Have you ever been driving down your local highway, happen to look out the window and uttered the words: “That is the ugliest car I have ever seen. Who would drive that thing?” I know that this thought has entered my mind on numerous occasions. Car designs are rarely unique, and those designs which are distinctive are sometimes distinctly awful. That said, if you have ever visited the website for Car Talk, NPR’s wildly successful program about all things humerously automotive, you may have stumbled upon their ugly car vote.

The list is comprised of the Hummer H2, Scion xB, Pontiac Aztek, Honda Element, Chrysler PT Cruiser, BMW 5 Series, Chrysler 300, Chevy Avalanche, Subaru Baja and the Dodge Magnum. The current leader of the pack is the Pontiac Aztek, which I must admit on a personal note, is indeed a horribly ugly car. Or perhaps the word “car” is a misnomer, maybe “car, station-wagon, SUV thing” is more apt. “Click and Clack” hit the nail on the head when they said:

“That didn’t just get hit with an ugly stick; it came charging out of the ugly forest!”

Whatever your preference is towards the list, surly you know of at least one car that makes you wonder who designed it, and how it ever made it to production. This all begs the question: Who’s buying these things? While I must admit I know a few people who are proud-ish owners of some of the listed cars, I think they can be best summed up by a famous line in When Harry Met Sally: “Everybody thinks they have good taste and a sense of humor but they couldn’t possibly all have good taste.” I’m sure I’m a victim too.

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The United Auto Workers union is voicing their support (no surprise) for Barack Obama, while foaming at the mouth with anger at John McCain. It seems that the pro-union Obama is more than happy to take your tax dollars and subsidize the auto industry. Obama hopes to send $25 billion of our tax dollars to Detroit to help struggling domestic auto makers.

This situation begs the question: Why support a failing venture? While it is nice to say that America has some manufacturing jobs, the simple fact is that American car companies are behind the times. The Detroit manufacturers are simply feeling the squeeze of a free market. They are learning that if they continue producing lackluster vehicles, no one will buy them.

It strikes me as strange that while China grows increasingly Capitalistic, and in turn is bringing massive profit into its economy, Washington seems to be heading where China came from. If Obama has his way we will be turning the Detroit automakers into what amounts to a government run company, an undeniably socialist move. Is it not government money that will be keeping them afloat? That said, why pay money to support an industry that will produce cars no one wants to buy? Wouldn’t it be smarter to look to invest in new ideas and look to the future rather than attempting to remain current in a field we were on top of around a century ago? The converse side of all this is McCain, who has embraced rewards for battery development, and a tax credit for consumers who purchase fuel efficient cars. Maybe McCain’s way isn’t perfect, but it’s ironic that the candidate who everyone is calling “too old,” is the one that isn’t living 100 years in the past.

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If you remember the onslaught of automotive ads from years past advertising “employee pricing,” prepare for round two. GM unveiled a new plan that sounds not-so-surprisingly old. All GM models will be featuring the employee discounted rates that helped transport units years ago. Jamie Lareau of Automotive News writes:

In a memo to Buick-Pontiac-GMC dealers, GM said the sale would run Aug. 20 through Sept. 2. For the B-P-G channel, the employee pricing would apply to all 2008 models and the 2009 Pontiac Vibe. Customers could get up to $6,000 cash plus the employee discount.

The gimmick reminds me of an old story about Henry Ford. Legend has it that Ford paid his workers the exorbitant rate of $5 per day for the sole purpose of making his employees wealthy enough to purchase the very automobiles they were producing.

GM’s stock has been down over the last year and is in need of an economic boost. The company’s first move is apparently to attempt to drive up sales on vehicles which will likely fall out of production in the coming years. Thinking about it, GM does seem to be in the middle of an image overhaul. The brand most associated with Hummer and Escalade is looking to the future not only by attempting to purge itself of it’s current stock of gas guzzlers, but they have also been developing cars that will likely take the helm as their flagstaff vehicles: the Chevy Volt comes to mind. With any luck the GM pricing ploy will boost sales and keep the company on solid ground until the image change is complete.

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The future looks a lot greener for those who are wheelchair-bound. Sometime this year, the UK will release the first ever electrically powered vehicle designed specifically for those who are wheelchair users. According to the website, the Kenguru is “the car [we] have all been waiting for”.

Some of its features include but are certainly not limited to:

• ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY
• Driven directly from the driver’s wheelchair
• No special handicapped spaces required (since car can be backed up to pavement for entry)
• Only a “scooter driver’s license” is required since this is how the Kenguru is classified
• Equipped with motorcycle-type handlebar controls for driving
• Cool Safety Features (automatic closing rear door once key is in ignition)

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I used to live in a townhome community where there was a lot of traffic that would flow in and out. Eventually, the complaints started flowing into the townhome community about the number of speeders, which brought up the subject of speedbumps as a way to slow the drivers down. People wanted to slow down the speed of people zipping in and out of the community, but in the same breath, they didn’t really want to put speedbumps in either.

Speedbumps are Bad?

Many people want to implement the use of speed bumps in their communities where they live so that they can slow down drivers who are speeding out of control through streets. It is a safety issue. But on the other hand is the issue of saving your car. While speed bumps are great for forcing drivers (most of them) to slow down, there are still those driver who don’t really bother to slow down at all. The result? Damage to the undercarriage of their cars and damage to the suspension. Speeders aren’t the only one whose cars are taking a beating from speedbumps, however. If you live in a community where there are speedbumps and your home is located towards the back of that community, then think about how often your vehicle will have to hit ALL of those speedbumps in the course of just one month!

Additionally, speedbumps are said to cause many property values to go down (I’m not sure if this is true or not though) for the reasons stated above. There is also the issue of speedbumps slowing down police officers or ambulances who may be trying to enter into a neighborhood or community to respond to a call. Got an issue with speedbumps? We’d love to hear about it!

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Bad habits are like a comfortable bed; easy to get into and hard to get out of. This is especially true if you are a licensed driver. There is no better (or worse, depending on how you look at it) place to develop bad habits than on the roadways that you share with other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. Jennifer Steinhauer wrote a great article for the New York Times about how the state of California is doing something to help curb the bad habits of motorists. In her article, she states:

…California became the fifth state to require that all drivers use a headset with their cellphones. Drivers under the age of 18, under a separate law, may not use a wireless telephone of any form while operating a motor vehicle, a law shared with 13 other states.

Additionally, it is now illegal for California drivers to smoke in their cars if minors are with them (which really isn’t such a bad thing if you think about it). Other considerations that the state of California is thinking about include:

• a bill that would forbid driving with a dog on your lap
• a bill that would empower cities to impound vehicles used by motorists who are soliciting prostitutes

Perhaps we should pick up a few ideas from the state of California. In cities where people don’t really have a choice but to hop in their car and hit the road, it is absolutely imperative that we have some sorts of rules or regulations in place to help us all be safer on the roadways.

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Despite the fact that gas prices have gone down a little in recent weeks, people are still bitter about getting their paychecks and then turning them right over to the attendant at the gas station. But not everyone is being affected so harshly by the high cost of gas. For instance, many of us would probably assume that in a major city like New York, where you have such a diverse group of people from all sorts of different socio-economic backgrounds, the price of gas wouldn’t really be such a big deal because most people either walk, bicycle, take a cab or use the subway and bus systems. But what about the cabs-they’re cars right?

How Have the Gas Prices Affected Cabs?

Driving isn’t such a big deal for most people who live in New York City because most people don’t drive themselves anywhere (or at least not nearly as much as other cities). If anything, many New Yorkers (if they’re transporting themselves somewhere) are using motorcycles, mopeds or bicycles to navigate the often crowded and narrow city streets.

One article in the New York Times mentioned how as gas prices have gone up, so have the cab fares. Cab drivers are now demanding a surcharge of approximately $1 per trip in order to increase the drivers’ incomes as well as help out with the price of staying on the road. But is this fair? Riding in a cab is a lot better now than it used to be, but many passengers complain about the cab drivers’ use of cellular phones and radios while navigating city streets and traffic. Then there is always the added annoyance of various drivers’ apparently “taking their time” to get somewhere in an effort to inadvertently let the meter run a little. So, what should’ve been a 5$ ride magically turns into almost double the price.

At the end of the day, we have to find a happy medium. Taking a cab shouldn’t cost you any more money out-of-pocket than it’s really worth…don’t you think?

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[special thanks to one of my readers, Steve Auger, for suggesting this topic!]

Have you ever used a roundabout and actually sat there rather than moved? The whole point of using a roundabout is to help traffic flow more smoothly. If this is the case, then why is it that so many of us are confused when we first approach one? Didn’t they have roundabouts in driver’s education classes?

According to Wikipedia,

Overall, roundabouts are statistically safer than both traffic circles and traditional intersections, with the exception that cyclists have a significantly increased crash rate at large roundabouts. Roundabouts do not cope as well with the traffic on motorways, highways, or similar fast roads.

In the Raleigh/Durham area, for example, NC State University incorporated the use of a roundabout on its campus, and I swear- I have never seen so many people get stuck. It’s literally as if they don’t know what to do when they get to it. I’ve witnessed people put their indicators on to enter the circle. I’ve seen people stop in the middle of the circle to let other people in. I’ve even seen people go around the roundabout several times (Perhaps they can figure out how to exit it- much like a revolving door?)

Common Problems with Roundabouts

When it comes to roundabouts, there are usually several safety-related problems that drivers face:

• approaching the roundabout too quickly
• lack of signs indicating that there is a roundabout
• pedestrians
• cyclists
• lane configuration

When you are driving, always be aware of your surroundings. Look for signs indicating that there is a roundabout ahead. This can greatly reduce your risk of approaching the roundabout too quickly. Other considerations to take into account are that of other pedestrians and cyclists. Similar to drivers, pedestrians and cyclists should be made aware of the general functions of a roundabout and let this guide them in how they use it. Always yield to pedestrians. Additionally, for larger roundabouts, lanes delineation can often be a problem. When roads lack lanes, drivers often feel lost. For smaller roundabouts, this isn’t typically a problem, but becomes increasingly so as the roundabouts increase in size in order to accommodate larger amounts of traffic. Got a story about using a roundabout? Let us know!

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One of the biggest ways in which we recognize cars is by the logo they carry. For instance, if someone showed you a Mercedes-Benz without the trademark Mercedes-Benz logo, would you still recognize the car? The writers over at Neatorama.com did an awesome job talking about the evolution of car logos for several popular cars.

Using their blog as a guide, let’s take a look at one of my favorite cars, the Audi. Did you ever wonder how that name even came into fruition? Taken from their page:

German engineer August Horch, who used to work for Karl Benz, founded his own automobile company A. Horch & Cie in 1899. A decade later, he was forced out of his own company and set up a new company in another town and continued using the Horch brand. His former partners sued him, and August Horch was forced to look for a new name.

In 1932, four car makers Audi, Horch, DKW, and Wanderer merged to form Auto Union. The logo of Auto Union, four interlinked rings that would later become the modern Audi logo, was used only in racing cars - the four factories continued to produce cars under their own names and emblems.

So, the next time you’re out for a drive around town and look around at the cars around you, see if you can recognize the type of car minus the trademark logo; and realize that there is a lot more to an automobile than just the name.

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If you ask drivers, many of them would probably agree that cyclists shouldn’t be in the roadway. After all, they are aggressive, cutting drivers off and weaving in and out of traffic. I’m just kidding. Most cyclists are extremely careful when they are riding alongside traffic. They usually obey all of the traffic rules, and are hardly a nuisance to other drivers.

Bicycle Rules and Safety That Everyone Should Know

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),

The first automobile crash in the United States occurred in New York City in 1896, when a motor vehicle collided with a pedalcycle rider. More than 51,000 pedalcyclists have died in traffic crashes in the United States since 1932-the first year win which estimates of pedalcyclist fatalities were recorded…In 2006, 773 pedalcyclists were killed and an additional 44,000 were injured in traffic crashes. Pedalcyclist deaths accounted for 2 percent of all traffic fatalities, and pedalcyclists made up 2 percent of all the people injured in traffic crashes during the year.

So, how can future accidents be prevented between drivers and cyclists? The NHTSA recommends several things:

1. Wear a Helmet: All cyclists should wear properly fitted bicycle helmets every time they ride- no matter what the age. Wearing a helmet is the best way to prevent head injuries which result from a bicycle crash.
2. Obey Traffic Rules: Cyclists are considered vehicle operators. Therefore, they are required to obey the same rules of the road as any other driver. This includes things such as obeying traffic signs, signals and lane markings. If you are cycling in the street, cyclists must ride in the same direction as traffic.
3. Share the Road: Drivers must share the road with bicyclists. Just because someone isn’t in a vehicle, doesn’t mean that you have the right to rule the road. Be courteous, allowing at least three feet of clearance when passing a cyclist on the road (this may mean changing lanes or slowing down). Also, be sure that you look for cyclists (as well as other pedestrians such as runners) before opening your car door or before pulling out of a parking space. Drivers must yield to cyclists at intersections as directed by signs and signals. If a cyclist is in the roadway, be especially watchful if they prepare to turn.
4. Wear Proper Clothing: Cyclists should always look for ways to increase their visibility to drivers by being more cognizant of what they’re wearing. For example, wearing fluorescent or brightly colored clothing during times of poor visibility (ie. dawn, dusk, inclement weather) will dramatically improve visibility to other drivers. At night, cyclists should attach a front light to their bikes and/or a red reflector or flashing rear light. if you don’t have fluorescent clothing, you can still use retro-reflective tape to put on whatever clothing you do have while riding.
5. Know the Rules: Check with the police in the town or city that you live in as there may be more specific rules for cyclists (ie. riding two abreast in a lane). All of this will make both cyclists and drivers safer and more aware of each other.

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