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You finally find a spot in a packed parking lot and somebody's parked over the line so you can't fit. Or you've been waiting for someone to leave the lot and somebody pulls in to steal your claimed space. There are plenty of ways to be an asshole parker in this world, but few good ways to deal with them. Here's the best way to handle the situation. More »
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If your travel plans for Thanksgiving involve sitting behind the wheel for a few hours until you get to your destination, there are still a few things you should do before you leave to make sure that you get to your destination quickly and safely. More »
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Texting and driving may earn you a stiff fine, but driving while texting on one phone and talking on a second will earn you one year of riding your bike everywhere. Just ask David Secker of the UK. More »
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Many of us are already fans of rally racing, but driver Jeff Zurschmeide says if you're interested in motorsports at all, rallying should be at the top of your must-see list. Here's why. — Ed. More »
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Janitha Karunaratne took advantage of the BMW factory pickup option for his new 335is to launch a 10-day, 1,000-mile drive of the twistiest pavement in the Alps. Here's the six-minute video version for those twisting in an office chair. More »
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If we had a quarter for every time we were out driving around at night and accidentally got into a flamethrower versus fire extinguisher battle we'd easily be...umm... (Music video for Dancing Pigeons' "Ritalin") More »
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From the department of obvious things comes a poll indicating a third of men are afraid of their female partners' driving habits. The inquiry, completed by OnePoll.com, even has a convenient top ten list of male complaints. More »
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Are you the motorist who thinks you're a genius for breezing past a line of cars politely obeying the traffic laws or construction signs to wedge into the front of the pack. No, you're not a genius. You're an asshole. More »
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Police released the 20-minute-long video of Detroit Lions President Tom Lewand's arrest on suspicion of DUI Friday night, showing Lewand struggling to hide he's reportedly two-and-a-half times over the legal limit. Gosh, we can't imagine why he'd be drinking. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5575346&view=rss&microfeed=true Nate Silver and Esquire hate cars, and therefore, America. [Esquire] More »
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A Pennsylvania man called 911, on himself, to inform the cops he was too drunk to drive. It's a commendable gesture in a sort of dumbass-with-a-drinking-problem sort of way. More »
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We've thrown around the term "hoon" liberally. Now, thanks to this t-shirt, we've got an easy definition. More »
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Ford has announced a new feature available on many 2010 models called "My Key," consisting of a programmable computer chip imbedded in the key that limits vehicle speed to 80 MPH. Designed for parents of teen drivers, the My Key system will also limit the stereo volume settings and sound a constant chime if seat belts are not fastened; a chime can also be programmed to sound if the car exceeds 45, 55 or 65 MPH. So how is Ford countering the predictable teen driver PR backlash? By telling kids that the My Key system might get them behind the wheel more often. More »
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Helicopter parents rejoice! The Tiwi Blackbox is on the scene to prevent hoonage of any sort. The Tiwi monitors the speed of the vehicle in which it is installed; if the driver exceeds a pre-set speed threshold, it will issue a verbal warning to slow down. If your little hooligan continues to exceed the speed limit, the Tiwi uses an integrated GPS along with cellular technology to notify parents — or anyone else, like your probation officer — via e-mail, calls or text messages. The Tiwi Blackbox goes for $550 and has a $35 monthly fee, plus a personal apology from the manufacturer for stealing your childhood. [Tiwi via Giz] More »
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We hate to be the bearers of bad news, California and Washington state, but today, July 1, is the day that a new hands-free driving law goes into effect. Luckily for you, we're here to break down the new rules and explain what you can and can't do, along with providing some alternative options. Don't live in California or Washington? Check out our guide here to see what's happening in your state. More »
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Don't tell your boss, but now there's a way to be even more efficient, without being at the office. The CarGo Desk Mobile Laptop Desk mounts on the passenger side of your vehicle and includes a laptop stand, a miniature file cabinet, 400-watt power inverter, GPS mount, PDA mount, cell phone mount, printer mount and enough security devices to keep it all locked down, supposedly. More »
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The normally stuffy suits at IBM must've raided the ex-Xerox PARC labs for their latest project, as it's a bit out of left field. IBM is working on a steering wheel that has the ability to read a driver's lips and also serve as a drum machine. It does have some practical uses, as well — as if anything could be more practical than a lip-reading in-car drum machine. More »
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With just two weeks left until one of the most car-crazy states in the US bans handset usage while driving, it seems other places are taking note. Dallas, Texas has announced it will be banning handset use in all 651 area school zones. The idea behind the ordinance is understandable, with crosswalks, bus stops and roaming bands of children adding to the usual targets for distracted drivers. But we think enforcing this law may prove challenging. More »
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Using a Lincoln MKZ with an interior that looks an awful lot like the 2010 Ford Fusion (mostly due to the gigantic screen), a company by the name of Medtronic is developing an in-car system capable of monitoring blood-glucose levels specifically for diabetics. The diabetic-driver will wear a continuous glucose-monitoring system that will communicate wirelessly with the in-car infotainment system via Bluetooth. More »
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A study released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reiterates a fact made apparent by James Dean in the classic Rebel Without A Cause: teenagers are some rebellious bastards (for no apparent cause). In 2006, a law was enacted in North Carolina that completely banned persons under the age of 18 from using any type of cell phone device, including hands-free Bluetooth headsets, while driving. A study was conducted before the law went into effect, and again after the law was enacted, and yielded some alarming results. More »
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If you read both the 2008 Mazdaspeed3 and 2008 BMW 128i review, you may have noticed that a couple of pictures looked similar. There's a reason, Mark and I were out driving together. When doing a review it helps to have someone to go with you for assistance in setting up photos and, you know, it's a chance to drive twice the cars. It just so happens that we were near a particularly twisty stretch of road taking pictures when a gentleman in a black Z3 pulled up. Maybe he knew some other great places to drive. More »
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No matter how much technological mumbo-jumbo is put into modern traffic signals, nothing will top these analog beauties of yesteryear. Used from the 1940s to the 1970s in Australia, these signals are much more efficient because you can tell how much longer you have to wait before commencing hoonage. Despite being relatively small, hard to see and pretty much useless at night, they're still fantastic for impatient drivers (like damn near all of us). Either bring these back or change the illuminated traffic light into an illuminated countdown number. Now there's a hell of an idea. [Infosthetics via Giz] More »
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It's not often that we come across a gadget for which we can't possibly divine a use. At first ponder, you'd think the WheelNavi might have some purpose as an aid to impossibly technical driving — like the kind found on an Autocross course or through a field of boulders — but then you realize that its data — the degree of turn — is displayed so far out of the driver's line of site as to be totally useless. Could it be a learning aid for really dim driving students maybe? We just don't' get it. [Product Page via TFTS] More »
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Not a day goes by without a local news report discussing the dangers of driving while talking on a cell phone, but now researchers at the University of South Carolina are taking things one step further by analyzing what goes on in the brain that makes cell phone use while driving so damn dangerous. A series of experiments by Dr. Amit Almor demonstrated that preparing to speak or actually speaking was four times more distracting than simply listening. Another experiment by Almor lead to some findings that could definitely change the landscape for the future of communicating while driving. More »
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California is really going balls to the wall with laws regarding driver distractions. The hands-free requirement is inching closer to being implemented and that animal petting law is still going through the ringer. But in an odd move, California is now proposing a law that would allow drivers to have windshield-mounted GPS units. Oh, you didn't know? Yeah, having a windshield-mounted GPS is illegal in California and punishable with "obstructed view" citations. The specifications behind this new law isn't being accepted well among the GPS faithful. More »
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A recent survey by the Nationwide insurance company has shown some surprising results in regards to cell phone usage among Americans. More »
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There's been some pretty high-tech solutions to the on-going problem of sleeping drivers, but this device tries to simply the process. The Anti-Sleep Driving Alarm is an alarm worn around the ear. If it senses the head tilting 30 degrees or more it will sound a high-pitched alarm. It's as simple as that. The funny part is how this product is being marketed. More »
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This week must unofficially be the seatbelt gadgetry week. First we saw a newfangled seatbelt for the pregnant ladies and now we have a seatbelt light. There's not much explaining needed for this gadget — it's a light, that attaches to the seatbelt. We wonder how the manufacturer of this device can sleep at night knowing its product is risking the lives of hundreds of drivers daily. Using a seatbelt light obviously means the eyes are somewhere else than the road, therefore causing a great safety risk. More »
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California Assemblyman Bill Maze is proposing a new law that would make driving with an animal in your lap illegal and punishable by a $35 fine. The law passed through the California Assembly this week and will be making its way to the Senate. It's a pretty obvious that those crazy old cougars that drive around with their miniature toy dogs in their laps pose a giant risk to other motorists so there's no reason not to go ahead with this law. More »
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Planners in the Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn had a little fun when putting up stop signs and now that fun is done thanks to a party-pooping mayor. The signs are the standard issue octagons, but included are funny catchphrases and song lyrics that commonly accompany the word "stop." The hijinks include "Stop In The Naaaame of Love" and "Stop Right Pilgrim." The mayor isn't necessarily the bad guy because he is abiding by the Illinois Department of Transportation that says the signs violate the Federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and failure to remove the signs could cost the city federal funding. Of course, the intention of the signs were to get motorists to actually stop by hoping they would read the signs and let out a chuckle. It's okay, Oak Lawn, just don't... STOP ...believin'... [AP] More »
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A recent study by Erie Insurance points out a lot of factors that anyone under the age of 60 probably already knows. The insurance company conducted a study surveying 2,127 licensed teenage drivers and came to the shocking conclusion that teens like to talk on the phone, text message and listen to loud music while driving. More »
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It pains us to hear it, but everyone is up in arms lately over the racing wins by Danica Patrick and Ashely Force. One of the lingering stances on the matter (and one we heard on that bastion of common sense: talk radio) is that the women have every right to compete and win because racing relies mostly on the car, and not the competitor. Well, anybody whose driven a car faster than 65 mph knows that a car can put strain on the body. Wired put together an excellent infographic detailing parts of the body and what a 200-plus mph can do to it. Click the picture above or the link below to see it in its full glory. If anything, being a race car driver is harder on women who generally have smaller body frames than men, possibly making their victories even more impressive. Now, let the debate begin! [Wired] More »
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CNN has been running this video of a pretty standard, run-of-the-mill highway chase, but what makes it more hilarious and hoon-like is that the driver is hauling a lone, zero-turn radius mower on a trailer. He does a fairly good job driving that truck with the trailer at high speeds, until the mower gets loose and causes him to jackknife the truck. Oh the irony. [CNN via Toolmonger] More »
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Who needs wife when you can have a tiny box with three LEDs constantly judging your driving? The U.K. military has begun testing a program that will monitor driving habits of its personnel. Installed in 200 vehicles is a system from Greenroad Technologies. It uses a green, yellow and red LEDs to rate your driving based on a memory of 120 different maneuvers. More »
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Sharing is caring and nowhere is that more important than when it comes to speed traps. We've seen all sorts of backward hacks on how to tell your fellow lover of speed the dangers that await them after the next bend. Flashing headlights, weird waving signals with our hands. Hell, we've even had people fling fries at us through an open window to get our attention. Let's remove the fast food from the equation, shall we? Enter Trapster, a new service giving users the ability to send and receive speed trap information on the fly, by way of their mobile phone. We like the service quite a bit, as it uses cell phone triangulation, GPS capabilities and Wi-Fi to pinpoint the drivers' locations and warn for approaching speed traps. More »
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We all known that sleeping drivers is a leading cause of automobile deaths and accidents, but researchers are learning of less technological ways to combat dozing drivers: blue lights. The latest studies show that sleepy drivers should take a 30-minute blue light "bath" to combat drowsiness while driving. Why would one choose blue lights instead of coffee, energy drinks and cigarettes? More »
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If you've ever been to New York you likely know that cabbies can be pretty big d-bags when it comes to using the horn, honking at damn near anything, now people are finally taking a stand. A new proposal is looking to modify taxi cabs so the vehicle will be visually identified when honking. It's illegal to honk a horn in New York except in cases of imminent danger, but an officer has to physically see a horn being honked to issue a ticket. This new proposal would make seeing a horn honking a lot easier. More »
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In a move that most drivers would deem as excellent, the Japan police will begin encouraging drivers 65 and older to hand in their keys, permanently. The police will be teaming up with local businesses to attempt to get the elderly to surrender their driving privileges. No surprise, but the move has come as result of accidents in 2007—100,000 of which involved elderly drivers. However, instead of asking nicely for the keys, bribery is being used to influence the older drivers. More »
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We've been debating the validity of red light cameras for quite some time now, but if you need some more evidence for or against them, take a look at what my glorious home city has done. Dallas has decided to "idle" (or shut off) a quarter of the 62 red light cameras scattered around the city because they do not generate enough money to pay for themselves thereby leaving non-functional cameras still up and hopefully still deterring red-runners. More »
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You should be well aware of your own state's laws regarding use of cellphone while driving, but how about those Aussies? A recent report shows that police in Victoria have managed to wrangle approximately $5 million worth of revenue from silly drivers talking on the phone. They way the Aussies take the fines is an interesting one. More »
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