According to AutoWeek, it’s currently a backlash of one: Scott Weires. The Florida attorney canceled his order for a GT-R after learning that Nissan’s taken the accident data recorder black box thing to a whole new level. “Unlike an EDR [electronic data recorder], which activates only when sensors indicate that a crash is imminent or has occurred, Nissan’s VSDR [vehicle status data recorder] runs constantly, collecting information such as wheel and engine speed. The device, thought to be a first in the automotive industry [tell that to BMW M3 owners], stores more than a few days’ but less than a week’s worth of data on the vehicle’s operation, Nissan says. The VSDR cannot be deactivated.” Never mind speeding, although that’s certainly a worry. It’s all about the warranty. “Nissan specifically warns owners that they could void warranty protection by running a car with its vehicle dynamic control (VDC), governing traction and stability, turned off. (In fairness to Nissan, the owner’s manual does allow owners to defeat VDC when wheelspin is needed to rock a car that’s stuck in snow or mud.)” Sure, that’s fair. And there’s another, justifiable concern: “We do realize that some customers will take their car to the track for all-out driving,” Ed Hibma, senior manager for technical support with Nissan North America. “But racing is different.” Pistonheads will remember (though I can’t recall the exact details) that manufacturers have been known to prowl the internets for racing photos. Paranoid? Consider the fact that the Japanese-spec GTR limits the car to 111 mph– unless the GPS knows you’re on a race track (not racing). Or the GT-R’s 156mph U.S. speed limiter.

"Crucifies" may be a bit harsh. Or maybe it isn't. It's hard to tell. The New York Times article detailing the Golden State's new real estate development legislation waits until the eighth paragraph to chart the changes, and even then, it's not entirely clear how it works. "The bill yokes three regulatory and permit processes. One focuses on regional planning: how land use should be split among industry, agriculture, homes, open space and commercial centers. Another governs where roads and bridges are built. A third sets out housing needs and responsibilities… Under the pending measure, the three regulatory and permit processes must be synchronized to meet new goals, set by the state’s Air Resources Board, to reduce heat-trapping gases. Seventeen regional planning groups from across the state will submit their land-use, transportation and housing plans to the board. If the board rules that a plan will fall short of its emissions targets, then an alternative blueprint for meeting the goals must be developed. Once state approval is granted, or an alternative plan submitted, billions of dollars in state and federal transportation subsidies can be awarded. The law would allow the money to be distributed even if an alternative plan fails to pass muster." In English. "The goal is to encourage housing near current development and to reduce commutes to work." Or… "clustered communities," a new stick, the same old carrots and LOTS more red tape. 

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.

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!

Having escaped The Bored of Directors' Night of the Soft Pillows, GM CEO Rick Wagoner once again watches as his employer takes a hit to its [somewhat nebulous] bottom line. Reuters reports The General is shelling-out $277m to settle a shareholders' lawsuit "contending the automaker made false and misleading statements." (Presumably, in its accounts, rather than generally.) You may recall there was a while there when GM restated its earnings more often than a squealing bookie– which is a bit bizarre (or not) as Wagoner ascended the throne from the Chief Financial Officer slot. Anyway, "In the regulatory filing [which exposed the payoff], GM also disclosed the tentative settlement of a separate lawsuit brought by shareholders, agreeing to make unspecified changes to its corporate governance rules. GM also agreed not to oppose plaintiffs' attorney fees of up to $7.5 million in that case." Unspecified changes? Hang on; is this a publicly-held company or not? And if you think this is bad, wait 'til you see the legal bills when the artist once known as the world's largest automaker files for C11. 

In St Louis, MO the company responsible for handling seized cars is being accused of giving "sweetheart deals" for cars that had been taken from their owners. The St Louis Post-Dispatch reports that S&H Parking gave a seized car to the St Louis police chief's daughter in 2002, and sold her other cars at less than half the market price since then. A report from a local law firm alleges that Aimee Mokwa and "a number of unnamed officers" had been given free use of previously-impounded vehicles. Her father, police chief Joe Mokwa, denies any wrongdoing, but his officers responded to several accidents involving his daughter while she was driving a seized car. Not only was her unlicensed, unregistered seized car not returned to private ownership, but Ms. Mokwa was also not charged with any crimes despite having a blood alcohol level several times above the legal limit. In short, S&H Parking made big profits from car seizures, and gave the police chief's daughter a number of sweet deals to keep the gravy train rolling while his officers kept her out of jail. Of course, the police department's legal team says that the deals weren't improper since Ms. Mokwa is not a member of the force, and her father claims to have been oblivious. Absolute power may corrupt absolutely, but petty power is always abused in the most embarrassingly pathetic ways. (Hat Tip: Reason Hit & Run)

That's what The Star-Ledger columnist Bob Braun (via nj.com) concluded when he drove the same 55-mile route two times: once keeping pace with traffic, and once at just above the 65-mph speed limit. If you've driven on the highway anywhere lately, I don't need to tell you the outcome (but I will anyway). Keeping pace with traffic, Braun drove 80 – 85 mph and had no cause for concern. Driving 68 mph, he was passed by almost everyone, tailgated and found himself in dangerous situations more than once. He quotes Charles Lave, University of California at Irvine economist: "I find that there is no statistically discernible relationship between the fatality rate and average speed, though there is a strong relationship to speed variance. Variance kills, not speed." Perhaps the lawmakers need to be reminded of this fact as they consider lowering speed limits in the name of saving fuel. (An aside: does that mean the more fuel-efficient a car is, the faster it'll be allowed to go?) If our elected representatives are stupid enough to drop the national speed limit back to the double nickel, accident rates will go up as the variance between those who want to get there in a reasonable time and those who drive the speed limit increases. It makes more sense to raise the speed limit for safety's sake. As Braun points out, "if everyone uniformly sped, or, if everyone obeyed the limits, then we'd be safer." And you know the majority aren't going to obey the limits.

One of the many important lessons I learned from my father was a healthy disrespect for partisan politics. A self described "pox-on-both-your-houses" independent, the elder Mr Niedermeyer has only ever donated to one political campaign in his entire life: the effort to repeal the federal 55mph speed limit. Though he now seems more interested in hypermiling than high-speed hoonery, it may be time for the paterfamilias to reach for the checkbook once again. The Wall Street Journal reports that Senator John Warner has written the U.S. Energy Secretary and the Government Accountability Office asking them to study the possibility of once again lowering federal speed limits. Though Sen. Warner says he's not necessarily advocating a return to the double-nickel, he wants to bring the issue before congress before the fall election recess. "I am every day trying to work on concepts to achieve some conservation now," Warner says. "I mean N-O-W." In his letter, Warner requests that the feds determine the speeds at which modern vehicles operate most efficiently. It's all a bit moot of course, as NHTSA data shows that three quarters of drivers broke the speed limit within a month of being interviewed. Oh, and Senator Warner retires this fall. And, as the WSJ aptly points out: "The speed limit issue isn't really about any of that. It's a powerful, easily grasped symbol of the freedom, mobility and affluence Americans enjoyed when energy was cheap. Letting go of that sense of freedom won't be easy, even if it is the sensible thing to do." 

"Everyone" knows that electric vehicles (EVs) are going to be a big part of America's long-term transportation mix. Unfortunately, the sector is currently dominated by either largely hypothetical super-expensive roadsters, far-off Hail-Marys and glorified golf carts (e.g. Zap's Xebra). At the mo, Chinese EVs are the most viable of the three for everyday use. While their classification as low speed vehicles (LSVs) helps the not-so-crashworthy vehicles circumvent strict safety standards, it limits the EVs to a 25mph top speed AND restricts them to roads with 35mph speed limits or below. The Tennessean reports that their legislature has joined Montana and Washington in lowering the regulatory bar for EVs. Starting July 1, Tennessee's LSVs are allowed to drive up to 35mph on roads with up to a 40mph top speed. The law reclassifies electric LSVs as medium speed vehicles (MSVs) if they are physically able to reach the 35mph top speed (which, ostensibly, excludes golf carts). Some 211 qualifying EVs have been registered in The Volunteer State so far. If more states adopt higher speed limits for EVs, there may be enough market demand to justify investment in more capable, versatile and SAFE battery-powered vehicles.

Should states be allowed to sell specialty license plates with religious messages? Stefan Lonce, author of a book on vanity license plates, doesn't think so because he wants The New York Times to promote his book and we all know where they stand on the old church-state thing. The one-time New York Times op-ed contributor points out that federal courts consistently rule that vanity plates are protected under the First Amendment. Unless, that is, someone finds the plate offensive. Lonce advocates establishing a national database of "prohibited vanity plate messages, created with advice from First Amendment experts and open to public scrutiny." States would use the db to determine what's PC and what's not. Lonce doesn't even consider the fact that a plate that's considered "offensive" in one state would be perfectly acceptable in another. For example, religious messages prohibited by state law in Vermont are perfectly acceptable in most southern states. "As long as we have a reliable method for deciding what's allowed and what isn't," Lonce concludes. "I say the more, the merrier." And Lonce and his pals at The Grey Lady need to stop trying to say how the First Amendment should be interpreted for the rest of us. 

Want to save the equivalent of 30 cents a gallon on gas? The Detroit News says anyone can realize those savings if they just drive five miles per hour slower than usual. In fact, Department of Energy researcher David Greene estimates you could save $12 by driving 10 mph slower on a 500-mile trip. The tradeoff: it would add one hour to the trip (that you'll never get back). Don't get too overly zealous with your penny-pinching, though. The AAA warns that driving slower than 55 when the rest of the traffic is zooming past at 70 – 75 is "a recipe for a potential crash." Drivers in some states won't have to worry about that, though– Alabama, Michigan, Minnesota and Vermont are in various stages of considering bills to lower the speed limits on highways, in some cases to 55 mph. We're monitoring sales of CB radios…

July 1st was truly a landmark day for Canadian motorists. In addition to the start of a cell phone ban in Quebec and a carbon tax in British Columbia, drivers across Canada now face huge penalties for driving while stoned. No longer can Canadians re-create the infamous Cheech & Chong hotboxed car sketch. The CNews reports that police can now require drivers to submit to roadside drug tests. In addition, police can force suspected stoned motorists to go to a hospital or a police station for further testing. The whopping penalty for driving under the influence of drugs: CA$1,000 (minimum) for Strike 1 and jail time for Strike 2. Refuse the tests and you've committed a criminal offense. Though it goes without saying in The Sun, all of this is in addition to any other charges for possession and trafficking of classified substances that may be brought. Bummer.