RISING PRICES: The average retail prices for new cars in Ireland rose 7.5 per cent over the 12 months to April 2003, according to the latest European Index of New Car Prices published by eurocarprice.com in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The movement in retail prices in Ireland was 2.7 per cent stronger than across Europe as a whole, where retail prices rose by an average of 4.7 per cent in the year to April.
New car retail prices in Ireland are 32 per cent higher than the average price of a new car in the euro currency zone.
SALES FALL: Elsewhere across Europe, pressure on European carmakers increased in April as car sales in western Europe fell 6.5 per cent. Sales to the end of April were down 3.4 per cent. The European Association of Automobile Manufacturers said the figures were depressed by late Easter holidays and the war in Iraq.
TRUCK SHOW: As part of its continued campaign to increase the height of the Dublin Port Tunnel, the Irish Road Haulage Association will have a selection of trucks on show at the Point Depot today. Among the vehicles on show will be some of the super-cube trucks, referred to by the Department of Transport as 'super trucks'. The aim, according to IRHA, is to show how little the difference is between the two types of trucks. Small, no doubt unless you're trying to get through the tunnel.
SURVIVE A CRASH? FAT CHANCE: Fat motorists are twice as likely to be injured in accidents as people of average size, according to a study by scientists in New Zealand. The researchers speculate that overweight people are more prone to sleeping disorders, so they could be more likely to nod off at the wheel. The study isn't optimistic about the chances of skinny motorists, either. They have less protection from body fat.
PRETTY IN PINK: The Isle of Wight Council's "Pink Peril" bus is tackling badly-behaved pupils on their school buses. Naughty pupils are punished by being forced to travel to school on the bright pink bus.