Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
IRELAND’S CAR POPULATION could do with a check-up. According to Michael Rochford, CEO of Motorcheck.ie:
There are 2.1 million passenger vehicles on Irish roads today, of which 995,000 (47 percent) are 10 years old or more. The average age is just under nine years old.
Therefore, there are many cars on our roads that don’t have the latest safety technology that many newer cars boast.
But we are here to calm your FOMO with these new car technologies that you can retrofit to your own motor to make your car safer.
Reversing cameras: These began creeping into mainstream European cars back in 2002. One of the first cars to feature them was the Nissan Primera. Rear view cameras are not just for safety but for convenience and better manoeuvrability, too.
And lucky for you don’t need to spend a lot to add one to an existing vehicle. Most motoring shops now sell and install reversing cameras that work with almost all cars. Installation is simple and you can even do it yourself.
Parking sensors: These have been around since the 1990s but still aren’t standard on all cars, yet. These sensors alert drivers to obstacles and objects nearby on all sides of the car.
You can get your own parking sensors for the front, side and rear of your car and much like the reversing camera, they are easily fitted and again help improve safety and make manoeuvring easier.
Reversing cameras and parking sensors can save lives, prevent injuries and prevent damage to your car.
Connectivity: In the last decade connectivity tech in cars has exploded and nowadays having some sort of connectivity system in your vehicle not only helps you stay on the right side of the law regarding the use of mobile phones but it can also make driving less stressful.
You can buy multimedia / infotainment systems that allow wireless pairing with Bluetooth-enabled devices such as phones, iPods, GPS, tablets etc. This allows you to make and receive calls without ever having to touch the phone and can sync your contacts and last calls received and dialled.
You can also watch videos on the screen and listen to music and audiobooks from your devices through the car speakers. Incoming text messages can be read allowed and you can even dictate a reply via voice recognition features.
These systems also have built-in navigation with high-quality visual guidance and if you connect them to the internet using your phone as a hotspot or via a WiFi dongle, you can get hundreds of online services, apps and live traffic and weather updates as well as many other features that make driving that bit more (ok, a lot more) enjoyable.
Head-up display: HUDs first appeared in cars in the 80s but have slowly been seen in more and more cars in the last few years. HUDs project data and info on to the windscreen in the driver’s field of vision so the driver doesn’t have to look at displays and take their eyes off the road.
You too can project your speed, maps, traffic delays etc. right onto your windscreen by purchasing a portable HUD unit and hooking it up to your Bluetooth system.
Xenon headlights: Also known as High-Intensity Discharge (HID) headlights. These give off a crisp whitish-blue light that illuminates the road further ahead than standard headlights, thus improving visibility and safety. They also last a lot longer than standard bulbs, too.
If you car is compatable, you can retrofit Xenon headlights to your vehicle, however, Xenon headlights must have self-cleaning and self-levelling systems and these systems must all work in order for your vehicle to pass the NCT – ill-focused headlamps is one of the top five reasons for cars failing the NCT test.
So if you do want to get Xenon headlights make sure they are fitted correctly by someone who knows what they are doing. Also, you need to tell your insurance provider that you have modified your car as not telling them may invalidate your cover.
High-silica rubber tyres: In the last decade high silica rubber has caused a revolution in the tyre industry. High-silica rubber tyres enhance grip, reduce fuel consumption and even come with 80,000-mile treadwear warranties.
This rubber has given us low rolling resistance tyres that grip in the rain and improve wet skid performance. You too can of course also add this technology to your car by fitting these tyres.
Tyre pressure monitoring system: TPMS first appeared on cars in the 1980s, however, it wasn’t until the late ’90s that it first started to become standard on mainstream passenger cars and since 1 November 2014, all new vehicles sold must be fitted with a TPMS tyre pressure monitoring system. TPMS uses sensors on the tyre valves and warns of low and high tyre pressure, which can affect car handling and braking.
You can now buy tyre pressure valves that can be fitted to your car’s tyres and a TPMS programmer that you can configure yourself. Again, you can get these online and in most large car / motoring shops.
And there you have it; simple, easy and cheap (well, cheaper than buying a new car) ways of making your vehicle safer with some technology add-ons.
We have the other extreme here. Damned if do. Damned if you don’t. The fact is heroin destroys families. They should of thought of that when selling the horrible stuff.
You’ll find that the majority, if not all, these inmates have come from broken homes and deprived communities where they sold drugs to survive. It’s nasty and yes they were part of the cycle that they themselves were trapped in but Obama is acknowledging that solution involve them; much in the same way Mo Molam knew the peace process in NI had to involve inmates in British prisons.
Why is Obama doing this at the end of his term instead of at the beginning? The US prison population stands at over 2million. That’s more than China has incarcerated. It’s almost 2.5 times more than Russia has in prison.
the vast majority of prisons in the US are privately owned, run foe profit and care more about the bottom line than society. barry is an actor..reading off a script and being told what to do, as badly as drugs have messed up parts of society unpunished white collar crime and the burden it has put on society has damaged it a lot more.
in america there is a prison industrial complex,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,thats the problem.
here there are yobos with 17 previous convictions walking free and committing more serious crimes because the justice system is far to lenient on them. the legal system does not mind, its a big cash cow for them.
Obama is a good actor and that’s all. It is well established fact that since he took office his administration has refused more freedom of information requests than other other administration in US history. And if he gave two shits about ‘non-violent crimes’ then he’d have long arranged for Snowden to come home and would have intervened in the Bradley Manning case as he could have done at any time.
He’s a liar, and has done nothing but further liberalise US laws (which is why most of these guys are in prison in the first place).
Hilary Clinton is far worse than he and if she makes it in it’s bye bye US.
OK idiot. Restored pride to US after years of Bush’s wrath. A true statesman. Agree with you about Hillary though. I hope Sanders wins
Try making a point like an adult and I might respond to you. Other than that. Take a hike.
you just replied to him.
My heart is bleeding purple piss reading the sob stories.
If anything our Judiciary here could learn a thing or two from US Judges about sentencing and the whole US legal system.
Instead of having Solicitors and Barristers they have just one set Lawyers who deal with your case from start to finish. Where there is a dedicated Prosecution Service staffed by full time Prosecution Lawyers and a dedicated Public Defenders Office staffed with full time Defence Lawyers for those that would normally get free legal aid here. And then Private Legal Firms for those that can afford them.
Yes because there is so little crime in the US compared to Ireland.
Funny how you, a prison officer, propose following almost every part of the US save the mass privatization of prisons, wonder why that could be, oh right, self interest.
Wari.
Simply because Privatised Prisons have been shown time and time again to be an utter disaster in terms of security and staff safety. One only has to look at our nearest neighbour to see just how much of a bad idea they are and why the rest of Europe are not following suit. In reality they actually cost the state more than those under Government control in the long term.
I’m all for criminals doing time for their crimes especially violent or sexual crime but some of the sentences for carrying a small amount of drugs are ridiculous. Check out the segment John Oliver did on it, it’s a real eye opener. When I think of the idiot I was as a teenager, I would hate to go to jail for 15 years because of being on idiot.
I didn’t deal drugs! lol
If the sale of illegal substances was legalised and regulated then a lot of these places would see a massive reduction in crime as the people relying on the drug trade to make a living would be forced into tax-paying, gainful employment as they could not compete with a well regulated, safe industry. Also, not only would we gain the tax from the legal sale of drugs, it would be much easier to ensure the quality and safety of such substances as they could be tested in proper labs before being passed onto the public. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the head in the sand approach just doesn’t work. As long as there is a clear demand for drugs, there will always be people willing to risk everything to meet that demand for massive tax free profits.
In fact the Americans have the right idea here. Conspiracy to distribute heroin is no small crime. In my opinion 15 years is entirely appropriate. Crime must be punished harshly or we are all doomed.
They should do more about guns than 1000 year prison terms
How about maybe not dealing heroin. Heroin is a violent drug as is most other drugs. And yes that includes Weed. So just because the initial deal was violent… what we should let them away. The Americans have the right way. Full length senences for federal offences. If we could adopt there legal court room system this country would be a hell of a lot better off.
Please pardon me, i just have to share my testimony on how i was CURED OF HIV with the help of Dr.Boadi’s Herbal Medicine.
Finding out you have HIV can be an incredibly shattering experience. And I think the reason for this is everyone is under the false assumption that the virus is not curable. Well, i totally disagree with this. I was diagnosed of HIV disease for the past 3 years, with the curiosity and search for a cure i came across a blog and i saw lot of testimony post from people making a reference to DOCTOR BOADI ABIODUN how he used his natural herbal medicine to cure them of their diseases Some testimonies was centered on;
*HIV (with a very low cd4 count)
*HEPATITIS B
*HERPES,
*ASTHMA,
*EPILEPSY,
*CANCER,
*INFERTILITY
*STAPHYLOCOCCUS…
I decided to give it a trial, though i never believed in herbal medicine but i was in a way convinced with the sort of amazing testimonies i saw online i decided to contact him, with the response he gave, He promised to prepare and send the “TATAHWE” Medicine to me. It was not up to a week after i placed an order, I got the medicine and he instructed me to drink the medicine for two weeks ( only evenings before bed) after which, I should go back to the hospital for a Re-Test. I followed his instructions and i discovered that my urine became yellowish for good two weeks so immediately i finished the medicine i went for the test the following week, it was very surprising i tested negative. I can’t thank dr Boadi enough, so I decided to promote him because he cured me from my disease, there’s no disease he can’t cure with his medicine. Please also spread the good news to others so that those with same illness can be cured.
you can relate with Dr Boadi on:
+2348071180211 (whatsapp connect)
+2347037373235 (mobile)
drboadihealinghome@gmail.com (mail)
https://drboadihealinghome.webs.com
thanks for your audience and i hope you find help like i did.
have your say