Our Personal Safety !

Road fatality statistics tell us a compelling story.  The older the car we drive, the greater the chance that we will die if we are involved in a car crash.  It is a fact of life that cars built before 2001 simply lack air bags and mechanical improvements that protect drivers and passengers if the vehicle is involved in a major accident.

Car safety has been progressive.  It was back in 1964 when we legislated to make the provision of seat belt anchorages mandatory in all new cars sold in Australia and in 1973 the wearing of seat belts by drivers and passengers passed into law.  Today, a small percentage of people ignore that law and consistently drive and ride without those seat belts being fastened.

The car industry must have every new model ANCAP tested and this results in the award of safety stars.  Five stars is the accolade, and it is hard to sell new vehicles which fall short of that standard.  As a result, most people are aware that their safety is paramount if they are driving a vehicle with that designation, but statistically twenty percent of the cars on our roads are too old to reach that standard.

Even more alarming are the number of young people driving around in what the industry terms " a bomb ".   Here we have the " first car " syndrome and that is usually very old and very second hand - and consequently " cheap " because it lacks buyer appeal.   Those same young people also lack driving experience and are prone to the thrill of high speeds.  They are over represented in death statistics.

Cars over four years old require an annual safety check before re-registration.   The authorities will be tempted to introduce draconian standards to weed out older models which are mechanically sound, but simply lack the modern refinements that save lives.  That will anger a lot of people.  In particular, families that have a venerable older car that is driven to the shops once a week for grocery shopping. Such vehicles have a deep affection in their owners eyes and any move to force them off the road will be bitterly resisted.

New cars have never been cheaper.  It is possible to buy a very well equipped new small car with a five start ANCAP rating for as little as fourteen thousand dollars.  Consequently, the price of second hand vehicles has slumped, and we are on the cusp of electric vehicles replacing the internal combustion engine.  The advent of driverless cars is also knocking on the door, although this may be a decade away before it reaches significant numbers on the road.

Unfortunately, all this presents our road safety people with a new dilemma.  It is highly likely that the owners of older cars may resist upgrading to a new vehicle because they are waiting to see if this electric revolution eventuates - and have the expectation that the driverless age may make any new car quickly redundant.  Even the crystal ball gazers can not put a time frame on when all of this will happen.

The only expectation is that inspections for registration will get a lot tougher and the older the vehicle the more difficult it will become to gain registration approval.