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Articles on Motor vehicles

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Hot on the tail of the VW emissions scandal, Australia will next year tighten diesel emissions standards. EPA/Julian Stratenschulte/AAP

Australia’s new emissions rules will put yet another bump in the road for diesels

Diesels typically have good fuel economy, but hot on the heels of the Volkswagen affair, Australia is set to tighten the rules for diesel car emissions - which will put a dent in engine performance.
A cheap or costly drop? You might be surprised to find out how Australian taxes on petrol compare to overseas. AAP/Andrew Brownbill

FactCheck: do Australians pay high petrol taxes?

UPDATED ON TUESDAY 22 JULY: See editor’s note below for details on the updates. In this year’s federal budget, the Abbott government moved to restart automatically increasing the fuel excise in line with…
Save Albert Park unsuccessfully campaigned to relocate the Grand Prix to a permanent track. AAP/David Crosling

Does the Australian Grand Prix belong in a public park?

From Thursday through Sunday this week the Australian Grand Prix will take over Melbourne’s Albert Park, bringing with it the glamour of fast cars, grid girls and Formula One drivers Raikkonen, Alonso…
Back on the road: a hydrogen-fuelled car at a US trade show. EPA/MICHAEL NELSON/AAP

Why is hydrogen fuel making a comeback?

We hear a lot about wind, solar and nuclear energy in the fight to reduce carbon emissions, but it seems we’ve forgotten about hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen — made by splitting water — was considered energy-intensive…
Have catalytic converters changed the cost-pollution-benefit in petrol’s favour? Mike Egerton/PA

Failure to test for the real world has left a polluting diesel legacy

Which is the better option for cars in cities, diesel or petrol-driven engines? As a report reveals the new fleet of green, hybrid electric-diesel buses in London produce less CO2 but more harmful pollutants…
Frequently sleeping six hours or fewer increased the risk of a crash, a study of young drivers showed. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cali4beach

Insufficient sleep boosts crash risk for young people

Insufficient sleep puts young drivers at greater risk of a car crash, a large study by Australian researchers has found. The new findings, published in the journal JAMA Paediatrics, show that sleeping…
Mandatory helmets are seen as being good enough for motorcyclists, but what about pedal cyclists? Tom Gill

Bike helmets: an emergency doctor’s perspective

For those working on the frontline of trauma care, the findings of a report into the protective effects of helmets in cyclists and motorcyclists published in the Medical Journal of Australia last week…
Bikie gang members in Adelaide last year protesting about laws aimed at breaking their organisations. AAP

National bikie gang laws: the wrong approach

Police across Australia have called for a uniform national law to deal with what they say is a severe criminal threat by outlaw motorcycle gangs. The law would be similar to legislation in South Australia…
Dummies.

Baby, can you drive my car?

Since 1950, more than 150,000 people have died in motor vehicle crashes in Australia. The worst year was 1970, when 3,798 people lost their lives – more than 10 deaths each day. Annual deaths are now below…

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