Articles by Laura Berry

What does it say about us humans that the most popular car colours globally are black, white, grey and silver? Where are all the properly colourful car colours at? Well, we found them. This started out seeming like an easy task, but ended up with me visiting the website of every car brand selling their wares in Australia and checking the colour options for their models. There brands offer vibrant colours, the rest will offer the usual white, black and silver. Most of these brands will also offer red and blue, while others offer more modern hues such as dark green and light brown, or even lilac. Yep, lilac appears to be trending. I’ve excluded the exotic car brands such as Porsche, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and so on, from this little project. All of them offer bespoke colours or will even match the colour of your car to that of your sofa, but it’ll cost you. Which is out of reach for most people. Here are the top 5 brands that aren’t afraid of loud or vibrant colours. Ford offers a surprisingly good range of vibrant colours thanks to models such as the Mustang, which comes in Orange Fury, Molten Magenta and Adriatic Blue; and the Ranger Raptor that gets Code Orange and Blue Lightning. The upcoming Bronco Basecamp SUV is expected to come in Flare Orange and other adventurous hues, too. Lepas is another of the many brands owned by Chinese auto giant Chery. It'll launch its first vehicle, the L6 EV, in October. What separates Lepas’ from Chery’s other sub-brands such as Omoda and Jaecoo is the bold colours of the models in its overseas ranges, which will follow the L6 over the coming 12 months. Right now, the  L6 offered in a very striking purple and orange. Mini knows exactly what it’s doing, and it’s doing premium quirkiness. Yes Renault and Peugeot can do quirky and premium, but Mini has really mastered the statement car thing, and of course a big part of that is colour. The Mini Cooper comes in 11 colours and while Sunny Side Yellow makes me want to own a car, which looks like a rubber duckie, the Ocean Wave Green is so sublime, I want a tin of it to paint my front door. GWM is currently doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to outrageous colours and I’m completely here for it. The Ora 5 small electric SUV launched in July and arrived in colours that would make most car company executives very uncomfortable. Flamingo Pink? Yes please. Cute Cyan? Absolutely. Emerald Green? Don’t mind if I do. Jeep’s the undisputed champion of colour offerings… and of vehicles with removable doors.  Just knowing the Jeep Gladiator Rubicon ute comes in bright purple, and the hue is called Reign, somehow makes me sleep better at night.  There’s also Mojito, which is a luminous monster green, a bright orange named Joose and a Gold named Goldilocks. Ah, thank you Jeep for keeping it irreverent and colourful.  

The Renault Symbioz is a new, small SUV from the French brand. We drove at its Aussie launch this year, but this is the first time we’ve lived with it for a week and I almost feel sorry for the thing. You see, the Symbioz was sparkling clean, fresh from being built in Valladolid, Spain before landing in the middle of a battlefield of Aussie suburbia with a four-year-old who immediately smudged chocolate in the seat and an 11-year old with more appointments and commitments than a prime minister. The Symbioz that I tested for family friendliness is the entry-grade Techno with the mild hybrid system. It was a long week. Here’s how it went... The Renault Symbioz model range is small in Australia consisting of only two grades. We tested the entry-level Techno mild hybrid, although you can get a full hybrid. The list price of the Symbioz Techno mild hybrid is $36,990 before on-road costs, which is a lot more expensive than some Chinese rivals like the Jaecoo J5 or a Chery Tiggo 4, and a smidge more than the Honda HR-V, Toyota Corolla Cross or Mazda CX-30. It is, however, more affordable than the hybrid-only Nissan Qashqai. The Symbioz Techno is worth the extra money even if the value isn’t as good as a Chinese SUV, because the difference is higher quality fit and finish and a more enjoyable car to drive. Standard features on the Techno include 18-inch alloy wheels, proximity unlocking, push-button start, a 10.4-inch media screen and 10.25-inch digital driver’s display, climate control, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus Google Automated services. The seats are a synthetic fabric and that means chocolate wipes straight off, thankfully. Our test car is fitted with the optional electronic glass roof which turns from transparent to opaque thanks to a dispersed polymer liquid crystal film between the sheets of glass. The beauty of this is that there's no need for a sunshade that could reduce head room. Check out my video here to see it work. Yes, while value isn’t one of the Renault Symbioz’s strengths it does have a lot of compelling attributes. Four attributes stand out as the strengths: the design, quality feel, practicality and the way it drives. I truly believe that the Symbioz is the best-looking small SUV for the price right now. I love the rear design especially with the razor-sharp tail-lights, but the entire vehicle is superbly styled and looks far more expensive than the price tag. The same goes for the interior and not just the design, but the feel of the fabrics and materials, switches and the steering wheel. Many SUVs try to aim for a stylish look, but few achieve the feel. This also goes for the thoughtful layout of this cabin that places everything within reach and where it should be. The practicality of the Symbioz is also outstanding. As a mum to two kids that insist on bringing everything everywhere, a small SUV (it’s 4.4m long) is generally too small for us. But the excellent storage, occupant space and boot, which expands from 460L-592L because the rear row is on rails, has me rethinking that rule.  If you’re a family in an urban setting but need all the storage and room that kids and adults require, then seriously consider the Symbioz. The materials are also easy to clean and feel hard wearing, too. Finally, the way the Symbioz drives is so engaging. Yes the 1.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine has a bit of the dreaded turbo lag and yes the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission can be a little clunky. In a world of fully electric cars with seamless stop and go, this engine and transmission feels a bit antiquated, but the Symbioz is still so enjoyable to pilot in an old-school way. As much as I love EVs for urban duties like the daycare drop off, grocery shopping and after-school sports dashes, I’d missed how fun these little runs can be in something with great handling and steering and a grunty little engine. Well, as mentioned the price is a bit steep, but you’re getting a nicer car for the money than many rivals. Also the warranty is only five-years/unlimited kilometres, which is falling behind many mainstream brands. Servicing is required every 30,000km or 12 months. You can buy a five-year service package for $2700 which is about $540 a visit and that’s expensive compared to a few rivals. And then there’s the fuel consumption. The mild hybrid isn’t as fuel efficient as the full hybrid and because I drove it like a rally queen, I used an average of 10.5L/100km over about 150km of driving. The official fuel consumption is 6.4L/100km but personally I don’t think they were flying this small SUV to school and pre-school to Scouts to Kung Fu to birthday parties and tutoring all with just 15 minutes to get to all of these places.  With more moderate urban driving, a lower figure is certainly achievable. Finally, the Symbioz has not been rated by ANCAP, but its Continental equivalent, EuroNCAP only gave it four-out-of-five stars for safety. This was partly because it lacks a front centre airbag and front knee airbags, as well as average occupant protection for the driver.

Electric cars are more reliable than petrol and diesel ones, according to a new study of almost 50 million vehicle roadworthy checks. It’s a topic of heated discussion all over internet forums: are EVs more reliable and lower maintenance than their combustion equivalents. A commonly held belief is that because electric cars have far fewer parts compared to petrol and diesel ones, there’s less to go wrong. That makes sense on the surface, but there could be actual proof now thanks to a study in the United Kingdom by the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA). Vehicles in the UK that are more than three-years-old are required by law to pass a yearly roadworthy and safety check - also known as an MOT (Ministry of Transport) - to be registered. In NSW, vehicles older than five years need a roadworthy certificate - the equivalent of a British MOT. The MOT requires a thorough check of a vehicle’s brakes, tyres, wheels, steering, suspension, lights, windscreen wipers, body structure and emissions to ensure all are in safe working order. The BVRLA study found EVs are more durable over time, and as the age of combustion vehicles increases, so does the maintenance requirements. The study examined the 47.7 million vehicles that underwent a roadworthy and safety test for registration from 2024-2026. Specifically the study looked at test failure rates. This was also correlated with data from 863 million historical tests. The study found that in the first 32,000-97,000km there was very little difference in the failure rates of both EVs and combustion cars. The results revealed 12 per cent of EVs that attempted the test failed, compared to 11.7 per cent of combustion vehicles. After about 100,000km the results get interesting. EV failure rates plateaued at 16.5 per cent while the failure rate of combustion cars increased steadily. From 145,000km-193,000km the failure rate for EVs remained at 16.5 per cent but for combustion it was 22.1 per cent. Above 193,000km EV failure rate actually decreased to 16 per cent while combustion continued to rise to 23.5 per cent.   Combustion vehicles have about 20,000 moving parts in their drivetrain, and EVs have only about 20.  And while combustion engines have been developed over a hundred years to be super reliable, efficient and robust, the sheer number of metal and rubber components under the incredible heat and strain of constant use have a limited lifespan.  From pistons and crankshafts, transmissions and driveshafts, to the fuel and cooling systems, the brakes and exhaust, combustion cars work hard and wear out faster. Electric cars do have weaknesses - some highlighted by the findings of the study and some we know as motoring journalists. The study found tyres wear out 1.8 times faster on an EV than a combustion car. This could be down to a combination of a number of factors we know cause tyre wear such as the heavy weight of EVs and the colossal torque electric cars can send to their wheels. We also know that EVs tend to have more technical problems from software issues to battery fade. Another interesting takeaway from the study is older EVs are not disappearing from British roads, with 94.6 per cent of electric cars over 15 years old continuing to come back for their annual check 2.5 years later. That said, new EVs are arriving on the market with better electric architecture, which ensure not just better driving range but systems capable of handling faster charging. The 2026 Zeekr 7X for example has 800V architecture and a 100kWh battery, while the 2020 Nissan Leaf has 400V architecture and a 62kWh battery.  

These are Victoria’s most dangerous roads according to a new survey by the RACV and we're keen to hear which roads in your state are known to be notoriously unsafe, too Potholes have been identified by Victorians as the No.1 safety concern in an RACV survey focusing on the state’s most dangerous regional roads and these are the highways on the public's “do-something-about-it” list. More than 6000 people took part in the RACV's 2026 My Country Road campaign with 71 percent of them saying the condition of Victoria’s roads was the greatest safety concern for them. Potholes and crumbling surfaces were named as urgent priorities that needed addressing and the roads which were the main culprits were named. While potholes were seen as the biggest safety issue plaguing Victoria's regional roads, the respondents identified other areas of concern. Narrow roads, poor shoulders and edges were identified by 12 per cent of respondents as being of greatest concern after pot holes; 10 per cent thought signage, line marking and visibility were the biggest safety issue; speed limits and driver behaviour also received 10 per cent of the vote; while limited overtaking opportunities also came in at 10 per cent. This year’s RACV campaign was regional Victoria's turn to nominate the worst roads. Alternating each year, in 2027 it will be city dwellers' chance to have their say in the My Melbourne Road campaign. This year’s My Country Road survey asked respondents to nominate the most dangerous road in regional Victoria from a shortlist of 52 which were identified as being safety concerns based on crash data. The RACV took the map of the state, broke it up into five different regions and identified the three most dangerous roads for each according to the participants. And here they are. Southwestern Victoria: Princes Highway West, Colac to Camperdown Princes Highway West, Portland to Port Fairy Henty Highway, Portland to Hamilton. Western Victoria: Midland Highway, Ballarat to Daylesford Western Highway, Ararat to Stawell Western Highway, Ballarat to Trawalla. Northwestern Victoria: Loddon Valley Highway, Bendigo to Kerang Northern Highway, Echuca to Heathcote Northern Highway and McIvor Highway, Wallan to Bendigo. Northeastern Victoria: Melba Highway, Yea to Dixons Creek Goulburn Valley Highway and Maroondah Highway, Yea to Mansfield Murray Valley Highway, Wodonga to Tallangatta. Eastern Victoria: Strzelecki Highway, Leongatha to Mirboo North Princes Highway East, Bairnsdale to Lakes Entrance South Gippsland Highway, Loch to Leongatha. Of these five regions, the three most dangerous roads in country Victoria are the following: Princes Highway West, Colac to Camperdown Princes Highway West, Portland to Port Fairy Loddon Valley Highway, Bendigo to Kerang. The RACV says it will use the results to advocate for targeted investment. The RACV’s head of public policy James Williams says the results send a clear message. “Victorians have told us that the State’s crumbling road network is what worries them most,” Mr Williams said. “Seven in 10 of the concerns raised through this campaign came back to potholes and deteriorating surfaces, and almost three-quarters of the fixes people asked for were as simple as resurfacing the road. “These are maintenance and design problems and they are the same in every corner of the state, from the Princes Highway West in the southwest to the Strzelecki Highway in Gippsland. “RACV will take these results to government and press for targeted investment in the roads that the Government’s own safety ratings and regional Victorians have identified.” This RACV survey only covered Victoria, of course, but Australia is a big place and we think nothing of driving hundred kilometres in a single stint. So which roads do you travel often that need attention now? Let us know in the comments below.

Toyota is about to change up its hybrid plans with confirmation that it will begin producing range-extender hybrid electric vehicles (REEV), but it may not be for the reason you think. Starting in the first quarter of 2027, Toyota will start building extended-range hybrids for the first time. The vehicles will be produced in China with Toyota predicting it will build 200,000 next year before increasing to 400,000 units in 2028. The move to build range-extender hybrids signals a significant shift for Toyota. The reasons behind the plan don't have much to do with Australia, but we could benefit from it. A range-extender hybrid uses a small petrol engine to charge the battery which powers electric motors. Basically, it's an electric vehicle with an onboard petrol generator. The main hybrid system Toyota uses is a series-parallel hybrid with a petrol engine and electric motor, both capable of driving the wheels independently of each other or together. The Toyota RAV4, Camry, Kluger and Corolla Cross all use a series-parallel hybrid system Toyota also makes plug-in hybrids, but in smaller numbers. So, here’s the kicker. Toyota is making range-extender hybrids so it can better compete against rival carmakers in China. China is going through a tumultuous time with fiercely competitive EV pricing as petrol cars fall out of favour.  Hybrids, especially REEVs, are being pushed by China’s government as a way to diffuse the EV price war and allay concerns about available charging infrastructure. The incentives for buying range extenders are also designed to promote the take-up of these vehicles. REEVs are excellent for fuel economy and Nissan uses similar technology in models such as the X-Trail and Qashqai, but will it come to a Toyota RAV4 soon? The answer is no, not unless it has to in order to compete with REEV rivals in Australia. Toyota has so much invested in its series-parallel hybrid systems and such huge market dominance that it’s difficult to see how another hybrid will offer any kind of return on the effort to launch it. If fuel prices continue to fluctuate, Toyota could well change its tune. There are currently a limited number of REEVs available in Australia and this includes the Nissan X-Trail and Qashqai, Leapmotor's C10 and B10 REEV and the freshly launched Forthing 5. Hyundai is expected to launch a REEV variant of the Santa Fe SUV next year.

Volkswagen has built the slipperiest car on Earth, breaking records for aerodynamics and energy efficiency on a production approved vehicle with its Mission Efficiency and it could dramatically change the way our cars look soon. Volkswagen celebrated its record breaking Mission Efficiency after a 1278km trip from Wolfsburg to Vienna that took them across Germany, Poland, Czechia and Austria from Wolfsburg to Vienna. It was only charged once, which doesn’t sound like a huge accomplishment given we have electric cars that are now reaching 600-700km on a full charge. What’s so impressive is that this was done with a relatively small battery and incredible efficiency. Volkswagen has a history of pushing the limits of efficiency and its XL 1, which was built from 2014-2016, had a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.189 and has held the record ever since for a production car. Just to put that in context an official Olympic approved arrow has a Cd of between 1.5-2.0. Now, the two-door, four-seater Mission Efficiency has broken the XL 1’s record with a Cd of 0.158.  That beats anything currently on the market. The most aerodynamic production vehicles you can actually buy include the Mercedes-Benz EQS with a Cd of about 2.0, Mercedes-Benz CLA Ev with 0.21Cd and the Porsche Taycan with a Cd of 0.22. The Mission Efficiency's slipperiness is down to its tear-drop shape, small frontal area, clad rear wheels and a fully clad underbody. Door handles are integrated into the body and the windows are frameless to help the vehicle slide through the air.  Powering the Mission Efficiency is a single 99kW motor driving the front wheels - the same unit used in the new ID.Polo small hatch. What’s impressive is the battery size, it’s a 54.9kWh Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt (NMC) unit. Solar panels on the roof power on-board electronics.  The Mission Efficiency drove 1278km from Wolfsburg to Vienna, charging only once with 164.0km of range remaining on completion. The impressive part about this is the efficiency. The real average energy consumption of the Mission Efficiency over this distance was 6.89kWh/100km.  In comparison the Mercedes-Benz EQS  has an average energy consumption of 15.6kWh/100km.  Volkswagen's Mission Efficiency is not intended to be mass-produced and sold, so the real accomplishment here is that this vehicle was able to achieve outstanding efficiency using all regular road approved equipment and technology. Volkswagen’s CEO Thomas Schäfer said Mission Efficiency shows what the brand can do with current technology that can be incorporated easily into upcoming vehicles.  “Mission Efficiency is the ideal way to demonstrate what distinguishes Volkswagen in the electric age: technology for the masses – not just for the few.  “Rather than using specialist technology, the vehicle set its three world records using affordable production technology from the ID. Polo and ID. Cross, based on the MEB+ platform with front-wheel drive. This shows how much potential efficiency we can add to the latest generation of our electric cars.”

To be honest I didn’t think this would happen so fast but it really does appear the end is nigh for the internal combustion engine in Australia, because for the first time sales of electric cars have overtaken petrol ones.  So how does Australia compare for EVs sales compared to the rest of the world? Australia is punching well above its weight.  Australia is ranked high when it comes to EV sales compared to the world, but wait until you see how high. Australians bought 27,089 electric vehicles in August, which represent 24.9 per cent of the market. Not included in this are hybrids or plug-in hybrids, and that makes this number even more significant. In comparison the total sales of petrol cars in August, including light commercial vehicles, came to 25,824. August’s sales came off the back of a bumper July total of 23,510, but they weren’t the largest recorded - that claim to fame goes to June with 32,570 sales.  August was a big month for EV sales in other parts of the world, too. Sales of EVs in France reached a record 38 per cent of the market or 36,159 electric cars. Quick reminder: Australia for the same month has 24.9 per cent and 27,089 electric cars. Let me also tell you that France is placed fourth in the world rankings for August EV sales. Of course this is nothing compared to China’s EV sales, which were approximately one million for August. Yes, China sold the same number of electric cars in August as the almost the combined sales of petrol, diesel, EV, and hybrids in Australia in any given year. With China in the No.1 place; in second place for August is Germany with 68,930 sales; then in third is the United States with about 65,000; then France with its 36,159; followed by the United Kingdom with 27,876; and then in sixth place is Australia with 27,089. We just missed out on being in the top 5 for August EV sales. Australia’s year-to-date battery electric vehicle sales through to the end of August come to 154,313. This places Australia in seventh place globally for the year so far, behind China in first place with approximately 6.06 million sales; then in second place is the US with about 500,000 sales; then Germany in third with 446,615; the UK is in fourth with 327,683; then France with 322,097; and then South Korea with 272,000. Petrol sales year to date have reached 243,673, which is 89,360 sales of the 154,313 EV sales. So while monthly sales of EVs are beginning to overtake petrol car sales, we won't see the electric car sales total for the year eclipse those of petrol in 2026. A recent report from the NRMA found there are approximately 500,000 EVs on Australian roads and this accounted for just three per cent of the total number of registered vehicles.  But as we have seen by the monthly figures EV sales are at a high level and staying high. The NRMA said by 2040 10 per cent of registered vehicles will be EVs, and modelling by the CSIRO predicts by 2050 97 per cent of all light passenger cars will be battery electric vehicles. The Tesla Model Y is not just the biggest selling EV, it's also is the best selling of all cars in Australia right now with 6414 sold in August. The BYD Sealion 7 electric SUV with 2213 sales is the fifth best-selling car in Australia, while the Zeekr 7X is in ninth place with 1748 sales.

LG has made a battery breakthrough that could bring down the costs of electric cars further, as the race to develop more efficient technology heats up. Electrical technology company LG Energy Solution and Seoul National University have announced a breakthrough in the development of Lithium Manganese-Rich (LMR) batteries.  The breakthrough ensures better stability of the battery making it recharge more fully, lengthening its life time while also reducing the costs of production. You’ve heard of Lithium-Ferro-Phosphate batteries (LFP) and Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt (NMC) batteries, well LMR batteries are the next generation of how electric cars will store their power. As the name suggests, LMR batteries contain lithium and manganese metals, but the advantages to them are hard to ignore. LMR batteries are super energy dense, which means they can be used for high performance cars that want colossal grunt, and for long driving ranges for everyday cars. They also don’t contain cobalt.   Currently cobalt is of great ethical concern regarding how it’s mined, the environmental factors of the material and the sheer cost.  OK, we’re going to get a bit technical. So hold on.  A barrier for LMR batteries until now is the recharging issues - they require a tonne of voltage to charge, but this destabilises the cathode and that means oxygen is lost and this causes the crystals to warp.  Basically, the battery loses the ability to hold its charge over time, while capacity also fades.  LG has worked out how to build LMR batteries that don’t need a high voltage to charge and this retains the structural integrity of the crystal structure and so there’s minimal battery fade over time. This is huge, but it’s very early days and the development is still in the research phase. LG is celebrating the breakthrough. “This research addresses one of the key challenges facing LMR batteries,” an LG Energy Solution spokesperson said in a press statement.  “It demonstrates that stable battery life can be secured even in large-format cells by effectively suppressing gas generation, providing an important foundation for growth in the next-generation LMR battery market.”     Currently NMC batteries, which use cobalt are in high-powered or bigger cars that demand lots of grunt. Autobahn cruisers like the Porsche Taycan, big family SUVs, such as the Kia EV9 or long-legged EVs such as the Zeekr 7X need NMC batteries to provide substantial range and power. But NMC batteries are also why these vehicles are so expensive - the high cost of producing them from sourcing materials to making them is passed onto the consumer. LFP batteries don’t use cobalt, which is excellent, but they aren’t as energy dense as NMC batteries and that’s adequate for small cars and suburban family SUVs, but more range and power would be better. LMR batteries could replace LFP and NMC altogether, and this will reduce the price of EVs while ensuring long range and good driving performance, while not losing charging capacity over time. That’s why LG is celebrating this breakthrough and you can bet car companies will be watching the progress very closely. 

Car makers are constantly coming up with new features they think we need, from big screens to weird door handles. Often these cause more problems than they solve. We get it, since that very first person with a face full of mud 140 years ago said: “Geeze I wish my jalopy had some kind of screen to protect me from the wind”, manufacturers have been trying to wow us with newer and better features in the hope we’ll buy their product.  Who can argue with windscreens and wipers, air-conditioning and airbags, radios and sound systems? And we love proximity unlocking, head-up displays and heated seats.  Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are superb, blind spot warning and parking sensors have saved us from embarrassment and saved lives.  But then there are the other inventions that make you wonder what on Earth were they thinking? Vibrating seats? Door handles that disappear and are hard to use? Giant glass roofs in Aussie summers? Huge screens that have done away with all the real buttons? Safety alerts so distracting they’re possibly even dangerous?      We know what we want so here’s our list of features we’d like to see, and please jump in and tell us what you think cars need and maybe the message will get through to the carmakers. There are few features more disappointing than the voice command function in cars. The promise was a Chat GPT or Siri style helper that could not only carry out vehicle functions easily but also plan our journeys and organise our calendars. Well they couldn’t keep the promise, because the current versions in cars are next to useless.   Is it too much to ask for our real dials, switches and buttons back? Over the past five years we’ve watched them disappear before our eyes into touch screens, making the process of just turning the air-con temperature down an awkward process of finger swipes and stabs. The windscreen was a great idea, and combined with windscreen wipers, meant driving in all weather conditions was now possible. But are we not at the stage where a kind of smart chromatic glass can be used that adjusts to cut glare and brightness when driving into the sun.  Yes, there are sun visors and sun glasses, but there are many reasons why these aren’t perfect. While we’re at it is there a better way to keep windscreens clear in torrential rain? Windscreen wipers are fantastic but can a charged windscreen be developed where water doesn’t hit it in the first place? Just asking…  Full-sized spare wheels are heavy, take up space and are hard to change. But they’re better than space savers spare wheels, run flat tyres and repair kits. For years we’ve seen innovative tyre prototypes that aren’t filled with air and don’t puncture, but here we are a century later still driving around on balloons.  Cars dent and scratch way too easily. The cost of repairing metal panels and respraying is huge, and means the car is off the road for weeks sometimes.  Yes, the ultra high-strength steel and aluminium that’s used today is better than the steel we used to use, but why aren’t we using plant-based fibres and resins to build the bodies of our vehicles?  Steel is so last century. Actually it was last century in 1941 that Henry Ford patented his soybean car, which had a body made from plastics reinforced with hemp and flax fibres. The car was 500kg lighter than a regular steel car and up to 10 times stronger than steel.  So what happened? World War II seemed to derail the push for bioplastics and steel continued to rule the world.

Australia has recently scrapped a few road laws, but there are still plenty of others I reckon need ditching, too.  That’s right, as one financial year ends and another begins it’s not just accountants who get excited but road users can, too, because this is the time that old traffic laws are scrapped and new ones are introduced. This year one of the most popular changes will certainly be the scrapping of the road work speed limit during non-road work times in New South Wales.  Previously road work speed limits have been enforced 24 hours a day and regardless of whether road work was taking place. The lower speed limits are designed to slow traffic down to 40km/h or even 20km/h and are crucial in protecting roadside workers.  The only problem with this was the low speed zone still applied even outside road work times. On a busy motorway this led to some drivers sticking to 40km/h while others raced past at 110km/h.  I’m glad this one has changed, but there are so many more that could do with scraping and replacing, too. Here’s a few that could do with changing, surely I’m not the only one who feels this way - feel free to jump with what you think needs changing on our roads, too. I’m completely against excessive speeding. I feel that if you’re in need of speed then you need to take it to a race track where you’ll be humbled very quickly.  That said, I think speed cameras, especially the kind that are unmarked, are more about making money than saving lives.  Scrap the speed cameras, but keep the red light cameras and bring in more police patrols with radars. That’ll save more lives and change driver behaviour. Running red lights is beyond stupid and dangerous and I personally think that red light cameras should be at every set of traffic lights, so what I’m about to may say sound ridiculous. I think drivers should be able to turn left on a red light upon stopping and checking to ensure the coast is clear.  This works perfectly well in the US (all states allow a right turn on a red light) and it would work here too, improving traffic flow and actually increasing driver situational awareness.    Who knows how much trouble this one is going to get me into, but the law against going slightly over the speed limit while overtaking needs to be scrapped.  This would only apply to single carriage ways and at no more than 10km/h over the speed limit. There’s a couple of good reasons for this. First I’ve experienced drivers speed up while I’m overtaking; second I’ve had vehicles from the other direction approach quicker than expected, and it’s not a good idea to have two cars travelling at speed barely 50cm apart together for any longer than a couple of seconds.  Sometimes a little hustling is needed to get back to safety. Surely the less amount of time spent on the wrong side of the road the better.  This is simple: if the left-hand lane ends and drivers have to form one lane then those in the continuing lane need to give way.  The current law states that those in the lane that ends need to give way, but that’s ridiculous. They’re literally going to run out of a lane in a matter of seconds, let them in for goodness sake. South Australia, NSW and the Northern Territory only allow P platers to travel at a maximum speed of 90km/h or 100km/h, while the rest of the country allow them to travel at the maximum 110km/h speed limit.  Really the P-Plater maximum speed should be in line with the rest of the traffic and an extra 10km/h to bring them to 110km/h would go some way to preventing other road users taking risks to get past them. Yes, the Northern Territory has some highways that are 130km/h, and no I don’t think a P-Plater is ready for that speed on a rough bit of tarmac like the Stuart.  Anyway, that’s my list for now, and I’m sure I’ve missed many more but feel free to jump in and tell me the road rules you’d like to see scrapped and why.