Pacific Standard March-April 2013 Cover

Weed Makes Kids Better Drivers, According to Kids

April 25, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
marijuana-car

Teens are teens. They smoke weed—and duuuude—they think it makes them better drivers because, like, my haaaaands are clear bro, and it feels like I'm one with the car—yoooooo—does that say something about the human-industrial-car complex or am I just suuuuuper high, according to a recent survey of high school juniors and seniors from Liberty Mutual. Zachary Tracer—Churnalism disclaimer: Zach is a friend—has the report over at Bloomberg: Thirty-four percent of those who have driven while high say the drug makes them a better motorist, and 41 percent said it had no effect, ... Read More

More like this: Science
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Driving Is Much Deadlier Than Terrorism—Why Isn’t It Scarier?

April 16, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
scary-heuristic

Whether you're driving in a car, walking down the street, or merely sitting in a chair, there are about a hundred ways that life could end: instantly, slowly, ironically, stupidly, early, or even painfully. Yet despite the precariousness native to existence, most of us manage to soldier on. Every so often, however, we get hung up on something, and our stoic composure gets tossed out the window. Topics like nuclear power, genetically-modified foods, and, more recently, horse meat in food, bring out humanity's true nature, "guided by emotion rather than by reason, easily swayed by trivial ... Read More

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OMG UR Phone Knows UR Texting + Driving!

March 6, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

Texting while driving is about as self-evidently stupid as watching TV while running a chainsaw. Everyone knows that, but millions of motorists type all the time while behind the wheel, regardless. In a survey released in December by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 18 percent of all drivers — and nearly half of those ages 18 to 24 — admitted to sending texts or emails while behind the wheel. The agency estimates that texting while driving has increased by 50 percent in the past year. That’s despite the fact that 35 states have outlawed the practice and that texting ... Read More

More like this: Culture, March-April 2012
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Feds Seek Ban on Cellphone Use for Drivers

December 13, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

Last year, the U.S. Department of Transportation launched a new website, distraction.gov, to chide drivers about using cellphones (or “personal electronic devices,” PEDs) while they were behind the wheel. The feds had already told government employees they couldn’t text and drive while on Uncle Sam’s business, and later extended that rule to commercial truckers while on Sam Walton’s. As Emily Badger wrote for us in February 2010, putting up a nagging website was really all the federal government could do to address what’s pretty much an issue for the states. On Tuesday, DoT ... Read More

More like this: By The Way ..., Culture
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Developing Smart Cars, Roads for a Greener Drive

August 12, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

If you're the kind of driver who over-accelerates between traffic signals and jerks to a stop on red, you're a prime candidate to learn eco-driving, the steady-as-you-go technique that can cut down on fuel consumption by more than 10 percent. Eco-driving means "reading" the traffic flow as far ahead as possible so that you can maintain a consistent speed, anticipate stops and avoid excessive braking and accelerating. It means acting instead of reacting. You shift up as soon as possible. You don't barrel toward the intersection and slam on the brakes. You slowly coast to a stop, saving gas ... Read More

More like this: Environment
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Truly Smart Cars May Start Chatting With Each Other

January 26, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

Transportation officials and carmakers for the past 50 years have been steadily improving the “crashworthiness” of vehicles. They’ve mandated seat belts, added air bags and electronic stability control. If you get in an accident today, chances are you — and even your car — will emerge in much better shape than you would have a half-century ago. “We’ve had all these great improvements to the vehicle structure and mechanisms, and we’ve taken that about as far as it can go — our cars are excellent, very safe,” said John Augustine, managing director of the Intelligent ... Read More

More like this: Culture, Culture & Society, The Idea Lobby
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Use the Phone While Driving, Get Dumped

August 27, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment

We've all heard the warnings about using cell phones behind the wheel; several recent studies have shown that even hands-free mobiles are more distracting to motorists than driving drunk. Now a paper in Family Science Review points to another chilling threat posed by phoning and driving: Do it and you might get dumped. According to University of Minnesota professor Paul Rosenblatt's paper, communication with family members suffers for the same reasons car calling is hazardous to driving — it slows motorists' reaction times and reduces their attention spans. "A delay in the conversation ... Read More

More like this: Culture, September-October 2010, The Cocktail Napkin
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These Streets Weren’t Made for Walkin’

January 15, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment

Several officials came to the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting in Washington this week fresh off a visit last month to the U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen. What they saw was promising, a couple quipped (independently of each other), and they weren't talking about anything that went down inside the delegate hall. Everywhere in Copenhagen, they saw an ideal solution to the co-dependent problems of climate change, auto congestion, poor land use and public health. Everywhere, there were Danes biking. "I know it's not just because the Danes are nicer people than we ... Read More

More like this: Culture, Culture & Society, The Idea Lobby
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Yeah, It Would Be Good to Drive Less, But …

January 13, 2010 • By • 2 Comments

Your tailpipe emissions represent, by most lights, an engineering problem. Build a cleaner, more efficient car, and the problem starts to get smaller. Fuel efficiency standards are the most obvious way to reform a transportation sector that accounts for about 29 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. The Obama Administration was certainly thinking this when last May it mandated all new cars in America by model year 2016 must get at least 35.5 miles to the gallon. But what if instead of changing the cars — or, better yet, in addition to that — we changed the way we use ... Read More

More like this: Business & Economics, CAROUSEL, The Idea Lobby
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Are You a Bad Driver? It May Not Be Your Fault

October 29, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment

Have you been guilty of more than one minor car accident involving an inanimate object? Do you frequently observe passengers in your car holding on to that little handle between the window and the windshield (the "Oh s***" handle, as one of my friends likes to call it) until their knuckles turn white? Do your family members and acquaintances routinely refuse to let you operate their motor vehicles? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might be a bad driver. But a new study published recently in the journal Cerebral Cortex suggests that your genes may be to blame. People ... Read More

More like this: Culture, Culture & Society, Findings
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