December 29th 2006.

About three years ago, my wife was sitting at a traffic light, waiting for the light to go green, when two cars crossing the intersection
collided. One of the cars veered in her direction and crashed into the front of the VW Golf and bent the nose over, all the way from
the windshield forward.

A write off!

For the first time in 15 years, my better half decided not to buy a VW Golf, because I told her that my research indicated a serious
reliability issue still existed. Needing and wanting a hatchback, we finally decided on a 5 door Mazda3 and after 44,000 Kilometres,
we have had no problems at all. Even the brakes don't need renewal as yet.

Of course, since that decision was made, along has come the Versa, the Fit and the Yaris, although I think we would still opt for another
Mazda3 at this stage. VW hasn't really produced that much in the way of confidence in their product as yet.

Over the holidays, my wife, again minding her own business and following another car in the right lane, was preparing to exit on a
down ramp from the freeway. The sun was shining and the road was dry. A car in the left lane passed her, going at a brisk pace.
And just at it drew level with the car in front, it suddenly went out of control, spun through 360 degrees, hit the armco barrier and
then crashed into the leading car and on into the concrete wall protecting the down ramp.

My wife escaped this time, by the skin of her teeth. I should mention the she has graduated from the Jim Russell Racing School
course and next to being an experienced rally or race driver, she is about as good as drivers get with the usual highway driving
experience. In other words, she's pretty damn good.

So when she got home, shaken and stirred, her assumption was that the fellow driving the fast car in the right lane has fallen asleep.
But I really doubt that.

When someone falls asleep at the the wheel, they weave from side to side and eventually drift off the road at a fairly  shallow angle.
This was a violent, out of control, crash. I'm willing to bet my RRSP that this was a steering failure. When a tie rod end lets go, the
wheel that is attached to the tie rod on that side immediately turns outward and then puts the car into a violent spin.

At that moment, the driver becomes a passenger and even Alonso would have trouble keeping that car straight.

The following day, the road through our village was blocked by a 1995 Buick that had one wheel sticking out sideways and going
nowhere. That phenomenon is a ball joint failure.

Now none of these failures happens without warning. Ball joints and tie rod ends give plenty of notice in the form of knocking noises
and in a garage, on a lift, the problems become even more obvious.

If cars were subject to a yearly safety inspection, then most of these safety related problems would be corrected before they became
a public menace.

As a garage owner, of course, I have no credibility in advocating safety checks, as I would probably profit somewhat.

But a bigger problem is that the people most affected by such a law would be those hard working folks who only earn minimum wage.
They would either lose the car altogether, because its' market "value" is far less than than the cost of repair, or they would have the
necessary repairs done and vote against the offending government in the next election.

So the next time, as often happens, you read of an accident where, on a clear dry day, some unfortunate has crossed the median
and crashed headlong into another vehicle, the report will say that alcohol was not involved and speed was probably a factor.

Well of course "speed was a factor" he was on the highway, for goodness' sake.

It won't say that mechanical condition was a factor because nobody either investigates or knows for sure.

So while you're out there, in parts of the country where no safety checks are mandatory, even on the oldest of cars, such as is the
case in Quebec, keep your wits about you, because you just never know.