Free Republic

A tipsy Long Island teen went for a passed-out joyride in a Tesla — which he switched into autopilot mode on a busy Connecticut highway before going to sleep and being busted by cops, state police said. Garden City native Guido Reinoso-Gallegos, 19, was slumped over the steering wheel as the self-driving vehicle rolled down I-91 south in Wethersfield at just 30 miles per hour with its hazard lights flashing when he was arrested around 12:30 am Friday. Despite not having his hands on the wheel, Gallegos was charged with driving under the influence because he still needs the awareness...

As drivers on U.S. highways cross from one state to another, they often are greeted by a large "Welcome to ...." sign. But not all drivers are welcome in every state. In Florida, motorists with special out-of-state driver's licenses issued to those in the U.S. illegally are not welcome to drive. Wyoming's governor enacted a comparable ban this year. And Tennessee's governor said he will sign similar legislation sent to his desk recently. The message, though not literally printed on metal, is clear: "The sign says, 'Welcome to Tennessee, illegal immigrants are not welcome,'" Tennessee House Majority Leader William Lamberth...

Three illegal migrants were charged in Arlington, Texas, in connection to a deadly drunk-driving crash on Saturday night that killed a 22-year-old man. The Arlington Police Department said the incident occurred when the 25-year-old Cesar Ramirez Castro swerved onto the shoulder of I-20 and slammed his truck into a parked vehicle that then collided with a concrete barrier to set it on fire. Police discovered the body of a 22-year-old man inside the vehicle after the fire was extinguished. Per Fox News: Police charged Ramirez Castro with one count of intoxication manslaughter and one count of collision involving death. Two...

A New Jersey mayor accused of drunk driving allegedly drove her toddler home from day care on St. Patrick’s Day, nearly crashing on the road only days after resigning from her job with another town. Lumberton Township leader Gina LaPlaca was arrested for her alleged booze-induced stunt on March 17 after she picked up her 2-year-old son from day care. The 45-year-old Democrat was allegedly captured on video by another driver swerving all over the road, nearly crashing into a utility pole before the footage was shared with police, WPVI reported, citing charging documents. Police traced the car back to...

In the Grand Canyon state, it's illegal to slow traffic down by traveling below the speed limit. However, it's also illegal to "camp," or use the left (or passing lane) as a travel lane. In most states, the law mandates drivers to travel in the right lane and use the left lane strictly as a passing lane. If you travel in the left lane and slow other drivers down, Republican Rep. Teresa Martinez is coming after you with a new bill. She became inspired to propose the bill when she found herself caught in traffic caused by a bad driver....

A new study reveals a staggering number of elderly Americans experiencing cognitive decline continue to drive, raising concerns about road safety nationwide.There are approximately 48 million licensed drivers aged 65 and older in the United States, with around 17 percent of seniors suffering from mild cognitive impairment, according to a StudyFinds.org.This situation presents a considerable challenge in ensuring road safety while also preserving the independence of older adults.According to an analysis conducted by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, the healthcare system must improve its monitoring and evaluation of older adults who are still licensed to drive. The...

Wild video shows an 8-year-old Ohio girl swerving her family’s SUV across lanes on a 25-minute joyride to go shopping in Target. Dashcam footage released Wednesday shows alarmed motorist Justin Kimery calling 911 on Sunday, assuming it was an adult driving dangerously in a 2020 Nissan Rogue, WSAZ reported. “There’s a guy in a car, he’s like right behind me. He’s swerving all over, he’s swerving everywhere like in all the lanes,” Kimery said — not realizing at first it was a young girl behind the wheel. Kimery keeps up with the swerving SUV for several minutes, at one point...

As the story unfolds, it seems as though Haitian migrants can’t be trusted around house cats, in the public parks, or apparently, behind the wheel of a car. Watch the video below, from Tyler Oliveria, as he interviews residents of Springfield, Ohio, and pokes around the DMV: Tyler Oliveira @tyleraloevera 🚨 BREAKING: SPRINGFIELD, OHIO UPDATE Locals say the 20,000+ Haitians cannot drive and believe they pose a threat to public safety. No one knows how they are getting driver's licenses and cars so quickly despite them seemingly having no understanding of traffic laws. With rumors of a "cheat sheet" being...

A bad move from a totalitarian-minded leftist leader in Germany is sure to give Joe Biden ideas. Germany’s transport minister (and progressive politician), Volker Wissing, last month vowed to ban driving on weekends to meet Germany's climate-related goals. It's either do that or else he wants the ruling coalition to pass more restrictions within the Climate Protection Act come July. According to the German newspaper BILD, as cited by Politico, Wissing penned a letter to the coalition’s parliamentary group leaders, in which he bemoaned the fact that the reforms haven’t yet been approved. Wissing, whose initials are ironically those of...

Nut Zero strikes again. The German Transport Minister is bowing to the inevitable: Net Zero laws in Germany must be changed. Unless they are, driving on weekends will have to be banned. Germans were warned weekend driving may be banned to meet 'net zero ' targets.A corresponding reduction in traffic performance would only be possible through restrictive measures that are difficult to communicate to the population, such as nationwide and indefinite driving bans on… pic.twitter.com/U6i3rdZ9Na— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) April 15, 2024Volker Wissing, a member of the minority Free Democratic Party--a center/center-right party in Germany that often holds the balance of...

G.M. had provided information about braking, acceleration and speed to LexisNexis Risk Solution and Verisk, firms that generated driver risk profiles for insurers... General Motors said Friday that it had stopped sharing details about how people drove its cars with two data brokers that created risk profiles for the insurance industry. The decision followed a New York Times report this month that G.M. had, for years, been sharing data about drivers’ mileage, braking, acceleration and speed with the insurance industry. The drivers were enrolled — some unknowingly, they said — in OnStar Smart Driver, a feature in G.M.’s internet-connected cars...

Imagine if you could drive at night with your high beams on all the time, bathing the road ahead in bright light but without ever blinding other drivers. In Europe and Asia, many cars offer adaptive driving beam headlights that can do this. ADB is a lighting technology that has been available for many years in other parts of the world including Europe, China and Canada, but not in the United States. It can actually shape the light coming from headlights rather than scattering it all over the road. If there’s a car coming in the other direction, or one...

A provision in the 2021 "infrastructure" spending package, as it turns out, includes a provision that directs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to come up with a way to stop you from driving your car or truck if the government doesn't want you to. The measure is sold as a way to keep people from driving while impaired, but the implications are chilling. "A provision in the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden signed in 2021 directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to come up with a rule by this year requiring new...

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – The West Virginia State Senate has passed a bill designed to keep slow drivers out of the fast lane. Senate Bill 441 was introduced to the State Senate in January with a goal of restricting slow drivers from driving in the left lane, or the fast lane, of multi-lane roads. It would require drivers to remain in the right lane, except in circumstances such as passing a vehicle, preparing to exit to the left or if the right side of the road is in need of repair or otherwise unsafe to drive on, among other exceptions....

More than one in every ten fatal crashes in California is a hit-and-run, according to a new study involving federal traffic data. The research, commissioned by Suzuki Law Offices, looked at National Highway Traffic Safety Administration figures between 2017 and 2021. Of the 18,137 fatal crashes in California during that period, 1,901, or 10.48%, involved drivers who fled the scene. That’s the highest total number of fatal hit-and-runs in the nation and significantly above the national rate of 6.33%, the data showed.

Maine House Speaker’s Plan to Give Illegal Aliens Driver’s Licenses is Dead – For Now Edward Tomic A bill proposed by Maine House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) that would have allowed illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses was shot down by the Legislature’s Transportation Committee during a Tuesday afternoon public hearing. The bill, LD 1138, would have removed the requirement to prove legal presence in the U.S. in order to obtain a Maine driver’s license or state identification card. When opening the public hearing on the bill, Transportation Committee Chair Rep. Lydia Crafts (D-Newcastle) said that Talbot Ross had...

Thousands of commuters around the world lose their lives in vehicular accidents each year, and in the U.S., the most dangerous time to drive can actually depend on which state you’re in.According to the CDC, car crashes are the eighth leading cause of death globally, and the leading cause for young people between the ages of 5–29 years old. Each day, the U.S. alone sees an average of 102 fatal traffic accidents.Visual Capitalist's Freny Fernandes introduces this graphic by Clunker Junker uses data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to identify the most dangerous time to drive in...

On last Monday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that he doubts “that Americans in 2050 are still going to be driving that old technology, that combustion technology that we inherited from the 20th century.” Buttigieg said, “[T]he share of EVs has been dramatically increasing every single year, and that’s continuing. Now, our goal is, by the end of this decade, to be about half-and-half. We think that that can and will happen. But what isn’t guaranteed is, first of all, is that EV revolution going to continue to be made in...

The suspect in the shooting of a beloved father-of-four in Portland is a futures fund manager with a weighty arrest history - who also jets around the country giving blockchain lectures at conventions. Geoffrey Edward Hammond, 46, runs Aequantium LLC, claims to be of Australian descent, and also comes from a family of entrepreneurs with a $125million fortune. For unknown reasons, Hammond also changed his named from Jeffrey Edward Mandalis in recent years, court records show. He was driving a black Mercedes Benz and stopped in front of the Moxy Hotel in Portland, blocking traffic, last week. After getting into...

Electric vehicle manufacturers have exaggerating the driving range of their vehicles by more than twice as much as advertised in some cases, according to a study by SAE International. On average, electric vehicles (EV) fall short of their advertised range by 12.5%, according to a study by SAE International. The study included 21 different brands, and revealed that EV manufacturers as a whole inflate the range of their vehicles far beyond their actual capabilities. Tesla seems to be inflating the numbers far more than other brands. SAE International revealed that the range displayed on Tesla vehicle’s dashboard is 26% lower...