How to check car tyres for safety
Checking your tyres regularly is one of the simplest ways to stay safe on the road. If you’re going to drive in bad weather, it’s the main factor keeping you on the road. 1. Check tyre pressureKeep a tyre pressure…
Car Resources
The ultimate road trip checklist
If you’re heading out on a road trip through New Zealand’s awesome countryside, there are some things you should remember to check and remember to take. Preparing the car Check your tyre pressures – if you’re carrying a heavier load,…
NCEA credits for car driver licence
Information for teachers and parents It’s possible to get up to eight NCEA credits for passing driver licence tests. It can be recognised as prior learning by an education organisation holding consent to assess, and lists on their Record of…
Should you stop your engine while waiting at a red light?
If you’ve got a modern car which automatically switches the engine off when you are stationary then you’ll know that this is to help you save fuel and to reduce pollution. The systems anticipate when you’ve stopped then restart the engine…
What do you do if you lose your speeding ticket?
If you get a speeding ticket you’ll have 56 days to pay it from the time it was issued. If you lose it in the first 28 days, don’t worry as you will get a reminder notice with all the…
5 tips to help you get your driver licence
This month I had the opportunity to chat with Yvonne Godfrey about how young people can have the best chance of passing a driving test. She is the founder of MIOMO (Making it on my Own) which is a course…
Removing demerit points and how long they stay on your licence
Demerit points are given for various traffic offences such as: Some alcohol-related infringements and offences (e.g. courts might allocate demerit points if a disqualification is less than 6 months) Having an alcohol reading between 250-400mg/litre of breath, or between 50-80mg/100ml…
60% of teen crashes involve driver distraction: here are the causes
21 fatal accidents, 170 injury accidents and 1133 minor accidents in New Zealand in 2013 had driver distraction as a contributing factor. The American Automobile Association published some research on teen driving crashes. Teens don’t have much experience behind the wheel…
How angling your wheels at an intersection can cause a crash
When you come up to an intersection you should always leave your wheels pointing straight ahead until you start to turn into the intersection, i.e. as you start moving forward to make the turn into the intersection, turn your wheels.…
Software to speak email while you drive
It’s obviously incredibly dangerous to take your eyes of the road while you are driving and, in an ideal world, we would keep 100% of our attention on the road, too. But that’s not realistic for some of us who…
How to adjust your car seat correctly
Having your car seat adjust correctly means you will have better control over your car, you’ll be at less risk of injury if the air bag goes off, you will be less likely to damage your knees on the steering…
11 ways to stop your car being broken into
There’s always someone who wants what you’ve got, so your job is to make it more difficult for them. New Zealand has a fairly high rate of car crime and many people don’t take any steps to prevent it until…
How are official fuel economy figures calculated?
Almost all car manufacturers compete for kudos and business by publishing their fuel economy figures and hoping that they are better than their competitors. Only supercar companies, where fuel economy doesn’t matter much to the owners (think Ferrari and Lamborghini),…
Winter car safety checks
If you break down in winter it can be an unpleasant, and potentially deadly, wait, depending on the weather conditions. There’s a risk of hypothermia if you are caught without enough clothing, and if you are parked on the side…
Learning to drive in winter – what you should be wary of
While it’s a bit more challenging to learn to drive or ride in winter, there are advantages to it. We’re fast approaching the shortest day, and there’s going to be more rain and possibly ice or snow (depending on where…
Transporting hazardous or dangerous goods in a truck or car
This article explains what hazardous goods are, how to transport them, whether you need a D endorsement on your drivers licence to do so, and how to get a D endorsement. What are hazardous goods? Hazardous or dangerous goods are…
Driving with a baby in your vehicle
Chances are that sometime in the future you will drive a car with a baby in it. Hopefully the baby will be quiet and will sleep, but any parent will tell you that this won’t happen every time. To have…
Preventing driveway run-overs
Roughly every two weeks a child is admitted to hospital because it has been run over in a driveway. Around five children are killed each year this way. It’s usually younger children (mainly toddlers around 2 years old that don’t…
The dangers of deer on roads
You are more likely to see deer on the roads in autumn as April and May is the main mating season for deer. There are 8 types of deer in New Zealand (if you include the potential for some elusive…
How much practice is necessary before taking your driving test?
To get your full driver’s licence you will need to take both a theory and practical test. They require completely different skills as one is a multiple-choice test administered in a testing centre on a computer and the other is…
Vehicle and workplace training
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