driving

Garmin Recalls 1.3 Million GPS Devices For Fire Hazard

Garmin Recalls 1.3 Million GPS Devices For Fire Hazard

By Ben Popken 8.26.10

So you’re driving down the highway, looking for the exit that will lead to the secluded cabin where you and your long-lost twin have arranged to meet for the first time. The turn-by-turn directions intoned by your Garmin Nuvi are a welcome threshold to cling to as anxiety churns through your stomach. Then, there it is, the offramp, its emerald sign throbbing gently as your headlights trace over it. Relief washes through your veins, just as your GPS unit explodes into a ball of flames, instantly turning you and everything inside your car to ash!

Nothing like that has been reported in the 1.2 million Garmin Nuvi devices recalled for battery overheating that increases the risk of fire hazard affecting model numbers 200W, 250W, 260W, 7xx and 7xxt where xx is a two digit number, but man, if it did, what a story that would be.

San Fran Launches Parking Meters With Supply And Demand Based Pricing

San Fran Launches Parking Meters With Supply And Demand Based Pricing

By Ben Popken 8.10.10

That little love bubble known as San Francisco is at it again, introducing new “smart” parking meters that, among their many innovations, change their prices based on supply and demand. [More]

What Are The Best Smartphone Apps For Motorists?

What Are The Best Smartphone Apps For Motorists?

By cwalters 6.30.10

Maybe I can’t play Plants vs. Zombies while I drive (or maybe I can!*), but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of useful apps for the average driver. In its August issue, Consumer Reports reviews a bunch of apps for motorists, both free and paid, that promise to help you remember maintenance dates, get the correct info after an accident, or find your car in a big parking lot. [More]

Hypocritical Adults As Likely As Reckless Teens To Text While Driving

Hypocritical Adults As Likely As Reckless Teens To Text While Driving

By CareyGB 6.19.10

Great news, teens! Next time an adult tells you not to text while driving, call them a dangerous hypocrite. For authority, tell them about the recent Pew Internet & American Life Project, which found that being in a car could be much more dangerous than you thought. [More]

Using H2O As Wiper Fluid Might Turn Car Into Pneumonia Breeding Ground

Using H2O As Wiper Fluid Might Turn Car Into Pneumonia Breeding Ground

By Ben Popken 6.16.10

If you’re cheap and/or lazy and use only water as your windshield wiper fluid, you could increase your risk of contracting Legionnaire’s disease and pneumonia, according to a new study. That’s right, treat your car poorly and it will try to kill you. [More]

Angry Driver Buys Police Department's Website, Launches Anti-Speed Camera Site

Angry Driver Buys Police Department's Website, Launches Anti-Speed Camera Site

By cwalters 6.9.10

Brian McCrary in Bluff City, TN received a $90 speeding ticket in the mail earlier this year, thanks to an American Traffic Solutions speed camera the police department turned on in January. McCrary says when he looked up information to call the police department with questions about the ticket, he discovered something else: that their website’s domain registration was about to expire. So he bought it. [More]

Survey: 15% Of Drivers Getting Their Swerve On While Driving

Survey: 15% Of Drivers Getting Their Swerve On While Driving

By 6.2.10

From cell phones to stereos to billboards to those pesky other vehicles on the road, driving a car comes with a whole host of distractions. A new survey attempts to quantify just how many people are being distracted by the various and sundry things vying for drivers’ attention. [More]

10 Tips For More Fuel-Efficient Summer Driving

10 Tips For More Fuel-Efficient Summer Driving

By 6.1.10

It’s the summer holiday season, which for many people means long hours on the road headed to the beach, the countryside, the mountains, the lake, amusement parks… and of course back home again. With gas prices still putting a crimp in many drivers’ wallets, the grease monkeys at AutoMD.com have come up 10 things you can do to enjoy your warm-weather ride with a few less worries. [More]

Kansas, You Are The Smartest Drivers, NY, The Dumbest

Kansas, You Are The Smartest Drivers, NY, The Dumbest

By 5.30.10

Every year GMAC ranks the average scores of their national driver’s test by state — and this year Kansas had the smartest drivers and New York the dumbest. Here are the top 5 and bottom 5 from the ranking: [More]

What State Uses The Most Gas?

What State Uses The Most Gas?

By Ben Popken 4.27.10

Is your state the gassiest? This graph over at Infrastructurist compares how much each gas each state uses per person. Green is low use, blue is moderate, and red is high. What’s interesting is when you look at each state’s fuel use per capita, “High-use states like New York actually have low per-capita usage, while states like Alabama, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, and North Dakota — all states with smaller populations and large distances required for drivers — have higher than average consumption.” [More]

Augmented Driving iPhone App Gives Your Car A HUD

Augmented Driving iPhone App Gives Your Car A HUD

By Ben Popken 4.19.10

The Augmented Driving iPhone app turns your car into a fighter jet. Mount your iPhone on the dash and launch the program and it starts tracking the cars around you, warning with an annoying voice if you get too close and showing you your lane so you don’t drift. Could come in handy for long road trips, as would staying alert and pulling off to a rest stop and taking a nap if you get tired. Only, don’t get so fascinated by playing with your driving app that you get into an accident. Even though it looks like a video game, there’s no replays. Here’s a demo so you can scoff or fawn for yourself: [More]

Asphalt Has Become So Expensive That Some States Are Going Back To Gravel

Asphalt Has Become So Expensive That Some States Are Going Back To Gravel

By cwalters 3.31.10

Kiplinger says that in the near future, if you’re driving down a rural or less-traveled road, you might find yourself driving on gravel. Road asphalt has doubled in price over the past three years and shows no signs of coming back down, so some states–Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Vermont, and Pennsylvania to begin with–are looking for ways to cut corners. Gravel costs $20 a ton compared to asphalt’s current $400/ton price. [More]

Mercedes Shows Off New Safety Feature For Cars

Mercedes Shows Off New Safety Feature For Cars

By cwalters 3.9.10

Last week, Mercedes showed a bunch of journalists some new safety features it’s working on to prevent deaths in the event of a car crash, and BNET describes them. I hope you like air bags going off all around you–the demo even has air bags for the car. Sadly, the people-scooper feature–something about when you hit a pedestrian, the car “scoops” the body onto the hood and keeps the person there, probably so that his screaming can alert you that you’ve been in an accident–will only be available in Europe. [More]

South Carolina Cops Rewarding Seatbelted Drivers With Chick-Fil-A Coupons

South Carolina Cops Rewarding Seatbelted Drivers With Chick-Fil-A Coupons

By Phil Villarreal 1.7.10

Getting pulled over in South Carolina has its benefits. If a highway patrolman pulls you over and finds you wearing your seatbelt, he can reward you with a Chick-Fil-A coupon, the Greenville News reports: [More]

Do Not Leave Common Sense Behind When Trying Out Your Shiny New GPS

Do Not Leave Common Sense Behind When Trying Out Your Shiny New GPS

By 1.2.10

Like many Americans this year, I received a GPS unit as a Christmas gift. Its first real test was navigating to an unfamiliar town for New Year’s Eve, and it sent me on a circuitous, traffic-clogged route to the nearest freeway entrance after picking up a friend. “What? No!” I yelled at the device when it asked me to make a pointless, impossible left turn onto a dead-end street.

I only ended up a half-mile away from my route at any given time, and quickly realized that global positioning satellites are no substitute for actual common sense, assuming that you have any. But some of my fellow holiday GPS recipients haven’t been so lucky.

Steering Wheel Desk Lets You Keep Your Eyes Off That Pesky Road

Steering Wheel Desk Lets You Keep Your Eyes Off That Pesky Road

By Phil Villarreal 11.5.09

One problem with driving is it gets in the way of your texting, and for all but the most dexterous, entirely rules out getting some work done on your laptop.

3 Cellphone Apps To Block Texting While Driving

3 Cellphone Apps To Block Texting While Driving

By alexchasick 10.30.09

We’ve been talking about the dangers of texting while driving for a while, and if you’ve been paying attention, you know it’s no joke: texting is 23 times more distracting than talking on a phone. In spite of this, most people do it anyway. If you just can’t help yourself, here are three apps that will limit your ability to text while driving.

Federal Employees Banned From Texting While Driving

Federal Employees Banned From Texting While Driving

By alexchasick 10.2.09

An executive order issued this week bans federal employees from texting while driving when using government vehicles or phones, or while on government business. Given the safety risks of texting while driving, we think this was a good move, and hope that it extends to the general population. Take our poll and tell us what you think, inside.

«Previous Page
Next Page»