The US state of New Jersey two years ago banned the use of handheld cellphones at the wheel. Since then, police have booked 224,725 drivers for talking or texting, by far the most tickets of any state. The standard fine is US$100 ($145) - and it goes on the driver's
record. New Jersey's ban is a primary enforcement offence, meaning a cop can pull the driver over for that alone. It is an offence to use a cellphone while driving in New Zealand, too. The bloke behind the wheel of a Lexus SUV in Queen St the other day needs reminding. So does the driver of the LinFox truck joining motorway traffic from the Manurewa on-ramp, texting with one hand and driving his big rig with the other.
Mobile shut-down application
A new application for smartphones is called Cell Cease. It uses the phone's GPS signal to determine whether or not the phone is on the move. If it is travelling at more than 8km/h, Cell Cease shuts it down. Parents in the US have been installing the app on their teens' phones using a secret PIN, in the hope the young drivers will spend more time focused on the road than on making calls and texting. There are downsides: the app can't tell if the phone's being used behind the wheel or from the passenger's seat, whether it is on a bus, train, boat, or plane. Also, it is only available on smartphones using the Windows Mobile operating system.
Rent-a-germ
A consumer television programme in the US hired six well-travelled rental cars to find out what sort of germs were lurking inside. Food crumbs, sticky residues and dried vomit were commonplace. Microbiologists found the real stuff: bacteria that could bring on everything from stomach bugs to the flu virus. A rented child's seat was riddled with strep-throat nasties. A former hire car worker said only about 30 per cent of rentals were deep cleaned.
The hooptie arrives in NZ
The use of US slang word "hooptie" has been heard here. Wikipedia says it means ... "an old, decrepit, unreliable and often non-functional car which has limited mechanical abilities and is often in an unmaintained and usually in a rusty or dented shape."
Hyundai advert is in the bag
Luxury goods company Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy is suing Hyundai, claiming the South Korean carmaker has created confusion among consumers. The lawsuit is centred on a US advertisement for the Sonata sedan, where a basketball with allegedly similar gold-on-brown patterns to the Louis Vuitton handbag appears in close-ups. LVMH says Hyundai intended "to benefit commercially from the fame and renown of the LVM Marks by creating a false association between Louis Vuitton and its automobiles."
Chief zoom-zooms too much
Mazda's new design chief Ikuo Maeda is nicknamed "Speedy" - mostly because he has twice had his licence cancelled. Maeda, who penned the RX-8, considers himself the rightful guardian of the carmaker's zoom-zoom slogan. His father designed the original RX-7. "I was a real car-lover long before I started designing cars," Maeda said. The 50-year-old races an MX-5 and a yellow Lotus Elise.
We are the world
Would-be taxi drivers in Portsmouth, England, have been told that application forms for taxi licences are available in other languages or in "audio, large print or Braille".
alastair.sloane@nzherald.co.nz
The US state of New Jersey two years ago banned the use of handheld cellphones at the wheel. Since then, police have booked 224,725 drivers for talking or texting, by far the most tickets of any state. The standard fine is US$100 ($145) - and it goes on the driver's
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