Driving
Are there more over-seventies or twenty-somethings behind the wheel?
Another minute Addressing COP26 in Glasgow, the Prime Minister claimed it was ‘one minute to midnight’ in the fight against…
The case for road pricing
Thornton Wilder remarked that there are individuals who fall in love with an idea long before its appointed rendezvous with…
Charging ahead: how to get the best out of an electric car
Where do you want to go? China or India? I have always found India infinitely more fascinating — for a…
'Smart' motorways are an accident waiting to happen
If I could wave a wand and reverse just one government policy it would be the expansion of so-called ‘smart…
What does it mean to be ‘fit as a butcher’s dog’?
Boris and the butcher’s dog Who first coined the phrase ‘as fit as a butcher’s dog’? It has been traced…
Why is buying a car such an ordeal?
Why is buying a car such an ordeal?
London’s war on motorists isn’t helping anybody
London’s war on motorists isn’t helping anybody
The case for road rationing
Here’s the quandary. How in future can we make the kind of rapid advances we have made during the Covid…
What I learned on my speed awareness course
Speed is in my blood. My father, grandfather and great-grandfather all used to race cars in their youth. We even…
Smart motorways are very stupid
‘An attempted improvement which actually makes things worse.’ The Germans have a name for this — Verschlimmbesserung — and I…
The consequences of the new EU car speed limit
A once famous question posed to job-seekers at Microsoft was ‘Why are manhole covers round?’ The question was revealing not…
Always obey your satnav? Then you can vote rationally on the EU
In many ways a satnav is a miraculous device. A network of US military satellites more than 10,000 miles above…
Google's driverless car has finally crashed. Might humans be safer?
A first last week: a Google driverless car in autonomous mode was partly at fault in a collision, interestingly one…
My speed awareness course might push me over the limit again
If these speed awareness courses get much more entertaining and informative they might become a dangerous incentive to break the…
Dear Mary: I was at the dinner party when the text came disinviting me
Q. While renting in Rock last week, I ran into an acquaintance who invited me to join her large house…
Road rage and hot air balloons: Jessie Burton’s diary
The week starts well. My debut novel, The Miniaturist, is a year old. On the anniversary of its publication, my…
The pointlessness of outlawing hogging the middle lane
It is nearly two years since the police were granted new powers to fine motorists for ‘hogging’ the middle lane…
I went looking for a used car – and found my inner boy racer
A bit late, I know, to put in a bid for Jeremy Clarkson’s old job. But I think I might…
Dear Mary: What can I do to make couples split the bill fairly?
Q. I’m a single bloke now and for various reasons don’t foresee any change to that status. I have moved…
The perils of planespotting
A dangerous hobby Three men from Greater Manchester were arrested and held in the UAE after being seen writing down…
How the driverless car will liberate us all (except smokers, of course)
I was listening to the radio the other morning to hear people complaining about the huge cuts in the number…
What do you do about a friend who cannot make a request directly?
Q. I have a friend with multiple sclerosis. She lives alone in the countryside. There is no bus service and,…
When did we become a nation of police informers?
There’s a danger that in what follows your columnist may seem to be recommending an attitude. Please don’t think that.…
Will self-driving cars know what to do in the middle lane?
I am convinced that when I took my driving test in 1983 I was asked by the examiner, ‘What lane…
