Road Trip USA. This simply titled site is one of the better travel sites I have seen for back-road ramblings around the USA. Not only are the routes described some of the best, the writing is extensive (at least book length), of high quality and obviously by someone who has traveled every single mile personally. I only wish I had it on my last trip. Recommended for the arm-chair or car-seat traveler alike.
posted by stbalbach
on Jul 30, 2004 -
4 comments
French-fried cars for New Year In Detroit, it has been a custom to fire guns during New Year's celebrations. Perhaps we should put aside our current dislike of the French and borrow this fine way to usher in a brand new year. After all, it is the French who have given us taste, culture, refinement, and the liberty of self-expression.
posted by Postroad
on Jan 3, 2004 -
48 comments
1.26 million people killed every year on the road or from subsequent injuries...
..
Four Qld road deaths in 5 hours. 42,815 people died in 2002 in automobile crashes in the United States. Shouldn't these facts give us the resolve to explore a better solution to our transportation needs? I do not see the national debate that these deaths would evoke if the cause was different. Why are we numb to this?
posted by JohnR
on Nov 24, 2003 -
76 comments
Pssst! Wanna Buy A Reliable, Second-Hand Car? You could do worse than start with
Honest John, a plain-speaking, fiercely independent Cockney motor car wonk who'll see you right, no problem. If you're obsessive about reliability, i.e. don't have the time or inclination to look after your wheels and just want the damn thing to get you from A to B and back again, check out the often surprising
Reliability Index for the
most and
least trustworthy automobiles. [
Eurocentric warning! Btw, what are the most reliable independent car guides - preferably free and online - in the U.S, Canada, etc?]
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Nov 20, 2003 -
32 comments
Do Cars force us to give up the outdoors? In jail, prisoners are stuck indoors and aren't allowed to go outside except for an hour at most. But are the car-driving residents of the average American suburb consigned to the same fate? "You go from the box garage in the house to the box car, driving down the street, not touching anything or being part of your environment" says Jessica Denevan. [More Inside]
posted by gregb1007
on Sep 16, 2003 -
70 comments
Last Saturday afternoon, Rep.
Bill Janklow (SD) ran a stop sign and hit and killed a motorcyclist.
Janklow has a
history of driving poorly. In fact, his speedy habits have been the subject of
jokes in the past. Will Janklow receive special treatment because of his fame? What kind of penalty does a crime such as this deserve?
posted by graventy
on Aug 19, 2003 -
34 comments
At Ford, Why Wasn't Safety Job One? "Like other car companies, Ford has consistently fought mandatory increases in fuel economy....by invoking fears that higher mileage requirements would result in smaller, more dangerous vehicles. Safety has been used to beat back fuel efficiency regulations. But Ford's own internal documents and a series of recent court cases reveal a company that is shockingly indifferent to safety risks in the very class of gas-guzzling vehicles it most wants to shield from increases in fuel economy standards...All of this leads us to wonder, if Ford is willing to produce a product it knows will injure and perhaps kill a certain percentage of customers simply to maintain profit margins, does the company really have driver safety at heart when its lobbyists aggressively fight easily-achievable standards for higher corporate average fuel economy?" A new review of internal car manufacturer documents, and more questions about corporate ethics.
posted by fold_and_mutilate
on Mar 11, 2003 -
13 comments
Volkswagon Successfully Tests Its First Hydrogen Fuel Car. "The Volkswagen Bora HY.POWER prototype, which does not use a reformer, obtains its energy from on-board
hydrogen to create a hydrogen fuel cell-fuel cells generate electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Fuel cells that use hydrogen offer zero emissions and fuel cells that use gas with reformers offer near-zero emissions"
Is this the
future we were
promised? Either way, Drivers Wanted.
posted by Keyser Soze
on Feb 4, 2003 -
20 comments
An Edinburgh man got back from holiday to find his car had gone missing. It hadn't been stolen.
It had been moved by the local council because it was obstructing some drain and hadn't bothered to tell him. How far can local government authority really go in matters of personal property? [more]
posted by feelinglistless
on Jan 29, 2003 -
36 comments
Sure, we all know the story about how Detroit developed, and then kept under wraps, a 100mpg carburetor is
false. However, affordable 80mpg family sedans
are real: behold the
Supercar! They are the results of a nearly decade-long partnership between
The Big Three and the Clinton administration. However the program was quietly shelved last June, the victim of the Bush administration, and corporate backpedaling. Read the whole sordid tale
here.
[use username/password for login] In the meantime, you'll have to settle for one of
these.
posted by thewittyname
on Dec 13, 2002 -
22 comments
Ahhhhh….road trips, a time to relax and enjoy the scenery….right?
Not for the participants of the Gumball Rally which just finished its inaugural race on U.S. soil. (More inside)
posted by Eric Lloyd NYC
on May 15, 2002 -
3 comments
The rental cars that the 9/11 hijackers used are available for auction. The rental company wanted to get rid of it because customers had negative feelings about the cars. At the time this article was posted, there haven't been any bids for the cars. I can't seem to find the cars on the
website, though. Would
you buy one of these cars?
posted by Kevin Sanders
on Mar 28, 2002 -
15 comments
Study: Mobile Phone Users Worse Than Drunk Drivers
It took mobile users half-a-second longer to react than normal, and one-third of a second longer than when they had been drinking.
They were also less able to maintain a constant speed and found it harder to keep a safe distance from the car in front. Participants in the study stated that they found it easier to drive drunk than when using a cell phone.
Here's the fun quote:
"Eventually," said Dominic Burch, road safety campaign manager at Direct Line, "we would like to see the use of mobile phones when driving, both hand-held and hands-free, become as socially unacceptable as drink driving."
Nice graphic
Here that explains the time/distance it takes to stop. That fraction of a second = +46 feet stopping time over normal, and +33 over being drunk.
More Here and
The Full Report[PDF].
posted by Blake
on Mar 24, 2002 -
61 comments
Goliath lost. This and other pro-small billboards are popping up in downtown Atlanta. No doubt they have cousins (little ones, I'm sure) springing up in your cities. I couldn't believe my eyes, because the billboards seemed to be promoting the ever-so-British
Mini Cooper.
The Mini is... well... just like it says, the veritable opposite of the stereotypical American SUV. Yes, it is the type of car
Mr Bean would drive. But when you see them in their natural Anglo habitat, you can't help but notice they're just perfectly suited to zipping to and from wherever. The site lets you find a dealer, build your own Mini and save it for future reference. The catch is that you have to fill out an opt-in form, but with lines like this as part of your agreement, how could you resist?
"- I agree to chase squirrels around the park now and then and giggle like a madman while doing it."Yeah. I want one. But will the American public?
posted by grabbingsand
on Mar 14, 2002 -
77 comments
"You were not responsive, lying on a bed of sheets covered with blood." A young woman crashes her car, is airlifted to the hospital, and goes on life support. Her parents continue her 10-year-old diary during her stay in intensive care. Years later it's all posted to the web.
posted by D
on Feb 21, 2002 -
3 comments
Rental car firm ordered to stop GPS speeding fine (CNN via Wired) Those Acme Rent-A-Car guys in New Haven who were using the GPS units in their vehicles to track and fine customers who were speeding (mental image of Coyote holding just-opened credit card bill with eyes bugging out, mouth wide open, and ears straight up) have been ordered to stop and pay back all the fines they have collected so far. Big Brother held back for another day....
posted by BGM
on Feb 21, 2002 -
7 comments
Calling All Pod People: there's a car for you! "This concept car explores the potential for communication between people and their vehicle," Toyota said in preview information released on Thursday.
I don't want to communicate with machines (using machines to communicate with other people is more my style). What is it about Japanese culture that produces all these machine-human "relationships"? Tamagotchi, Aibo, NeCoRo, ad nauseam.
posted by Carol Anne
on Oct 18, 2001 -
22 comments
The Rizzo Method is not an alternative to Tantric sex; it is a guideline for negotiating the lowest price possible on a new car. Happy big-ticket purchasing!
posted by msacheson
on Sep 18, 2001 -
5 comments
Keanu Reeve's Girlfriend Killed In Car Crash - Jennifer Maria Syme, 29, died on Monday after her Cherokee hit several parked cars and turned over.
A police report said two anti-depressant prescription drugs were found inside the vehicle along with two rolled up dollar notes with traces of a white substance inside them . . . Prescription cocaine? When can I see her doctor?
posted by radio_mookie
on Apr 5, 2001 -
14 comments
Right before you hit you were doing...
Looks like we're all getting black boxes in our cars. As a high speed crash survivor I have to admit a certain curiosity as to the forces involved my accident happened. But I'm not sure I want to know this badly...
posted by daver
on Mar 19, 2001 -
10 comments
Racing Past the Truth. A new perspective on Earnhardt's death, the purpose of which is to question the supposed cause of death and general lack of research in the reporting thereof.
The most interesting part, though, is pointing out how the makers of the Head and Neck Restraining System (HANS) are milking his death for all its worth, even though it probably would have done nothing to save him.
posted by thebigpoop
on Feb 20, 2001 -
10 comments
A moment of silence for the end of The Mini.
"My theory is 'Buy a Mini, get a social life for free.' It's true, believe me."
posted by thc
on Oct 15, 2000 -
5 comments
Free TiVo? Heck, I want a Free Car. I don't care if Amazon is selling Cars online now, I want my next car to be free. This company gives you a free car, wrapped in advertising, for up to two years. Not a bad deal considering the cost of cars these days. You can get a Ford explorer (no word on the tires) or a VW beetle. I'll be watching my TiVo TV from the back seat!
posted by DragonBoy
on Sep 27, 2000 -
15 comments
