Automotive
Commuting: just how wasteful is it really?
Does that old axiom, “It’s the journey, not the destination, that matters” apply to the topic of commuting? For many, posits Crikey, an Australian alternative news site, the tired cliche still rings true. Despite the bad rap commuting gets – common complaints that spring to mind are gridlocked traffic; road rage-suffering drivers; overstuffed subways… and […]
Power tripping: How green are electric cars?
Electric cars have been touted as the green wave of the future ever since George Jetson first shot across the animated small screen in his aerocar. But just how environmentally friendly — and, dare we ask, just how cost-effective — are they? At least one researcher is asking exactly those questions. Ozzie Zehner, author […]
Prudent speed limits? Impossible in the U.S.
The U.S. Interstate System Since the beginning of the 20th century, personal vehicles have allowed quick travel across the United States. The Model T, an early affordable car, had a top speed of 45 mph. People traveling across the country found themselves on unpaved roads better suited to horses. The ensuing decades saw changes in […]
U.S. 36 transformation underway
The story of U.S. 36, a Colorado highway connecting Boulder with Denver, is similar to that of other roads throughout the country: it’s overworked and under-equipped. According to the New York Times, after opening in 1952, built to carry 3,000 cars daily by 1980, the highway was serving 14,000 cars daily by 1966. Today’s figures […]
New regs needed for single-unit trucks?
After analyzing a five-year-long study which discovered that single-unit trucks were involved in an inordinate amount of fatalities, The National Transportation Safety Board has assembled a host of safety recommendations that, if heeded, will affect highway safety for all drivers who share the road. For the uninitiated, single-unit trucks are considered large trucks with a […]
Millennials drive less, but are roads safer?
“The Driving Boom—a six decade-long period of steady increases in per-capita driving in the United States—is over,” declares a recently released U.S. PIRG report. The report, which argues for replacing the driving policy of boom years with a more efficient one, found that Americans today drive less in terms of mileage than they did eight years […]
Traffic congestion and loathing in Toronto
It may be surprising to some located south of the Canadian border that Toronto has the second worst traffic congestion in Canada, and the sixth most congestion in North America, according to one study. (In case you’re curious, Los Angeles, CA; Honolulu, HI; San Francisco, CA; and Seattle, WA took top “honors.”) Traffic congestion is […]
Driving with pets doubles crash risk among elderly
A recent study by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has found that senior citizens driving with their pets face a greater risk of possible vehicle collisions. As reported by NBC News, the crash rate for senior drivers with pets is twice as high as those who rode without pets. Professor Gerald McGwin, Ph.D., […]
The car-free city: wave of the future?
Will cars have a place in the cities of the future? Not if today’s urban planners have much to say about it, according to Fortune. Future urban design will not likely revolve around accommodating cars and drivers, as it did in the past, according to experts at a seminar called “Smart Cities,” held at Fortune‘s Brainstorm […]
Distracted driving upgrades for new cars
Zipping around in his flashy aerocar, George Jetson himself couldn’t have predicted today’s latest update in car innovation. Cars of the future are about to get a major safety upgrade.