I’d guess if I had a Toyota I’d do a couple of quick ‘cockpit drills’ on switching off the engine…..but I guess that is probably too much to expect of everybody.

You’re not wrong there!

I’m staggered how little basic practical knowledge people have these days about the cars that they drive. I know somebody who thought that his very expensive 4×4 was having problems starting in the cold weather…..he’d been driving diesels for years but had no idea that you’re supposed to let the glow-plug light go out before you turn the engine over!

And it seems that almost nobody knows how to change a tyre these days…..the technicalities of jacks, jacking points and security wheel-nuts have changed much in recent years but most wouldn’t dream of doing a ‘dry run’ in dry weather and daylight on the safety of their drive.

Is it any wonder our roads get clogged at the slightest deviation from the norm?

One thing that wasn’t mentioned in the ‘stuck accelerator’ article is that almost every new car has a ‘fly-by-wire’ accelerator so there is no actual ‘cable’. Nowadays you don’t accelerate; you request more acceleration from the engine management computer and it optimises the fuel usage for you.

Here is something to try if you are confident enough and you are safe to try it.

Accelerate as hard as you can with your right foot and at the same time brake gently with your left foot on the brake pedal (while still in gear and clutch out).

You may be surprised at what happens…..and what happened when you take your foot off the brake!

(Be careful not to let your left foot go into autopilot and press the brake pedal as if it is the clutch pedal!)

…how is it that, with the price of a barrel of oil presently around $75, we can be charged 111-116p per litre?

Mainly because about 80% of the ‘cost’ of petrol / diesel is government duty / tax.

This is pretty standard behaviour by governments around the world but if fuel wasn’t taxed at this rate some other tax would have to be levied or the government would have to make huge cutbacks.

From the practical suggestion that ‘no tools left in this vehicle overnight’ all sorts of not-so-serious signs can be seen.

A local baker has a ‘no cream cakes left in this vehicle overnight’ sign on his van and I think some Jaffa Cake lorries have a similar ‘no Jaffa Cakes left in this vehicle overnight’ sign on them.

Large lorries with:

written in the dirt on their tailgates were quite common for a while around here.

…punctures are a lot rarer than they used to be…..and the recovery organisations are pretty slick.

Should we all be carrying a spare fuel pump in case that breaks down?

No, but a spare tyre, a can of petrol (and diesel) and a set of jump leads will fix over 90% of all roadside problems…

…suddenly the claims made by the ‘professional’ motoring organisations don’t sound so good! 😀

Part of the problem is that most modern motorists don’t know how to change a wheel on their car. Not that these motorists will find the tyre-weld option easier.

There are some merits to the weight / space / cost / pollution arguments for not carrying a spare, and also the fact that unidirectional tyres would require you to carry two spare tyres to restore 100% of performance (not that anybody but a racing driver will need it).

Some performance cars even have two different sizes of wheel fitted and there is always the problem of where to put the big road wheel when you put the small spare on!

I believe on some performance cars it had to go on the passenger seat…

…if you didn’t mind leaving your girlfriend at the roadside! :diablo:

…he calls such cars “Q cars”.

Named after Q-Ships…..it is actually quite a good name for them. 😉

And, if you know how to use the foam and pump, it works…

Sorry, I should have made that clearer; it wasn’t one of the tyre-weld type pressurised can things (although I have used those successfully)…

…it was just an electric-pump in a polystyrene box! :confused: