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Sometimes, inventions are revolutionary. When the iPhone debuted in 2007, the world let out a collective gasp, as if to say, "Yes, that's just what I've been wanting!"Sometimes, inventions are dull. Ginsu knives and the ShamWow do things that other products do, they just claim to do them better. Meh. And sometimes, inventions are complete head-scratchers. In Japan, there's a whole category for such creations called chindōgu: inventions that seem clever on paper, but in practice become completely ridiculous. We'll let you guess which category the "safety belt t-shirt" falls into.The safety belt t-shirt is, quite simply, a white t-shirt that features a black strap running diagonally across the chest. It's meant to fool Chinese police officers into thinking that the driver is wearing a seatbelt.That's important because just as in Australia, drivers in China are required to wear seatbelts. Those who don't must pay a fine of 50 yuan, or around $8.00, and have two points (out of a total 12) deducted from their driver's license.Funny thing is, the t-shirts themselves cost up to 50 yuan. And obviously, they offer zero protection in the event of an accident. Which raises an important question: why not just wear the damn seatbelt?Another funny thing: the Chinese weren't the first to think of this. In fact, a quick search of shopping sites reveals an assortment of safety belt t-shirts on sale in America. You'll have to decide for yourself whether they belong in your closet.www.thecarconnection.com 

A 19-year-old US woman has been arrested after posting a video in which she boasted of stealing a car and robbing a bank.Hannah Sabata, 19, of Stromsburg, Nebraska, is seen in the video claiming she’s having the “best day of her life,” because she stole a Pontiac Grand Am and robbed a bank of more than $6,000.In the footage she brandishes car keys, bragging “my new car is shiny. Of course I took the plates off already.” She holds up a sign that boasts “then I robbed a bank with a gun, a pillow case and a note,” and then waves and fans herself with a large handful of money.Sabata also claims in the video that she is a “victim of the government” because the state took custody of her baby. She says she plans to pay off student loans and “go on a shopping spree.”According to a report on leading Nebraska news site, the York News Times, court documents state that “Sabata has a history of mental health problems and refused to take prescribed medication during pregnacy to protect her baby's health”.Sabata has been taken into custody on charges that she robbed a Waco bank after stealing a car in York.A photo taken as she is escorted by Sheriff’s Officers from her home shows her wearing a similar outfit to the one seen in the video and allegedly worn by the female bank robber captured on the bank’s surveillance cameras.   

NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe warns people not to deal with car dealer Kar Land Pty Ltd (trading as Webuyanycars).He said Fair Trading received more than 100 complaints against the company which has a dealership in Blacktown.The company obtains vehicles from customers and only pays them when the vehicle is on-sold.Anyone who believes they are owed money but have not lodged a complaint can call Fair Trading on 133 220 or lodge a complaint at fairtrading.nsw.gov.au. 

That rate means Queensland motorists face the prospect of higher premiums on their cars.Insurance Council of Australia figures show thieves escaped with more than 2700 cars between January and March this year - up 22 per cent from the last quarter. CEO Rob Whelan warned professional car theft rackets were back on the rise, with a quarter of more than 16,000 vehicles nationwide stolen for profit."The statistics reveal that professional car thieves are becoming more resourceful and audacious,'' he said. "They are increasingly stealing cars to cut up for spare parts and components and are moving cars across state borders to hide their activities.'' And the thieves are targeting dealerships as well as privately-owned vehicles.On a recent weekend two high-powered cars, worth up to $90,000 each, were stolen from a dealership at Windsor in Brisbane's north. After breaking into the Eagers HSV dealership on the corner of Newmarket and Kedron Brook roads just after midnight, three robbers donning balaclavas found the keys and escaped with a white 2012 Holden HSV Maloo R8 utility and a silver 2012 Commodore HSV Clubsport sedan. The vehicles offer extraordinary performance, with the Clubsport producing 317kW of power. Attempts were made to steal two other vehicles, including one which they used to smash through a showroom window and over a bollard to Newmarket Rd but was abandoned after it got stuck. Eagers Holden financial controller Adam Edmonds said the cars were all HSVs, which were worth up to $90,000."They've just ram-raided a few cars to make some space and driven out through the windows and through some bollards and they've taken off,'' he said. An employee of another Holden dealership, who wished to remain anonymous, said the problem was ``getting out of control''. "I can tell you this has been happening on a regular basis for the past four months,'' he said.CarsGuide does not operate under an Australian financial services licence and relies on the exemption available under section 911A(2)(eb) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) in respect of any advice given. Any advice on this site is general in nature and does not take into consideration your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making a decision please consider these and the relevant Product Disclosure Statement.

It seems you won't go to jail or be sued if a text you send to a driver leads to a crash.The issue surfaced recently in the US where a New Jersey court heard the case of David and Linda Kubert who were seriously injured when truck driver Kyle Best hit their motorcycle.Best pleaded guilty to using a hand-held phone while driving, careless driving, and failure to maintain a lane. He was fined $775 and sentenced to community service.The Kuberts' legal counsel, Stephen Weinstein, insisted that some blame for the accident be placed on the shoulders of Shannon Colonna, who sent the text message, arguing that Colonna was "electronically present'' at the time of the collision.However, Judge David Rand has shown some sanity in his ruling, saying the driver alone carries the burden of responsibility, not the text-message sender."We expect more of our drivers. We expect more of the people who are given the right and the privilege to operate vehicles on our highways," he says. There is no word yet from the legal counsel about an appeal.Meanwhile, University of Queensland tort specialist Kit Barker says it couldn't happen in Australia. He says the basic principle in Australian negligence law is "no liability without legal fault''."Fault requires at the very least that the physical injury suffered by another be reasonably foreseeable by the defendant,'' he says. "This is judged without the benefit of hindsight, at the time of the allegedly negligent act."Given that a person sending a text has no way of knowing where the recipient is, or what he or she is doing when a text is received, it would be very difficult to see how the accident would be a foreseeable consequence."Even if the sender knew the receiver was driving, a reasonable sender would assume that the addressee would not attempt to open the message whilst driving, given that this is tantamount to careless driving.'' Barker admits that US law sometimes produces results that "would seem very odd in other jurisdictions''."But I would be very surprised if civil liability were to attach to the sender of the text even there,'' he says. "In my view, the chances of there being any civil liability for the sender on the facts ... are virtually zero,'' he says. "I cannot speak to criminal liability, but the normal assumption is that the threshold of criminal responsibility is higher, not lower, than that in civil cases.''Whether it is legal or not, if you know someone is driving at the time, it's probably best not to send them a text message. Distracted driving such as using a handheld mobile for conversations or texting is estimated to account for nearly one in 10 road fatalities. 

Police are warning that mobile phones and music players can have terrible consequences for drivers and pedestrians, after more than 40 people were hit by cars in NSW in a week.

The latest victim was a 76-year-old woman, who died on Sunday when she was struck by an SUV in a shopping centre car park at Mount Druitt, in Sydney's west.

 The spate of accidents involving pedestrians has prompted police to warn that using a mobile phone while at the wheel can distract a driver with fatal results.

"It is these momentary distractions that can result in (drivers) running a red light, crashing into the car in front of you or, worse still, hitting a pedestrian," Assistant Commissioner John Hartley said in a statement.

People walking or jogging while listening to music also need to pay attention to their surroundings, he said.

"Headphones and music can drown out traffic noises and make you oblivious to your surroundings."

Sunday's fatality followed the death of a 38-year-old woman on Wednesday, who was killed when she was hit by a bus while crossing a road in Beecroft.

Her 11-month-old baby girl, whom she was carrying at the time, escaped uninjured.

"A life cannot be replaced, but by driving to the speed limit and remaining focused on the road you can reduce the risk to yourself and other road users," Assistant Commissioner Hartley said. 

The Advertising Standards Board has cleared a road safety ad that shows dead people. A complaint to the ASB said children were scared by the ‘Room For One More’ ad when they saw it in cinemas before G movies. The commercial targets young drivers, and is aimed at getting them to stop being distracted by loud music, mates and phones calls while behind the wheel. It was launched into cinemas by Victoria’s Transport Accident Commission on Boxing Day, and is part of their MAFMAD - make a film, make a difference - campaign. MAFMAD invites entries from budding movie-makers aged under 25, and promotes the winning efforts.Tom Campbell won the 2011 MAFMADs with Room For One More, which was shown at youth festivals before its cinema launch.Following it will be ‘Adventure’ by fellow winner, Year 12 student Tess Fisher.  We’ll keep you posted on that one when it appears.The TAC argued that Campbell’s two-minute ad didn’t breach acceptable community standards in light of the considerable social harm accidents can cause.The ASB evidently agreed, saying that the ad’s message was important and would resonate with the target audience.But should it be played where young children can see it. Granted, there’s more blood and gore in a Harry Potter movie, but they are rated at least PG - and the last one was M.Should this ad be restricted as well?

Dick Johnson yesterday said reducing the tolerance of Queensland speed cameras to match the rest of Australia at about 3km/h over would "not save one life or stop one accident"."This is just another typical example of 'let's look as if we're doing something'," Johnson said. "They won't change the road toll over night with one stroke of a pen."Allan Moffat, who admits to being snapped by a speed camera at 43km/h in a 40 zone in Victoria, agrees that low speed tolerances won't reduce the road toll.The former Ford opponents are not only united on the speed camera issue, but also by Moffat's son, james, who now races for the Dick Johnson Racing team. They suggest that training young people in road safety before they learn to drive is the key to reducing the carnage."The only way they will change the road toll is to start teaching kids at eight years old about the dangers," Johnson said. "This won't be fixed over night; it will take a generation to fix."We need to use the internet and social media to educate them." Moffat believes road safety education should be "drilled into them" from the early teens."We need to bombard the youngsters that it's not a joke driving a car; it's serious," Moffat said. "Unfortunately governments don't want to have the responsibility or spend the money to do something about it."Johnson said he had worked with the police and governments for many years on road safety, but was yet to see his education plans put into action."I had a program that was ticked off by John Howard, but the bureaucrats thought it was too expensive; not for the government but for learners," he said. "The problem is people spend more money on their pets than on their kids and keeping them safe."Their comments follow calls by Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety research officer David Soole to drop the speed camera tolerance level after community consultation.

The latest national road toll figures show the daily death rate averages 2.6 people through the week then rockets to 4.6 on weekends.But there is plenty of good news in the numbers from the Federal Department for Infrastructure and Transport for 2011, including the lowest total toll since 1946.The final figure last year was 1292 deaths, down by 4.4 per cent on 2010 and continuing the steady decline from 1603 in 2007. Also, youngsters are safer as there was a 17 per cent decline in the number of 17-25 year-olds killed on the road.But the figures from the Department of Transport include a warning for older drivers, as the death toll for people aged over 70 jumped by 13 per cent.The Northern Territory continues as the most dangerous place to drive, with an average death rate of 19.12 people for every 100,000 compared with 5.15 and 5.12 for NSW and Victoria, and only 1.64 for the ACT."It's a very welcome outcome. We've seen sustained improvement in the road toll over a number of years," says Andrew McKellar of the Australian Automobile Association, which represents state and territory motoring organisations."It reflects a number of different factors, but there is obviously no room for complacency and continued room for improvement."The AAA attributes the falling toll to vastly improved cars and even improvement in roads, but McKellar is no fan of inappropriate speed camera programs."Our research shows the overall level of risk on our national highways is low than it was. But one in five of our national highways is still rated high-risk and that's unacceptable."Vehicles safety technology has improved radically in the past 10 year years. Only 10-12 years ago two airbags was the limit, but these days four and six airbags are much more common and electronic stability control is a requirement. Over the years those sorts of systems will continue to lead to more improvement."The approach to speed limits has a real impact on road safety outcomes and the approach we would take is that limits need to be appropriate to the setting and condition of the roads."The 2011 statistics show men are still more than twice as likely as women to be killed on the road, while pedestrians account for 189 deaths, but the number of motorcycle deaths fell by 10.4 per cent to 200 people.Freeways are Australia's safest roads, with only 150 deaths recorded on 110km/h limits in 2011, compared with 390 for 100km/h roads, 231 for 70-90 and 339 for up to 60km/h.

Gaming experts are tipping that the next instalment of the hit car theft game will go on sale in 2012. And theft experts believe GTA and similar games are behind a dramatic drop in car stealing. Mainly because thieves have turned into couch potatoes with the rest of us.National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council executive director Ray Carroll says the number of car thefts in Australia has plummeted 65 per cent from a peak of 129,923 in 2000/01."One of the reasons I believe is that youth culture has changed over the last decade," he says. "Where stealing a car on a Friday or Saturday night used to be the thing to do for bored youths, now they have moved on to a more electronic world and are just as likely to be home playing Grand Theft Auto on the Xbox than out doing the real thing. It's one of those things we think is happening; we can't be definitive. But a lot of car theft was spontaneous theft for joyriding by young people. Now they are doing a lot less physical things."The latest National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council report shows most stolen and recovered vehicles are still taken by local thieves for short-term purposes, such as joyrides.The most dramatic falls have been in short-term thefts for joyriding (down 70 per cent from 114,766 in 2000/01 to 34,155 last year), rather than profit-motivated thefts by professional crooks (down 23 per cent from 15,157 to 11,659).In the last financial year, more than 60 per cent of cars were recovered within 10km of where they were stolen and 45 per cent were in the same suburb.Cars stolen and dumped in the same suburb were more likely to be recovered within one day and two out of 10 after 14 days. Local joyriders target cheaper cars which are easier to steal, the research found.Carroll says another key ingredient in reducing car theft is that they have been made more difficult to steal with the introduction of immobilisers in all new cars from 2001."You can't hot wire a modern vehicle, so thieves have had to get smarter by stealing keys and transponders. There are also still about five million older, unsecured cars on Australian roads without immobilisers. So you can't necessarily stop someone from stealing a car but you can make the effort of disposing of it or turning it into cash more difficult or risky."Carroll points to tougher state registration laws regarding written-off vehicles.However, he says most stolen and non-recovered cars are taken for profit so crooks will "modify their behaviour" to find a way around the legislative barriers."They are shifting to new methodology such as theft for scrap or parts," he says. "They often steal a car off the side of the road and are not worried about re-registering. We think the crooks will switch to methodology such as using stolen parts in the legitimate and non-legitimate repair trade and then scrapping what's left of the car."While car theft has decreased, theft of motorcycles has increased over the past five years with the growing popularity of two-wheeled transport, Carroll says."They are particularly difficult to deter crooks because half of the bikes stolen are off-road bikes and not registered," he says. "It's like trying to stop people stealing TVs which are not part of any registration system. They're also particularly open to dismantling and selling for parts. People can dismantle one in their loungeroom if they want to. And the parts are really popular especially for more expensive road bikes which only have to fall over in the garage to damage expensive fairings. So there is a very active and lucrative black market in bike spare parts."He says bike portability also makes them prime theft targets."You can have immobilisers, but two people can just pick one up and throw it in the back of a ute. We suggest people chain them to something strong and immovable, although the crooks just come along with powerful bolt cutters, anyway."The council report shows that almost 60 per cent of all stolen and recovered motorcycles are found within the same suburb, indicating they are stolen for local transport. Carroll says light trucks, vans and trailers are greater theft targets than big prime movers."Very few prime movers are stolen and not recovered. However, trailers are big targets," he says. "Truckies leave them parked at the side of the road and thieves usually steal trailers for its cargo so it usually turns up abandoned."