A petition containing almost 40,000 names was handed into the Department of the Taoiseach which urged him to reconsider the route of the Co Meath motorway which, it is claimed, could destroy heritage.

Source: TaraWatch

Next step, was to contact my insurance company Hibernian who were absolutely brilliant and very sympathetic… everything was done in a comforting and hassle-free manner. Hibernian transferred me to Autoglass who at first seemed to be very helpful… they assured me that someone would be out Friday evening, Saturday morning at the very latest, but someone would phone me shortly, which was a great comfort, considering the dreadful weather we are experiencing. So began the broken promises… Friday evening came and went… Saturday the same! Upon phoning Autoglass, I was put on hold for thirty minutes… finally I got to talk to someone (in the UK!) and was given another broken promise that someone would be out within the day!

Sunday morning arrives after a night of wind and rain and still my window has not been fixed. Having emailed and after being put on hold, this time for forty minutes I was forced to give up and try again later. Finally my wife managed to get through, only to have to submit all my details again and was once again told we would be contacted… A very nice gentleman rang me and was very apologetic about the problems I was having… he hadn’t received any word from the office and did genuinely try his best to accommodate me but sadly wouldn’t be able to fix the window until Monday, as he had no access to glass until then! This now means I will have been waiting four days for Autoglass (a company priding itself on a 24/7 service) to replace my window, leaving my car vulnerable to other attempts of burglary… Worst of all, I will not have a car for work on Monday morning and will have to pay an unexpected €250 on taxi fares. As someone who has a lot of dealings with various car companies (through my work with ISM.ie) I have never known such incompetence from a company in the car industry… their service is truly rubbish… So if you find yourself with a broken window, take heed… if you deal with Autoglass you may be adding a list of broken promises to your troubles!

We were as taken-aback as the blokes over at Autocar when they discovered that the new, Performance Pack-equipped, Lotus Exige S came with an optional cup-holder. “It can’t be true!” we screamed to the God of Oversteer, but it is, and although it’s as minimal as it can get, it still seems like a dilution of a car (and a brand) that’s made a name for itself producing focused, lightweight weapons for the track. Mr. Chapman is doing donuts in his grave and we’re left shaking our heads.

[Source: Autocar]

by Patrick James.

The siren works by projecting inaudible soundwaves that are powerful enough to shake everything around the vehicle, including the earth. The system uses two subwoofers and an amplifier to pump out soundwaves that can be felt up to 60m away. Little wonder Washington police have nicknamed it the “Rumbler.”

One officer told the The Washington Post that “it vibrates everything” and that it “definitely attracts a lot of attention.”

Motorists often totally ignore emergency vehicles because they get distracted by loud stereos or general traffic noise, something the use of the Rumbler would avoid. We’re seriously hoping the technology remains in the hands of the police. The last thing everyone needs is the hip hop crowd getting their hands on it and disrupting traffic everywhere.

by Patrick James.

“The European Transport Safety Council’s (ETSC) road safety performance index lists Ireland 20th in a list of 29 states in a study tracking road deaths between 2001 and 2006 in the 27 European Union states, as well as Norway and Switzerland.

Despite Ireland’s roll-out of the penalty points system, the introduction of random breath testing, high-profile advertising campaigns and the establishment of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), road deaths have fallen by only 10.9 per cent since 2001.”

Read Article:

See More Stuff: