Say what? GM has no problem kicking Toyota when its down, offering conquest cash to craven Toyota owners who might be tempted to flee the brand in the midst of recall mania, but its own handling of the situation deserves some analysis. After all, GM confirms that its Pontiac Vibe is assembled at the GM-Toyota NUMMI joint venture using the CTS-sourced pedal assembly that allegedly causes unintended acceleration. And yet The General went on the record last Friday [via Automotive News [sub]] essentially claiming that its Toyota Matrix rebadge was magically safe from the dread terrors afflicting its Toyota-badged cousin. Now GM has revised its statement on the Vibe, admitting that since the Toyota recall, it has received several complaints about sticking accelerators on Vibes (although no related wrecks have been reported). Better late than never… unless you’re making the pitch that consumers should choose you over Toyota because you will take better care of them. [UPDATE: GM reports that the Vibe’s brakes can stop the vehicle. Go figure]

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The Highway Loss Data Institute, an affiliate of the Insurance Institutes For Highway Safety, reports that an audit of insurance claim filings shows no reduction in claim amounts in states with bans on cell phone use in cars. According to the report:

HLDI researchers calculated monthly collision claims per 100 insured vehicle years (a vehicle year is 1 car insured for 1 year, 2 insured for 6 months each, etc.) for vehicles up to 3 years old during the months immediately before and after hand-held phone use was banned while driving in New York (Nov. 2001), the District of Columbia (July 2004), Connecticut (Oct. 2005), and California (July 2008). Comparable data were collected for nearby jurisdictions without such bans. This method controlled for possible changes in collision claim rates unrelated to the bans — changes in the number of miles driven due to the economy, seasonal changes in driving patterns, etc.

Month-to-month fluctuations in rates of collision claims in jurisdictions with bans didn’t change from before to after the laws were enacted. Nor did the patterns change in comparison with trends in jurisdictions that didn’t have such laws.

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A number of states are considering legislation that would outlaw the use of photo enforcement. Last year alone, Maine, Mississippi and Montana added themselves to the list of fifteen states where red light cameras and speed cameras are no longer welcome. On Thursday, the South Dakota House Transportation Committee will consider legislation introduced by state Representative Peggy Gibson (D-Huron) to make her state the sixteenth.

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Supreme court justices in Missouri yesterday openly questioned the constitutionality of the red light camera program in the city of Springfield. The high court heard oral arguments in the case of retired highway patrol officer Adolph Belt, Jr. who attempted to defend himself in a court of law against the automated citation he received in the mail from Lasercraft, a UK-based camera vendor. Springfield insisted that Belt had no such right and that an administrative hearing presided over by a municipal judge constituted the first and last appeal in the matter. This procedure raised eyebrows among members of the high court, as administration represent a function of the executive.

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Toyota’s decision to halt sales of eight models in connection with the ongoing unintended acceleration debacle was made at the order of the NHTSA, reports the Detroit News. “Toyota was complying with the law,” NHTS reps tell DetN. “They consulted with the agency. We informed them of the obligations, and they complied.”According to the DetN, Toyota was legally required to halt sales when it announced its latest recall five days ago. Why didn’t Toyota halt sales then? NHTSA isn’t saying, only going as far as to say “at this point, you need to talk to Toyota about those decisions. We’ll be continuing to work with Toyota and having conversations.”

The city of Red Bank, Tennessee voted Tuesday to extend its automated ticketing contract with American Traffic Solutions (ATS) for twelve years, in open defiance of the state legislature. Earlier this month, the House Transportation Committee gave its approval to proposed legislation that would place a temporary moratorium on red light camera and speed camera program renewals while a set of engineering and operational standards are developed to ensure statewide uniformity. The committee took great pains to ensure that no city would be deprived of any existing red light camera or photo radar revenue by refusing to ban any existing practices.

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Starting this week, the fine citizens of Quebec will be required to take 24 hours of theory and 15 hours of practical driving instruction before getting their driver’s licenses. According to CTV, the provincial government has capped the expense of courses at $825 in order to prevent the cost from becoming too onerous of a burden on new licensees. Still, even in Canadian dollars that’s no chump change. And as instinctive as it is for me to resist this kind of regulation of personal mobility, mandatory driving instruction is common in much of the developing world (i.e. Europe). Moreover, the next time I’m on the interstate having an aneurysm over rampant on-road incompetence (let alone lane etiquette), I’ll approach the idea with a lot less libertarian zeal. Still, unless Ray LaHood (or Oprah?) gets more traction in the War on Distracted Driving, I don’t see the idea catching on in the US. Especially at the prices that Quebec is talking about. Do you think mandatory driver education is a reasonable option in these car-crazed United States?

What, you thought Ray LaHood’s war on distracted driving would be limited to a lot of hot air, a do-nothing summit and a ban on federal employees text messaging in federal vehicles? Yeah, so did we. Turns out that the position of Transportation Secretary leaves plenty of time for windmill tilting, as the WSJ reports LaHood is back on his old hobbyhorse. The SecTrans is pushing for the federal ban on texting while driving, and he’s back to the old double-nickel strategy: deny federal highway funding to states that refuse to pass local bans on texting while driving. Which is certainly better than some of the more Patriot Act-esque enforcement methods LaHood had been considering. Still, didn’t the mess that was the distracted driving summit convince LaHood that it’s impossible to legislate against stupidity, especially when there’s such a lucrative business in perpetuating said stupidity? Guess not.

The Tennessee House Transportation Committee yesterday drafted a legislative proposal that will solidify the legal standing for the use of both speed cameras and red light cameras in the state. After a lengthy markup process, committee members approved a two-year moratorium on new cameras while ensuring that there is no disruption in ticketing for cities like Chattanooga, Clarksville, Jonesborough and Knoxville that already have programs in place. In 2008, the state legislature quietly gave the green light to jurisdictions interested in installing red light cameras and speed cameras, but even the lawmakers most in favor of the use of cameras have been pressured by the public to take some action to reign in their use.

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In 2007, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) performed one of the most comprehensive statewide surveys of the impact of red light cameras on safety (view report). It caused quite a stir upon its release. The study took advantage of seven years’ worth of data both before and after cameras were installed, examining a far more extensive dataset than most competing studies.

Despite the agency’s best effort to present automated enforcement in a positive light, the unavoidable results were that, on a statewide level, accidents and injuries increased where cameras were used. This outcome has proved to be an embarrassment for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) which has been the primary organization generating research claiming that red light cameras improve safety. IIHS noted that VDOT essentially bent over backwards to accommodate the industry, but because the ultimate results were unfavorable, the VDOT report should be discarded.

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A class action lawsuit was filed Monday against Bradenton, Florida and American Traffic Solutions (ATS) seeking to end the use of red light cameras in the city. Attorney Jason D. Weisser challenged the program on behalf of motorist Jamie Rosenberg and all other recipients of $125 photo tickets since automated ticketing machines were installed in March 2008.

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At least eighty-two motorists in Colorado Springs, Colorado may have been falsely accused of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) based on unreliable blood test results. After double-checking its own work, the city’s Metro Crime Lab on Friday admitted that out of 1000 tests conducted since January, no fewer than eighty-two results were inflated above the driver’s true blood alcohol content. More incorrect readings could be discovered as re-testing continues.
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We thought we’d seen the last of the unintended acceleration crazes come and go for good nearly two decades ago. We were wrong. Somehow, like Camaros, Chrysler bailouts and Whitney Houston, the phenomenon has clawed its way back into the American consciousness this year. Consumer Reports even devotes an entire study to the number of unintended acceleration complaints lodged against the 2008 model-year with the NHTSA. Unsurprisingly, the big winner was Toyota, with 41 percent of the complaints, Ford came in second with 28 percent while Chrysler had nine percent. But wait, how many cases were there in total? Only 166? So, of the 2.2m vehicles Toyota sold in 2008, a total of 52 complaints were lodged about a phenomenon with no good mechanical explanation… and Consumer Reports wants us to believe that this is statistically significant?

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Red light cameras are shutting down temporarily and permanently in a pair of California cities. Santa Maria’s program has ended for good, thanks to camera vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS). ATS inherited the Santa Maria account from bankrupt vendor Nestor Traffic Systems in September and has now decided to pull out of the city because it was not earning enough revenue.
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