School Zone Traffic Offences – Do You Know Them All?

We all know that travelling over 40km per hour in a school zone during school pickup times is an offence but you may not be aware of the other offences in school zones that could cost you plenty of money and demerit points.

I received a flyer with last week’s school newsletter, put together by our local council and the NSW Police, detailing the various offences and their penalties.  I thought I would share the info with you here.

SCHOOL ZONE TRAFFIC OFFENCES

SPEEDING OFFENCES

School Zone speeding offences attract higher fine and demerit points than other speeding offences.

MAXIMUM PENALTY: $3,149 + 7 Demerit points

MOBILE PHONE USE

Driving while using a hand-held mobile phone in a School Zone

PENALTY: $353 + 4 Demerit Points

CHILDREN’S CROSSINGS

Disobey hand-held stop sign at Children’s Crossing or approach Children’s Crossing too quickly to stop safely

PENALTY: $441 + 4 Demerit Points

U-TURNS

Make a U-Turn without giving way to a pedestrian or vehicle in a School Zone

PENALTY: $353 + 4 Demerit points

SCHOOL ZONE PARKING OFFENCES

NO STOPPING

Means that in the area in the direction of the arrow, you must not stop your vehicle at any point on the road or kerb, unless there is a medical or other emergency

MAXIMUM PENALTY: $353 + 2 Demerit Points

NO PARKING

Means that you have no more than 2 minutes for drop-offs or pick-ups of passengers or goods and the driver must stay within 3 metres of your vehicle

PENALTY: $147 + 2 Demerit Points

BUS ZONE

Means that in the direction of the arrow or arrows you are not allowed to stop your vehicle unless you are driving a bus.

PENALTY: $265 + 2 Demerit Points

DOUBLE PARKING

You are not permitted to stop or park your vehicle alongside another vehicle that is already parked parallel to the kerb.

PENALTY: $265 + 2 Demerit points

STOPPING ON OR NEAR PEDESTRIAN CROSSING

PENALTY: $353 + 2 Demerit Points

STOP ON PATH/STRIP IN BUILT UP AREA

PENALTY: $147 + 2 Demerit points

STOP OR PARK IN A DISABLED MARKED AREA WITHOUT A PERMIT

PENALTY: $441

Be careful – you know that money could be better spent on your next school holiday trip!

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off launches 2012 Honda CR-V

If you’re a Ferris Bueller fan like I am – you’ll enjoy the new launch ad for the 2012 Honda CR-V ad.

“Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around every once in a while, you’ll miss it!”

 

Happy New Year from GirlzTorque!

Phew..what a year 2011 turned out to be!   It’s a shame my first post for this year also turns out to be the last but I have many grand plans for GirlzTorque in 2012 and I hope you’ll be coming along for the ride.

Please drive safely these holidays and don’t forget about the double demerits!  See you on the other side…

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,500 times in 2010. That’s about 6 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 5 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 19 posts. There were 15 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 894kb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was May 4th with 43 views. The most popular post that day was Top 10 Tips for Buying a Used Car (and surviving the experience).

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were twitter.com, facebook.com, linkedin.com, statistics.bestproceed.com, and mambang-x.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for hyundai imax, hyundai imax interior, hyundai imax 8 seater, great wall x240, and wacky shoes.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Top 10 Tips for Buying a Used Car (and surviving the experience) May 2010

2

Holiday Flashback – Touring in the Hyundai iMax CRDi December 2009

3

Cruze-ing in the new Holden Cruze CD Diesel and CDX Petrol October 2009

4

What to do if you accidentally hit an animal with your car December 2009
1 comment

5

Australian Learner Driver Test iPhone App – A Review November 2009

Share Building, Share Cars

The Newcastle developer of the new inner city Arvia Apartments, has devised the perfect solution for the building’s shortage of car parking spaces and also for inner city living in general.

The Newcastle Herald writes “Arvia Apartments is thought to be the first residential block in Newcastle to have a cars share scheme when it opens in 2011.”

The body corporate will look after the maintenance, booking and hire of the cars so it’s a practical solution for inner city residents who don’t require a car most of the time and also cheaper than owning and maintaining one.

Car sharing is by no means a new concept but the convenience of only sharing with fellow residents seems like an attractive deal to me.  My only concern would be driving around town with the tacky artwork on the car!

Car Shoes too Stylish for Driving

I want to drive a pair of these wacky shoes!

Top 10 Tips for Buying a Used Car (and surviving the experience)

1. Look for a car that suits your needs rather than your “wants”. Consider such factors as your stage of life and income.  For example, if you are a student with limited income, you would be best to look for a smaller car that is economical to run, or if you are thinking of starting a family, a car with plenty of room for prams, child seat and easy accessibility.

2. Make sure the seller actually owns the car and doesn’t owe any money  on it. Ask the seller for the registration papers and check that the Rego number, Engine Number and VIN or Chassis number match up with those on the vehicle.  Ask for ID or proof of purchase from a seller when buying privately. You can also check if money is owing on the vehicle by visiting the  Register of Encumbered Vehicles (REVS) website http://www.revs.nsw.gov.au.  The onus  is on the buyer to check this as a credit agency can repossess the car after you have bought it and leave you out of pocket if it has an outstanding debt.  You can obtain a Search Certificate costs only $13.80, and gives you gives you conditional legal protection against repossession due to the previous owner’s unpaid debt, provided you finalise the purchase by midnight of the following day. The Search Certificate will protect you for as long as you own the vehicle.

3. Check the car’s service history. Regular servicing means the car has been maintained and less likely to need major repairs in the near future.

4. Perform a Vehicle History Check . The RTA in NSW has an online facility for Vehicle History Checks. http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/myrta/vehiclehistory.html For $18 you receive information on the history of the vehicle including whether it has been in any major accidents, the amount of previous owners,  if it has been stolen in NSW or interstate, and how the vehicle was used (private or business).

5. Check that registration has not been cancelled due to unpaid fines. The RTA website, http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/myrta/vehiclehistory.html , also offers a Free registration check.

6. Ask for a Safety Inspection Report that is not more than 42 days old.  A pass means the car is roadworthy.  If you have a friend with good mechanical knowledge, bring them along to inspect the vehicle for you as well as take it for a test drive.

7. Budget for extra costs. Purchasing the car is only part of the transaction.  Make sure you budget for Transfer of Registration and insurance.

8. Make sure you are eligible for finance. If you have no credit history or have had defaults recorded on your file in the past, you may want to arrange finance before you fall in love with your dream car to avoid disappointment.  Visit www.mycreditfile.com.au to request a copy of your credit file for $32.95.

9. Check the warranty.  Is the car still under new car warranty?  Is it worth getting extended warranty?  Licensed Used Car dealers in NSW have a Statutory Warranty for cars under 10 years old or 160,000 km,  that is valid for 3 months or 5,000 km.

10. Stay safe.  Avoid going to see private sellers alone and pay only by Bank Cheque not cash.  Be wary of sellers who want to meet in public places rather than their home.

Note that if you purchase a used car from a Licensed Used Car Dealer the Vehicle History, Registration, REVS checks and Safety Inspection have already been done for you.

Stick your iPad in your Dash

The innovative guys at SoundMan Car Audio had big plans for launch day of the new iPad in the US earlier this month.  Watch how they got busy installing the iPad into the dash of a Toyota Tacoma (Hilux in Australia).

Check out the rest of the installation videos on the SoundMan Car Audio YouTube channel to see how they iron out the bugs.  Interesting stuff!

Start Your Car from your iPhone with Viper SmartStart

Imagine being able to warm up your car on a cold morning before you step out of the house, or cool down your car  in a hot supermarket carpark while you’re lining up at the checkout.  The Viper SmartStart iPhone app from Directed Electronics enables you to do just that, all from your iPhone or iPod Touch.

As well as allowing you to start your car, this app allows you to unlock/lock doors and open the boot remotely as well as activate the panic alarm/car finder from almost anywhere so long as your car is within range of GSM cellular signal and your iPhone has 3G or wi-fi signal.

Also beta testing is currently under way on push notifications to your phone should your car alarm be triggered.

You need not worry about your car being stolen after you start it remotely as the doors remain locked and you still require the key to drive it away.

The Viper SmartStart app allows you to link to several cars but each car requires a separate SmartStart system installed.

The Viper SmartStart iPhone App is free to download but requires the Viper SmartStart System or (SmartStart module on Viper compatible systems) be installed in your vehicle which retail in the US for US$499 and US$299 respectively plus a yearly subscription fee of US$29.95 for the SmartStart service.

The only bad news is that the Viper SmartStart system is not yet available in Australia but will hopefully be launched here in 2010.

Never lose anything down car seat cracks again

I stumbled across this nifty little product while surfing the net.  If you’re constantly losing coins, phones or your m&m’s down the sides of your car seat like I do, then you may see why I got a little excited about the Drop Stop Car Wedge

For US$19.95 plus postage and handling (Drop Stop take international orders) you receive 2 Drop Stops and  a Slide Free Pad and LED Credit Card light .

How Drop Stop Car Wedges Work

The Drop Stop squeezes in to fill the gap between your seat and centre  console and has a cutout for the seatbelt catch.  It’s unobtrusive and unnoticeable, until off course you drop something.  Drop Stop claims to fit all size cars and trucks.

I just wonder where my kids will get their money from if I installed a couple of these Drop Stops in my car!

Visit http://www.buydropstop.com/ for more info.