The Newspaper does it again, exposing the hidden cash grab behind the blogger’s bugaboo: red light cameras. “In 2000 the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Agency signed a $3,497,960 contract with a Dallas-based firm, now known as Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), to issue pricey photo citations at seventeen railroad crossings. The county further ordered the company to keep a steady flow of tickets, or face corrective action… The contract sets as the baseline that the company must issue 25 tickets for every 100 alleged violations recorded by the machine. These recordings include any number of situations where either no real offense took place, or the driver cannot be positively identified — as required under California law. Nonetheless, if the total number of citations mailed falls under 25 per 100, the corrective steps must be taken to boost the number of citations mailed. In effect, this provides a direct incentive to the contractor to issue tickets regardless of whether the machine properly captured a true violation. There is no penalty under state law for a contractor to guess, for example, a license plate number when the image is unreadable.” As I don’t want to be responsible for mass blood boiling, I won’t tell you about the memo from a Roseville police chief telling his pencil pushers how to hide the hypocrisy. Suffice it to say, the safety argument doesn’t seem to be anyone’s primary concern in all this.

The internets have been abuzz with news that anti-environmentalists have vandalized Toyota Priora in the Golden State. Autobloggreen dutifully reports one hybrid flambée in July, and vaguely alludes to seven Priora attacks back in April. The site ends its blog with a condescending if PC plea: “Come on, people, this is ridiculous. Just because some SUV and some hybrid drivers act like jerks, that’s no reason to get violent. Let’s just live and let live.” Tracing the story back to Edmunds Inside Line, we learn “Violence Against Prius Hybrids Hits All-Time High.” Yes, “In the most brutal of a spate of attacks against the Japanese import this year, investigators concluded that a fire that consumed a newer Prius on a residential street in Los Angeles seven weeks ago was the work of an arsonist.” While the April outbreak seems real– “All of the [seven] attacks occurred at night while the cars were parked and unoccupied. Weapons included large rocks, bricks, and a motor vehicle used to ram a Prius”– are we sure there were no other vehicles involved? And connecting those dots to a single incident some three to four months later is a bit of a stretch. Common sense suggest that any coordinated “anti-green” group would claim responsibility for their actions. Maybe this last one was insurance fraud, or a neighborhhod vendetta, or… a technical glitch. Perhaps the police/Toyota suppressed vital information. Anyone care to speculate?

If you believe Iran will abandon its nuclear ambitions in the face of economic sanctions, there’s nothing to see here. If you believe there’s no way deny Iran The Bomb short of a military strike, the question becomes who and when? It’s hardly likely the Bush administration will want to engage in yet another military “adventure” before the next guy to accompany the football takes office. On the other hand, Bernard Baumohl thinks the Israelis want to get this thing done before Barack or John assumes the position (so to speak). ABC News reports that the Economic Outlook Group’s Chief Global Economist says a strike would disrupt oil prices (surprise!), one way or another. “It all depends on the success of the Israeli strike. If it was a quick, successful strike and Iran doesn’t block the Strait of Hormuz — a key oil route in the Persian Gulf — Baumohl sees a quick spike in oil prices and then a steady decline. He says that within three days of the strike oil could costs $175 to $225 a barrel. The record of $147.27 a barrel was reached back in July and oil today closed at less than $108. But within three months the price would fall because Iran’s nuclear weapons program would be destroyed or crippled. Oil would cost $70 to $85 a barrel. Of course, Baumohl has a more-dire scenario with oil prices between $200 and $300 a barrel. This happens if the strike fails, triggers a bigger war and the flow of oil is disrupted. In that case, the price of gas in America would climb to $5 to $7 a gallon.”

New York Times Op-Editorialist Dr. Kent A. Sepkowitz is an expert in infectious diseases and something of a professional essayist. Having dispensed with the “inexact science of penis length,” Sepkowitz is out to stop speeders. As you’d expect, he begins with a bit of statistical manipulation, or more, precisely, an accusation of same. “In Texas, in 2005, 3,504 people died in a traffic accident; 1,426 (about 41 percent) were considered speeding-related. In sharp contrast, for Florida, 3,543 died yet only 239 were considered speeding-related — about 7 percent. Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana and New Jersey, among other states, also report rates well below 20 percent. This variation is not just shoddy government work. With alcohol, for example, the 39 percent national rate varies only by a whisker when examined state to state (except for Utah’s admirable rate of 13 percent).” The bottom line for this non-expert expert: there ought to be a [new] law, ’cause speeding is dangerous and immature. “The technology to limit car speed has existed for more than 50 years — it’s called cruise control. In its common application, cruise control maintains a steady speed, but a minor adjustment would assure that vehicles, no matter the horsepower, never go past 75 miles per hour. This safety measure should be required of every new automobile, the same as seat belts, turning signals, brake lights and air bags. Sure, it would take us longer to get from here to there. But thousands of deaths a year are too great a cost for so adolescent a thrill as speeding.”

The Connecticut Police’s press release on the recovery of this stolen 1958 250 PF Ferrari reveals that the po-po bought its owner’s Schultzian story (I know NOTHING) hook, line and sinker. Of course, the car’s owner and Bear Stearns heir’s friends in high places had nothing to do with it. Still, Paul Hallingby’s insistence that he was unaware of the show car’s dubious provenance is a PR nightmare. If Hallingby wasn’t criminally complicit, he was a silver-spooned rube. You might suggest that the fact that Hallingby was trying to sell the vehicle for ten percent of its $4m – $5m market value indicates a certain “awareness” (as intimated by my old college chum Bill Henderson at The New York Post). But I couldn’t possibly comment. In any case, full marks to the Ferrari’s Swiss owner, who refused to take an insurance payout when the car disappeared in Spain. His belief that his rare, beloved Ferrari would one day show up intact has been vidicated. Now, if only someone would be charged with the crime…

God I love that guy over at The Newspaper. Not only did he somehow score one of the world’s best urls, but he’s also dedicated his site to revealing the government scams, deceit and constitutional affronts plaguing American motorists. Today, we get a special blog, for those of us who want to believe in divine justice (retribution?). “An Australian red light camera operator lost the ability to issue tickets in Knoxville, Tennessee because it failed to send the required documents to the city on time… Redflex blamed FedEx for delivering the package on August 1… ‘Unfortunately, the FedEx vehicle transporting the shipment from our facility to our Los Angeles sort facility arrived later than scheduled and missed the outbound flight,’ a FedEx customer relations employee wrote to Redflex. ‘Regrettably, efforts to expedite the shipment have been unsuccessful.’ FedEx will refund the shipping cost of just over $30, which is scant consolation to the Australian company that lost the opportunity to take $5 million from Tennessee drivers.” I wonder if the FedEx driver ran any lights…

I've never understood why Britain became the most virulently anti-speed nation in the world. After all, we're talking about the island of TVRs, Mad Caterhams and Stirling Moss. Maybe Old Blighty's regrettable love for the security camera metastasized into speed cameras. In any case, Britons have long taken to venting their surveillance-repressed ids on the French autoroutes. Not that France doesn't have cameras, they just haven't applied cross-border enforcement. Yet. And once on French soil, even the 80mph speed limit isn't enough to satisfy what the Times calls "British speed freaks." In response to a French request for help with the menace, the UK now sends bobbies to help bust speeders around northern French ports. To some effect. "In a four-hour period last weekend, on the A26 motorway near Saint-Omer , a Franco-British patrol stopped 30 cars for breaking the 130km/h (80mph) limit. All but two were from Britain." According to at least one gendarme, Brits just tend to go wild whenever they escape their island home. "The mentality of letting go across the Channel seems to be the same one that makes les Anglais get drunk as soon as they leave their country."

Pistonheads reports that Britain's War on Speed is reaching levels of expense and complication to rival our own War on Drugs. Signs have been appearing around Essex to "warn" drivers that something Orwellian this way hovers, as the county has turned to helicopters to fight the evil of speeding. And true to form, the copper chopper is stocked with goodies that would make Big Brother nod his head approvingly. The automated onboard camera system can recognize number plates from 700 ft, and and a "Skyshout" public address system allows officers to bark orders at offending motorists or blast "Flight of the Valkyries" to get all pumped. And with the Orwellian kit comes the kind of tortured justification that brings to mind ol' George's maxim that "the object of power is power." You see, speeders are a tricky lot, and since cars are too easy to ticket, they've switched to motorcycles. Says the chairman of the Essex Casualty Reduction Board, "There is a perception it is sometimes easier for motorcyclists to evade detection of offences because of the speed they travel at. We feel signs warning of the likelihood of detection by air will be an extra incentive for motorcyclists in particular, and all motorists, to drive safely." Which makes the initiative well worth the $1,800/hour expense, right?

Thenewspaper.com reports that Aussie photo enforcement firm Redflex has announced record profits after camera-issued tickets jumped by 50 percent in the U.S. this year. In fact, $71m of Redflex's $88m annual revenue comes from the states where camera enforcement is taking off. In 2003, Redflex operated fewer than 200 cameras, a number that now stands at 1305 and will hit 1745 by the end of next year. Redflex is on top of the world, bragging there's no end in sight for growth in its business. Except that there is. Some five percent of Redflex cameras have been shut down by court rulings, and cameras are banned from several states. Furthermore, Redflex sold radar units to the state of Arizona which were not approved for use by the FCC, and faces civil penalties as a result. In the course of that investigation, Arizona's Secretary of State found that a Louisiana notary employed by Redflex had falsified certifications for her employers speed cameras. This comes on top of revelations that municipalities are manipulating yellow light times to increase camera revenue. Once again, government and business take whatever measures they deem necessary to extract maximum revenue for minimum effort. Your tax (and fine) dollars at work.

Personally, I am offended by this "remake." While Death Race 2000 wasn't exactly Five Easy Pieces, Paul Bartel's 1975 cult classic featured motorized combatants competing to cut pedestrians into at least that many bits. Which was– and still is– deliciously politically incorrect. The new movie pits convicts against convicts for mass entertainment. Been there, Running Man'd that. Ho-hum? Nope. "The car chases and most of the characters are thrillingly executed, with 5,000-horse-power smash-'em-ups shredding the screen," writes New York Post critic (or not) Kyle Smith. "If you run over the right manhole cover, you can activate additional weapons or bloodthirsty traps, and there aren't a lot of environmental restrictions ("Give me the napalm" is as routine a command as "find something on the radio"). If the warden feels like cheating, and that feeling often comes over her, she can throw into the mix something called the Dreadnought, which is to the other cars what a Chevy truck is to a roller skate." 

Around the Key Largo portion of my escape from Tropical Storm Fay, the belt squeal from the engine bay of our rented Dodge Caravan reached epic proportions. The van limped and shuddered into Homestead AFB for the night. The next day, we discovered that a rear tire was low, most likely due to a pothole impact. The spare was deflated as well. Thrifty roadside assistance routed us into rain-soaked Miami International, to exchange cars. As I unloaded the van (which held my luggage and about 300lbs of stuff to be delivered to Warner-Robbins AFB), I asked the porter queuing the cars if I could move it over to the far left to expedite unloading. "What?!? You want me to make a special concession for you?" I guess not. I tracked down several carts to haul everything. I was berated again for not moving the car further down to make more space (despite the ample opening in the six spaces beside me). As Monica emerged from the rental counter with keys in hand, the porter took off with the car, and the rest of our luggage, to the nether regions of the lot. Much arguing later on who takes priority– the customer exchanging a broken van, or the porter who wants his lane clear– we were off in a beige Caravan. The dirt-covered interior had boogers smeared on the dashboard, and it smelled bad. Like the previous Caravan, it also had been in a noticeable front-end accident. The things you learn from adversity…

The police in North Wales [UK] aren't horsing around. Literally. They're using an SUV hauling an empty horse trailer to hide a speed camera to fatten the civic coffers catch miscreants brazen enough to flaunt the law by exceeding the posted speed limit. The video shows the setup in action and the police scurrying to move it to a different location when they realize they're being watched. And if that wasn't sneaky enough, the Welsh po-po also deploy a pair of high-performance motorcycles for the same purpose. The unmarked bikes sit by the side of the road until a group of bikers pass. Then they join at the rear of the pack. They just wait for the bikes ahead to start speeding so the camera can start printing money photographing lawbreakers. At £60 each ($120), it hasn't taken long for these to become part of the revenue machine. TheNewspaper.com reports "local speed camera partnerships collected £10 million (US $20 million) from 160,126 automated tickets issued in 2006 with North Wales accounting for more than a third of the total."

I like all these automotive technologies that make it possible for the government to spy on you: black box accident data recorders, OnStar vehicle monitoring (complete with built-in microphone and remote "slow down"), insurance-related transponders, etc. I like the assurances the companies provide that they will never share the information with anyone, ever, unless the government twists their arm. And I like not having any of it in my vehicle (when possible). BMW joins the no-thanks parade with a new feature in its next gen 7-Series. The gizmo's camera reads speed limit signs, compares GPS-stored speed limit data to your current speed, and then flashes the fact that you're speeding on the heads-up display. "The new BMW Speed Limit Display will significantly reduce the risk of drivers exceeding the speed limit by mistake,” BMW Group Australia Marketing General Manager Tom Noble tells WardsAuto. "The technology is an information system only and does not intervene in the control or speed of the vehicle in any way, the auto maker says." Whew!

First, this post dovetails nicely with the Ask the B&B question on homoerotic truck ads. I mean, if the testosterone-laden Torque.tv's announcer's tongue isn't firmly in his cheek, well… Anyway, the video also suggest a click on over to Paul Niedermeyer's excellent editorial on the coming showdown between the 2010 Prius and the 2010 Honda Hybrid. Personally, I find the producer's choice of cartoon clown xylophone background music a bit OTT. But I'm glad the torque team pointed out that a properly-flogged Prius can suck more unleaded than a 'Vette. It brings back fond memories of the time I tried to discover how much gas I could use in a Prius. I never got it below 17mpg. Guess I wasn't trying hard enough.

H2H Ep12, Honda Civic Hybrid Vs. Toyota Prius

Hurricane Fay decided to crash my mini (small m) break here in alcohol-sodden Key West. Store keepers boarded-up their shops, tourists packed-up their rentals, polydactyl cats dove for cover and Starbucks kept everyone properly caffeinated. Watching the queue of cars on Highway 1 heading towards the mainland, Monica and I delayed our departure as long as possible. Sanity, and US Air Force safety policy, intervened with our procrastination. So we provisioned our rented Dodge Grand Caravan with extra water, Swedish Fish and coffee. Facing untold hours of driving, I had time to reflect on the evacuation-worthiness of our refrigerator white box on wheels. Fit 'n Finish are Chrysler Corp. standard (the panels don't fit and it's not finished). The van's lack of power complements the confused autostick four-speed tranny. The constant bands of rain have however produced some unseemly driving characteristics, such as constant accessory belt squeal and skittering tires, followed by abrupt traction control. The flat and unsupportive seats are not our friends. Stay tuned for updates on our progress from Key West to Ft. Lauderdale.