A round-up of this week's motoring news in brief
UK road death report
As much as 10 per cent of Britain’s motorways and A-roads present an unacceptably high risk to drivers, a major report revealed today.
Half of all crashes occur on just one-tenth of Britain’s road network, the report from the Road Safety Foundation found. Scotland has the highest risk-rating of all the regions.
The report also found that one-third of all fatal and serious crashes occur at junctions and that single carriageways offer six times the risk of danger to motorists than motorways. The foundation’s director, Dr Joanne Hill, said some authorities are reducing deaths on high-risk stretches by as much as three-quarters. “Simple, relatively inexpensive engineering measures, such as improvements to signing and resurfacing are paying dividends.”
Ford gives Mondeo a facelift
Ford is due to introduce a facelifted Mondeo in the final months of this year. The changes are relatively minor, with updates on light clusters and improvements to the cabin interior. Additional features to the range will include blind-spot indicators currently available on the new Galaxy and S-Max, and driver alert systems. Prices to be confirmed.
Megane Unfolds
Renault has just released details of the new Megane coupé-cabriolet, which goes on sale in Ireland this week. The new car comes with a folding glass roof which tucks away at the push of a button and, quite surprisingly for this type of car, is offered with a 1.5-litre dCi diesel engine, with low emissions.
The 110hp 1.5 dCi has emissions of 133g/km when fitted with a six-speed manual transmission, or just 130g/km when fitted with the new EDC dual-clutch transmission.
Prices start at €31,900 for the manual version, but as this car qualifies for the Government scrappage scheme, along with Renault’s additional discounts this price drops to as low as €27,900 if you are trading in a ten-year old car.
You can hear our first driving impressions of the car on this week's Irish TimesMotors podcast.
Listen up!
On this week’s Motors podcast, we report on Citroen’s long-term plans for the DS range, Audi’s challenge to the dominance of Mini in the premium small car sector, and we offer an in-car road test on the new Renault Megane coupé cabriolet. Listen to the latest show at: irishtimes.com/motors/podcast