A study from Norway sheds a little light on what kind of person is buying electric cars, and how they drive. 

Construction of a westbound bike lane connecting Georgetown with downtown D.C. could begin in August, District transportation planners said Monday during a walking tour of the proposed M Street track.

Michael Cannell tells the story of Phil Hill-a lowly California mechanic who became the first American-born driver to win the Grand Prix. The Limit  charts Hill’s journey from acing midget cars in dusty California lots to Grand Prix tracks across Europe.

Shortly after Sandy hit, Insurance Auto Auctions leased the two runways at Calverton Airpark, on Eastern Long Island. Tens of thousands of cars are now collecting at the airport, while they await auction.

Some New Yorkers say their cars are being towed from Sandy-affected areas without warning, and the city confirms, it’s true.

Every time there's a storm that damages large numbers of cars, that’s an opportunity for unscrupulous dealers to try to re-sell damaged vehicles.

The next big thing for cars out of Detroit is a huge transportation safety and infrastructure project that has buy-in from eight auto-makers and the U.S. Department of Transportation. The project is called Safety Pilot Model Deployment. Cars communicate with each other, the roads, and the traffic signals to improve safety and prevent accidents.

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Paul Ingrassia tells the story America’s vehicular history—from the assembly lines of Henry Ford to the open roads of Route 66, from the lore of Jack Kerouac to the sex appeal of the Hot Rod. In Engines of Change: A History of the American Dream in Fifteen Cars, Ingrassia explores how cars have both propelled and reflected the American experience.

Ray, left, and Tom Magliozzi, of Car Talk (photo: Cartalk.com)

People are driving fewer miles, taking mass transit more frequently, and young people care way less about cars and driving.

Now comes word quarter-century-long running public radio program, Car Talk, will no longer produce fresh episodes.

NPR said today that:

"Tom and Ray Magliozzi, aka Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, the comedian mechanics who host NPR's Car Talk, will tell their listeners this afternoon that as of this fall, they'll no longer record new programs. But their weekly call-in series will continue to be distributed by NPR drawing on material from their 25 years of show archives." The show ran for ten years as a local program in Boston before going nationwide.

NPR says the two, who are 74 and 63, and who've broadcast for 35 years, decided "it was time to stop and smell the cappuccino."  (We are not making this up.)

Stations, including flagship WNYC in New York, say they'll continue to air the re-packaged episodes culled from choice moments out of the 12,500 logged and rated calls in the 25 years of archives.

The guffawing brothers aren't worried the show will sound stale in repeats. And why should they? Public radio listeners will still be hunting for affable fixit advice for a 1995 Suburu... ten years from now.

Is zero traffic fatalities a utopian pipe dream? Chicago’s transportation commissioner Gabe Klein explains why he thinks otherwise. He lays out the city's new initiative to eliminate all traffic fatalities within ten years.

The United States has long been a car culture. But with fewer young people buying cars than ever, an American automobile industry in decline, and rising fuel prices, this culture is facing something of a crisis. Taras Grescoe, author of "Straphanger," takes this as a unique opportunity to look at public transportation throughout the world, and to consider how trains, subways, and buses can be better integrated into our daily lives.

Were it not for the subway, New York as it is today would not exist. At a crucial time in the city's history, the engineers of this ingenious subterranean railroad cleared the streets of impossible congestion and decanted the population of the teeming, insalubrious tenements of the Lower EastSide to the farthest corners of the boroughs. Because it was able to move so many people so quickly, the subway became the ultimate urban density amplifier, allowing the apartment buildings and office towers of Manhattan to be built side-by-side, and turning a 26-square-mile island of gneiss, marble, and schist into one of the world's greatest metropolises, where millions could live and trade services, goods, and ideas swiftly and efficiently.

Paul Eisenstein, author of The Detroit Bureau, is at arguably the biggest of all motor show's — and perhaps the most important: Beijing. What kinds of cars do the Chinese people like? The answer has important implications for the American auto industry. That's because what the Chinese want from their cars is increasingly dictating what American's get in their cars.

The open road: it’s part of the American dream. Or, at least, it used to be. A new study finds that 16- to 34-year-olds without driver’s licenses rose to 26 percent in 2010 from 21 percent a decade earlier. At the same time, biking, walking, and other driving alternatives rose among young people in the past decade. Tony Dutzik is a senior policy analyst at the Frontier Group and co-author of the study. Takeaway listener Emily is a 25-year-old who rarely drives, and didn't get her license until she was 19.

An increase in fuel efficiency standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 will save New York and New Jersey motorists big money, according to a new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. New Yorkers will save almost $3 billion a year, while New Jersey residents will save $1.5 billion.

Each Thursday in April, Sam Schwartz, aka Gridlock Sam at The Daily News, and former NYC traffic commissioner, explains another facet of his plan for equitably pricing NYC transit and tolls. This week: private cars.  

If you need proof that the economy is looking up, you need only look as far as your neighborhood car lot, or maybe even your own driveway. This week it was announced that there was a major bump in March auto sales. How major? Chrysler alone experienced a 34% increase in sales over the course of the month. Paul Eisenstein is the publisher of TheDetroitBureau.com. He explains what to make of these auto numbers, and whether they’re sustainable.

Ford dashboard (image from http://www.ford.com/technology/)

Automakers should disable potentially distracting technology unless the car is turned off -- or in "park."

That's the message from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which unveiled the first-ever federally proposed guidelines to encourage manufacturers to keep dashboard distractions to a minimum.

The guidelines -- which are voluntary --  would apply to "communications, entertainment, information gathering and navigation devices or functions that are not required to safely operate the vehicle."

The public can comment on the guidelines for the next 60 days. Read the full release below.

________________________________________________

U.S. Department of Transportation Proposes ‘Distraction’ Guidelines for Automakers 

Proposed recommendations would encourage manufacturers to develop
“less distracting” in-vehicle electronic devices  

WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced the first-ever federally proposed guidelines to encourage automobile manufacturers to limit the distraction risk for in-vehicle electronic devices.  The proposed voluntary guidelines would apply to communications, entertainment, information gathering and navigation devices or functions that are not required to safely operate the vehicle.

Issued by the Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the guidelines would establish specific recommended criteria for electronic devices installed in vehicles at the time they are manufactured that require visual or manual operation by drivers. The announcement of the guidelines comes just days after President Obama’s FY 2013 budget request, which includes $330 million over six years for distracted driving programs that increase awareness of the issue and encourage stakeholders to take action.

“Distracted driving is a dangerous and deadly habit on America’s roadways – that’s why I’ve made it a priority to encourage people to stay focused behind the wheel,” said Secretary LaHood. “These guidelines are a major step forward in identifying real solutions to tackle the issue of distracted driving for drivers of all ages.”

Geared toward light vehicles (cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, minivans, and other vehicles rated at not more than 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight), the guidelines proposed today are the first in a series of guidance documents NHTSA plans to issue to address sources of distraction that require use of the hands and/or diversion of the eyes from the primary task of driving.

In particular, the Phase I proposed guidelines released today recommend criteria that manufacturers can use to ensure the systems or devices they provide in their vehicles are less likely to distract the driver with tasks not directly relevant to safely operating the vehicle, or cause undue distraction by engaging the driver’s eyes or hands for more than a very limited duration while driving. Electronic warning system functions such as forward-collision or lane departure alerts would not be subject to the proposed guidelines, since they are intended to warn a driver of a potential crash and are not considered distracting devices.

“We recognize that vehicle manufacturers want to build vehicles that include the tools and conveniences expected by today’s American drivers,” said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland. “The guidelines we’re proposing would offer real-world guidance to automakers to help them develop electronic devices that provide features consumers want—without disrupting a driver’s attention or sacrificing safety.”

The proposed Phase I distraction guidelines include recommendations to:

• ·         Reduce complexity and task length required by the device;
• ·         Limit device operation to one hand only (leaving the other hand to remain on the steering wheel to control the vehicle);
• ·         Limit individual off-road glances required for device operation to no more than two seconds in duration;
• ·         Limit unnecessary visual information in the driver’s field of view;
• ·         Limit the amount of manual inputs required for device operation.

The proposed guidelines would also recommend the disabling of the following operations by in-vehicle electronic devices while driving, unless the devices are intended for use by passengers and cannot reasonably be accessed or seen by the driver, or unless the vehicle is stopped and the transmission shift lever is in park.

• ·         Visual-manual text messaging;
• ·         Visual-manual internet browsing;
• ·         Visual-manual social media browsing;
• ·         Visual-manual navigation system destination entry by address;
• ·         Visual-manual 10-digit phone dialing;
• ·         Displaying to the driver more than 30 characters of text unrelated to the driving task.

NHTSA is also considering future, Phase II proposed guidelines that might address devices or systems that are not built into the vehicle but are brought into the vehicle and used while driving, including aftermarket and portable personal electronic devices such as navigation systems, smart phones, electronic tablets and pads, and other mobile communications devices. A third set of proposed guidelines (Phase III) may address voice-activated controls to further minimize distraction in factory-installed, aftermarket, and portable devices.

The Phase I guidelines were published in today’s Federal Register and members of the public will have the opportunity to comment on the proposal for 60 days. Final guidelines will be issued after the agency reviews and analyzes and responds to public input.

NHTSA will also hold public hearings on the proposed guidelines to solicit public comment.  The hearings will take place in March and will be held in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington D.C

To view today’s proposed electronic equipment guidelines, click here.

How much would you pay for a 2005 Chrysler? Well, an anonymous seller on eBay is asking for a million dollars, but it's no ordinary car. The Chrysler once belonged to none other than President Barack Obama, who used it when on trips home to Chicago when he was just a Senator from Illinois. So is a President's former sedan really worth one million dollars?