(Source: Yahoo News via Jalopnik; Photo: Jalopnik)

The unnamed couple, a 28-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman, were caught in the act late on Easter Sunday by traffic police on the E18 highway, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Oslo.

Officers who clocked the couple’s silver Mazda 323 racing at 133 kilometres per hour in a 100 zone realised they were doing more than just breaking the speed limit, police told AFP.

“It was veering from one side to the other because the woman was sitting on the man’s lap while he was driving and doing the act, shall we say,” said Tor Stein Hagen, a superintendent with Soendre Buskerund district police.

“He couldn’t see much because her back was in the way,” he added.

“Why they did it on a highway with such a high risk we don’t know.”

After following the couple for nearly a kilometre, officers pulled the car over at a service station.  He now faces fines worth several thousand Norweigan crowns and a lengthy driving ban for reckless driving. When the case goes to court it should be an open and shut proceeding, as the police recorded the carnal activities with their dash cam for use as “evidence” later on.

(Source: Spiegel Online via Business  Week)

To boost ailing carmakers, the British government is expected to offer customers a premium to exchange clunkers for new vehicles—as Germany has done

The paper writes that Darling and officials in the Treasury have been impressed by the results the programs have delivered in other countries. Last month, Britain experienced a 30 percent drop in new car registrations at a time when Germany recorded 40 percent more vehicle sales than during the same period a year earlier. In Germany, Treasury officials noted, the precipitous drop in auto sales has been reversed.

The Times reported that details are still being hashed out between the Economics Ministry and the Treasury in London, but that the plan will look a lot like Germany’s. According to the paper, a £2,000 (€2,200) scrapping premium is to be given on trade-ins of any car over nine years old.

In contrast to Germany, though, Darling and Economics Minister Peter Mandelson are also seeking industry participation in the program. At the very least, they want a binding commitment that existing rebates will not be dropped because of the government program. So far though, the paper reports, the British automobile industry is resisting the government’s push for it to support the program with its own means.

In addition to Germany, a number of European countries including Austria, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain also have stimulus programs in place for carmakers suffering from thecredit crunch and global financial crisis—and the success of these stimulus efforts has been measurable. China and Brazil have also succeeded in increasing car sales again.

“A scrapping scheme will provide the incentive needed and the evidence is clear that schemes already implemented across Europe do work to increase demand,” Britain’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) chief executive Paul Everitt told the Times. “The UK is the only major European market not to implement a scheme.” SMMT estimates the one-year program would cost about £160 million.

Last week, the United States also said it would adopt the successful European recipe. During a dramatic speech to the auto industry, US President Barack Obama praised the scrapping premiums as exemplary and “successful” and pledged to introduce a similar program in the US. But the program could be a lot more expensive for the United States than Britain: Already, an estimated 250 million cars and trucks are driven in America. Of those, close to 30 percent are at least 15 years old, meaning the country could have as many as 75 million candidates for scrapping.

In Germany, demand has been so strong that the government plans to extend its scrapping bonus through the end of the year. Last week, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet moved to extend the scheme until Dec. 31 and to provide €5 billion in government funding—enough to cover up to 2 million cars.

Click here to read more.   Transportgooru has already published a number of articles on this topic in earlier months.  Please feel free to explore them:

Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) Act revives “Cash for Clunkers” scrapping plan in U.S

Germany plans to extend Abwrackprämie aka “Environmental Bonus”

The bickering starts over the implementation of the Cash for Clunkers legislation

Obama Favors “Cash for Clunkers”

Germany increases subsidy to 5 Billion Euros, tripling incentives for its “Cash for Clunker” (Abwrackprämie) program

(Source: Washington Post & AASHTO)

Maryland Secretary of Transportation John D. Porcari has been tapped to join the Obama administration. (Photo by Post)

John Porcari, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation, is President Barack Obama’s choice to become the next Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Maryland’s secretary of transportation John D. Porcari will serve as Ray LaHood‘s deputy if confirmed by the Senate. He first served as Maryland’s transportation chief from 1999 to 2002, leading the development and construction of two high-profile transportation projects in the greater Washington region. He led the planning and start of the Intercounty Connectorbetween Montgomery and Prince Georges County, Md., and the development and funding to reconstruct the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, a critical piece of Washington’s infamous Beltway that connects Maryland with Virginia. In between two tours of duty at Maryland DOT, he served as the chief administrative and financial officer at the University of Maryland.

In his current position, Mr. Porcari is responsible for motor vehicle registration and the highway, transit, aviation, and maritime modes of the state’s transportation system. Mr. Porcari also serves as chairman of the entity responsible for operating the state’s bridge and tunnel facilities. He’s in his second tour as Secretary, having previously served in this capacity from 1999 to 2002.

Hope all is well at your end. I am not doing so well, as you could see from the below paragraphs, after experiencing yet another bad commute on your trains, prompting me get on the computer and write you a letter at this ungodly hour.  As a resident of the DC metro region, like millions of others, I have been commuting from a Maryland suburb to the District.  Like many of your riders, I take the metro five days a week commuting on the Red Line and Green Line and almost always enjoyed the convenience of the commute.  Except, there are those occasional days when I experience some discomfort, not one of the minor kind.  The kind that makes you wonder how on earth a human being with a wee bit of logic can do such a dumb thing.  The kind that defies logic! Oh, the human beings I am referring to are your train operators, who in my humble opinion are the primary carriers of your service-oriented message – Metro cares!

A Fitting Message Found On Metro!

Unfortunately, this evening was one of those days that I simply came home wondering if you or your staff will ever “get it”.   I mean, get the message that the trains are actually operated for the very people who pay for a service that you offer. Let me walk you through what happened so that you will somehow try and make sense out of why such a thing can happen repeatedly.

After a long stressful day at work, I arrived at the Gallery Place/China Town station hoping to catch the Redline to Shady Grove that (usually) arrives just about 9:23PM.  See, I told you I am a regular commuter, evident from the memorized train timings!  Back to the story again.  When I arrived at the platform towards Shady Grove, I saw a ton of people, most of whom were Hockey fans returning from the Verizon Center after watching the Frozen Four (the NCAA Mens Hockey Tournament Semi-Finals).   As you can imagine, the platforms were pretty crowded and the train was approaching.  Guess what!  Today, your over enthusiastic train operator decided to give a lot of the Washingtonians a free workout on the platform and pulled way past the usual position.   The 6 car train that arrived overshot the target and went past the point from where I normally board ( FYI, I normally board the middle doors on the 2nd last car).   I am sure you can imagine the helter-skelter that ensued when this happens.  The flood of people who were standing in positions where the last car will usually stop all started running with hopes of somehow making the train and getting home in a decent time.

Little do they know that the “wonderfully trained” operator of the train was in a great hurry to close the darn doors of the already crowded train that just arrived.  Before the last passenger disembarked (an older lady) who was supposedly awaiting her turn to step out, your operator thought he waited long enough and proceeded to signal his intentions to close the door with a “Doors Closing” chime! Panic ensues as the people waiting to board rushed in and the poor old lady was trying to get off the train.  Thank god she somehow made it out alive.   But many of us who were waiting on the platform were left wondering what on earth could push a your train conductor to close the doors knowing all well there are a lot of people waiting to board the train. Oh you know what, there was still so much empty space inside the train cars as most of the passengers got off at the station in question.

Now things got a little more interesting.  After the doors chimed and only a four people have gotten in through that last set of doors in that last car.  Mind you that the case was very similar in almost all the cars as far as the eye could see ( I am not too tall to see all the way to the other end of the train).  With only four people inside and at least 60 people waiting outside to get in, the driver decided to show some courtesy and opens the door briefly to allow for a passenger whose bag was stuck half-way through the door as he got on the train.  Let me ask you to guess how “brief” the window of opportunity was for that poor customer of yours to retrieve that bag?  ONE SECOND, I kid you not!

Some of the passengers who got on the train, including a couple of Mr. Hercules types, summoned all the strength in the world to hold the set of doors that had one mission – SHUT/CLOSE! In the fight between man and machine (operated by a mad man who gets paid by these commuters), the men had a brief victory, which allowed a bunch of more people to get on the train.  With swelling crowds on the platform and the next train arrival showing 12 minutes later, you can see the anxiety-laden faces of people go into further panic.  This tug of war between your train operator (who lost his mind when he arrived at Gallery Place) and the brave commuters (who were hell bent on adding a few more people to your train cars to make it worth your while to operate them at a cost/benefit ratio that somehow can justify you next round of federal funding) continued for a few more minutes.   As you see, we are simply trying to help you move more people in the limited amount of time we get to use your trains.

The story was the same when the train arrived at the next stop – Metro Center, which thankfully was not so crowded but the tug of war continued to happen with the bunch that was trying to get in.  I am not sure how many of your customers returned home with bruises & scars that can rival those of a soldier fighting to save this country in a Iraq or Afghanistan.   Unlike them, we are not trained to fight and have no “weapons” to protect from your agressive train operators.  Somehow we all managed to get home without having any major casualties in the war on Metro train this evening.

Well, this is just a sample from a day that is not very unusual.  I have seen this happen many times in the past and I witnessed and participated in this today.   Let me tell you that I do enjoy those days when you get some courteous operators who are patient enough to wait for the customers to board and show up for work with an attitude that says “customer is my god”.  If you really like to hear this, I am a transportation expert myself (hence the name TransportGooru) and I am here to offer you a friendly tip or two — purely from an expert/customer point of view. Let’s now discuss the “potential; solutions to this recurring problem:

1.  Train your operators to understand that they work for people who pay to get around safely, not just swiftly.  Safety is paramount for everyone involved – not just for the Metro operator who stands well shielded in his hardened aluminum cocoon.

2.  Run more trains on days (not all day but at least at for a couple of hours before the games start and after they end) when you know there is a game or a major event at one of our area’s sport arenas/centers.  This should be very easy to do by coordinating with the organizers of such events (Verizon Center, Nationals, etc).  BTW, you guys did an amazing job during the Cherry Blossom Festival.  Kudos!

3.  Deploy your highly trained & poorly paid police officers who always help immensely in dealing with such issues.  I have seen on many occasions people are lot more obedient and well behaved when the officers are on the platform during such “rush” hours after the game.  They also help your train operators to understand that the passengers need time to get on the train.  If this would be a surprise for you, the above mentioned situation never happened in all these years when I took the train when the police officers are standing next to the trains at Galley Place, regulating the flow of passengers into the vehicles.  I think your officers have some “fear” of getting arrested when they see police, because they do their job pretty well without screwing up.

4.  If you think all the above solutions are not good, for Pete’s sake add a couple of cars on trains that arrive that time. Make it an 8 car train so that we have more doors to board and we don’t have to run a marathon on the platform to get close to the train.   I did learn today that you are going to run 8 car trains on Red and Green lines when a bunch of train cars get delivered.  Its about time you did this as you realize we are an active bunch in the DC area and there is always something to do around the town.  We consider you to be the best option to get around from point A to point B, without polluting the environment or making some petro-terrorist nation richer by shelling for gasoline to drive our sexy cars into the City.

5.  If possible, conduct a psychiatric evaluation of your current train operators, all of them, and re-train those who are borderline psychotic/neurotic.   Before they injure someone or mangle some human body part, they be told that it is inappropriate to operate a vehicle in the above described manner.  If it does not change, you may very soon have to print the following message on your Tickets:  WARNING: RIDING METRO IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH.  WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR LOSSES OR BODILY HARM WHILE ON THE METRO SYSTEM BECAUSE WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING IN OUR JOBS.

6. Your hiring and training policies need to be revisited if the situation persists or deteriorate any further (which is highly unlikely as I already saw your staff hit the rock-bottom this evening with such appalling behavior.  It can’t get any worse than what it is now).

7. The final suggestion:  If you can’t fix it, just accept the failure and simply walk away.  Some of your customers have done that – they are resigned to the fate they suffer in the hands of your egregious operators and have decided to move on to alternative modes of transportation (read as personal vehicles a.k.a. cars, mopeds, bicycles) and happily driving around polluting the air that you and your children breathe.   If you want these people to return to your system, you have to correct these above mentioned deficiencies.. Or at least show them that you are making a sincere effort to do that.

If you still think none of the above suggestions are agreeable and you would still like to justify what your operator did is the right thing and there was a very good reason for doing so, please feel free to call me and explain what that reason would be.  Because, I am already close to being “insane” trying to find a logic/reason for how a train/system could be operated in this fashion.  Where I grew up, such a thing would be STOPPED and REEVALUATED COMPLETELY BEFORE IT IS DEEMED SUITABLE FOR SAFE OPERATION.

Before you tout the safety records of your system in yet another forum and plead your case for additional funding, I recommend you to prove to the general public that you and your staff are capable of running a system safely, smoothly and efficiently.  Safety doesn’t always mean prevention of fatalities. It can also be interpreted as prevention of loss (of limbs & other body parts) to your customers. It is a shame that no one has challenged you before and I am glad to do so with this open letter. Or may be it happened and you/your predecessors simply ignored it.

Above all, you have to understand that all your good deeds may simply be ignored when a passenger on your system experiences something so disastrous of this kind.  You and your staff are working hard all year and try to project a positive image to our city’s visitors and residents.  But the actions of a dumb few in your crew negate all the good things you accomplish or try to accomplish within your means.

Alright!  I probably sucked away a good chunk of your time reading this letter (which by now qualifies for the world’s longest complaint letter ever). Now, I’ll allow you to get back to fixing things around the Metro.  In the meanwhile, if any of the above mentioned items or issues are hard to understand or difficult to reason with, please feel free to write to me.  I’ll be glad to spend a couple of my hours to visit you and chat with you (very cordially, as you seen above) over a cup of coffee. Of course, I’ll pay for your coffee too and show our loyalty and generosity towards someone who has a keen interest in our commutes a pleasant one!

Look forward to hear from you soon. Take care, and enjoy a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

TransportGooru@gmail.com

(Signed on behalf of the all the suffering metro riders)

P.S: Apologies for the erratic spelling and any/all grammatical flaws you may have encountered.  It is too late to proof-read but I am sure you are a smart man who is capable of looking past the mistakes and understand the “gist” of the letter, which is:  Your service sucks!  Help us, please!

(Source: The Sun, UK via News.com.au)

A DRUNKEN model flew into a rage on a jet after catching her boyfriend romping with a woman next to him, it was claimed yesterday.

Daniel had got friendly with the other woman, pretty toff Clare Irby, after Sarah dozed off on a nine-hour flight to London from the Indian city of BANGALORE.

Magazine covergirl Sarah went mad and had to be calmed down by the crew at 30,000ft. Armed cops boarded Kingfisher Airlines Flight IT001 at Heathrow and arrested the trio.

A police source said Ms Hannon fell asleep after drinking with Mr Melia before and during the flight.

Mr Melia then “got on well” with Ms Irby underneath a blanket but was stopped by hostesses – at which point Sarah awoke and started screaming.

“They certainly put the bang into Bangalore,” the source said.  

Mr Melia, 36, and Ms Irby, 29, were arrested for alleged gross indecency while Sarah was held for being drunk on an aircraft. All three were released on bail.

(Source: Telegraph, UK)

There is fierce competition for the world’s fastest police car with the Italians and Germans vying for the title.

Up until now the police prix d’or has been held by a Lamborghini Gallardo which an Italian police patrol is using on the Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway.

It is capable of hitting a top speed of 192mph, which is probably ample to keep up with the most reckless of motorists.

But the Germans have their eye on a car which would leave the Lamborghini trailing in its wake.

It has placed an order for a Brabus CLS V12 S Rocket which has a top speed of 225mph. It will be used on the fastest stretches of the autobahn.

 

In San Diego officers are using a custom made police car with integrated shotgun mounts and a top speed of 155mph.

This article states that some of the British police officers drive the Greenest, if not the meanest, among all forces – the tiny  SmartforTwo cars.

TransportGooru wonders if this San Diego squad car is a silly Dodge Charger.  American police officers should think about doing some police work in Europe!  It will make a great cinema when California Highway Patrol chasing some Hollywood superstar’s Lamborghini Gallardo with his Dodge Charger with integrated shot gun mounts!

On a releated note, few days back a South Carolina Trooper, J.D. McGaha, was cited for speeding in his unmarked patrol car.  Guess what he got for mashing his Dodge Charger – 3 days suspension, possible fine worth $355 & 6 points on his license. Oh, his Dodge Charger was taken back by his Department. Trooper McGaha is definitely not driving a Charger like a Ferrari anymore. Read the TransportGooru article on this incident here.

(Source: Autoblog)

When the next step in the road to 35 mpg by 2020 CAFE standards was announced recently, those in the know made it clear that the Obama administration’s upcoming goal of 27.3 mpg by 2011 would not be hard for automakers to meet. In fact, the 2007 average was already 31.3, so the 2011 goal would not require any change in product lineup (more difficult changes are scheduled to come into effect down the line). The 2011 standards were so light, in fact, that the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) took the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Department of Transportation to court last week, saying that the Obama administration’s standards “ignore greenhouse gas emissions and the climate crisis, are illogical, illegal, and very disappointing from a president who has promised to make the United States a leader in the fight against global warming.”

“These low standards, which ignore greenhouse gas emissions and the climate crisis, are illogical, illegal, and very disappointing from a president who has promised to make the United States a leader in the fight against global warming,” said Kassie Siegel, who directs the organization’s climate law project.

The group asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to declare that the administration violated a federal law requiring that fuel economy standards be set at the maximum feasible level, in light of current technology, economic impact, and the nation’s need to conserve energy. The same court ruled in a similar lawsuit in 2007 that the Bush administration’s fuel standards for light trucks and SUVs for the 2008 through 2011 model years were invalid.

(Source: Charlotte Obervser & Autoblog)

Horry County officer back at work after 3-day suspension for going 131 mph in Kershaw County

His reason for driving at ridiculous speeds was that he was on his way to work traffic at the Carolina Cup in Camden, SC and was running late. Just like “running late” isn’t a good excuse for the rest of us, in this case it didn’t didn’t warrant a free pass for Mr. McGaha. The Charlotte Observes quotes Department of Public Safety director Mark Keel saying:

He faces a $355 fine and six points against his license if convicted.

“There was no justification for it,” Keel said. “He had no excuse.”

While McGaha was being stopped, he flashed the car’s police lights, presumably to let the trooper know he was a police officer, Keel said.

In August 2006, McGaha was recognized by the Department of Public Safety and Mothers Against Drunk Driving as “Statewide Rookie of the Year” for his work stopping drunk drivers.

“He’s been a great trooper from what I understand,” Keel said. “He was very apologetic, and he knew he made an error in judgment, and it’s those kinds of errors that can get people hurt.”

 (Source: Hurriyet Daily News)

ISTANBUL – In an attempt to escape banks, some transportation firms change their vehicle identification numbers and the color of the trailers in their fleet. Such irregularities are eroding trust in the industry as a whole, says Murat Tokatlı, chairman of the Association of Trailer Manufacturers. ’Our customers are unable to obtain funding for trailers,’Tokatlı complains

Some transportation companies that are in distress and unable to pay their loans resort to fraud, eroding confidence in the sector, the head of a Turkish association has warned.

These firms change their vehicle identification numbers and colors of the trailers in their fleet in order to escape from banks. Such irregularities erode financial institutions’ trust in the transportation industry, said Murat Tokatlı, chairman of the Association of Trailer Manufacturers, or TREDER. “Therefore, customers are unable to obtain funding for trailers. This forces producers to shoulder costs and risks.” 

Tokatlı said 1,000 trailers and 300 trucks are “lost” at present due to the irregularities. He also said some firms have new traffic registrations for previously-used vehicles after having small producers change their vehicle identification numbers and colors. 

Erosion of confidence 

“Such irregularities started six months ago. The losses deriving from this have reached 25 million euros. The vehicles we produced get lost, and another brand new vehicle emerges. Such moves are completely in violation of the manufacture, amendment and assemblage regulations for vehicles,” said Tokatlı. 

Irregularities in type approval certificates have also been an ongoing issue in the sector, Tokatlı said. Despite obtaining just one type approval certificate, some firms produce many vehicles, he said. 

Explaining the irregularities, he said; “Some producers manufacture a type of product without having its certificate. Then they purchase the certificate and have the vehicle’s traffic registration. Besides being against the law, this also is a threat for safety. It is crucial to establish an audit mechanism.”

Commenting on financing problems stemming from the irregularities, he said; “The irregularities have eroded the trust of finance institutions into the transportation sector, which is the purchaser of trailers. The customers are unable to obtain financing for trailers. Maybe half of the trailer sales in Turkey are made with producers’ loans. The sector is under threat, and therefore we are obliged to provide the funding. Producers shoulder the cost and risk of the financing.”

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: Associated Press via Yahoo! Finance)

Safety board says fatal accidents were up sharply in 2008 for air taxi, medical, tour flights

WASHINGTON (AP) — There was a spike last year in deaths from crashes of air medical, air taxi and tour flights, federal safety officials said Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said there were 56 so-called on-demand flight accidents in which 66 people were killed in 2008. That’s the highest number of fatalities for such flights in eight years and an increase of 13 deaths over 2007. The on-demand accident rate was 1.52 accidents per 100,000 flight hours, virtually unchanged from the previous year.

The board held a public hearing earlier this year examining the safety practices of the air medical helicopter industry. Fifteen people were killed in four medical helicopter crashes in 2008.

Major U.S. airlines, however, suffered no accident fatalities in 2008 for the second consecutive year despite carrying 753 million passengers on more than 10.8 million flights, the NTSB said. Major airlines experienced 28 accidents last year, the same as 2007.

 Commuter airlines, which typically fly smaller turboprop planes, also didn’t have any accident fatalities despite making 581,000 flights last year, the board said. However, there were seven commuter airline accidents in 2008, up three from the previous year.

There were 495 people killed — one fewer than the previous year — in general aviation accidents in 2008, the board said. General aviation includes private and corporate planes.

Acting NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said the aviation safety record for 2008 was mixed.  Click here to access today’s press release and interesting statistical tables.