On Monday, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Travis Smaka pulled over a minivan in the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane because nobody else was visible inside except for the driver. Turns out, the driver works for a funeral home and was transporting a body. From the
Reno Gazette Journal:
"He immediately tells me he's got the remains of a person in the vehicle behind him, so I kind of glanced in the back and confirmed that,” Smaka said of what he saw in the cargo area – a bodybag strapped to a gurney. “It kind of threw me off a little bit, and then he just made the funny remark, something along the lines of, 'So he won't count?'.."
Nevada's HOV rules do not clarify whether an occupant must be breathing and leans on federal law, which is not much clearer....
An official with the Federal Highway Administration said it is up to individual states to define what an occupant is – and referred the USA Today Network to the Nevada Department of Transportation for additional information.
“When you talk about high occupancy vehicle lanes, you’re talking about seats – so a person would need to occupy a seat to qualify,” said Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Jason Buratczuk. “This person was obviously a decedent and in the cargo area of the car, so they would not qualify for the HOV lane.”
The officer let the driver off with a warning.
image: SounderBruce/CC BY-SA 4.0
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According to Digg, this bus driver in China realized he wouldn't make it through a toll plaza so he pulled a u-ey. I think he actually wanted to grab a killer parking spot on the other side of the road.
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A driver from Orange County Florida was dinged by the cops for using a very slick-looking device to obscure his license plate while using a toll road. It would have been the perfect crime, except for one thing: when the driver worked his license plate magic, he failed to notice that there was a police car rolling right up on his back bumper. Read the rest
Winter's here and, like clockwork, everyone's started driving like idiots.
If you recently bought a vehicle with part-time four wheel drive, four wheel drive, all wheel drive or anything else in between, this might be a good time to brush up on what your ride's good for and what you should avoid. Look no further than this video. Unless you really want to. If so, you'd do well to spend some time reading this story by Jalopnik. Read the rest
I'm pretty used to driving on the left side of the road, having driven in Rarotonga, New Zealand, and Australia for several months. But I would be nervous to drive in Japan, because the roads are narrow and I am nervous I wouldn't be able to read the signs. But this video makes me think I should rent a car the next time I go there.
This video tells you about international driving permits, speed limits, rest stops, car rental, tolls, and other tips.
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As a wise man once said, "It's funny cause it's true."
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After a long day of driving for Uber and Lyft, this fella decided to work out exactly how much money he'd be taking home after paying taxes and expenses on his income as an independent contractor. While there's certainly a number of tax loopholes and write-offs that he could be taking advantage of, it looks like, for most people, driving for Uber or Lyft isn't worth the time. Read the rest
Last Sunday, Saudi Arabia lifted its decades-long ban on women driving. On the same day, a young rapper named Leesa A released a music video celebrating her new-found freedom. The video has since gone viral.
BBC reports:
Leesa A, who previously had a relatively small social media presence, posted her video on Instagram and YouTube where it has attracted more than 1.6 million views combined.
She is filmed driving, pressing the accelerator, changing the gears, all the while rapping: "Yo, you seem to be forgetting that today is the 10th, this means there no taxis," referring to the date of 24 June in the lunar-based Islamic calendar.
YouTube commenter TrueGamerX14 translated the song's entire lyrics:
Yo, you seem to be forgetting that
today is the 10th
That means no need for taxis
The steering wheel in my hands
I smash the pedal under my foot
I won't need anyone to drive me
I'll help myself by myself
I've got the drivers license ready with me
So put the seat belt on the abaya (the
outfit she's wearing)
And keep an eye on the sidewalks and the
other on the mirror
R is for going back, D is for going
seeda (straight)
Watch out for every car
If it was a Ford or Cressida, your life
won't be great
Come! Pick me up! Take me there!
Bring me back!
That'll ruin the plan
If you want me to come pick you up,
you gotta pay up
Gas money! Don't underestimate it!
Debt!
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The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) posted this video of a batshit driver near Canal Winchester, Ohio. Amazingly, there were no collisions. "Don't be that driver," says ODOT.
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What, um, "perfect" timing.
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Talk about a tight maneuver. This trucker has to make a sharp right turn onto a single-lane bridge with an enormous load of logs. Read the rest
You might think it's an optical illusion but really it's a glitch in the matrix. The insurance adjuster is gonna have a helluva time with this one.
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At Anderson Speedway in Indiana, driver Jeffrey Swinford was not pleased with Shawn Cullen for crashing into him and taking both of them out of a race. Then Cullen was not pleased with Swinford parking his car on top of Cullen's. Read the rest
I bet he's a master at parallel parking his daily driver too.
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Silly Putty has an interesting property. It's soft when you squeeze it slowly, but rock hard if you hit it with a hammer. Someone came up with the good idea of making speed bumps (or "sleeping policemen," as they cleverly call them in the UK) out of a Silly Putty like substance. That way, slow drivers get a smooth ride, but the faster you go, the more the bump punishes you. It would be fun to design the speed bump in such a way that it rips the undercarriage out of any car going twice the speed limit.
[via Clive Thompson] Read the rest
A Ferrari driver in southeast England ignored warnings not to leave cars overnight on the ninth floor of the Brighton Marina parking garage. The fellow returned on Sunday morning to find his fancy ride in the middle of a bustling flea market.
(HuffPo)
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