The number of handicap tags has
been increasing in recent years and so has abuse, for example nearly one-third of temporary placards found on cars parked in downtown Boston were being used by people who were not disabled.
Handicap Fraud is a website for anonymously reporting seemingly able-bodied people who park in handicap spots. Free post-it-notes "You've been reported" available.
[more inside]
posted by stbalbach
on Oct 7, 2007 -
67 comments
In the U.S., motorists do not pay their way. The US government spends more on highways and other auto-related expenses than it receives from auto-related taxes, unlike almost every country in Europe. In a recent
report [pdf], Mark Delucchi calculates automobile-related costs and revenues in three different ways and concludes the subsidy is around 20-70 cents per gallon or $24-105 billion in 2002. But what are automobile-related costs, you ask?
[more inside]
posted by salvia
on Oct 2, 2007 -
99 comments
For years,
MDI has been developing a car that runs on compressed air. Last month, they signed an
agreement with Tata Motors to produce the MiniCat - a zero-emissions vehicle that will travel up to 180 miles on $3 worth of fuel. See it in action
here.
(youtube)
posted by Afroblanco
on Mar 19, 2007 -
45 comments
Drive Thru Church Service?
Check. Drive Thru Wedding?
Check. Drive Thru Funeral?
Check. Drive Thru Strip Club?
Huh? If you're too lazy or too tired to get out of your car,
Fogonazos has a list of convenient drive-thrus for you.
posted by amyms
on Feb 23, 2007 -
28 comments
Hip-Hop Car Stunt Leaves 2 (Idiots) Dead... To
ghost ride, frequently used in the context of "
ghost riding the whip" (a "
whip" being a vehicle) or simply
ghostin' is when the driver and/or passengers of any given vehicle exit while it is still rolling and dance beside it or on the hood or roof. Ghost riding is one of the latest trends to be popularized by
hyphy culture, which originated in the Bay Area of California. The act is one of the highest forms of "going dumb" and a representation of the style of hyphy. The term "ghost ride the whip" was given nationwide exposure in
E-40's 2006 song Tell Me When to Go. However, E-40 was not the first to use this term, as it was coined much earlier by other Bay Area rappers such as
Mac Dre.
Ghost Riding was also featured in an episode of The Girls Next Door When Kendra demonstrated the game for the other girls. The game ended predictably when Kendra's Escalade crashed into a stationary vehicle.
anyone notice that most of the videos show, once again, white kids misappropriating black culture and making both races look stupid?
posted by jcterminal
on Dec 29, 2006 -
67 comments
Rising bollards in the middle of the road are becoming more used in the UK to physically enforce
traffic restrictions, such as roads open only to buses and taxis. But some drivers in Manchester think the law doesn't apply to them.
See what happens when they try to tailgate behind authorized vehicles. Also, see
a video of what happens when a loaded lorry is rammed into an anti-terrorist rising bollard at full speed.
posted by grouse
on Dec 15, 2006 -
127 comments
A
study released by
CERA has some interesting tidbits: the average motorist in 2005 used 703 gallons of gas, and drove 40 percent more than 25 years ago; the US has 1,148 registered personal vehicles for every 1,000 licensed drivers; the percentage of vehicles that are SUVs (including minivans and light trucks) is slowly going down from 55% in 2005 to 53% in 2006; the average fuel consumption for all vehicles is 19.8 mpg in 2005, a drop from when it peaked at 20.2 in 2001; and the share of U.S. household budgets going to gasoline and oil has has been relatively stable for decades, at about 3.8 percent in 2006.
posted by jaimev
on Dec 1, 2006 -
18 comments
The Transportation Research Board released their 3rd edition of
Commuting in America. Among their findings, a 50% increase in "extreme commuters", those with a one way commute of more than 60 minutes; 8% of Americans are now in this category. 25 years ago, 1 in 5 commeters carpooled. Today, only 1 in 10. And the dominant commuting pattern is now suburb to suburb or city to suburb. [via
NPR]
posted by jaimev
on Oct 16, 2006 -
31 comments
AcceleRacers: Track Mod is a fun little Pipe-Dream-esque Flash game in which your object is to manipulate sections of track in order to get each of your six racecars to the finish line inside the time limit. Gets a lot harder as you go up in levels and more obstacles are added.
Yes, it is a HotWheels game.
posted by Gator
on Jul 19, 2006 -
7 comments
Funny "experiment" conducted by the folks at leftlanenews.com. Can a Ferrari 575 catch up to a Fiat hatckback after a 31-second head start in a single-lap track race? Better still, can an F1 car catch up to both after waiting 1:27? The results aren’t necessarily surprising, but it’s pretty stunning to see.
posted by jonson
on Jun 6, 2006 -
51 comments
Tunnel Runners drive convoys of very expensive sports cars very slowly through tunnels under London. It's the acoustics.
posted by carter
on May 1, 2006 -
32 comments
"Q: Is that another car on top?
A: Yes, it's a VW bug." --
Carthedral. A few more (clearer, daylight) photos
here.
posted by Gator
on Feb 19, 2006 -
27 comments
I never thought a string of videos of car accidents taken from automatic tunnel cameras in metropolitan tunnels would make for compelling viewing. But it turns out you
learn something new every day.
warning - embedded video on page contains horrible dance music
posted by jonson
on Feb 10, 2006 -
59 comments
*Look* both ways before you cross the street "The dangerous drawbacks of driving a hybrid: it's so quiet that pedestrians can't hear it when it's starting up or idling, and they often walk right into the path of the moving vehicle." I've got a feeling this is how I'm going to buy it. Oh well, like the lady said, if it's not one thing it's another.
Tip of the hat to
Kausfiles via
Auto Blog.
posted by mojohand
on Feb 7, 2006 -
97 comments
