Currently, tire manufacturers can use their own criteria for rating their tires which can lead to buyer confusion. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is worried that consumers might not be able to easily pick the best tire for their needs. To remedy that situation, NHTSA is proposing a new, consumer-friendly replacement tire label which would include, for the first time, information about the tire’s impact on fuel economy and CO2 emission reductions.
“Today’s proposal takes the guesswork out of buying the best tires for your vehicle,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Our proposal would let consumers look at a single label and compare a tire’s overall performance as it relates to fuel economy, safety and durability.”
Based on the criteria shown on the proposed label, sticky performance tires may draw the short straw. For example, summer tires aren’t the best in rainy conditions, aren’t particularly durable and because of the soft compounds used and have a higher rolling resistance which yields lower fuel economy. These characteristics would yield a tire report card that would make any parent weep.
Perhaps a fairer system could be devised where tires were rated based on their class. Shading each tire class’ label a different color could prevent an all season, 80,000 mile tire from being compared to a summer only, high performance tire.
You drive through a construction zone. It’s early in the morning. There are no workers. You are driving UNDER the normal speed limit. What does that get you? In one woman’s case, five tickets in the mail!
A province of Manitoba, Canada installed speed cameras in its construction zones to ostensibly catch drivers whooshing past workers at unsafe speeds. The problem is, it left the cameras on even when there was no work being done. This scam, sorry, enforcement netted the local government millions of dollars: tickets issued mushroomed from 3000 in 2007 to 60,000 just twelve months later. A provincial court has found that such tickets violate the law, but the local government maintains that payment of a citation is an admission of guilt. As one justice stated, "It’s almost a disincentive for Manitobans to pay their fines because, if the law is challenged, the only way you get your money back is if you didn’t pay."
Last week we showed you a Ferrari driver who had a hard time getting his car going. This week we have news of a driver who was pulled over for driving too slowly! The Ferrari was clocked doing 25MPH in a 40MPH zone in the Welsh village of Ogmore-by-Sea . In his defense the driver, Denis Evans, said that the road road was poorly lit, had a nasty bend and was frequented by sheep. Why is it that sheep are so often used as an excuse? The local Assistant Chief Constable reportedly pulled over the pokey Ferrari due to fears it might be stolen.
It looks like the next President will be receiving a new set of wheels. The Cadillac based vehicle will most likely replace the current limo President Bush has used since 2005.
It is believed that the limo is based on the 2500 truck line by General Motors. The photos show it riding on the same 19.5-inch Goodyear tires as the trucks. Details past what is seen in the photo’s are unknown. Neither GM nor the Secret Service want to divulge details, go figure. We’ll all just have to wait till January 20 to see what the next president arrives in.
Not sure if electric cars will actually work in real life? Neither is the British government, so they have decided to offer free trials to citizens if they are willing to give up their gas powered car. The trials will begin in 2009 and involve up to 100 cars in several cities around the United Kingdom. The information will aide the government in it’s decision to embrace electric cars in the future. "A lot of people have a car for long-distance traveling and a small runabout for taking the kids to school. We need to find out whether electric cars are practical." said Geoff Hoon, transport secretary.
The cars used will be a mixture of electric vehicles as well as plug-in hybrids. The study will look at reliability as well as ease of use, such as whether it is practical for someone who keeps their car in a parking garage to recharge the EV. Hopefully the lessons learned will help the UK to build an EV friendly charging structure to raise demand.
A second study will include more than 150 electric vans that will be tested by local authorities in Liverpool, Newcastle and Gateshead, Coventry, Leeds and Glasgow.
BP has announced their third quarter profits. The company made £6.4bn ($10.5bn) between July and September, a 148% gain over the same period last year. This amount was not surprising after the price spike in July skyrocketed barrels of oil to over $147. This caused the British government to start commenting on the fact that oil companies are still reaping the benefits of high gas prices even though the price of crude oil has dipped into the $60 a barrel range. "BP have absolutely no excuse for not passing on any fuel price falls to customers. It would be a scandal if they do not." Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said.
The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called upon BP and other oil giants to pass along the price drops to motorists. "There has been more than a halving in the price of oil and, just as when the price goes up people see it immediately reflected in the petrol pump prices, we want to see the falling price reflected in the petrol pump prices, and we are determined to see that happens," the British Prime Minister added.
BP chief executive Tony Hayward admitted the company’s profits have been boosted by the cost of fuel: "Although it has since fallen away sharply, the high oil price of the third quarter obviously helped our absolute result." BP was also quick to point out that over the past three years it had paid more than £5bn ($8.2bn) in tax to the UK. Then when fuel, excise duty and VAT were added, the total rose to almost £21bn ($34.75bn).
Customs Border Patrol agents manning the crossing at San Ysidro in California, probably one of the busiest land border checkpoints in the world, have most of their work cut out for them. A drive-through x-ray machine, called the “Z Portal”, was unveiled there last week. Looking like a huge carwash, the machine will help uncover contraband, as well as stowaways being smuggled into the U.S.
Manual searches are time-consuming, even with the help of dogs to do the job. The Z Portal at the US – Mexican border in San Ysidro does it fast and thorough with the use of Z backscatter x-ray imaging developed by American Science and Engineering, Inc (AS&E). The technology can even detect plastic weapons and explosives by providing multiple views of photo-like x-ray images.
Border patrol agents have apparently taken a liking to the new technology as they claim it has already helped them seize a total of 3,000 pounds of drugs since its introduction. With safety issues arising from the use of the device, the driver and passengers can opt to have an agent drive their vehicle through the Z Portal for scanning. Furthermore, radiation emitted by the device is just a tiny fraction of what medical-grade x-rays actually produce – around 2,000 times less.
Canada is currently not the friendliest place for electric car owners. Currently, due to crash test ratings, EV’s are restricted to a top speed of 40 km/h (25 mph) — placing the cars in league with farm tractors. This low top speed has made them illegal to drive on public roads, which makes owning one a little pointless.
Vancouver is now thinking differently. As part of the cities green campaign, Vancouver became the first major Canadian city to pass a bylaw to allow city electric cars. The car are allowed on all streets with a posted speed limit of 50 km/h or lower. This allows the owners of electric vehicles to utilize any street in Vancouver. The major glitch is that all major bridges are posted at 60 km/h, meaning no one can get into, or out of, downtown Vancouver. Don Chandler, president of the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association, has proposed an idea of allowing electric cars in the right lane of multi-lane bridges. Even the idea of building a special lane on highways is being kicked around.
Vancouver has also passed another bylaw that requires provision for EV plugs in all new single family homes. They are also looking to retrofit old buildings to accommodate current home owners, as well as place charging stations in parking garages around the city.
Hopefully Vancouver has created a path that other cities will soon follow.
New York City officials recently mandated that all taxi cabs must average 25 mpg by 2012. The plan was to lessen the environmental impact of New York City’s 13,000 taxis, as well as 40,000 other for-hire vehicles, but the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission apparently forgot to concern itself with passenger safety.
The fight is over the bulletproof plastic partition, which is mandated by law in NYC and separates the drivers from their fares. The problem with it is the possible effect on airbags and other passive and active safety devices to rear seat passengers. Toyota and Honda have issued outright warnings against using their hybrid vehicles as commercial cabs. While Ford, General Motors and Nissan have refused to certify the crash worthiness of their hybrid taxis, modified with mandatory partitions. It seems that the partitions could somehow block or deflect side airbags, rear airbags and side curtain airbags. There is also the chance of injury from someone being thrown into the partition itself, their seat belt being used or not (and I don’t know anyone that wears a seatbelt in NYC taxis, do they even have them?).
The trouble doesn’t end there though. Automakers are also warning that hybrids were never designed for “heavy commercial use.” Who knows if the hybrids of today can handle the deft driving skills of a NYC taxi driver, as well as the not so great maintenance schedule the cars are on.
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission has yet to respond to the safety and longevity concerns, but does list several hybrid vehicles on its approved vehicle list for taxi use.<
Turns out you don’t have to give out mortgages like candy and then blow all the proceeds on drugs and strippers to get your hands on part of the government’s $700 billion bailout package. Instead, put down the hooker and pick up a Chevy Volt.
As part of the Wall Street bailout package, $1 billion is set aside for discounts for hybrid cars with batteries rated at 4 kWh (kilowatt hours) or more. While the current Prius’ 1.3 kWh battery pack does not qualify, the 6 kWh Chevrolet Volt should qualify for the maximum $7,500 tax credit. See, sometimes the good people win (or at least get some of their own money back to buy a car.)
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