Stick shifts aren't extinct -- it just seems that way -- and concerns over teen safety may be helping the manual transmission systems make a mini-comeback. A Northern California TV station reports that some area parents are buying their teenagers vehicles with stick shifts in order to keep the kids' hands off cell phones. Sacramento News10 interviewed a 17-year-old who says that while many of her friends text and drive, "With a stick shift, I can't really check my phone," she said. Her parents bought her a Honda Civic. Stick shifts have largely disappeared in the U.S., with about 5.5 … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2012
Truckers: Why no public cell ban?
January 10, 2012 by 13 Comments
The federal government says truck drivers can't talk on handheld cell phones. Fair enough, the pros say -- but what about the "four wheelers" who cause most of the wrecks involving trucks? A week after that federal ban on handheld cell phone use went into effect, the trucking industry seems to have the issue in its rear-view mirror. But some truckers still want to know why professional drivers are being singled out. "I am so tired of hearing, 'The feds can't do anything with four-wheelers,'" one pro wrote in an industry forum. "If they're gonna travel the same roads I do, they can follow the … [Read more...]
Alaska texting law gets a rewrite
January 5, 2012 by 1 Comment
A pair of state representatives have submitted to the Legislature a new version of Alaska's text messaging law to ensure its intent is clear to the courts. Reps. Les Gara and Bill Thomas on Jan. 6 filed the bipartisan legislation House Bill 255, which would remove any doubt that texting and driving is illegal in Alaska. The ambiguous wording of Alaska's 2008 prohibition on texting & driving came back to haunt legislators when a magistrate in tiny Kenai ruled that the state needed to be more precise with the distracted driving law. The magistrate noted correctly that its wording never … [Read more...]
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