Archive for the ‘Driving’ Category

Many police departments around the U.S. impound the cars of drivers caught behind the wheel without a license.

But starting Sunday, San Francisco plans to abolish that policy, calling it unfair to illegal immigrants.

Mayor Gavin Newsom, police chief George Gascón, and supervisor David Campos (himself a former illegal immigrant) all agree that impounding cars is particularly punitive for undocumented aliens, who are unable get licenses under California law.

Instead, police will give any license-less driver time to call a friend or relative to come drive the car away. The driver will still be cited for driving without a license, however, and...

Is technology a better way to keep us from talking and driving? The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says it could be, while it also cautions that talking-and-driving laws aren't always as effective or durable as legislators think.

In a release issued today, the IIHS says it's studied how drivers react in the long term, to laws banning handheld cellphone use. The insurance industry-funded research group studied drivers in two metro areas where handheld cellphone use has been banned--the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland in one group, and New York and Connecticut in the other. In both groups, the IIHS found that handheld...

Like red light cameras, prohibitions on smoking in the workplace have become common in much of the Western world. But what happens when your workplace is your car -- or perhaps, your big rig? It's not such a hypothetical question in Ontario, where ten truckers have been hit with a $305 (Canadian) fine for smoking in the cabs of their trucks since the Smoke-Free Ontario Act was passed in May 2006. Now, we're not big fans of smoking, but maybe the Canadian authorities need something else to do. [NationalPost via JV]