11 charged in car dealership scam
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
detundra
detundra
tomcat
OK, Mom is arrested, Dad is in another state, kids are left in the care of someone they barely knew, who left them on the side of I85 for eight hours. All adults are illegal, however, that is beside the point here. The same thing could have happened to born and bred Americans in the same situation.
The question is this...
Should the cops have taken the kids off the interstate since they took the license plate off the vehicle? I'd say yes, take the kids to the police station with the Mom to wait for Dad, and leave the jerk they were left with to dodge traffic on his own. Turn them all in to immigration and at least end the day knowing that those kids were absolutely safe. Isn't that what cops are supposed to do?
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_safety/story/1150866.html
AO
(4)
357a4ff8-4318-4324-aaa9-48815d94a3f1
What came first the chicken or the egg?
Hint: the chicken sighed and then rolled over and smoked a cig.
(0)
jiminj
3b2c
Medically unfit truckers still on the road, safety study shows
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/07/21/trucker.safety.ap/index.html
Now, if Congress would only bother to address unfit automobile drivers.... There may be some "unfit" truckers out there, but truckers as a class drive much more professionally and safely than the rest of us. I'm far more scared of the wanna-be trucker in an H2 or the angry young man in a Honda Civic.
(6)
max power
Curious what everyone else thoughts are on the license plate shield/cover phenomenon that seems to be growing in popularity. I understand that some of these shields are designed to mask the view of the plate from automated red light/speeding cameras as well as laser detection.
However, the license plate shields I am referring to are the ones designed simply to "protect" your license plate. The ones I take issue with are the bubble style and particularly the smoke/grey colored shields. I know when I am near a car with this style of plate shield, even if I am only a few feet behind the car, I can barely read the license plate number. I am surprised that some states allow these colored shields as I am sure this is frustrating thing for law enforcement. (Also it's frustrating for PlateWire users looking to take note of plate numbers to post on this site). To me it seems like these shields are far less about protecting a license plate and much more about attempting to conceal a plate number.
Is anyone aware of state laws regarding these shields?
(14)
AgeOfSail
3b2c
3b2c
... the company when you see the driver of one of their vehicles being aggressive, dangerous, or otherwise disobeying road laws?
Do you call the cops when you see a child bouncing around instead of sitting in a car seat, or you see a drunk weaving back and forth, or a crotch rocket rider being stupid?
If not, why?
(5)
alaskan outside
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. --
A New Bedford man is facing charges for trying to break into an unmarked state police cruiser -- with two state troopers sitting inside.
Trooper Paul Gifford says he and his partner were inside the vehicle in a convenience store parking lot on Monday night when they spotted a man "eyeballing" other cars in the lot.
Gifford says the man tried the door of one car, and finding it locked, moved to the idling cruiser. When he couldn't get in the police car, he moved to a third vehicle.
That's when police emerged from their car and made the arrest.
Gifford says his vehicle has tinted windows and it's possible the suspect could not see that two people were sitting inside.
Jose Alvarez Nieves is charged with attempted larceny of a motor vehicle.
------
Information from: The Standard-Times, http://www.s-t.com
(6)
battlecat
3b2c
Did you ever wish you still had your first car (for those of you who DON'T)?
(18)
3b2c
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080711/ap_on_he_me/auto_deaths_gas_prices
Study: As gas prices go up, auto deaths drop
2008-07-11 20:53:37
By JOAN LOWY Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — High gas prices could turn out to be a lifesaver for some drivers. The authors of a new study say gas prices are causing driving declines that could result in a third fewer auto deaths annually, with the most dramatic drop likely to be among teen drivers.
Professors Michael Morrisey of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and David Grabowski of Harvard Medical School said they found that for every 10 percent increase in gas prices there was a 2.3 percent decline in auto deaths. For drivers ages 15 to 17, the decline was 6 percent, and for ages 18 to 21, it was 3.2 percent.
Their study looked at fatalities from 1985 to 2006, when gas prices reached about $2.50 a gallon. With gas now averaging more than $4 a gallon, Morrisey said he expects to see much greater drop — about 1,000 deaths a month.
With annual auto deaths typically ranging from about 38,000 to 40,000 a year, a drop of 12,000 deaths would cut the total by nearly a third, Morrisey said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"I think there is some silver lining here in higher gas prices in that we will see a public health gain," Grabowski said. But he cautioned that their estimate of a decline of 1,000 deaths a month could be offset somewhat by the shift under way to smaller, lighter, more fuel-efficient cars and the increase in motorcycle and scooter driving.
Morrisey said the study also found the "same kind of symmetry" between gas prices and auto deaths when prices go down.
"When that happens we drive more, we drive bigger cars, we drive faster and fatalities are higher," he said.
Morrisey and Grabowski found a nearly identical relationship between gas prices and auto deaths in an earlier study that covered 1983 to 2000. The studies used auto deaths tabulated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which hasn't yet released figures for 2007.
Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said it makes sense that auto deaths would decline as driving decreases in response to rising gas prices.
"There are a whole bunch of factors that are influenced by higher gasoline prices — teenagers don't have as much money, so you have the most risky drivers driving less; people are switching out of the bigger, older more dangerous vehicles, and people also know if they drive slower they're going to save gasoline," Ditlow said. "So, from a societal viewpoint, higher gasoline prices have a great number of benefits, and one of the most important benefits is fewer traffic fatalities."
But Ditlow said he would be "delighted and amazed" to see deaths drop by a third. He said the declines in driving, while record-setting, still aren't great enough to suggest such a dramatic drop is likely.
The Department of Transportation said last month that Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer highway miles in April, the sixth month in a row that driving was down and a historic turnaround after decades of annual increases in driving.
"We're out there on a limb a little bit," Morrisey acknowledged, "but given that we get such consistent stories across the two time periods (in both studies) with somewhat different methodology, they seem to be pretty robust estimates."
Morrisey and Grabowski presented their findings to a meeting of the American Society of Health Economists in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., last month. The study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
(23)
alaskan outside
I got this link from an open letter to airline customers, there is a way to send a message to your elected officials about oil speculation. Read it, if you agree, send it to your officials and make them do their jobs.
http://www.stopoilspeculationnow.com/
AO
(2)
alaskan outside
This guy drive crazy inside the shopping center. Almost hit a old women. License Plate: 5WHD267. I am waiting for a parking space and he is behind me. The vehicle in the parking space is backing up. This guy just suddenly speeding up and stop in front of me because of the parking space. He finally get it. Maybe he thinks he has the DAMN FAST NEW BMW. damn!!!
(9)
bmw5whd267
My children and I were around out driving during a funeral procession. An impatient woman in a Black Mercedes plate #1651974 (dealer plate) was one of the rudest people I have encountered in my 20 years of driving. She was in such a hurry that she was completly in the intersection of HWY 51 but could not get through due to the procession. An ambulance just happened to be at the light and a paramedic got out to address the woman. She then proceeded to go through the intersection when her light was red almost colliding with another car. I hope that she has been reported by many.
(2)
ethanalex2
I’m sure some of you remember the bus crash in Atlanta which killed several Bluffton University students, the driver and his wife. The investigation has concluded. The highway design did receive blame but the article doesn’t state how much blame.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/07/08/bluffton_bus_crash_atlanta.html
Blame was also attributed to driver error. I would say most of the blame should go to the driver. The design wasn’t that confusing. It should have been clear the ramp was an exit ramp. This would be especially true for a veteran professional driver.
(13)
techie
f9d22a40-3433-4cae-a0ac-8a21faf125c5
Is anyone else having windows pop up from prettytrashy.com and some other website? They are really irritating and don't close down quickly.
AO
(16)
alaskan outside
TimeRanger
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An influential Republican senator suggested Thursday that Congress might want to consider reimposing a national speed limit to save gasoline and possibly ease fuel prices.
Sen. John Warner has asked the Energy Department at what speeds vehicles would be most fuel efficient.
Congress in 1974 set a national 55 mph speed limit because of energy shortages caused by the Arab oil embargo. The speed limit was repealed in 1995 when crude oil dipped to $17 a barrel and gasoline cost $1.10 a gallon.
As motorists headed on trips for this Fourth of July weekend, gasoline averaged $4.10 a gallon nationwide, with oil hovering around $145 a barrel.
Warner cited studies that showed the 55 mph speed limit saved 167,000 barrels of oil a day, or 2 percent of the country's highway fuel consumption, while avoiding up to 4,000 traffic deaths a year.
"Given the significant increase in the number of vehicles on America's highway system from 1974 to 2008, one could assume that the amount of fuel that could be conserved today is far greater," Warner wrote Bodman.
Warner asked the department to determine at what speeds vehicles would be most fuel efficient, how much fuel savings would be achieved, and whether it would be reasonable to assume there would be a reduction in prices at the pump if the speed limit were lowered.
Energy Department spokeswoman Angela Hill said the department will review Warner's letter but added, "If Congress is serious about addressing gasoline prices, they must take action on expanding domestic oil and natural gas production."
The department's Web site says that fuel efficiency decreases rapidly when traveling faster than 60 mph. Every additional 5 mph over that threshold is estimated to cost motorists "essentially an additional 30 cents per gallon in fuel costs," Warner said in his letter, citing the DOE data.
(25)
3b2c
alaskan outside
http://www.parkingenforcementforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3
You have to get by the fact that this guy is a bit of a jerk and his illiterate ramblings are quite difficult to read, but it's worth the effort.
The short summary:
Guy makes one mistake parking.
Gets car booted.
Pushes car into garage (with boot on).
Hilarity ensues.
Booting company gets really pissed.
More hilarity ensues.
(7)
frank112