New Jersey Turnpike, Highway To Hell

According to the Pantagraph, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority is having a devil of a time preventing the repeated theft of mile marker 66.6 along the Garden State Parkway. A spokesperson for the Turnpike Authority admitted that they have zero solid leads, but they suspect the culprits to be college students on the prowl for some unique dorm room decor.

Within the past two years, the 66.6 mile marker sign has been stolen at least four times, and the state is getting tired of shelling out the $50 replacement fee. Some officials have suggesting adding an extra non-demonic digit, like 66.61, which would effectively kill the novelty and hopefully stave off the thefts, but as of late, no formal plans have been made.

[News Source: Pantagraph.com]

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Paris Auto Show Teaser Video: BMW Concept X1

BMW X1 Spy Shot [Source: Motorbang.com]

Looking to generate some hype for the BMW Concept X1 that’s scheduled to premiere at the 2008 Paris Auto Show next week, BMW-web.tv uploaded video footage giving us a sneak peak of the new BMW Concept X1 that is strangely reminiscent of those 90’s-era slightly instructional videos I used to sit through in French class that always fell just short of identifying with the American teenage demographic.

At any rate, according to BMWblog, the BMW X1 will be available with either a rear- or front-wheel drivetrain, and its optional 4 or 6 cylinder engine offerings will be equipped to run on either diesel or standard fuel. Slated to make its first debut in the European market, the X1 is expected to be placed and priced somewhere between the BMW 3 Series Wagon and the BMW X3 - no word yet on how that would translate for a North American introduction.

Video after the jump

[Video Source: BMW-web.tv]

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High Performance Sport Bike “CopBlade” Makes Getting Caught By The 5-0 Almost Cool

In North Wales, UK, the local police department has added a Honda Fireblade sport bike to their fleet of crime fighting vehicles. Referred to as “CopBlade”, the unmarked sport bike is equipped with a front mounted speed sensor and hidden police lights and relies on the same technology found in red light cameras to enforce speed limits. Rather than manually monitoring motorists, the CopBlade’s technology automatically registers and records excessive speeds, allowing the department to issue citations by mail a week or so later. According to The Newspaper, whistle-blowing self-proclaimed “journal of the politics of driving”, those who have witnessed the CopBlade in action first hand claim that the CopBlade will wait attentively by the side of the road for a group of high-speed performance bikes to pass, and then file in unassumingly behind them. Once the pack begins to pick up speed, the officer simply cruises behind and allows the sensor begin generating citations. Since the North Wales PD began using covert tactics like the CopBlade, they’ve begun ticketing a record number of law breakers, counting for more than a third of the $20 million dollar revenue local speed partnerships reported in 2006. Local motorists and motorcyclists alike are none to thrilled with the policing methods, I would like to take this opportunity to remind them that law enforcement is largely a defensive maneuver and perhaps if residents hadn’t generated such a dangerous and reckless speeding problem, they wouldn’t have to worry about Joe Rocket on his CopBlade. You know, just a theory.

[Photo Source: Visor Down]

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Chrysler LLC Does The Electric Boogaloo

Chrysler Firepower Concept

Later this month, Chrysler will offer a preview of the three electric car prototypes it plans to produce over the course of the next decade. Currently working with battery suppliers both at home and abroad, Chrysler’s primary focus is developing an electric plug-in hybrid vehicle capable of averaging 300 miles per charge. “Fuel cells are in the future, ” said Chrysler co-president Jim Press, “but probably more in my kids’ future than my own.”

Jeep Hurricane Concept

Full Chrysler Concept Gallery After Jump

Riding high on the crest of the temporary success of the new Dodge Ram 1500, Press said Chrysler intends to continue producing fuel drinking titans like the Ram and Dakota regardless of the sales figures, and he doesn’t expect Chrysler to generate a positive cash flow for 2008. Press views the current hardships in the industry as merely temporary and with sights set firmly on the future, fully expects the market to right itself by 2010 - just in time for Chrysler’s anticipated release of 8 brand new models.

[News Source: Auto News]

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Chicago Plans To Crack Down On Bike Laws; Your Reckless Days Are Numbered, Bike Messengers

This week, Chicago city officials announced that they would be cracking down on bicyclists who violate traffic laws. Fuel prices and environmental concerns have yielded a surge in bike traffic, obviously alerting Chicago to the dangerous habit many cyclists have of pedaling as though they are impervious to physical arm. Given a two week grace period before the new enforcement policy goes into effect, members from Chicago’s Bicycle Ambassadors Program launched an aggressive campaign warning cyclists about the future changes.

Two Chicago bicycle patrol offers admitted that they do not usually cite bicyclists for running red lights or stop signs, and one cyclist explained that constant stopping-and-starting was simply too exhausting during long trips. Apparently unswayed by the logic, police spokeswoman Monique Bond, “We’re going to see an increase in enforcement. We’re going to be enforcing the same traffic laws for bikes as well as motorists, so that both respect each other and the rules of the road…”

[Source: Chicago Tribune]

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Toyota Pushes New Highlander Production Forward, Avoids Layoffs

Looking to avoid employee cuts at all costs, Toyota has announced that it will begin manufacturing the new Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV six months earlier than planned. Amid dismal SUV sales, Toyota had postponed Highlander production until May of 2010 when construction of its Highlander assembly plant in Tupelo, Mississippi would be completed.

According to management briefings, Highlander Hybrid production will be moved to Toyota’s Princeton, Indiana plant and assume it’s original fall 2009 release schedule - all in order to avoid a massive round of layoffs. Amid dismal sales figures, Toyota recently ordered a halt on production of both the Toyota Tundra pick-up truck and Sequoia SUV. When word came down, activity at both the Princeton, IN and San Antonio TX plants [responsible for Sequoia and Tundra production, respectively] was immediately idled, leaving workers with literally nothing to do. Scrambling to avoid distributing the dreaded pink slips, Toyota decided to scrap plans to wait for the Mississippi factory completions and instead change venues to the Princeton, Indiana plant. Said Toyota’s North American senior vice president Steve St.Angelo, “We need to get those people working, that’s the bottom line.” The solution is a temporary one aimed at helping Toyota ride out what is presented as a brief tight spot. Production of the Tundra and Sequoia is expected to resume as usual in November.

[Source: Automotive News]

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