HELPDESK:Answering all your motoring queries
From Brendan Lynch: With regard to the letter last week on three-lane motorways in Ireland, I believe Irish motorists don’t trust the authorities to have a proper three-lane system in place. They expect the inside left lane to suddenly become a slip road and leave them stranded trying to merge back onto a two-lane motorway.
I constantly observe them following the car in front. If the car in front makes a wrong lane manoeuvre they’ll follow until they wake up and try to return to their own intended route.
I drive a taxi and we regularly encounter bus lanes/traffic lanes that peter out willy-nilly and buses/taxis have to merge in and out of traffic jams. This is especially the case on the Nangor Road and surrounding areas in west Dublin.
I can see no reason for this other than bad road design as there is space on the verges for the bus lane to be continued.
From Máire Ni Dhonnchadha: The query regarding merging last week caught my attention, particularly as the RSA’s current campaign seems to contradict general rules in relation to merging traffic.
The rule as advertised on TV seems to be “move into the middle lane to get out of the way of traffic joining”, so a driver on the motorway is effectively yielding to joining traffic, which goes against all current driving principles. Our rules are broadly similar to the UK rules, but while the yield is in place in our rules of the road, the current RSA TV campaign appears to do away with this.
Mr Lynch’s points are very valid, even if certain stretches of three-lane road in the city are not strictly motorway designation. But his point about merging is correct: in city driving, as on the motorways, merging is now an inherent part of everyday driving and, as Ms Ni Dhonnchadha points out, we need clear and consistent rules on the matter. As anyone who has driven on the continent will attest, even on busy stretches of autobahn in Germany, they manage to merge at speed without unnecessary lane changes or heavy braking. Again, it’s about understanding that if you let someone merge in front of you, it’s not going to matter a jot to your journey time.
From Kevin Coughlan: In the coming years my wife and I hope to spend some time in Spain, and we are thinking of buying a used left-hand-drive car. Which countries offer good value in terms of pricing for a standard family saloon, maybe four to five years old?
There’s a myriad of issues regarding this plan. First off, it’s important to work out where the car will be registered. Registering it here means that you will pay VRT upon importation and in some ways it would be cheaper to buy a car registered in Spain. The length of time you spend in Spain is important as well, in terms of tax and insurance. Most insurance companies require you to inform them if you are taking a car for a lengthy period out of the country. I think you will find that it would be cheaper to have a Spanish-registered car over there.
You can buy a car in Spain if you have either a resident’s permit, own a property out there, or have a town hall certificate showing you are a regular resident in a particular town. It’s a legal requirement to present some form of residency documentation to purchase a car.
As regards the best country to buy a used left-hand-drive car, there might be cheaper ones in eastern Europe but I would still recommend starting in Germany, where anecdotal evidence suggests cars are better maintained.
Send your queries to Motors Helpdesk, The Irish Times, Tara Street, Dublin 2, or e-mail motorshelp@irishtimes.com