“Around 4:30 p.m., a female witness saw Heather Locklear driving erratically while leaving a parking lot in Montecito. The witness said Locklear was revving her engine loudly, and backed over a pair of sunglasses several times,”(Source People Magazine)

Locklear was apparently cooperative and polite with the officer in charge of the standard battery of DUI testing.  The results of the roadside tests ruled out alcohol for the officer, but prescription drugs were not.  After she was arrested Locklear was bailed out within a few hours from the local jail.

It just goes to show you that driving under the influence is a bad idea.  Most people are bad enough drivers as is, but add drugs or alcohol to that mix and you have a potentially lethal combination.  Hopefully Ms.Locklear will learn from this situation and get whatever help is required in the near future.

Backing the bill was Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, but none the less the bill has been vetoed.   I suppose I can see both sides of the coin.  It certainly could be dangerous to have a living creature using you as a seat while operating a moving vehicle, but at the same time I don’t know how serious the potential really is for an accident to be caused by a small pet.

Fiat’s CEO Sergio Marchionne responded to the news becoming public by saying:

“Regardless of world economic difficulties, Fiat is working on consolidating its future on its own. There are things we can neither predict nor change but we can create conditions to respond in the fastest and most efficient way. The plant in Kragujevac will initially have capacity for 200,000 cars with a possibility to gradually expand production by 100,000 units.”(Source Reuters)

So now Jaguar is being made in India, and Fiat is being made in Serbia. What’s next? BMW in Portugal? Volvo in Greenland? Brand recognition seems so strongly tied with country of origin in the automobile world. I often wonder if Jaguar will have the same appeal now that it is no longer really a British luxury car, and now if Fiat will corner the market as a Serbian vehicle? I suppose we will just have to wait and see the end product before we will know how people will react to it.

Beyond the mere seizure of vehicles is the fact that many more vehicles are being disposed of or destroyed: “1,840 between April 2006 and 2007 to 2,469 the following year.” Pretty alarming numbers. They further report that only around 40% of seized vehicles are ever reclaimed by their owners. According to Bethan Beasley, the DVLA’s national wheel clamping manager:

“They are sometimes crushed or go to auction but we have started a scheme in the last 12 months that involves giving these unclaimed vehicles to police forces and the fire service. This has been especially popular in Wales.” (Source walesonline.co.uk)

So a word to the wise, if you live in Wales, pay your taxes! It seems a shame that such a large number of vehicles are being destroyed or are being moved by car shippers or auto transporters to fire departments and police stations to be destroyed.

So what was it that destroyed thousands of cars. Ike. The ships were sailing out of Galveston and so thousands of cars were left near the Galveston coast, waiting to be hammered by Ike. USA today said the following:

Galveston, of course, is a popular “home port” for residents of Texas, and many of the passengers who were scheduled to sail on Thursday were no doubt from areas threatened by the approaching storm. That means they left not knowing if they would have a livable home on their return. Moreover, since many cruisers out of Galveston drive to the port, going ahead with the voyage meant they had to leave their cars directly in the path of a storm that officials say could cause devastating damage.

I wish these people the best, and hope that their cars aren’t destroyed, but in all reality they are probably floating in their current parking spot. I wonder if insurance will pick up the tab on this one? Does insurance even cover this type of damage?

According to news.ninemsn.com.au, Kim:

was ordered to pay a $US500 ($A625) fine, $US212 ($A265) in court fees and perform 72 hours of community service. Kim also had his driver’s license revoked for six months and was subjected to a drug-and-alcohol assessment.

Celebrities really seem to have a problem with DUIs. If you don’t believe me, just click here. After the judge handed down his decision Kim told reporters:

“I’m just grateful and relieved that this matter has been resolved,” he said after the hearing. “It’s been a pretty difficult time for my family and me. But I’m glad I had a chance to take responsibility for my mistake.”

Hopefully Kim will get his act together after this close brush with the law. When handing down the decision the judge make the actor aware of just how dangerous DUI is, and certainly he is right to have done so. I have seen first hand the results of drunk driving, and I certainly would advise anyone to explore their options before ever considering driving drunk.

The restriction of cars on alternate days according to the last figures of their license plates has enabled Beijing residents to enjoy the cleanest air and clearest sky in years during the Olympic Games. This has resulted in a heated debate on whether the restriction should be kept as a permanent rule.

Perhaps with this in mind, September 22 is going to national car free day in China this year.  The idea is this, during a 12 hour period of the day, 7am to 7pm, roads are encouraged to be closed for all but public forms of auto transportation and pedestrians.

Since China has grown and modernized so quickly over the last decade or so, cars have taken over.  Where bicycles once ruled, autos are now king.  China no doubt wants to build a reputation that doesn’t revolve around being boorish and non-individualistic, which is rightly how many in the west view them.  So car free day seems to be one more attempt to clear the air (sort of a pun/homonym there) and come off as a cleaner friendlier China.

A whopping 90,000 deaths occur on Indian roads every year due to accidents. Nearly 40% of them are caused by drunk driving. This means drunk driving accounts for nearly 36,000 lives.

I would be afraid to drive in India after learning about this.  That is September 11th times 30!  Stats that high have lead many to question the country’s drunk driving laws.  While Sweden has made breath detectors that control a vehicle’s ignition standard by 2012, other countries lag behind.  The Times of India further mentions that a great deal of work is needed to control the drunk driving epidemic and that:

To arrest the rising number of drunk driving deaths in India, which comes to public focus once in a while through high-profile cases, the legislature needs to act fast — both in terms of providing for “appropriate punishment” as well as technological safeguards under the Motor Vehicles Act.

With any luck India will begin to enact these stricter laws, and curb (no pun intended) the mortality rate on the roads.