable problems than the technologies they replace.

An accident waiting to happen

The poor design and cavalier operation of the Titan submersible made it an accident waiting to happen, and, as with so many previous disasters, warnings about the dangers were continually dismissed or ignored.

All at sea

The loss of the Titanic led to the creation of The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) which mandated a range of maritime safety measures and the loss of the Titan submersible may prompt a similar rethink of legislation.

No-one at the wheel

The much-vaunted driverless car is as far away as ever, but autonomous maritime vessels of various sizes are already in use around the world for a variety of civil, military and even criminal purposes.

You can park here, mate

Allowing apartment holders to rent out dedicated parking spaces would help alleviate housing costs while easing the shortage of street parking in Australia’s ever more crowded cities.

Electric boogaloo

Australia has lagged behind other developed nations in transitioning from fossil fuels in energy and transport, but after a very slow start, electric vehicle sales and infrastructure are beginning to take off.

When does 50 = 120 on the roads?

New South Wales’ currently requires learner drivers to complete 120 hours of supervised driving, but accident statistics suggest the previous figure of 50 hours was equally effective in reducing injuries.

Rideshares don’t cut traffic jams

Despite their environmentally-friendly perception, ride hailing platforms do not appear to reduce traffic congestion.

Transport free-for-all?

Fares only cover a quarter of the cost of public transport, so would removing fares for everyone make sense in terms of cutting traffic jams and improving social, as well as physical, mobility?

Could self-driving cars cut traffic congestion?

If self-driving cars become a reality, will they solve growing traffic congestion? The answer may depend on whether we share them among a city’s commuters.