Another Scary Ass Story About UK Car Surveillance You’ll Probably Ignore
By Robert FaragoJuly 21, 2008 -
As someone who worked at Cable News Network from Day one to Day 3,650, I understand the true "news pyramid." At the top: international news. In the middle: local news. At the bottom (the foundation): what's going bad in your refrigerator. So I'm not really all that surprised that our largely U.S. audience couldn't give a rat's ass about the fact that the U.K. is rapidly becoming Orwellian, or even bother to wonder what Eric Arthur Blair was on about. Still, the anti-speeding jihad has opened the door to some truly frightening policing. The latest example [via Pistonheads]: "The number plates of speeding drivers will be flashed up on new ‘smart signs’ in a bid to shame them into slowing down… When fully operational, the system will flash up the number plate of any vehicles exceeding the speed limit as a visual reminder to drivers to slow down. The system includes a large trailer-mounted variable message sign and remote speed and Automatic Number Plate Recognition detection units." Privacy? "The agency said the data gathered will not be used for enforcement and the system does not record any personal data, therefore complying with the Data Protection Act." Call me a tin foil hat wearer, but do Brits really buy that?
Posted in Crime & Punishment | News Blog | UK | 21 comments 
UK Texting Drivers Who Kill Face 7 Years In Prison
By Robert FaragoJuly 16, 2008 -
OK, we get it. If you're texting your BFF <3 whilst driving, cause an accident and kill someone, you do hard time. But if I read the Pistonheads story correctly, that's up to seven years. In other words, it's a maximum– not a minimum– sentence. And why pick on texting? Doesn't The Land of Hope and Glory have a general charge of "causing death by dangerous driving," or some such thing? Not yet, they don't. "Ministers now want to see the two new offences – causing death by careless driving and causing death while unlicenced, disqualified or uninsured – pushed through as soon as possible." Again, what's with a separate anti-texting caveat? "The council said it wanted to send a ‘clear message’ to those who text while driving that it will not be tolerated." Uh, OK. But I'm little concerned about the Council throwing the book at killer drivers with a history of "bad driving." "Very serious cases, where drugs, alcohol or persistent bad driving are involved, could warrant a jail term of up to 14 years, the [Sentencing Guidelines] council said." ?4U. Is it prima facie if you accidentally kill someone but have a bad driving record?
Posted in Crime & Punishment | News Blog | UK | 9 comments
Land Rover Donates 60 Vehicles to Red Cross
By Justin BerkowitzJuly 9, 2008 -
The expression "doing well by doing good" is totally hot in business/academia. This Third Way thinking attempts to reconcile the [allegedly] conflicting notions of "making enough money to buy a Ferrari and a house in the Hamptons" and "getting enough props for being socially responsible to keep the trophy wife happy." As your average Land Rover belches-out enough CO2 to offend every environmental group on planet earth, Land Rover's got to hold a pity party to make their PC bones. And so they have, by donating 60 vehicles (48 Defenders, eight Discoveries and four Freelanders) to the British Red Cross (BRC) and other national Red Cross societies in "troubled" countries (Sierra Leone, Mongolia, Liberia, Lesotho, South Africa). Accepting the gift, Sir Nicholas Young, the CEO of the BRC, remarked that the people they help are often "in the places that are hardest to reach." True dat. And we applaud both the positive impact of this largesse and its PR efficacy. Every time the BBC shows all hell breaking loose somewhere, the guys handing out medical supplies and food are in a butch Defender 110. Our only question: why didn't Land Rover ship some free vehicles to the Red Cross (or other worthy group) in Tata's Indian pridelands?
Posted in Customer Relations | News Blog | Overseas | Politics | UK | 14 comments
Bojo Kills C-Charge Hike, Pays Porsche Lawyer Bill
By Edward NiedermeyerJuly 8, 2008 -
London's new Mayor Boris Johnson has scrapped his predecessors plans to hike congestion charges to nearly $50 per day, reports the Times. Not only has BoJo repealed Ken Livingstone's proposed fee bump, but he's even paid Porsche's six-figure legal bill after the German automaker lead the charge against the increase. "I am delighted that we have been able to scrap the £25 charge, which would have hit families and small businesses hardest," said Johnson. "I believe the proposal would actually have made congestion worse by allowing thousands of small cars in for free." And what makes "Red" Ken Livingstone most angry about the reversal of his controversial legacy? Environmental damage? Long commute times? No, it's the lost revenue for the city government. "The claim that £10m has been 'saved' by scrapping the CO2 charge is entirely false - in reality London will lose £30 million - £60million expected annual revenue from the scheme," said Livingstone. With that admission, any pretext that the beefed-up congestion charge is actually an environmental or traffic-calming measure is well and truly put to bed. Along with Mr Livingstone's political career. And good riddance too.
Posted in Green | News Blog | UK | 9 comments
BMW 7-Series Engines Revealed
By Justin BerkowitzJuly 4, 2008 -
While the 4th is an American day of celebration, it's a day of national shame, disgust, and disappointment for our British friends across the Atlantic (Jeremy Clarkson, in particular, is said to be spending the day sobbing and eating some kind of pie with meat, rather than apples). To help combat their dreadful feelings, BMW of UK has put out a press release on the just revealed new uberlux 7-Series sedan. Not surprisingly, it will holster the new twin-turbo V8 engine (badged 750i in The Land of Hope and Glory). The 740i name returns, denoting the sublime 3.0-liter twin turbo six from the 335i, making 326hp– as much power as the last gen 745i V8. The force-fed six will rocket the 740i to 60 in six seconds. Naturally, the "Biggest Losers of 1777" will get a straight-six diesel 7, stumping-up 245 hp and returning some 32 mpg. BMW UK estimates the six-pot oil burner will account for 85 percent of 7-Series UK sales. With a 0 - 60mph time of 7.2 seconds, why not? So, is BMW ready to bring a six cylinder 7-Series to America? Uh, no. But ours (like theirs) will come with enough gizmos to make an S-Class nervous: optional four-wheel steering (!), side view cameras, variable damping suspension, night vision, and something called "post warranty heart attack." On sale in the UK in November; anticipate a similar date for us Yankees.
Posted in Future Vehicles | New Cars | News Blog | Overseas | UK | 5 comments
Ford’s Fiesta ECOnetic to get 66 MPG?
By Justin BerkowitzJuly 2, 2008 -
AutoExpress reports that Ford has prepped a not-so-mean but oh-so-green Fiesta ECOnetic for the British Motor Show. While not officially confirmed for production, odds are it will eventually hit (love tap?) the streets of The Land of Hope and Glory. The ECOnetic Fiesta will have a 1.6-liter turbodiesel powerplant with all of 89hp, as well as loads of aerodynamic mods. Equally important, the UK-market Fiesta will have low enough CO2 emissions to evade London's congestion charge. ECOnetic trim recently debuted on a European Ford Focus, with a claimed 55mpg. As Edward Neidermeyer reported, in real-life testing, the Focus ECOnetic that number dropped to some 37 mpg. If we saw a proportionate drop for the ECOnetic Fiesta, that would mean about 44 real world miles per gallon. That's still very impressive. The new model Fiesta isn't on sale yet, although it is coming to the US with gasoline engines about 12 - 18 months from now. [All numbers are US miles per gallon]
Posted in Diesel | Europe | Fuel Economy | Future Vehicles | New Cars | News Blog | UK | 13 comments
UK Car Sales Flat
By Robert FaragoJune 27, 2008 -
Posted in News Blog | UK | Whiskey Tango Foxtrot | 2 comments
UK Diesel Hits $9.84 a [US] Gallon
By Robert FaragoJune 26, 2008 -
While you contemplate the full misery that this sad state of affairs inflicts upon the average UK motorist, eating into what's laughing called their after-tax income, consider this factoid. At various times in the last three years, the UK was an oil exporter. So why the masochism at the pump? Hey, you try running a socialist country– whose population's roughly equal to California and Texas combined– on just £552b per year. The bottom line: taxes. Pistonheads reports that "Duty on both petrol and diesel is now 50.3p a litre – around 40% of the total cost at the pumps. The duty on champagne is said to be £1.87 a bottle, which means that on a £20 bottle the duty makes up roughly less than 10%…. Polls have shown that more than half the population now blame the Government for the spiralling cost of fuel." So what's a government faced with disgruntled (disgruntled I tell you) motorists to do? Raise the fuel duty by .2p per [imperial] gallon. PH commentator 109 Bob shows how cynical UK subjects have become. "What bloody difference will it make by scrapping the 2p increase that is planned. What difference would it make if 10p was to be taken off duty, absolutely no difference what so ever to me our you. The decrease in price would just get swallowed up & prices will continue to increase." Yes they're mad as Hell and they're gonna take it some more.
Posted in News Blog | Taxes | UK | 29 comments
UK Cops Post Crash Boasts on Facebook
By Robert FaragoJune 23, 2008 -
I've long argued that the UK's anti-speeding jihad has seriously degraded the relationship between the average British motorist and the police. Despite the public's underlying laissez-faire attitude towards invasive policing– if you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about– it stops being "fair" when it starts being you. By now, millions of otherwise law-abiding motorists have been trained to see the police as "the enemy." By the same token, the us vs. them gestalt has alienated the police from their so-called employers. The Times reports that the Metropolitan [London] police have been emboldened to the point where they don't even feel compelled to pretend to give a shit about road safety. How else could you explain a Facebook site created by the police where they boast about accidents and, get this, collisions with pedestrians? Needless to say, the Powers That Be have pulled the "Look I’ve Had a Pocol" (slang for police collision) page, and warned 14 officers to cut that out. But not before we learned that "One picture… showed a police vehicle in an accident with a small white car. The officer who posted it wrote: 'I did him a favour. At 82 years old you just shouldn’t be on the road and if you are, then most certainly don’t go through a green light into the path of an innocent police car.' Another member wrote: 'Ran over a drunk. I believe he has a permanent limp and a hefty payout. I was given a three-month holiday from job driving. Ooh, bummer.'"
Posted in Crime & Punishment | Customer Relations | News Blog | UK | 7 comments
Big Opel/Vauxhall Is Watching
By Edward NiedermeyerJune 19, 2008 -
From the birthplace of George Orwell, now the most-watched nation in the world, comes news of a car that has nanny-cams of its own. Car Magazine UK tells us that the new Vauxhall/Opel Insignia will offer a camera system that can read traffic signs, and alert the driver when they have violated them. GM's Traffic Sign Recognition system uses a Hella-sourced (not in the Nor-Cal slang sense) wide-angle camera, that can take 30 photos per second at a range of up to 100 meters. It can recognize traffic signs, and by comparing them to an on-board database, it can tell if the driver is violating their edicts. When you drive your Insignia at 25 mph in a 20 mph zone, expect a "reminder" to flash on your dashboard, removing any doubt that you are, in fact, breaking the law. Though the proliferation of remote speed-control cameras in Britain give this option some merit there, less repressive societies will doubtless provide much weaker markets for GM's new technology. Still, when we heard that GM would "democratize technology" with its newly-upmarket Opel/Vauxhall brands, the last thing we expected was an option that facilitates continuous government intrusion into the driving experience. Sounds more like they've "totalitarianized technology."
Posted in Gizmology | Law and Order | News Blog | Safety | Technology | UK | 8 comments
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