Michael McAleer answers your questions
From Duncan Martin. Limerick:
The year number on registration plates is very helpful to second-hand buyers and to anyone needing to commit a number to memory quickly. So let's not scrap it just to suit the motor trade. The annual peak in sales that bothers them could be greatly reduced by adding a letter to show the month, from A07for January to K07 for December (if we omit the letter 'I'). The year would then have much less effect on either the new or used market. Buyers would know that a K07 was only a month older than an A08. Or is that too simple to be considered?
That's far too simple a solution. You clearly don't work in either the car industry or the civil service. Don't you know that sensible suggestions like that are frowned upon by those in power?
I think your idea seems eminently practical, and it is true that the industry must bear some responsibility for getting themselves into this mess, as it was they who lobbied for the annual registration system in the first place.
The only problem would be that it adds yet another indicator to our already crowded plates. We already have up to nine letters and numerals.
From JF:
Is there any safe guidelines to know whether you might be over the legal limit the morning after a night out? I've never driven home from the pub and my friends and I take it in turns to drive if we are drinking far from home.
My problem is this: what about the morning after? I've come home from nightclubs at 3am and went to bed. However, I have driven to work the next morning, leaving the house at 6am. I live at least three miles from the nearest public transport, so will I have to walk every morning after the night before?
As you know, the legal limit is 80 milligrams, but unfortunately there is no simple answer as to how much alcohol will push you over the limit. The actual levels depend on your size, sex, food intake and alcohol tolerance.
But the resounding message from the experts is not to risk even one drink, because the legal limit is not necessarily the safe limit.
As was quoted in last week's Health supplement, there is no definitive way to judge whether you're legally and safely capable of driving the morning after a night out. Medical opinion is divided on how long you should wait before attempting to drive a car.
Dr Bill Tormey, consultant chemical pathologist at Dublin's Beaumont Hospital, was quoted in the article as saying: "Sufficient sleep and food will help, but there's nothing special you can do except maybe not drive if you don't feel up to it. Habitual drinkers might only need five hours before driving while others may need double."
A basic rule of thumb is that if you're going to be driving the next morning, it's important to stop drinking at a reasonable hour. Basically if you're drinking heavily until 3am, you shouldn't even consider driving.
The safest way seems to be to ensure eight hours of sleep between drinking and driving. It's not very practical for someone with a long commute, but that's the only way to be sure you won't lose your licence and have to walk the three miles every morning for several months.
From Liam Dunne, Cork:
I have occasionally seen cars on the road without either a front or rear number plate. Surely this is illegal?
It is. Given the hype over the number of people who fail the NCT for having the wrong size lettering on a number plate, clearly having none at all is a pretty clear offence.
The only reason a car may be driving around with no numberplate is if it belongs to a garage, and is operating on trade plates. If you look to the windscreen, you may see what seems to be a numberplate with the numbers first and the year last. This is a garage plate.
• Send your queries to Motors Helpdesk, The Irish Times, D'Olier St, Dublin 2 - or e-mail motorshelp@irish-times.ie