RTE Radio One Drivetime had a good interview with Paddy Comyn, motoring correspondent with the Irish Times, where he discussed the car parts sector, motorists and the recent Frankfurt Motor Show. MicksGarage got a nice mention also. Click here to hear some of the segment: RTE Radio One - Paddy Comyn interview on car parts.ivr (1.01 mb)

Dublin City Council has launched its Dublin Bikes initiative, where the public can pick up bikes and use them in the city. It's a self-service bike rental system open to everyone from 14 years of age. With 40 stations and 450 dbs (bikes), it enables you to travel through the city centre, commute between home and work and get out and about to enjoy Dublin city at your leisure. You must be registered to use the service and after the first half hour there is a charge.

All stations are equipped for Long Term Hire Card and 3 Day Ticket users and 14 of the 40 terminals allow you to purchase a 3 Day Ticket. Once purchased, you can use the 3 Day Ticket similar to the Long Term Hire Card to rent or return a db from any station in the network.

No doubt this scheme will have it's detractors, but then again so did the Luas when it launched and it is a resounding success now. Anything that improves the traffic congestion in Dublin city can only be a good thing. There's a full list of stations here. There's also a handy Twitter application here to tell you how many bikes are at the nearest location to you. The power of modern technology!

Here's an interesting concept that a colleague alerted me to. It's a speed bump that stays flat if the motorist hits it at speeds of under 30km/hr.

Designers Jae-yun Kim & Jong-Su Lee have designed a speed bump that’s based on retractors that open if the impact with them is small enough. These speed bumps can be configured so that if a car is going below 30km/h, the speed bump flattens; over 30km/h, the force causes the retractor to stay closed, keeping the speed bump active. Great idea I reckon! Why punish people when driving at about 15km/h.