Peanut Butter News

Technology or just money that the cars are not safe. You judge for your self.
Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — The driver of a Toyota Prius says he was taken on a wild ride Monday after the car’s accelerator became stuck, reaching speeds in excess of 90 mph on a winding, hilly portion of a southern California interstate.

It took the California Highway Patrol to bring the car safely to a stop.

The driver, Jim Sikes, said he was traveling east on Interstate 8 outside of the San Diego area when he attempted to pass a slower vehicle.

Full Story at money.cnn.com

New York (CNNMoney.com) — Toyota announced Wednesday night that it is adding another 1.1 million vehicles to an an earlier 4.2 million vehicle recall originally announced in November.

The vehicles are being recalled to fix a problem in which the gas pedal can become caught on the edge of the removable floormat, causing the vehicle to accelerate uncontrollably.

Full Story at msnbc.com

CLEVELAND – An Ohio bus driver who had been fired and reinstated after an earlier accident was on her cell phone when her bus struck and killed a pedestrian in March, according to investigators.

Angela Williams, 49, of Cleveland, was indicted Thursday on a felony charge of aggravated vehicular homicide. If convicted, she could get up to five years in prison in the death of Patrick Merrill, 59, of suburban Berea.

He was struck in a crosswalk while the bus was making a left turn. It was the second fatal bus accident involving a pedestrian in a crosswalk in seven months in Cleveland.

Full Story At ClickToNews.com

The Bush adminstration is quietly making approval for a super highway 10 lanes wide, train, and oil pipe lines running from the South of Mexico to the Heart of America and onto Canada. This highly restricted highway will eliminate unions as cheap Mexican labour can take all products from the Far East by passing the American Border and drop off all products in Kanasas City for clearance and then onto any desination in the USA or Canada.

Full Story At  msnbc.com

WASHINGTON – An economic downturn can have a bright side: U.S. highway deaths in 2008 fell to their lowest level since John F. Kennedy was president.

The recession and $4 per gallon gas meant people drove less to save more. Experts also cited record high seat belt use, tighter enforcement of drunken driving laws and the work of advocacy groups that encourage safer driving habits.

Full Story At CBS News

AP) With a third contract offer rejected, some 24,000 refinery workers from the Gulf of Mexico to Montana prepared to head to the picket lines Saturday just hours before an existing labor agreement expires.

The nation’s biggest refiner, Valero Energy Corp., said it would shut down some facilities if workers strike. So did European oil company BP PLC.

Shell Oil Co., the lead negotiator for the industry, along with Exxon Mobil Corp., said its refineries would continue to make gasoline, diesel and other fuels using nonunion or replacement workers.

Full Story At  Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters) – As Detroit’s Big Three automakers flirt with collapse, punished for years of over-dependence on gas-guzzlers, the future of the motor industry would seem to belong to energy conscious rivals such as Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co Ltd.

Not necessarily, say Japanese auto executives.

Honda Executive Vice President Koichi Kondo says “the game is still open” as car-making enters a new phase in which alternative energy sources and power systems will become mainstream, re-writing the rules of a century-old business.

“So far, the majority of cars still run on internal combustion engines,” Kondo told Reuters in a recent interview.

“Sure, there’s all kinds of hype about electric vehicles and hybrids and fuel-cell cars, but no one has the breakthrough technology to bring them into the mainstream.”

Full Story At msnbc.com

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Disgraced New York Rep. Vito Fossella has been sentenced to five days in jail for drunken driving.

Judge Becky Moore decided Fossella was so drunk he met the legal threshold for a five-day stint in jail. Fossella’s May 1 arrest led to revelations he had fathered a child through an extramarital affair.

Buffeted by questions about his personal secrets, Fossella chose not to seek re-election and will leave Congress next month.

Full Story At AOL News

One of Utah’s most distinct natural structures has collapsed. The famous Wall Arch in Arches National Park, which had become a favorite stopping point for photographers over the years, gave way to gravity and erosion. “They all let go after a while,” one official says.

Full Story At CBS News

AP) Police say there’s been an alarming rise in urine-filled plastic containers found along a three-mile stretch of Interstate 84 in eastern Oregon.

A litter crew for the Oregon Department of Transportation picked up an estimated 200-300 urine filled plastic bottles, along the highway, about half of which were found in a short stretch dubbed “Three Mile Hill.”

Full Story At ABC News

One year after a bridge collapse in Minneapolis killed 13 people, bridge inspections across the country are still fundamentally flawed and inundated with error, according to industry experts and recent studies.
mn bridge
Scene of collapsed Interstate 35W bridge over Mississippi River, Minneapolis, Minnesota
(AP Photo)

Most bridge check-ups are still done visually, which means the risk of error tends to be frequent, according to safety experts. The government has issued no standard for new, updated maintenance equipment since last year’s collapse, which came a full six years after a government study showed bridge inspectors had a poor rate of assessing damage.

Back in 2001 the Federal Highway Administration tested 49 bridge inspectors in 49 states by accompanying them on tests to bridges FHWA officials knew had flaws.