Tesla’s Autopilot has faced a slew of issues and controversies this year following the first fatal crash to occur while the semi-autonomous function was activated: from Germany asking the company to change the feature’s name to updates that included radar and driver enhancement safety checks. Now, the electric carmaker is making another change, rolling out an update that limits the vehicle to driving at the speed limit when on certain roads. [More]
highways
Feds Say New York’s “I Love NY” Highway Signs Violate The Law
By 11.30.16
Whether or not you actually feel affection toward New York, drivers cruising the state’s highways and byways are no doubt familiar with the proliferation of blue “I Love NY” signs that dot the roadside promoting tourism. But there’s one party that definitely doesn’t love the state for using those signs — the federal government. [More]
Couple Accused Of Stuffing Toll Baskets To Steal Coins Join Drivers’ Hall Of Toll Shame
By 11.8.16
While it’s doubtful that anyone has ever driven up to a tollbooth and exclaimed, “Oh, goodie! I get to pay a toll!” it’s important to help keep the nation’s roads maintained and drivable. Police in New Jersey say that one couple not only avoided paying tolls, but hatched a scheme to pocket all those coins for themselves. [More]
Nation’s Interstate Highways Celebrate 60th Birthday With Growing Congestion, Repair Backlogs
By 6.27.16
With record numbers of travelers set to hit the highways and byways of America this holiday weekend, it sounds like it’ll be quite a party out there on those roads. But according to a new report, it’s this kind of increased travel that’s putting a strain on the nation’s 60-year-old interstate highway system, causing congestion while needed repairs stack up. [More]
Indiana Passes Law Aimed At Slow Drivers Clogging Up The Left Lane
By 6.9.15
We have all been there, either as the red-faced person gripping the wheel muttering, “Just. Get. Out. Of. The. Left. Lane” or perhaps, as the oblivious driver happily tootling along, unaware at the line of cars backed up in our wake. Lawmakers in Indiana want that to change with a new “slowpoke” law aimed at clearing out that left lane on the highway. [More]
Bag Of Cash Falls Out Of Armored Truck, Scatters Across Highway
By 10.31.14
Some commuters this morning in Maryland encountered some unexpected excitement when they saw a huge amount of cash blowing across the highway. This was not the most dangerous radio station promotion ever, but a mishap when a bag of money fell out of an armored truck, scattering its contents across the highway. Naturally, motorists stopped to pick it up. [More]
You’re Not Seeing Things, Virginia Drivers — Those Are Some Seriously Crooked Road Lines
By 8.26.14
Drivers in Virginia were probably rubbing their eyes and wondering if maybe someone slipped a bit of booze into their morning coffee yesterday, when the lane lines on a major roadway turned all squiggly and wiggly. [More]
Drivers Probably Considered Making Lemonade After Truck Spills Hundreds Of Lemons On Highway
By 8.14.14
When life spills lemons, do you refuse to cry and try to make lemonade? Or is that too much of a metaphorical mashup? At least a few sour tears were likely shed at the annoyance of a traffic snarl in California, when a truck carrying a load of citrus accidentally dumped hundreds of lemons across the highway. [More]
Woman Receives $232 Toll Bill For Road She’s Never Used
By 6.20.14
When a Colorado woman received a collections letter for $232 worth of tolls on a road she had never used, she assumed that it was a scam. That would make the most sense, wouldn’t it? Then she learned that the road she was being billed has generated a lot of erroneous tolls for other people who had never driven on it. What’s going on here? [More]
Catastrophic LEGO Incident Leaves West Virginia Highway Strewn With Bricks
By 3.6.13
If you thought stepping on a LEGO with your bare feet was bad, imagine the scene in West Virginia, where a tote filled with the tiny bricks spilled across a highway and held up traffic for hours on Sunday. More importantly, it made imaginations run wild, wondering how that many LEGO could end up strewn across a highway on a snowy day. [More]
Sandlin's "The Road to Nowhere" Essay Now Available
By 12.15.09
The awesome narrative non-fiction writer Lee Sandlin has posted online for the first time ever his 54-page 1984 essay “The Road To Nowhere – On Suburbia, the Interstates, and the National Defense: A Confession.” It’s full of little gems like how interstates plowing through poor neighborhoods were justified in part because their increased light would reduce crime and their concrete barriers would serve as excellent firebreaks in the event of nuclear war.
The Road to Nowhere [Lee Sandlin]
Federal Employees Banned From Texting While Driving
By 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.
Gander Mountain Fixes Your Flat Tire, Apparently Also Sells Stuff
By 5.18.09
This may be the bizarro world version of the Bed, Bath and Beyond store that wouldn’t let a customer use their phone to dial 911. North of Houston, Thomas witnessed employees of a Gander Mountain outdoor equipment store come to the aid of a motorist with a flat tire. A motorist who, as far as they knew, wasn’t even their customer.
California Moves To Ban Teen Driver Cellphone Use
By 8.31.07
A bill banning drivers under 18 from using cellphones passed the California Assembly today. It doesn’t even allow hands-free device use. The Highway Patrol asked for, and got, the offense classified as a secondary infraction, which means you can’t get pulled over simply for breaking this law.
