Motorists in Washington, DC may have been falsely accused of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) for more than a decade as a result of faulty “Intoxilyzer” breath testing equipment. Whistleblower Ilmar Paegle, a veteran police officer now working as a contract employee for the District Department of Transportation, argued in a memorandum to the city’s attorney general that the breath testing machines have not been properly calibrated since 2000, as first reported by WTTG-TV.

To date, the District has only admitted to bogus breathalyzer results taken between September 2008 and February 4, 2010. Of 1100 cases prosecuted in that period, 300 were convicted based on evidence provided by faulty machines.

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Speaking of exports, a Canadian columnist of the Saint City News made out an eager market,  lusting for American cars, right in front of our noses. The writer found “a market of 11 million people who love GM products and paste Chevrolet bowtie logos on decrepit Ladas and Skodas.” However, the American government has denied that market the American dream, “year after year for more than half a century.” You know which market we are talking about. No? It’s some 100 miles from Key West. Right:  Cuba. Read More >

With the economy pretty still mostly on the ropes all over the world, the favorite policy appears to try to export yourself out of the crisis, and to keep imports to the barest minimum. In pretty much all countries but one. Would you believe it: China. Read More >

The California legislature’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) blasted a public-private partnership deal between the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and investors for the development of Doyle Drive. The plan was to give a private company, Golden Link, a 30-year lease on this vital southern route to the Golden Gate Bridge to perform needed renovation to the route. The state would pay the consortium $173 million for finishing the road, followed by $28.5 million in “availability payments” each year the road is open.

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China’s Capital Beijing received a largely unwanted Christmas present yesterday: Drastic curbs on new car registrations. “Under the new regulations, vehicles purchased starting today will be subject to strict new restrictions,” reports Global Times, “setting off a last-minute, car-buying spree last night.” Read More >

A federal class action lawsuit was filed Monday against the notorious speed camera trap in Ridgeland, South Carolina. Three law firms teamed up to make the case against the town’s outspoken mayor, Gary Hodges, members of “the local police department and iTraffic, the private company that operates the cameras on Interstate 95. The case was filed on behalf of residents of Greer, South Carolina; and Dunnellon and Kissimmee, Florida.

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The lame duck congress has adjourned for the year, and with it goes the effort to pass a suite of new auto safety regulations drafted as a reaction to the Toyota recall scandal of early 2010. Different versions of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act passed House and Senate committees earlier this year, but were attacked by industry groups and Republican lawmakers. When Republicans came out ahead in November’s midterm election, it was widely speculated that the MVSA might be one of the legislative casualties. Sure enough, the Detroit News reports that

After his role in the Toyota recall scandal, Brian Ross of ABC News has become the Mainstream Media’s go-to guy for auto safety exposés. Now, Ross reports on a story that had been largely championed by Christopher Jensen of the NY Times: Ford’s response to rear-axle breakage on Windstar minivans. Jensen reports that NHTSA opened an investigation into Windstar axle issues in May, when the auto safety watchdog had some 243 complaints in its database. At the time, Ford insisted that

the operator retains control of the vehicle at all times… the few reports alleging loss of control are inconsistent with how Ford would expect these front-wheel-drive vehicles to respond

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Washington state’s attorney general confirmed Monday that the legislature may no longer pass authority to raise transportation tolls and fees to an unelected commission. In November, 64 percent of voters approved Initiative 1053 which stated that taxes must be approved by the vote of a majority in the state House and Senate.

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For all the debate about strong sales of trucks and SUVs this year, American gasoline consumption is actually going down and may have reached an all-time high. Fox News may filed the AP story under “Disasters” but the worst news in the story is that

America will continue to burn more gasoline than any other country, in total and per capita, for decades to come. China is second in total consumption, but, despite its explosive growth, still uses just half of what the U.S. uses. Canada is second in consumption per capita but is on its own path toward a more fuel-efficient economy.

While America’s diminishing demand will temper global demand, it will be more than offset by rapidly growing demand in China, India, the Middle East and Africa. As a result, declining U.S. gasoline demand will not bring lower pump prices.

The AP gives most of the credit for the projected decline in gas consumption to demographic shifts and government policies like CAFE standards and ethanol blending credits. The coming of electric and plug-in vehicles is even given some credit as a long-term driver of lower gas consumption, but the success of alt-energy cars does seem to be dependent on the pump price of gasoline. And, in fact, if you look at medium-term historical gas prices it seems that unleaded is unlikely to ever cost less than it did in 2006, indicating that a gas tax would have been at least as effective as the convoluted CAFE and ethanol policies. Now that gas seems unlikely to ever drop below the $2.50/gallon mark, baby boomer demographics and complex government policies need not take all the credit.

One of the many reasons for Ford’s surging market share are Americans who refuse to buy a car from a company that has been bailed-out with their tax dollars. In survey after survey after survey, Americans took issue with the bailouts. The backlash was so severe that one of the first measures Joel Ewanick implemented at GM was to get rid of GM. He replaced “General Motors” with “the parent company.” Smart move: You can be against Government Motors. But who dares to be against parenthood?

Ford meanwhile rode high on the perception that they didn’t accept a single dollar. “Ford did not seek a government bailout,” says a very recent Rasmussen Report,  “and 55 percent of Americans say they are more likely to buy a Ford car for that reason.”

Americans (and possibly GM and Chrysler) are the victims of a big lie, says Wall Street insider Eric Fry. And he has the numbers to back it up. Read More >

The AP [via Google] reports that Toyota’s board has voted to pay $32.4m on top of the $16.4 it already paid the US Department of Transportation in connection with its handling of several recalls. The first involved Toyota’s handling of gas-pedal entrapment by floormats in its vehicles that were part of the Unintended Acceleration scandal earlier this year. The other involved steering rods in certain 4Runners and T-100 pickups that were not recalled despite a 2004 Japanese market recall for the same parts on Hilux pickups.

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When oil and food industry groups sued to roll back the EPA’s ruling allowing E15 ethanol blends in 2007 and later model-year cars, we concluded

the political tail has wagged the scientific dog on ethanol ever since the farm lobby realized that ethanol could be the next corn syrup. With any luck, this lawsuit could just be the point at which science re-asserts itself.

The missing link: the automakers. Though auto manufacturers have been slowly climbing on board the anti-ethanol bandwagon, in no small part because large domestic OEMs like GM were once closely allied with the ethanol industry, it seems that the coalition to stop E15 is now complete. A new group known as the Engine Products Group, comprised of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, The Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, the National Marine Manufacturers Association, and the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, has filed a new petition to block the EPA’s E15 ruling.

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The French parliament has taken a step toward significantly reducing the non-monetary penalties that accompany most speeding tickets. The National Assembly voted Thursday to diminish the amount of time that minor traffic violations affect a driver’s record, and consequently his insurance rates. The changes came in the form of a compromise amendment to a wide-ranging homeland security bill known by the acronym LOPSSI II.

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This weekend’s homage to the car’s electrification, celebrating deliveries of the Leaf and the Volt to normal civilians, in addition to a whole fleet of electric THINK cars delivered to the State of Indiana, would be incomplete without mentioning that EVs can be a menace to society. These things are so quiet – that they creep up on you – just like that. Read More >