Paddy Comynanswers your questions
From Roisin McCann:
We are thinking of buying the middle-size Volvo but hear that Ford, which owns Volvo, may be selling it off. Can you enlighten me on this, and advise on such a buy?
There has indeed been much speculation about a possible sale of Volvo. Ford is undergoing a substantial reorganisation following record losses, and slumping US sales. Volvo is part of Premier Automotive Group, owned by Ford and including Land Rover and Jaguar and which up until March of this year included Aston Martin, which was sold. Ford is examining off-loading more of these brands and concentrating on their car and truck business, especially in the US.
While Ford has been quite open about its desire to sell Jaguar and Land Rover, it has been more coy about a sale of Volvo. The Swedish-based firm would be an attractive buy because of its reputation for safety. And unlike Rover, Ford would be selling off a healthy asset, rather than a sick and dying one. Either way, the strength of these brands, including Volvo, is unlikely to wane because they are so well established, and the fact is that Ford may not be able to sell Volvo at all because when they borrowed some $23 billion (€16.8 billion) to finance its overhaul programme, Volvo was used as collateral.
However, it is unlikely that all of this will affect Volvo cars immediately so you could pursue your purchase since Volvo's good reputation, as well as its manufacturing is likely to continue unblemished for some time to come.
From RF:
I was stopped on June 3rd by gardaí for travelling 102km/h in an 80km/h zone. I failed to see the 80km/h sign because I had been so transfixed on the Garda car. The garda took my licence and details and told me that I would be getting notice in the next few days. The notice did not arrive, but as late as July 16th a local garda arrived to my house issuing me with a summons to attend court in November for the speeding offence.
I never received any post regarding the matter and the address on the summons was wrong. My questions are, what would be the maximum penalty I could receive and is there a possibility that it could be dismissed due to wrong details? What is my best course of action?
While I am no legal expert, and it is always prudent in matters such as these to obtain legal advice, there are a few points to note here. Firstly, you have conceded that you were driving in excess of the legal limit. Secondly, since April 2006, the gardaí use handheld computers to take and record the details of the motorist.
The legal position is that the motorist gets no receipt of the detection or the interview with the garda. A fixed notice should have been issued electronically to you within a week from the fines office in Capel Street.
The notice is issued by pre-paid post to the address given by the motorist to the Garda. The Garda has no other source for the address, and there is a duty to provide a proper address. Failing to do so could lead to the motorist being accused of giving false or misleading information.
If the notice is not received the motorist cannot pay the fine, and if the fine remains unpaid, then a summons will be issued and the motorist is required to attend court. In court the judge will have to hear sworn evidence that the fine notice was not received and as a consequence it could not be paid. If the judge believes the motorist, then he may strike the summons out: however, they may just as easily convict and fine you - you would receive penalty points and a criminal conviction. The best advice in this matter is to consult a solicitor.
From JF Campbell:
I read your recent article on safety terminology with interest. Before last Christmas I ordered a new Skoda Octavia Ambiente car. When I ordered the car, I requested some optional extras that I saw were available. One of these was described as "ESP includes ABS, ASR, EBD, HBA and EDL". Thanks to your article I now understand the terms ESP, ABS, ASR and EBD, but I'm still in the dark with regards to HBA and EDL.
Skoda sales manager Colin Sheridan answered the query. EDL is an electronic differential lock, and is basically another element of the traction control system to counteract any loss of traction in the front wheels.
HBA is hydraulic brake assist, which is used in an emergency situation to ensure that the maximum braking is applied regardless of the pressure put on the pedal.
From George Reynolds:
I recently purchased the new Rules of the Road booklet, which is well illustrated, solidly bound and quite comprehensive, comparing favourably with the equivalent booklets from Spain and France, both countries in which I was resident for some years.
All three booklets include tables of stopping distances with explanations of reaction times and dry and wet braking distances. The Irish version, amazingly, gives distances to one decimal place, eg 77.7 metres, which is presumably the results of many trials conducted by the UK Transport Research Laboratory, but which conveys a precision that is meaningless to the average motorist.
On comparing all three tables, I discovered some slight variation between them.
While you cannot read too much into these numbers, the French seem to over-estimate the distances and the Irish figures are the lowest of the three. And, instead of memorising sets of arcane numbers, as seems to be needed here for the test, the French have an easy system that overestimates the stopping distances (not a bad thing) and is easy to remember. Stopping distances = speed in km/h, divided by 10 and squared. So 120km/h is 12 x 12 = 144m, 50km/h is 5 x 5 = 25m. To find the wet stopping distance, they suggest simply doubling the distance.
I am inclined to agree. Estimating stopping distances is tricky, and there are a number of factors that can affect this, including the condition of tyres and the road surface, so it is always best to err on the side of caution anyway.
The French system does appear to provide an easier way of remembering these figures, which I would expect most people outside of their driving test would struggle to remember.
Michael McAleer is on leave
Send your queries to Motors Helpdesk, The Irish Times, Tara Street, Dublin 2, or e-mail motorshelp@irish-times.ie