As of Friday, September 25, 118 of the 229 people killed on our roads in 2015 were drivers, according to government records.

That’s more than one in every two deaths. Clearly, the licensing system is not teaching drivers how to survive on the country’s roads.

The ‘drive to survive’ stuff is just words on a wall. The system is teaching drivers only how to pass the driver’s licence test. There is no test of skill.

Nowhere in any of NZ’s recognised driver training manuals, for instance, is there reference to the ‘safety bubble’.

The what? It’s where you place your car on the road. Where you cocoon yourself … inside your car inside an imaginary bubble.

You just have to remember to ‘Turn on the bubble machine’ every time you start your car. The bubble just pops up outside, like a genie from a lamp. It shape-shifts here and there before settling loosely around the car.

You can’t see it – it’s in your mind.

The bubble is clever. Drive sensibly and it grows bigger. Four, five, six cars could fit inside it. Gives you room to move, time to make decisions.

Drive badly, too fast for the conditions, and it closes in like shrink-wrap. Then it can go ‘pop’. It doesn’t like being tail-gated. “Please look for another safety bubble,” it will say.

It will tell you to think what your tyres are doing. To put yourself rather than the car through a corner. To look way beyond the car in front, eight or 10 cars ahead.

It will spell out the three ‘Ds’: (1) reaction Distance, (2) braking Distance, (3) stopping Distance. There are many variables: Is it raining? Do the tyres have enough tread? Are the brakes good?

(1) is the distance a vehicle continues to travel while the driver thinks about and processes the information needed to stop the vehicle.

(2) is the distance a vehicle continues to travel once the brakes are applied.

(3) is the total distance a vehicle travels before it comes to a compete stop. This includes (1) and (2).

At 110km/h the car is traveling at 31 metres a second. (1). It will travel 23 metres before you first realise there’s trouble ahead and another 23 metres before you react. That’s 46 metres, the length of two-and-a-bit cricket pitches. (2).

It will take another 70-80 metres to actually stop, perhaps more. (3). That’s pushing 130 metres all up – longer than a rugby playing field and very deep dead ball lines. And that’s with good tyres and brakes. If it’s raining add at least 30 metres to (3).

A modern car’s ability to avoid an accident has never been greater. There are radar/camera systems that sense an impact and apply the brakes; the same systems can keep your car at a safe distance from the one in front. Similar ones warn you of a passing car, or one on your blindside. There are stability control systems, anti-lock brakes, airbags, seatbelts that tension against the body under emergency braking, crash safety cells …

The average age of the vehicles on New Zealand’s roads is upwards of 14 years. Therefore many won’t have the above safety gizmos. At best some will have two. But each car has an invisible safety device. It’s the bubble machine. The driver just has to turn it on.

© Alastair Sloane, 2015

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More than 400 such vehicles are being imported into NZ each month from Australia and sold online, says a senior NZ Transport Agency official. Two years ago around 100 write-offs were landing here each month; now near-parity with the Australian dollar has seen numbers soar.

Almost all are insurance rejects bought for a song at auction by registered NZ car dealers and traders. Some are new and unregistered, some are damaged. Most come from New South Wales where every write-off is statutory, meaning the vehicle can never again be registered for use on Australian roads.

In many cases insurers will end the Australian life of a new and unregistered vehicle if it has been exposed to water or smoke damage. It will be written off, auctioned, shipped to NZ, registered as new, and sold for a healthy profit. In one case a late model Subaru was bought at auction in Sydney for A$6000 and eventually sold in NZ for NZ$31,000.

NZ law allows insurance write-offs from Australia to cross the country’s borders and be born again

“There is a huge market in statutory write-offs,” said the NZTA official. It’s not just the profit potential – NZ law allows the car to be born again. A 2011 model sitting unregistered on an outer Sydney distributor’s lot for three years before being engulfed by smoke from a bushfire, can end up on the NZTA’s books as a first-registered 2015 model. Its history begins in NZ.

The NZ Transport Agency logs the arrival of each vehicle and records the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). It will red flag the VIN of a visibly damaged import but it has no way of enforcing importers to declare the vehicle’s complete history.

“We want them to but there’s nothing we can legally do to force them,” the official said. “They will do whatever they can to not declare the history.”

TradeMe doesn’t require the seller to list the vehicle’s number plate let alone the VIN. The NZTA has asked it to do so to help better protect buyers but TradeMe has refused, the official said. “TradeMe said it doesn’t ask for identification on other products for sale on its site, so why should it do so for vehicles.”

Tom Ruddenklau, VW general manager: “It is frustrating that these write-offs are allowed into the country”

TradeMe Trust and Safety division spokesman Jon Duffy told Automotive News NZ 18 months ago when write-offs began to arrive in numbers: “The core issue we must consider is if the vehicle has been subject to a statutory write-off in another jurisdiction, that is information a consumer would expect to know about. We are quite happy to list but the need to fully disclose is there.”

Consumer Affairs Minister Craig Foss said in late 2013 that he would tighten up the Consumer Information Notice (CIN) to force sellers to provide car buyers with more information.

“It is clear that information provided on the current CIN (2010 version) could be more helpful,” said Foss.

“I have decided to amend the CIN to provide more meaningful information for consumers and help them make a more informed decision when purchasing a vehicle.”

But there is nothing in the CIN that warned a NZ car buyer last month that the vehicle with a 2015 registration he quite liked was built in Europe in 2011, landed in Australia in 2012, was parked, unregistered, on a lot outside of Sydney until November 2014, when it was written off as water-damaged, auctioned and shipped to NZ.

• The latest Australian write-offs to appear on TradeMe are Volkswagen Golfs and Mazda3 models. There’s a BMW X1, too. Said Volkswagen NZ general manager Tom Ruddenklau: “As custodians of the Volkswagen brand in New Zealand it is frustrating that these cars are allowed to come into the country. We are very supportive of the tightening-up of requirements, as it’s vital that we do all we can to preserve the safety of Volkswagen owners.”

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The toxic combination therefore caused 47 per cent of the December 24-January 5 holiday deaths, or almost one in two. “It is a bad decision to drive after drinking. It’s that simple”, said Assistant Police Commissioner Dave Cliff.

The Breeze breathalyser

Five weeks ago the drink-drive limit was cut from 400 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath to 250mcg, and the blood alcohol limit from 80mg to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. The new limit brought NZ into line with Australia, France, the Netherlands, and Demark.

NZ police studies have concluded that alcohol is a factor in around 30 per cent of the nation’s fatal road crashes. It’s a similar statistic in the United States, where 31 per cent of the more than 30,000 road deaths in 2013 involved alcohol.

Road safety advocates in the US have backed for some years the use of personal breathalysers in bringing down drink-drive statistics. A new model, called the Breeze, is getting plenty of attention because it syncs via Bluetooth to a smartphone app.

In addition to the usual check of blood alcohol content (BAC), the device gets more information from the app about the reading, like estimating the time needed for the BAC to return to zero.

The app also retains the test results to let owners see the rate they metabolise alcohol for better planning next time. That’s not all – the app can call either a taxi or a designated driver from your list of contacts.

The company says: “Breeze uses a electro-chemical fuel cell sensor—delivering law enforcement grade accuracy for dependable results. No warm up time required—so simply launch the app, turn on Breeze and blow for two seconds.” Breeze costs $US100.

Counting down to a zero reading

How blood/alcohol content affects your driving

0.02 to 0.05 – Reduced ability to see or locate moving lights; reduced ability to judge distances; increased tendency to take risks; decreased ability to respond to several stimuli

0.05 – Twice as likely to have a crash

0.05 to 0.08 – Further reduction in ability to judge distances; impaired sensitivity to red lights; slower reactions; shorter concentration span

0.08 – Five times more likely to have a crash

0.08 to 0.12 – Overestimate driving ability; ‘euphoria’ sets in; reckless driving; impaired peripheral vision; impaired perception of obstacles; 10 times more likely to crash

2014 road toll up 17 per cent on 2013

• The 297 deaths on NZ roads last year were UP around 17 per cent on the 253 in 2013.

• The 1155 deaths on Australian roads in 2014 were DOWN around 3 per cent on the 1192 in 2013.

• The deadliest region in NZ was the central North Island, through the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, and Gisborne/Hawkes Bay, according to government statistics.

• Roads in those parts of the country claimed 98 people – 33 per cent of the 2014 toll. In 2013, 61 people died on roads in the same regions. Those 61 deaths accounted for 24 per cent of the 2013 toll.

• Roads in Canterbury, Otago and Southland last year recorded a combined 69 deaths, or 23 per cent of the toll. Auckland/Northland was the third worst area, with 57 deaths, or 19 per cent.

• The fewest road deaths last year were the seven in Nelson/Marlborough and the nine on the West Coast.

• The Waikato remains the nation’s black spot. Last year it recorded 47 deaths, or 15.8 per cent of the overall toll. Roads there in the past five years have claimed 277 lives. In the same period 232 people have died on Auckland roads and 203 on those in Canterbury.

• Eerily, the Waikato’s 277 victims also represent 15.8 per cent of the 1749 people who died on NZ roads between 2010-2014.

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They were sealed tarmac, five in the North Island, five in the South Island. The item proved so popular that viewers of the show (Face TV Sky channel 83, each Wednesday, 8pm) asked for Coker again, this time to point out his top gravel roads.

There is not a road in this country that Coker doesn’t know about. He has been involved in rallying in New Zealand for 40 years. In his media role he often plots isolated routes used by carmakers to launch new cars.

Some of his gravel roads, especially those in the South Island, are above the snowline and therefore pretty much out of the question in winter. Others have shallow river crossings where a four-wheel-drive is recommended.

Coker advises drivers who are new to gravel roads to take care. Whereas traction on hard gravel surfaces can be almost as grippy as tarmac, loose gravel is another story altogether. Speed on such surfaces is crucial for safe traveling.

Here is Coker’s gravel road guide:

Kaipara Flats Rd. Turn off State Highway 1 north of Warkworth, or about 80km north of Auckland. The old road is not long, about 11km, but opens out to wonderful views of the Kaipara Harbour.

Tapu Coroglen Rd: Cuts across the Coromandel Peninsula. It’s roughly about 20km and winds through wonderful bush scenery. Stop for a picnic and spot the kauri trees.

Motu: Better known perhaps for being a special stage during past rally events. But around 50km of eye-catching scenery.

Wanganui River Rd: Only about 15-20km of gravel road left, but it is what it is – a road that meanders for about 65km along the famous river.

Molesworth Station: In Marlborough country, the biggest farm in New Zealand, run by the Department of Conservation. Travel restricted to public roads only; about 100km long. One of the best of the ‘bucket list’ options.

Okuku Pass: North-west of Christchurch. Roughly 75km through forests, gorges, farmland and across streams that are said to be more fun than challenging. The Southern Alps beckon.

Nevis Valley: Early Otago gold rush history here. From Cromwell the road rises 1300 metres over Duffers Saddle before descending to run alongside the Nevis River. About 60km. Be prepared for about 30 river crossings.

Lake Onslow: Another route with a history of gold exploration. Good surface in good weather through the rugged, desolate landscape typical of Central Otago. More than 60km, but closed in winter where the weather can change in an instant.

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Industry executives are already talking about a record sales year of between 117,000 and 120,000 new vehicles, up considerably on last year’s 113,177.

SUVs accounted for 27 per cent of 2013 numbers – this year they are so far running at 31 per cent, led in February by the Holden Captiva (above). The second most popular vehicles after the first two months are light commercials and small cars, each with a 19 per cent share.

“February was the fifth month in a row where monthly registrations year on year have been the highest since the MIA began collecting records in 1981”, says its CEO David Crawford.

January registrations were 10,397, a record. February’s were 9058, up 1111 vehicles (14 per cent) over the same month last year. It was also the highest February sales since the MIA began collecting records in 1981.

Toyota was the overall leader in February with 15.0 per cent of the market (1363 units) followed by Holden with 10.5 per cent (949 units) and Ford with 9.9 per cent (894 units).

Andrew Clearwater … Mazda NZ managing director

MIA president and Mazda NZ managing director Andrew Clearwater is confident the new vehicle industry will remain strong over the next several years.

“There are a number of factors that will contribute to this,” he said. “Firstly,  economic strength; secondly, growth from the sales of vehicles that weren’t replaced during the global financial crisis; and thirdly, the attractiveness of buying new over used.

“Prices and overall value,  including service support and warranties,  is stimulating the private market into new (vehicles) and this segment last year showed close to 19 per cent growth ahead of other industry sectors.

“This trend continued into January where almost 10,500 new vehicles were sold, the best on record, with private sales 34 per cent of the mix.

“We are continuing to see segment shift towards smaller compact cars and SUV’s. The light, small, and small and medium SUV segments combined account for about 78 per cent of all new passenger vehicle sales.”

The three best selling passenger cars in January and February were the Toyota Corolla, (1033) Suzuki Swift (482), and Holden Captiva (428), the Corolla’s numbers boosted by sales in January of 451 rentals. Commercials for the first two months were led by the Ford Ranger (624), Toyota Hilux (621) and Nissan Navara (561).

The luxury segment was bunched up at the end of February: BMW had sold 369 units, Mercedes-Benz 365, and Audi 359.

Year-to-date-top-10-nameplates

Year-to-date-top-10-passenger-car

Year-to-date-top-10-commercials

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A quarter of male drivers admitted that a shapely female turned their heads – but only three per cent of women said a good-looking man took their fancy.

The survey followed the case of a British man who was fined $100 and told to take a driver awareness course after admitting he was distracted by a female pedestrian.

“The girl had a very nice backside and I wanted to check out her face to see if it was as nice as her figure,” said Doug Maclean, 26. “It’s what practically every bloke on the planet would do.”

Police pulled him over and showed him a dashboard camera picture they’d taken of him doing the illegal u-turn with his neck. “They told me that if I agreed (that he wasn’t paying attention to the road), I could have a fixed penalty fine and would have to attend four hours of driving awareness courses,” said McLean.

“Otherwise I would be summonsed and then I’d get points on my licence too. Of course, I took the fixed penalty and the driving course.”

Was the object of his affections really worth the hassle? “The girl was a cracker,” Maclean said. “But it wasn’t worth getting a fine for.”

The survey found the main cause of driver distraction wasn’t shapely women – but disruptive children. Three out of every 10 drivers admitted that squabbling kids in the back seat diverted their attention from the road ahead. So did looking at the view. It was the second most identified problem, followed by changing the radio, and ‘advice’ from back seat passengers.

Road safety charity IAM surveyed 1500 British motorists. Its chief executive Simon Best said: “People who think they can multi-task while driving are kidding themselves. If you take your eyes of the road for just two seconds at 30 miles per hour (50km/h), you’ll travel close to 90 feet (27.5m), effectively blind.”

In the same survey, nine per cent of drivers admitted they have crashed because they were distracted. According to police statistics, mobile phone use and other distractions were a factor in more than 100 deaths on British roads last year.

Distractions:

Children in the car: 33%

Looking at the view: 32%

Changing radio: 28%

Backseat drivers: 26%

Mobile phone calls: 21%

Satellite navigation: 14%

Attractive pedestrians: 14% (men 24%, women 3%)

Billboards, shop fronts: 14%

Phone texts: 9%

Lighting cigarette: 6%

Digital dashboard: 7%

• See Tips and Advice for traveling with children

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Commercial vehicles especially have contributed to the growth, with sales up 26.5 per cent over the same period last year. Passenger cars are up 6.7 per cent year-to-date over 2012.

Motor Industry Association CEO David Crawford puts the soaring sales down to growing confidence in the New Zealand economy.

“If the current strong sales continue it is likely total new vehicle registrations for 2013 will exceed 112,800 units, an increase of about 12,000 units over 2012 volumes,” he said.

At the end of October, 94,133 new passenger cars and light commercials had been registered, compared with 84,463 for the same period last year. That’s growth in 2013 of roughly 200 vehicles a week.

Last month’s sales alone set new records for both commercials (2734) and passenger cars (7962).

It was the best October for commercials since Motor Industry Association records began in 1981 and the best October for passenger cars since 1984.

Registrations of new commercial vehicles last month were up 33 per cent and passenger cars up 8.5 per cent up on October 2012, a combined increase of 14 per cent.

The best-selling commercial in October was the Ford Ranger (478) followed by the Toyota Hilux (396) and Holden Colorado (233).

The Ranger is nipping at the heels of the Hilux as the two workhorses enter the last eight weeks of the year. Hilux has 3998 registrations, Ranger 3870. The Toyota Corolla remains the country’s best-selling passenger car.

While the industry welcomes the growth, it must be noted that the line between registrations and sales is almost always blurred.

There’s a difference between registrations and sales. Dealers often register the vehicles they buy wholesale from distributors. The registered vehicles sit on the yard until they are sold.

So, 300 registrations of a particular vehicle in a calender month might mean, for example, that 15 or 20 – perhaps more – of those haven’t actually been sold to the end user.

Top 10 passenger cars year to date

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Toyota dipped into a bowl of alphabet soup when it named the facelifted line-up of fourth-generation Prado SUVs.

Prado VX … room with a view

There is the KJGA, KJXA, GJXA and KJLA, all 4WDs with either a 4.0-litre petrol or 3.0-litre diesel engine. The KJGA is Toyota-speak for the GX and uses the diesel engine. The KJXA is called the VX and uses the diesel too. The GJXA is also called the VX but uses the petrol unit. The KJLA is called the VX Limited and uses the diesel. KJXA and GJXA get what Toyota New Zealand calls “Option 84” – SAT-NAV, at $2500.

The range comes equipped with more from the bowl. There is TSC, JBL, DRL, ESS, MtM, BSM, SUNA LTM GPS, HsAC, DAC, ATC, KDSS, AVS, MTABS, MTS CRAWL … all electronic aids that make Prado – Portugese for “meadow” – an on/off-road allrounder. Other carmakers use the same systems.

• TSC stands for Trailer Sway Control, which stops a towed trailer getting a life of its own

• JBL is the sound system

• DRL is Daytime Running Lights – headlights are on during the day

• ESS is Emergency Stop Signal – brake lights flash under hard braking

• MtM is Multi-terrain Monitor system – cameras watch where you are going off-road

• BSM is Blind Spot Monitor – to warn you a vehicle is in your blind spot, that is you can’t see it as you move to change lanes

• SUNA LTM GPS – the name of the Live Traffic Management Global Position Satellite – which tells you where you are and where you are going

• HsAC is the Hill-start Assist Control – to stop you going backwards down a hill

• DAC is the Downhill Assist Control – to stop you from going too fast frontwards down a hill

• ATC is Active Traction Control – to help keep Prado on the straight and narrow

• TORSEN-type LSD – limited-slip centre differential that works with HsAC, DAC, and ATC

• KDSS is Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System – another off-road aid; Google it

• AVS is Adaptive Variable Suspension –  computer controlled system that adjusts shock absorbers to match road surfaces

• MTABS is Multi-Terrain ABS – or anti-lock brakes designed for on/off-road use

• MtS CRAWLC is Multi-terrain Select and CRAWL Control – it helps KJGA, KJXA, GJXA and KJLA perform better off-road.

The first-generation Prado arrived in 1990 carrying the Land Cruiser name. It was the J70 series, replaced in 1996 by the J90. Then came the J120 before the current J150 landed in 2009.

Prado VX Ltd … movies for the kids

Alphabet and numeric soup aside, Prado is a proven performer. More than 11,500 have been sold in New Zealand since 1990.

For the record, KJGA costs $81,195; KJXA $94,780; GJXA $94,780; KJLA $109,780.

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Coutts sent the car’s identifying details to Benz in Germany and back came the spare … but it didn’t work.

Try as they might, it couldn’t unlock the doors, start the car, or open the boot.

So Coutts sent to Germany the actual key that came with the car.

Benz HQ technicians decoded it … and found that it didn’t belong to the doctor’s S55 at all.

The key’s code matched a car with a totally different Vehicle Indentification Number. How come?

Technicians say both the computer control unit and the key to the doctor’s car had to have come from another S55 altogether.

“This reeks of crooks stealing cars, swapping bits and pieces, or building one car out of two and then dumping the finished car in New Zealand,” said a Mercedes-Benz technician who didn’t want to be named.

“Then they bugger off and the unsuspecting buyer is left out of pocket and with a mess to clean up.

“The people who deal in this area have no allegiance to the motoring industry –  no service schemes, no warranties, nothing. They are just out to make a quick buck.”

A sales executive at Coutts said the doctor gave himself an uppercut – and bought a NZ-new Mercedes-Benz.

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