Usually that manic form of driving results from major personal problems. We feel sorry for these people, desperately so if it’s someone we know well – and our hearts are even sadder if it’s a member of our own family. Yet we fear for them and ourselves when we come across them on the road.

There are times when the ‘major’ problem of the drive-like-there's… guy is more imaginary than real. Breaking up with a girlfriend may feel like the end of the world, but experience over the years has taught us that’s seldom the case.

Losing your job isn’t quite as bad as losing the love of your life, but the ramifications can be more serious. But life does go on.

Which is of no comfort if you have just had your car destroyed by a lovesick teenager who feels the end is nigh and has driven like a reckless lunatic, (pity he wasn’t wreck-less instead of reckless.).

But there are some youngsters who really do feel there is no tomorrow, that the world is coming to end, not figuratively, but literally.

I blame that on the general media. Their eternal scouring of the planet for worst news they can find is really starting to get me down. Turn on the TV, listen to a radio, read a major metropolitan newspaper and you will be regaled with tales of horror, death, destruction, disaster. The stories are then beaten up in grizzly detail to make people thoroughly miserable and increasingly nervous about their future.

Perhaps even to the stage where they drive like there's no tomorrow. Resulting in one of those horrible sideways-into-a-tree smashes that’s wipes out beautiful young lives. Or those unexplained single-vehicle crashes that take places on deserted country roads…

Let's look at the Australian car business as a perfect example of good news. Cars have never been cheaper when you take average wages into account. Not only do they cost less, but finance is being offered at very attractive rates to those who qualify.

Cars are cleaner than ever – by a substantial margin. Did you know that it takes about 40 late model cars to produce the same amount of most pollutants as one 30-year-old car?

Petrol and diesel prices have plummeted compared to this time last year. And as a bonus today's cars use considerably less fuel than older cars. Most have trimmed their fuel consumption by about 25 to 30 per cent since the 1980s.

Over the last couple of years even the sceptics have started to admit that climate change is a reality. Governments are finally doing something about it, though I reckon there's rather too much talk and not enough decision making happening out there in bureaucrat land. I've lost track of the number of global warming summits have been held to date.

Cars are not only cleaner, they are much safer than ever before. ABS and ESP are being installed in an increasing number of new cars, even lower cost ones. Both items are life savers. And should these items not help you avoid a crash, then things like crumple zones, multiple airbags and intelligent headrests greatly enhance your chances of survival.

My grandparents didn’t always have enough food to eat. My parents went to bed knowing someone might fly over during the night to try and kill them. I grew up in the cold war era when crazed politicians had enough bombs to kill everyone on earth 30 times over. Today's troubles are trivial compared with those of the past.