One of the amazing things about driving is that it’s a demonstration of the power of the social contract. Cars, as the statistics show, are incredibly dangerous. Trucks are even more deadly. If a driver wanted too, they could hurt or kill a lot of people. But fortunately for us all, most people aren’t murderers....

Often when we’re thinking about a purchase, we only think about the ways in which it will benefit us. And that’s perfectly natural and respectable – after all, it’s our money. But sometimes, it’s good to think about the things you do that make life easier for the people around you. For instance, take a...

It isn’t easy to flip your brain. That’s why left-handed athletes have an advantage in all sorts of competitive sports, from tennis to fencing. When you’re used to doing something one way, flipping how you do it makes everything much harder. What you’re expecting to be on the right is suddenly on your left, and...

When the trains are down, everyone ends up on the road. Which means that lately, when there have been a lot of track works and train line closures, there has been a lot more traffic. And with more people driving, guess what becomes even more limited? That’s right – parking. A reversing camera kit helps...

When you get a tow bar for your vehicle, it’s important to think about the ways that changes the space your vehicle takes up. It’s easy to fall into the habits and muscle memory that you’ve developed for reversing and parallel parking, and that can be disastrous when you have that little bit of extra...

When you’re reversing with mirrors, you have to constantly glance around to get a wide-angle view of what’s behind you. If you want to look at what’s behind you and to your left, you have to look at your left wing mirror. Similarly, if you want to look at what’s behind you and to your...

Driving off-road can be a thrilling way to explore the wilderness, but if you’re not careful, it can also be highly destructive. Many animals make their homes off the beaten track, and endangered plants still survive in areas untouched by civilisation. A 4WD can be a great way to explore the pristine bush, but it’s...

Rear vision cameras help keep your care safe when you lend it out If you’ve been driving in your vehicle for a while, then you tend to get a sense of its quirks and foibles. You develop an instinct for the turning circle, for the dimension, and you start to have a fairly reliable intuition...

When you think camouflage, chances are that you don’t think of a car park. You probably think about wildlife, using evolutionary defence mechanisms to avoid detection by predators. Zebras and chameleons come to mind. Or maybe you think about military uniforms, with their carefully patterned colours to help soldiers conceal themselves in combat zones. But...

I’m kind of a science fiction buff. And when you’re watching Star Trek, one thing you notice is that at the helm of a starship, there are all sorts of sensors and readouts that tell the crew what’s going on in different parts of the ship, and measuring all the different things that are going...