The good oil: Selfish trucker

Photo / Thinkstock

Reader writes: "Friday afternoon, February 11, on the Southern Motorway. A fully laden Winstone Aggregate truck and trailer unit stayed in the fast lane from Takanini to the Harbour Bridge. His speed wasn't much more than 80km/h, sometimes 70km/h. I was in the slow lane. I could see via the truck's side mirror that the driver was texting on his cellphone and then rolling a cigarette. There was no traffic in front of him for miles and he had no intention of moving into the slower lane at any stage. This is the way Auckland's motorway is treated - it's mine, mine, and all mine. A while ago I rang another trucking firm about a similar driving style. The woman said their trucks have to travel in the fast lane because they aren't allowed on the bridge's clipped-on lane. Brilliant excuse."

Bus lanes a dog's breakfast
City council wallopers and their cameramen have beaten Auckland's motorists into submission, judging by driver behaviour around bus lanes. Woman on Quay St nearly caused a pile-up by turning left at the last second across a bus lane and into a side street. She either didn't know she could enter and drive in the lane at a reasonable distance before turning left, or feared being clobbered with a fine. The sad fact is, there wasn't a council cameraman about. Another example of the dog's breakfast council has made of bus, or special vehicle, lanes. The damn things choke traffic and contradict one of the golden rules of the road - get into your chosen lane early.

Women still feel unease
The car sales environment is a lot less sexist than it used to be - there are not as many semi-nude calendars on service centre walls, for example. But a study by the US Journal of Consumer Research says that for women, the reluctance to do business in a male-dominated environment still lingers. Finance and car repair were cited as industries in which women may wonder if they are being manipulated or treated unfairly. The report says women in the US spend US$400 billion ($534 billion) each year keeping their cars on the road. They buy 60 per cent of new cars and 53 per cent of used cars. "This is not a demographic that any sensible carmaker would want to risk," it said.

Show vandals' jobs anger
Three Chicago men in their 20s have been arrested and charged with vandalising seven Toyota and Lexus cars on display at the Chicago motor show. They reportedly told police they were angry at "jobs going overseas". But four of the vehicles were built in North America. One, said a Toyota spokesman, has more US content than any of its rivals. Damage was estimated at US$30,000.

Army cops Nascar flak
Bigwig Democrats in the US are giving the US Army flak for sponsoring a Nascar race team to drive its recruitment programmes. "It's just complete waste of taxpayer money. The military shouldn't be in the business of sponsoring race cars, they should be in the business of fighting wars," said Bill Harper, chief of staff for a prominent female senator. Harper says the US Army spent US$7 million dollars on Nascar last year, and US$11.6 million in 2009. Another US$5 million was spent sponsoring drag racing. The US Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard pulled out of Nascar deals five years ago.

We are the world
* Disabled British wheelchair user Jim Starr, 36, was recently ordered off public roads around his home in Dorchester - because his "chair" is too big. Local councils told him his custom-made, motorised chair with caterpillar treads instead of wheels would have to be licensed one category higher than a heavyweight "road roller". Starr said his chair was the only way he could play at the beach with his kids.

* Three men have been driving around Philadelphia robbing shops at gunpoint. Or they were before police got hold of them after their last heist, where they stuck a gun in the face of hair salon owner Terri Staino. The Philadelphia Daily News says the men probably wish they could start over. Terri, 38, is the wife of Anthony Staino, the reputed No2 man in the South Philadelphia Mafia.