THERE was a time when if you found chummy rifling through your garden shed a simple phone call to Aidensfield nick would have Z Victor One screaming round to your manor in a flash. Today you will most likely get a community constable follow up and a crime number for the insurance.

It's the same on the roads. A recent survey of some people revealed that, rather than a plethora of cameras catching speedsters, drivers would prefer more traffic cops. This is because, no matter how clever the time-elapsed technology and Doppler radar, we have yet to see a fixed idiot camera developed.

Yes, I realise there are more plain clothes BMWs on the motorway but that's no substitute for a bit of chequered deterrent. And I don't mean those black and yellow traffic patrols from the highways agency who are only there to deal with obstruction and debris.

So, out there on the highway to hell we often take our lives in our hands as people who appeared to have left school with just two Crunchies and an empty satchel cavort and cut capers inside and outside as well as interviewing your back bumper.

It is times like this when all Volvo's attention to safety pays off. The V40 has just been named the safest car since safety began and the XC60 even has a pack which protects inattentive pedestrians from their own gormlessness as you drive through towns.

Of course get a V40 Cross Country and you can skip the death race all together and take to the fields. Ah, but only if you choose the petrol T5 version whereas today we are looking at the D4 SE Nav; it may look like a small 4x4 but it isn't, all diesel versions are front wheel drive.

It is, however, an item of some luxury and an example of remarkable engine technology. The new D4 2.0-diesel is quick, 0-62mph in 7.7 seconds and frugal with the bonus of miserly 104g/km emissions which do absolutely nothing for the melting ice shelf moaners' arguments.

This is a potent and enjoyable car to drive. It packs a punch which can have the traction control warning showing on loose surfaces but body control is good. There's fun to be had here and hot -hachbackery is not what most people associate with a Volvo.

Ride comfort is good, smoothing out the bumps and cruising over longer distances effortlessly. This is, without a doubt, bolstered by the quality of the interior, a sense of solid build and those Volvo seats which comfort and cosset like a warm conversation with Stephen Fry.

The all-time favourites are there; the simple centre console including the schematic style air conditioning controls which end the danger of fiddling about while underway on systems which have been designed as part of a Benny Hill sketch.

The Cross Country comes in two trims. For your £26,770 the SE Nav brings sat nav via a seven inch screen, Bluetooth, the expected connectivity CD player, multi-function steering wheel, xenon auto headlights and auto wipers. An extra £2,000 takes the car to Lux level which means leather seats, 17-inch alloys and reading lights in the rear.

And the rear is where the V40 stumbles. The sloping roof may mean attractive lines but headroom suffers and many rivals have better boot space. It may be cleverly designed with variable floor levels but it is narrow.

No mater, you do get a kayak rack. Which suggests that part of the target market is either fit and nimble aspirationals or Nanook of the North.

Whichever you should be bomb proof out on the mean streets even if PC Dixon is up to his neck in Dock Green paperwork.

Evening all.