Well, seems like the French are about as happy with traffic cameras as the Brits or us (although last time I heard, the Brits were leading the way in wanton camera destruction).

The folks over at AutoblogGreen had this nifty little story up lately.

The latest victim was in Saint-Gervais and is the TWELFTH radar camera that has been blown out of existence. And at this juncture, I have to say that destroying these things via bombing has a certain, I don’t know what, that the British traffic cam vengeance seems to lack (the Brits have a habit of lighting them on fire using old tires). Ten of these bombings are attributed to a group named FNAR (Fraccion Nationaliste Armé Révolutionaire) - how continental!

Since it seems like fear of big government is about as American as baseball, apple pie and phony wars to some segments of U.S. society, I’m surprised there hasn’t been more of this here in the good ol’ U. s. of A.

C’mon America, you’re falling behind the British and the French!

I’m not one who shows his emotions a whole lot. (The word “never” comes to mind.) However, a story I read yesterday in the Wall Street Journal really struck a chord with me. It was about a man who had to come to grips with the loss of his mother by finally getting rid of her favorite possession: a bright red 1994 Pontiac Bonneville.

What got the gears turning in my head with this story wasn’t the sentimental implications of honoring your mother this weekend or the tough decisions we have to make in life. Those were a given. What got me thinking was how someone who never really cared for the automobile like we enthusiasts do could still be attached to something that has become so important in our everyday lives.

Here we had a woman who saw this two-ton piece of steel and plastic as nothing more than a rolling appliance. However, every time she got behind the wheel of her big Pontiac, she felt this exhilaration and excitement that she had the ability to do what she wanted, and she could go anywhere she wanted.

That’s the underlying message here, and a very important point to understand. With the cost of gas going up, our roadways becoming more and more congested, and the constant bouts with poor/bad/aggressive drivers, it seems we as a society have taken advantage of a great privilege that hundreds of millions of people across the globe cannot enjoy for one reason or another. And then we have someone who respects and enjoys this freedom that we have in owning and operating a vehicle. And she’s not even an car person!

Now, this isn’t me getting on my soapbox ranting to the world. I just feel it is important to see and read the story for this reason, in addition to the timeliness of the holiday. Just keep it in mind as you spend time with your mother on her day of celebration.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there.

Wall Street Journal Article

From points antipodal, via Autoblog.

More photos after the jump.

Continue Reading…

From the good folks at CarScoop (who are really living up to their name this time) comes word that rumored-for-awhile-now Ferrari GT will be debuted online, and right soon at that.

This link, “FerrariGTCountDown”, has just popped up live, and soon (they say) it will show what the new Ferrari GT will both look like and be named (both of which have been kept under heavy lock and key).

Of course, they won’t just put it out there all at once, oh no, they have to, being Italians, do it with a little more flair and showmanship. They will begin to reveal the new model little by little before its public debut at the Paris Auto Show this coming October.

First up will be the GT’s engine, followed by the first photographs of the sportscar itself and finally its name will also be revealed.

I don’t normally do these types of posts, but I really thought some of you could use this.

Amazon.com is holding some really good deals on automotive products right now. I’ll list a few of the best ones below, then a link to go look at all of them. There are almost 7,300 automotive products right now that are over 70% off!

HID Conversion Kits for only $120 (full kits, multiple colors)
Just click the link to go there, then figure out which one fits your car.

Tons of Cheap Key Chains - Most are $1.25, some are $5. Here are a few:

• Nissan 350Z Custom Key Chain and Nissan 350Z Tear Drop Key Chain
• Dodge Tear Drop Key Chain
• Infiniti G35 Square Key Chain
• Dodge Custom Key Chain
• Ford Tear Drop Key Chain

Tons of Exterior Parts

License Plate Frame with Video Camera - $200

$5 Carbon Fiber Pens - Only a few are $5, but they’re all under $20.

In normal Amazon style, most of these items ship free with an order total of $25 or more. It’s really easy to pad your order past the $25, these guys have everything.

Here’s the full list of all 7,300 products on this insane sale.

The first thing that struck me on reading this at Neatorama was, ‘Isn’t this against the law already?’

Surprisingly, and frighteningly, no.

It would seem that it’s completely OK for you to go on a drive with a dog (assumedly of any size) sitting on your lap. If a cop were to see you, they couldn’t bust you for that, but they could bust you for, say, not wearing a seatbelt, because that is viewed as being unsafe.

Yes, I understand that not wearing a seatbelt is indeed unsafe, but it’s unsafe for you, the driver.

Driving around with a dog on your lap is unsafe for you, and, when the thing (potentially) slides off your lap, down into the footwell, getting jammed ‘neath the break pedal making it impossible for you to hit the breaks without crushing Fifi’s miniaturized spine, is unsafe for both you AND that bus full of blind school kids your about to run into an unabated speed.

And it’s not like this is too far out of the realm of possibility.

More then once, a lot more than once, I’ve had to take avoiding action for some lack-wit who was paying more attention to the dog in their lap than the fact that they had just blown by a stop sign and were about to T-bone me with their pearl white Escalade (”I feel so safe when I’m driving in it!”).

I shudder to think what will happen when these modern day Solomons will be forced to choose between paying attention to the needs of their Pomeranian, getting upset at something they just heard on talk radio, or running over a pedestrian.

The fact that there’s not more carnage on the road sort of impresses me.