Apparently, even if you’re the most powerful man in the world, you still don’t get everything you want. Turns out that in picking out his own personal presidential limousine, our President Barack Obama initially wanted it to come with a hybrid drivetrain.
But the Commander-in-Chief’s request was unceremoniously shot down by - of all people - the Secret Service. Yep, the very same people that swore to protect him down to their last breath.
Of course, the Secret Service was justified for putting a brakes on Obama’s hybrid limo, saying that in cases of emergency, a hybrid engine wouldn’t be able to pack as much power as an all-fuel drivetrain, especially since the the presidential limo isn’t exactly what people would refer to as a compact and lightweight ride.
As far as reports we’ve received regarding what’s really under the hood of the president’s limo, we’re quite certain that it’s not a hybrid drivetrain, much to the chagrin of the president.
We like the way the president is pushing hybrid vehicles into the forefront considering that it’s more eco-friendly than its gas-guzzling counterparts. But on the other hand, the Secret Service does have a point. In case of emergencies, you’re going to need some serious power underneath the hood of the presidential limousine.
And a hybrid drivetrain doesn’t really qualify as having some ’serious power’.
New Jersey officials decided to require drivers under the age of 21 to affix red stickers on their front and rear license plates. This law comes after a teenage driver, by the name of Kyleigh, was killed by another teenage driver while operating a motor vehicle. The law states that the red sticker needs to placed in the upper left hand corner of the license plate while the teenage driver is driving. The red sticker can be removed when an older person is driving and can also be transferred if the teenage driver is given the option of driving a different car. Of course, who’s to say that anyone will even remember to remove or affix the red sticker when they are supposed to?
This situation has brought on much controversy since the law was signed last year. Attorney Gregg Trautmann has said that the red sticker is equivalent to tagging teenagers with a scarlet letter for age discrimination and can make them a target for police and sex offenders while Raymond Martinez, who runs the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, called the law "one of the most significant steps forward in teen driver safety."
The red stickers can be purchased at motor vehicle agencies and cost $4.00. Sales will begin April 12, 2010 and the law will begin May 1, 2010. And for all the teenagers that think they can just take the red sticker off if you plan on driving after 11pm, beware. This action will cost you $100.00 if you get caught. Wait, doesn’t that bring us to the original reason the red stickers were being enforced? Legislators wanted to make teenage drivers “stick out” so they can be caught driving after 11pm. This just seems like a vicious cycle of idiocy, but (insert sarcasm here) at least the New Jersey government will be making money off of it.
You would think that a car that commands a price tag of $700,000 would be something along the lines of a Bugatti, McLaren, or Lamborghini.
But there’s one other supercar that you probably may have a hard time picking out of your brain that sells for that much money: the Cizeta Moroder V16-T.
Unfortunately, one of these extremely rare supercars was shackled up in San Juan, Puerto Rico by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after the car was said to be violating a number of US import laws. We don’t know what the US government has in store for the Cizeta V16-T, but we just hope that for the sake of auto enthusiasts the world over, those people know just how expensive and rare that car is.
It looks like speed demons in Utah have been given a little more leeway to satisfy their need for speed after the Utah Department of Transportation recently raised the speed limit in various stretches of I-15 up to 80 miles per hour.
So far, the little experiment has received positive results after the UDOT determined that traffic in the area is safest when cars are going in the neighbourhood of 80 mph.
According to the Newspaper, the 85th percentile speed, which represents the speed at which 85 percent of free-flowing traffic feels is the safest, have achieved the best results as far as traffic safety among commuters are concerned. “Engineers have determined that the greatest safety can be achieved when speed limits match the 85th percentile speed,” the article said.
Based on crash histories that have been recorded over the years in certain sections of I-15, the UDOT determined that increasing the speed limit in these sections would eventually end up being beneficial not only to the drivers’ safety, but also in ensuring the seamless free-flow of vehicles, thus avoiding continuous traffic.
This comes as good news to a lot of people that have been frustrated with the lower speed limits. Let’s just hope that the rest of the country follows Utah’s lead because, as you know, traffic and car accidents are two things we can all live without.
The California based Fisker Automotive corporation has just been granted a sizable loan from the U.S. Government that will rapidly facilitate the automaker’s full scale production of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The U.S. Department of Energy has signed off on and agreed to the terms of a conditional totaling over half a billion dollars so that Henrik Fisker’s car company can create affordable, fuel efficient hybrid electric vehicles that are made right here in the U.S.A. The $528,000,000 loan will also allow Fisker Automotive CEO, Henrik Fisker to create at least 5,000 jobs for autoworkers right here in the U.S.
If only General Motors and Chrysler had lineups as desirable as Henrik Fisker’s then perhaps the U.S. Government would have been a bit more eager to step in and help out with their financial needs. It is no doubt that fuel efficient gas electric hybrids are going to be the next generation of personal transportation and it is confidence inspiring that there is an automaker who not only believes in the future, but also believes that we don’t have to sacrifice fun in order to save fuel.
