Jeremy Clarkson

Jeremy Clarkson : A very interesting man.

Jeremy Clarkson has made a very strange career of trashing manufacturer’s cars. I don’t know how he does it, but he has made a lot of money in making fun of just about every brand of car ever made. Why don’t the car manufacturers sue him? I don’t know. If I were to try and follow in his footsteps would they sue me? Yes! Most definitely!

He is a very controversial person. His views and opinions on just about everything seem to be designed to stir things up. People have organised “We hate Jeremy Clarkson” campaigns, but the one thing that hasn’t happened as yet is that he has been ignored. Love him or hate him, we just don’t want to ignore him. For instance, his television series “Top Gear” is a silly piece of TV fluff. Why then do I look forward to watching it? I don’t know the answer to that.

I personally can’t say that I agree with him in everything that he says. In fact, I’m not sure that I agree with him in anything at all, but the manner in which he writes is pure poetry. He once said that a certain young man would rather eat his knees than drive a Ford. Very expressive indeed!

There was a time when I bought The Sunday Times newspaper for the principle reason of his column, and I admit that it was he who inspired me to write “From the Driver’s Seat.” Recently, in considering my style I lamented the fact that I was still light years away from the brilliance of his copy, so I have given up trying to emulate him and I have decided to just do my own thing.

So, continued good luck Jeremy, and if we ever meet in person, it will have to be by accident.

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael

Outrage !!!

Outrageous Behaviour

Matthew Pritchard, writing in the Costa Blanca News column “Spanish Insight”, highlighted the good news of declining road traffic deaths, something I have also done in this blog. One of the reasons that the death toll has been so high is that of driving while drunk.

I came to Spain ten years ago and the first thing I noted was the attitude to alcohol. I noticed people having a brandy with their morning coffee, then a full litre of beer with the mid-morning bocadillo, followed by a bottle of wine with the menu del dia. In between, stops were made for a café cortardo con whiskey, and perhaps more wine at night. In other words people were constantly under the influence of drink.

Small wonder that at that time more than 3,000 lives were lost unnecessarily on the roads. Someone said that if the day ever came when that attitude to drink were to change, that Spain would no longer be Spain. Perhaps! But enough is definitely enough!

Matthew Pritchard wrote of just how ingrained the problem is in pointing out the culpabilities of several government ministers, or committee members sitting on boards concerning themselves with road safety and the prevention of accidents. Some have been booked for driving two or three times over the legal limit, including while driving their official government cars. Just as outrageous is what happens when these people are caught. There is an absence of true contrition. Caught in a position of that magnitude I think the decent thing would be to completely step down from the position of trust that is held in the government, but no, the usual thing is for the guilty to seek support from those in power.

Added to that there will be those who give them their support because they think the offence is something minor. Well, I can only hope that such people learn their lesson the hard way.

In 2009 the death toll fell below 2,000 persons for the first time in recorded history. This now means that suicides exceed death on the road as a major cause of death in Spain. Add to that that many of the deaths on the roads are suicides and that changes things again.

However, it seems that the country has a very long way to go if we cannot even rely upon those in government to provide the good example that is required. Here’s where I have to say that for me, when there is even a possibility that I may have to drive I simply do not take anything that may impair my driving ability and judgement.

Does that make me a better person than the guilty people in government? Actually, I think it does!

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael

Toyota’s Troubles

No Complaints

The first thing that we must acknowledge is that the modern car is a computer-on-wheels. One of the reasons that Volkswagon had so much success with it’s “Beetle” was that it was a simple machine that got the driver from point A to point B without too many things that could go wrong.
Now we all drive computers, and the annoying thing about computers is that they have a tendency to “crash” every now and again. Relate that to cars and the crashes can take lives. Toyota has some big problems to deal with, and these must be especially painful for the brand that enjoyed top ratings for so many years. The thing to bear in mind is that these are simply machines and as such, there is no such thing as perfection.

I drive a Volvo, a brand name that stands proud on a reputation of safety. However, as the years roll by unexpected problems can occur. In my case my car would simply shut down without warning. After about two minutes I turned the key and it started up again and sometimes would run just fine for months. Volvo engineers determined that the most likely cause was probably the major fuses malfunctioning. We changed those and the problem has not resurfaced.

I also drove a Chrysler Voyager seven seater mini-van before that and suffered through the same effect, only that was laid at the feet of the computer motherboard that was shutting down the system. We changed that and the problem went away.

When a customer brings in his car with a tale of these types of problems, I believe it is incumbent on the dealer/garage to take the matter seriously and detain that car until a solution is found. Perhaps they could provide the driver with another car on loan while they confer with the brand network to find the answer. Toyota seems not to have done this for a long time, and I shudder to think what some consequences might have been.

Unintended acceleration seems to be the major problem that Toyota is facing, but apparently Ford and GM seem to be battling similar concerns.

I was a regular follower of the CBS program “60 Minutes” for many years. On Sunday November 23, 1986, Ed. Bradley presented a segment entitled “Out of Control” following the unfortunate death of a six year-old boy who was crushed to death because his mother said her car suddenly accelerated. That car was an Audi 5000 and the report was so damming that it nearly drove Audi into bankruptcy. (Allegedly there was a police report where the mother said her foot slipped onto the accelerator and the car shot forward, but this was not contained in the CBS report.) The program has since been criticized for not being strictly objective and I wonder whether Audi still suffers from its sting. It was the first thing that came to my mind when I heard of Toyota’s troubles.

We all like to show off all the bells and whistles of our latest acquisition, but they can come at too high a price if your car is simply laden with too much technology that can go horribly wrong in the fullness of time.

One last thought about cars that take on a mind of their own: Didn’t Stephen King have a car like this that he called “Christine?”

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael

Speed Limit 140 ???

The Perfect Highway Speed

Law makers in Spain are currently thinking about increasing the maximum speed limit on Auto-vias and Auto pistas to 140 kph. I am absolutely appalled that this is even a suggestion, let alone a serious consideration. The country has reason to rejoice at the falling death rate on the highway, which can only be the credit of drivers slowing down and taking greater care. Then the government come along with this crazy scheme to increase the speed limit.

A lot of people have been taking the liberty of driving at 140 when they should have been content with 120. If the government make the speed limit 140, can we expect that people will drive at 160? Of course we can! The death toll in 2009 was 1,897, the first time that it had been less than 2,000 people. Am I missing something here? Is the government so concerned about over crowding on the streets that they rely on a certain number of people to actually die on the roads.

The logic seems to run contrary to normal and rational thinking. Why do we need to drive at 140 kph? We can always arise a little earlier from our beds and leave home a little earlier to make it to work on time. We can better organise our day to allow travelling time. We don’t have to make up time on the highway. Simply put, we don’t have to drive that fast. Drivers have been slowing down and that has resulted in fewer deaths on the road. I really hope that common sense will prevail and that this senseless idea be defeated in the legislature.

The best highway speed both for fuel efficiency and control is 90 kph. Every ten kilometres above that control decreases by a quatum jump, as does fuel consumption due to more wind pressure generated against the vehicle. I say "it ain't broke so stop trying to fix it!"

My conclusion as to the intent of the suggested new legislation is that the government must actually want us to kill ourselves on the highways of Spain. Everything else that they say and do seems to be just politics.

The question now is whether we drivers will take the bait? Personally I rarely drive at 120 kph.

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael