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D.C. Street Sweepers Giving Out Parking Tickets
Think it's embarrassing getting a parking ticket from the sweet old meter maid? Soon you'll have a new foe. Street sweepers in the Washington, D.C. area will be equipped with the means to scan and photograph cars parked in street sweeping zones. The bill to equip the street sweepers was passed unanimously in the D.C. city council. A final vote will happen next month that will make the tattle-telling street sweepers a reality. More »
news
A white Ford Crown Victoria plowed into a group of street-racing fans on a highway about 20 miles south of Washington, D.C. on Saturday, killing eight people and scattering bodies in the early morning darkness. In addition to the fatalities, at least five other spectators were injured of the 50 or so people gathered before dawn along Route 210 in little Accokeek, MD to watch cars drag down the usually quite deserted stretch of blacktop. Here's what happened according to the AP:
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Maryland Street Racing Crash Leaves 8 Dead, One Crumpled Crown Vic
A white Ford Crown Victoria plowed into a group of street-racing fans on a highway about 20 miles south of Washington, D.C. on Saturday, killing eight people and scattering bodies in the early morning darkness. In addition to the fatalities, at least five other spectators were injured of the 50 or so people gathered before dawn along Route 210 in little Accokeek, MD to watch cars drag down the usually quite deserted stretch of blacktop. Here's what happened according to the AP:More »
news
Texting While Driving Law Goes In Effect Today In Washington State, Teenagers Not LOL
OMG! Whatever you have to tell your BFF Payal better wait as the police in Washington State are now empowered to ticket your ass. A law designed to curb composing text messages went into effect on Tuesday. Penalties range from $124 for a driver texting or emailing to $175 if that texting leads to an accident. IMHO, it's not a bad law as you should probably be looking at the road and not your crackberry. More »
news
World's Best Dad: Kids Repo'ed With Car While Dad Snacks
This sort of reminds us of an episode of CHiPs where a kid gets accidentally kidnapped when someone steals a car, except this is much funnier. A Spokane man left his kids locked in his 1996 Ford Explorer momentarily while he ran in for doughnuts, which is a good reason to abandon kids. It apparently takes dad a while to order, because in that time a quick handed repo man was able to tow the car away with the kids inside. More »
news
Shotgun Proves Sub-Optimal For Busting Nut
You know how it's always the last lugnut you can't remove when you're in a hurry to get the Lincoln rolling again? You try every leverage trick known to Archimedes, hose everything down with Liquid Wrench, the works, but that obstinate nut just won't turn. Now, most of us would probably get an impact wrench involved at this point, but this gentleman in Southworth, Washington, figured he had a better idea: grab his trusty shotgun and start blasting away at the offending fastener. Quicker than you can say "Steel is harder than lead," it was off to the emergency room for some fun with X-rays and scalpels! [Associated Press]
crime
Cops Keeping $277K Seized From Traffic Stop, To Buy Darkest Glasses Ever
If you're driving around with hundreds of thousands of dollars in a briefcase you might want to come up with an excuse before you get on the freeway. A 35-year-old British Columbia man was stopped by Washington State Troopers in Seattle and was unable to explain where the money came from. We're going to go out on a limb and say it has to do with the non-British Columbia. Since no one claimed the money, 90% of it goes to a drug enforcement fund and the rest goes to the state's general fund. See, the War on Drugs is working! [News Tribune
novelties
Holy Cow! Flying Cow Crushes Minivan
It's been a while since we've taken a physics course, so we can't be sure what the total force of 600 pounds of live beef falling 200 feet is, but we're fairly certain that we don't want it falling on us. A Spokane, Washington couple had this exact experience while driving their minivan near the popular Lake Chelan tourist area yesterday. Apparently, the cow had wandered away from home (possibly distraught) a few days earlier and made it five miles before the jump. The vehicle's passengers weren't injured, but the cow had to be euthanized. Dinner that night in the Chelan County Sheriff's Department mess was somber but delicious. [Reuters]
news
Not Quite "Good To Go" for Tacoma Toll Users
Transit officials in Tacoma thought they were at the forefront of technology when they initiated the unfortunately named "Good To Go" electronic toll system on one of their bridges. Turns out they're actually on the forefront of annoying people. Instead of the system automatically deducting the toll amount from their patrons' accounts, it's apparently popping 18 out of 100 compliant drivers. One family got nailed to the tune of $2,500. But of course, the toll operators are in no hurry to fix the problem. Said the director of toll operations: "We're always looking to continually improve, but the system is working well. I can't see of any major changes that are coming along in the near future." We can think of a minor one. [KING-TV]
carsharing
Car Sharing to Get More Tax-ing in Washington State
Flexcar/Zipcar users around Washington State are going to see the price of their car sharing rise this week as a nearly 10% car rental tax is going to be applied to their services. The rental car companies were displeased with the exemption for car sharing since they consider their services comparable, and the state's tax collectors agreed. There's an interesting balance at work here. On one hand, car sharing services (like rental car companies) utilize public roads and benefit from many public entities and should therefore pay taxes. On the other hand, the company does pay taxes on its income, gas, payroll, et cetera and helps the city lower its congestion by allowing numerous people to use one car. In the end, what happens will be a matter of who is willing to fight harder for/against the exemption. [Marketplace]
it's electric!
As we told you earlier this week, the Volt made its way to the District of Columbia. And look, it can move in reverse. We hear the next iteration of the alt-fuel concept car will be able to move in forward gears. At least we're hoping so for the General's sake.
The Chevy Volt Goes To Washington
As we told you earlier this week, the Volt made its way to the District of Columbia. And look, it can move in reverse. We hear the next iteration of the alt-fuel concept car will be able to move in forward gears. At least we're hoping so for the General's sake.
but was kate winslet naykid?
Mukilteo Ferries: Ship Containing Cars, Passengers, Crashes
Okay, we admit that we essentially chose this story as a chance to make a totally obscure reference in the headline, but what is Jalopnik but a wanton vanity project that we're attempting to bring y'all along on? That aside, a ferry with a capacity of 124 cars and 1,200 passengers smacked into a piling at a higher-than-average rate of speed on its way into Mulkiteo, Washington from Whidbey Island. Near as we can tell, one passenger was mildly injured due to a fall down the stairs induced by the impact. The Cathlamet apparently suffered a puncture above the waterline. The Trail of Dead guys are bummed. More »
news
Drunk Blows 0.47 On Breathalyzer, Breaks Washington State Record
Talk about the award you don't want to win! Ex-cop Deana F. Jarrett of Woodinville eliminated all contenders for the Washington's Drunkest Driver Ever record by registering an embalming-fluid-esque 0.47% blood-alcohol reading. She'd been in a couple of hit-and-run collisions immediately prior to being busted (plus she'd been popped for DUI just the previous week). Doctors estimate a person her size would have to drink about 25 ounces of hard liquor- say, a fifth of Wild Turkey- in a very short time in order to hit 0.47; any level above 0.40% is considered potentially lethal. More »
novelties
Seattle Supra Owner Gets "GOT MILF" License Plate Ganked By State
Why would someone ever want to take away the Stiffler-esque vanity plate of this young lad from the Seattle area? And seriously, who would ever marry a guy who had this license plate? More »
novelties
Fast Blast to Seattle Circa '88
Steve over at Finkbuilt (a site we don't visit nearly enough) posted this little film clip he produced back in 1988 by sticking a cheapo Super 8 camera out the sunroof of his car and shooting individual frames all the way from Oly to Seattle. The quality of the footage is roughly the inverse of any given Top Gear clip, but the ragged DIY aesthetic takes us back to simpler, slower more analogue times. We like that. More »
news
Van? Or Astro Van? Electrician Cracks it Up on Track, Either Way
A 33-year-old electrician decided to brush up on his hoon skills by taking his '93 Astro (or was it a Safari? The report calls it a GMC Astrovan, which, of course, doesn't exist) around Pacific Raceways near Auburn, WA. Without authorization. And with a dog in the vehicle. While possibly inebrious. Say hello to Armco, mofo. Thankfully, the dog was uninjured. The driver, however, wasn't so lucky. He ended up a medevac flight to the hospital in serious condition. As for the Astro? Birdstuff is undoubtedly pissed. [Thanks to Kevin for the tip.] More »
racing
Holy Small-Displacement V-8! WWU's Viking XXX Formula SAE Car
Reader Alex tipped us off to this fully awesome carbon-fiber monocoque Formula SAE car that a friend of his worked on while at Western Washington University. While the chassis is impressive, the best part of it to us is the engine: .554L, Kawasaki 250 heads, custom machined-from-billet block and crank, and oh, eight freaking cylinders. We can't wait to see what they'll come up with for an encore. a quad-turbo W-16 125, maybe? More »
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