Free Republic

In the weeks after the attacks of September 11, 2001, many thousands of Americans took to the roads and highways in lieu of flight. Some opted to drive because their vacation or business air travel was cancelled; others because they were understandably afraid of subsequent hijackings. Some years later, a group of Cornell University economists determined that after the terror attacks, in the last three months of [2001] fear of flying revved up car use and caused a second toll of lives in US roads. In addition, the inconvenience of tighter airport security after 9/11 may have further encouraged substitution...

When JoJo McKibben was the victim of a hit-and-run on April 3 as she biked to work, she wasn't all that surprised. She was hit while biking by a drunk driver last summer and has come to expect that cars won't realize she's riding on two wheels. McKibben's boyfriend Brendan Sharpe said he has also been seriously injured by cars while he's biked in Austin, once in 2009 and again in 2015... Katie Delleoz, the executive director of Bike Austin, said she personally has nearly been struck at the same intersection McKibben was hit at last week

Someone slam the brakes on this plan. In a national first, Uber is poised to put a fleet of self-driving cars on Pittsburgh streets. But there's no way people should be permitted to hail rides from semi-autonomous cars until Uber significantly tweaks its vehicular software. Artificial Intelligence apparently passed its driver's exam, the cars will have emergency backup drivers, and Uber presumably has programmed the vehicles to navigate the streets as safely as possible. Therein lies the problem. Most people seldom drive as safely as possible, particularly in this town. To put it in terms this sports-obsessed city can best...

WASHINGTON - D.C.'s delegate to Congress is making news for her parking skills. Video published by Roll Call shows Eleanor Holmes Norton awkwardly trying to wedge her car between two cars parked in angled spaces near the Capitol earlier this week. You could say that didn't go well. The video was shot Wednesday along New Jersey Avenue Southeast, between the Longworth and Cannon House Office buildings, according to Roll Call. Norton, 77, is seen trying to squeeze her silver, four-door sedan in between two other cars that are parked in angled spots. The only problem? Norton is trying to park...

Israel's National Road Safety Authority has concluded the ubiquitously dangerous behavior of Israeli Arabs behind the wheel stems from a sense of unfairness rather than their simply being lawless scofflaws. Legal observers note that anti-social feelings are not an affirmative defense in any court of law and that reckless endangerment of others - which does not require conscious decision-making - remains a serious criminal act demonstrating an abberant lack of regard for human life. Further, many question the validity of concluding 'acts of resistance' are not voluntary in cases where Arab drivers behind the wheel of heavy equipment or large...

...On average, that's nearly three accidents or fender benders each day. Two accidents this year involved buses and Metro's light rail — both the result of bus drivers running red lights... The Chronicle's review of accidents, citations and breakdowns involving the Metropolitan Transit Authority's 1,210 buses documented a total of 1,029 wrecks last year. Metro Police classified 338 of them as “preventable,” meaning the bus drivers involved could have taken measures to prevent the accidents; 220 caused at least $1,000 in damages or resulted in people ending up at hospitals. Altogether, at least 334 people were injured in bus or...

I hate drivers that refuse to follow the law. The other day I was driving to work down a busy street; I had just passed under the freeway, and was approaching an intersection, where there were a lot of people waiting to turn left. To my right I saw a car exit the freeway, zoom past me, cutting me off, and pull in front of all the cars waiting to turn left, cutting them off and turning left himself. I was dumbfounded that anyone could be so reckless and irresponsible. It occurred to me, if this person cares so little...

Do you sing in the car? Or shout at the bonehead on your radio? If so, you could get pulled over. That's one of the potentical consequences of a stupid suggestion this week -- by the self-proclaimed National Safety Council -- that cell phones be banned in cars. They want them done away with. They say that the piecemeal banning of cell phones -- mostly in our most liberal states -- doesn't go far enough. They won't be happy until every cell phone in every car is turned off or broken. Specifically, they say that talking on a cell phone...

Call it a metaphor for a prosperous, risk-embracing age or just call it bad driving. Auto makers are turning out a new breed of supremely fast sports cars that sell for upwards of $250,000 and share many characteristics of purebred racecars. But as more of them hit the road, often in the hands of inexperienced drivers, a growing number are ending up wrapped around trees, smashed into guardrails or otherwise totaled in accidents. In the past 18 months, drivers across the world have cracked up at least six rare $1 million Ferrari Enzos -- only 400 of which were built....

You can’t be surprised that so many Massachusetts legislators, who don’t obey any other laws, are complete scofflaws when it comes to the rules and regulations of the road. Every state legislator wants to go to Congress, and thus looks up to the federal solons. The local pols try to mimic the behavior of their superiors. As much as they’d like to, though, they can’t marry as profitably as John Kerry keeps doing. But dammit, they can drive as badly as Ted Kennedy. And sure enough, they do. Remember, too, this is only a partial list, of hacks on the...

I posted a month ago about Seattle drivers who simply were not meant to go outside any any but the most mild weather, and even then only in the kind of cars that have external airbags. Aparently, Portland (Oregon) has its share of weather idiots, too, as evidenced by this video from KING 5 News. Enjoy.

A woman is dead after she was struck by several vehicles while trying to run across Southwest Freeway Wednesday night. Police said around 10:25 p.m. Wednesday, a woman attempted to run across four lanes of traffic on the 6800 block of Southwest Freeway near Hillcroft Avenue when she was struck by an unknown vehicle traveling north The driver of the vehicle did not stop. Her body was then struck by at least 4 more vehicles and an 18-wheeler. None of the vehicles stopped after striking the woman's body except the driver of the second vehicle. Police said motorist may not...

Revelations in the Peoria Journal Star earlier this week that the Peoria/Champaign area is one of seven in the United States on a terrorist “circuit” were frightening. “Terrorists enter the United States in San Francisco and Los Angeles, then move to Phoenix, then Denver," reported Phil Luciano of the PJS. "From there some head to Peoria and Champaign. Some terrorists remain in those communities, while others head on to New York City" (emphasis added). Luciano was provided this information by Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy, who received it at a recent FBI conference held in Springfield. Names of larger cities...

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Eight out of 10 crashes involve drivers who are drowsy, chatting on a cell phone, applying makeup or otherwise distracted from the road ahead, according to a government study released yesterday that videotaped people behind the wheel. Reviewing thousands of hours of video and data from sensor monitors linked to more than 200 drivers, researchers found that a wide range of distractions can lead to crashes or near crashes. Reaching for a moving object while driving increased the risk of a crash by nine times, while reading or applying makeup from behind the wheel enhanced the risk...

LONDON (Reuters) - North Wales police couldn't believe their eyes when a camera at a notorious accident spot caught a driver using both hands to put on her make-up. Donna Maddock, 22, was filmed as she drove along the A499, one of Britain's most dangerous roads. She held a mirror in her left hand and an eye pencil in her right, leaving the steering wheel to itself. Wednesday, she was fined 200 pounds ($350) with 55 pounds costs and had six penalty points added to her driving license after admitting careless driving at Pwllheli magistrates court. "A car is a...

The holiday season brings the deadliest drunken drivers to our nation's highways. If the trend continues, nearly half of the fatal crashes that happen during the Christmas and New Year's holidays will involve at least one impaired driver. "Impaired" means anyone with a blood alcohol level above 0.08. Throughout the rest of the year, only 30 percent of highway fatalities include impaired drivers. In an effort to make our roads safer, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, did some investigating and found that young men between the ages of 18 and 34 were responsible for the vast majority...

Test shows 1 in 10 licensed U.S. drivers don't know basic rules. In the East, 20 percent fail quiz. --- NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - When faced with a written test, similar to ones given to beginning drivers applying for licenses, one in ten drivers couldn't get a passing score, according to a study commissioned by GMAC Insurance. The GMAC Insurance National Driver's Test found that nearly 20 million Americans, or about 1 in 10 drivers, would fail a state driver's test if they had to take one today. GMAC Insurance is part of General Motors' finance subsidiary, GMAC. More than...

Police: Woman Charged With Attempted Murder After Hitting Teens POSTED: 9:13 pm EST December 5, 2004 ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- A St Augustine woman is charged with attempted murder after she allegedly ran down two brothers and tried to hit a third brother after a seemingly harmless incident with a golf ball Sunday afternoon. According to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, Isiah Grayer, 14, and 16-year-old twins Justin and Jamel Marshman, were bouncing a golf ball in a parking lot on State Road 16 about 2:45 p.m. when it got away from them and hit an SUV owned by...

Since moving to Miami from California 18 months ago, Arnold Dejesus has narrowly escaped getting run over twice while crossing the street. Once, the 36-year-old salesman was so angry he kicked the offending car. Dejesus says Florida's roads are extremely dangerous for pedestrians, and according to a private study released Thursday, he is right. The study by the Washington, D.C.-based Surface Transportation Policy Project says Florida's roads are the nation's most dangerous for people walking along them. Tampa ranked first among the state's metropolitan areas with 3.69 pedestrian deaths annually per 100,000 people. Orlando was next with 3.15, and Miami-Fort...

Fourteen forestry workers from Honduras and Guatemala were killed when the van they were riding in pitched off a one-lane bridge into the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. It was the worst motor vehicle accident in Maine history. A single passenger survived when he was able to escape through the van's rear window and swim to the surface in 15 feet of water. The men were riding to a remote logging camp about 8 a.m. Thursday when they set out to cross a wooden bridge with no guardrails that spans the passage between Eagle Lake and Churchill Lake. State police troopers suspect...