Latest Personal Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Kansas Court Ruling on Drivers Applies to Old Practice, FedEx Says
Oct 5 2014 // FedEx Corp. said a ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court that, under state law, its drivers are employees rather than independent contractors applies to a business practice it hasn’t been using since 2011. The company...
Dover, Delaware to Target Drivers Using Handheld Cellphones
Oct 3 2014 // For the first time, Dover, Delaware, police are using a team of officers to target drivers who text and talk on the road. The department says that despite many campaigns to spread awareness that it’s illegal to use...
N.J. Red-Light Cameras Lose Support as Drivers Gripe Over Robotics, Glitches
Oct 2 2014 // New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is leaning toward eliminating red-light cameras after a five-year test was fraught with glitches and gripes, even as data showed fewer crashes at intersections with the equipment. A pilot...
NYC Cracking Down on Unsafe Taxi Drivers as Part of ‘Vision Zero’ Campaign
Oct 1 2014 // New York City is cracking down on unsafe taxi drivers. The Taxi and Limousine Commission issued 5,000 safety-related summonses so far this year. That’s a 95 percent increase from last year. The New York Post reports...
Truck Driver: Distraction a Factor in Fatal Oklahoma Crash
Sep 30 2014 // The driver of a tractor-trailer that crashed into a bus and killed four college students on Interstate 35 in southern Oklahoma told investigators he was distracted. Russell Staley, 53, of Saginaw, Texas, was traveling...
New Michigan Law Lets Uninsured Drivers Do Community Service
Sep 25 2014 // Gov. Rick Snyder has signed a law allowing drivers who owe extra “responsibility” fees for certain offenses to do 10 hours of community service instead. The option would apply for drivers assessed $400 in fines...
Idaho Car Crash Caused by Burned Armpit Hair?
Sep 19 2014 // A SUV full of teenagers crashed in Idaho after one of the passengers lit the driver’s armpit hair on fire with a lighter, authorities said Wednesday. All five young people in the Ford Bronco were hurt in the crash...
Alabama City Employs Sting Operation on Uber Drivers
Sep 19 2014 // Tuscaloosa, Alabama police are using undercover operations to nab drivers with the Uber ride-sharing service. Police said Wednesday a two-night sting last week resulted in a 50-year-old Mississippi woman getting tickets...
Fraud Costs Michigan Drivers $220M a Year
Sep 18 2014 // Auto insurance fraud costs Michigan drivers more than $220 million a year, Secretary of State Ruth Johnson announced while unveiling a set of 17 legislative and regulatory anti-fraud recommendations offered by the Fighting...
Next up to Test Self-driving Cars on California Roads: Mercedes-Benz
Sep 18 2014 // Mercedes-Benz has followed Volkswagen AG’s Audi unit in getting a license to test self- driving vehicles on California roads as the luxury-car makers vie for a market predicted to grow to $87 billion by...
Prop. 103 vs. Self-driving Cars Revving up in California
Sep 17 2014 // Way back in 1988 it probably seemed like the idea of self-driving vehicles was about as far off as flying cars or hovercraft. That was the year California voters enacted Proposition 103, giving among other things an...
Drivers in California Must Give Bikes 3-Foot Buffer
Sep 17 2014 // Californians will now need to take extra care to steer clear of cyclists. Under statewide regulations taking effect Tuesday, drivers must give bikes a buffer zone of at least 3 feet while passing. Cited violators will face...
Self-driving Cars Could Require Overhaul of Insurance Regulation
Sep 16 2014 // What is an autonomous vehicle? As demonstrated in a Sept. 15 California Department of Insurance informational hearing, that’s a misleadingly simple question. Regulators’ attempt to stay in front of the curve,...
California Drivers Lose $44B Over Worn-Out Roads Cost, Report Says
Sep 12 2014 // California’s worn-out, congested roads and bridges are costing drivers $44 billion a year, a report released today shows. Higher vehicle operating costs, congestion-related delays and traffic accidents cost $2,458...
Industrial Boom Driving Louisiana’s Ascension Parish
Sep 8 2014 // More than 2,000 construction workers are building a $2.1 billion expansion of CF Industries’ nitrogen complex in Louisiana’s Ascension Parish. The 100-acre addition to the nation’s largest nitrogen plant...
2017 Cadillacs to Feature Hands-Free Driving, V2V Technology
Sep 8 2014 // General Motors Co., the largest U.S. automaker, will introduce a Cadillac model in two years that can travel on the highway without the driver holding the steering wheel or putting a foot on a pedal. The 2017 Cadillac...
Drunk Driving Cases at a 20-Year Low in Minnesota Last Year
Sep 8 2014 // The number of arrests and criminal convictions for drunken driving in Minnesota has dropped to the lowest level in 20 years. Authorities credit changing attitudes about driving drunk and improved enforcement for the...
Massachusetts Tells Drivers Their LOLs, OMGs Can Wait
Sep 2 2014 // Massachusetts state transportation officials first got the attention of drivers in June when they posted electronic highway signs that implored Bostonians to “use yah blinkah.” The latest effort to combine a...
Use of Hand-Held Cell Phones While Driving Banned in Austin
Sep 2 2014 // The Austin, Texas, City Council has approved a law banning the use of hand-held cellphones and many other portable electronic devices while driving. The Austin American-Statesman reports the city council approved the law...
Young Male, Female Drivers Differ in Types of Crashes: Study
Aug 28 2014 // Young female drivers have more crashes at intersections and collisions with pedestrians than do young male drivers, who have more off-road and nighttime accidents than young female drivers. Gender is often related to what...
