Jim Kenzie's The Driver's Seat

OPP on the Lookout for Distracted Drivers

The Ontario Provincial Police are mounting one of their periodic blitzes on distracted drivers this week.

Already, I've seen more than the usual number of black-and-whites with 'customers' pulled off to the shoulder; whether they're just the Usual Suspect speeders or they've been caught applying make-up, shaving, texting, sorting vacation photographs AND eating their breakfast, I couldn't say.

Interesting tidbit came out of Manitoba recently though. It indicated that crashes due to DWT - Driving While Texting - actually INCREASED after the texting ban was imposed in that province, because drivers were 'lap-texting' rather than 'front-of-face' texting, trying to avoid detection.

This of course means that not only were their brains otherwise engaged, but their line of sight was compromised too.

Obviously, trying to work even a so-called 'smart' phone while driving is a dumb idea.

And as we all know by now, hand-held or hands-free makes no difference.

But I wonder if anyone's got any stats on how many crashes are due to drivers being distracted trying to figure out how to use the exact same touch-screen technology that comes in altogether too many new cars' dashboards?

It makes no more sense there...

 

Tom Hnatiw Bunfight - venue announced

I promised I'd let you all know when the venue for the bunfight celebrating Tom Hnatiw's life was finalized.

As some of you already know, it's Scotland Yard Restaurant, 56 The Esplanade, Toronto. That's one block east of Yonge, one block south of Front Street, next door to the Old Spaghetti Factory - which Tom used to work for.

Date is Tuesday September 18, from 7:00 p.m. until whenever.

It is an unstructured, fun event and all attending should show up with their best (funniest) 30 second “Tom story” in mind.

30 seconds - as if...

I would also ask any of you who manage to find this message on my blog, on Facebook or on Twitter to please post it on every social media outlet you have access to - heck, even PHONE someone, if you still know how to do that...

We want to make sure as many people as possible know about this - better some people hear about it five times than someone not hear about it at all.

Thank you, and hope to see a whole whacking boatload of you on Tuesday.

Truth in Advertising?

One of my Usual Suspect colleagues, a very experienced journo but not one of the crazy ones, had a 'moment' on the Ford event in Portland a week ago.

He isn't nameless, but he will remain thus here. No need to embarrass him - it's not like he's one of my direct competitors!...

He spotted a can of '5-Hour' energy drink at one of the coffee stops on the ride and drive route.

He figured, "Hey, they sponsor a NSACAR race car. I'll give it a try."

Suitably energized, he jumped right into one of the Mustang test cars - and promptly ran into a wall...

I didn't hear about this until we were on the shuttle bus heading to the airport, and I was only able to see the car briefly out the window. They wouldn't stop the bus to let me take a photo of it, but it looked like he smacked an outside wall, dinging the right door and both fenders, and taking out the right side-view mirror.

As they say in NASCAR, if you ain't rubbin', you ain't racing...

 

Not All Starbucks are Created Equal

Something new every day.

The Kia Rio Sedan preview was held in Scottsdale Arizona - more next week in Wheels.

We needed a caffeine fix. We were in the range-topping trim level with SatNav, so "Points of Interest / Restaurants / Coffee Shops / Starbucks", and there it was, just 570 metres away!

I had never seen one like this before though - a Drive Thru on one side, and a 'walk-thru' on the other side.

No 'store' as such, nowhere to sit (except outside, which on a warm-by-our-standards / near-Absolute-Zero by local standards morning, that meant nobody...).

Now, I hate Drive-Thrus for a multitude of reasons.

First, they are the ultimate in laziness. What - you can't get out of your car to walk twenty metres?

Second, they are an environmental nightmare. All those vehicles, usually only with ONE person in them, idling for ten-fifteen minutes? At this place there were about a dozen vehicles, mostly big SUVs. (This is Scottsdale; there was/is no recession in Scottsdale...).

Third, they are hopelessly inefficient. Unless they have two windows - an ordering window and a separate delivery window which most Starbucks I've been to do not - they can only serve one customer at a time. You order, you wait until your coffee is made, and the server can't even take anyone else's order until your transaction is complete.

(Also, isn't ironic that in Italian, 'espresso' means 'fast'?...)

Now, take this inefficiency and apply it to walk-up trade?

Spectacularly inefficient.

Especially if the guy in front of you has ordered a breakfast sandwich.

My mood wasn't made any better by the fact that when I brought the coffee my driving partner had asked for and set it on the roof of the car to open the door, it slid off the car, fell at my feet, exploded, and soaked my jeans.

Damn.

Can't blame that on the design of this Starbucks, but this is one store design model I hope never migrates to Canada.

 

Why Can't I Get a Hamburger When I Want One?

How the heck can the Wendy's in a major highway service centre be closed at 10 minutes to eleven on a weekday? Don't late-night commuters deserve a decent meal?

Don't these places have some sort of obligation to the travelling public?

It was the first Service Centre Northbound on 400 Highway Tuesday evening.

Hiss Boo to them.

All that was open at this location at this time was a Timmy's.

As if.

Fortunately, the Wendy's in Barrie was open until 1:00 a.m.

Starvation was averted.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Happy Hannukah, Smashing Solstice, Festive Festivus, Quintessential Quonset Hut (that's Jil McIntosh's line) - whatever holiday you're celebrating, have a good one.

Even if you're not celebrating at all, just, well, BE HAPPY!

We're the fourth-round draft choice for Christmas dinner this year - three of the four sprogs are with their respective significant others' families on The Big Day this year, so we're not having our Christmas dinner until Tuesday.

Meanwhile, ignominy upon ignominy, look where Lady Leadfoot stores the turkey because our fridge isn't big enough:

Yep, in my beloved 1977 American Motors Hornet hatchback.

Let's hear it for American Motors' fine craftsmanship and attention to detail that the car is still tight enough that mice and other vermin can't get in to snack away - on the bird or on the car...

 

'Tis the Season to Stay Sober

Well, staying sober is a good idea for every season, especially if you're driving.

But there's always more attention paid to it at this time of year.

There are some radio ads on now for a paralegal outfit which dramatise what happens if you get pulled over by a holiday season spot check and get nailed for impaired driving.

Car impoundment. Huge fines. Possible jail time.

As these ads say, ONE drunk driving conviction could change your life forever.

Yes, it surely can, as the son of a friend of mine could testify.

Now, some of my best friends are paralegals.

And my Dad was a lawyer, so I understand that anyone charged with any crime has the right to the best possible defence.

But surely, putting yourself into a situation where you need a defence for impaired driving is just plain stupid.

It's not like impaired driving is any kind of an 'accident'. Nobody randomly forces four shots or four beers down your throat.

It is 100 percent preventable.

But only by each and every one of us.

The statistics show we're bad enough drivers when we're sober. If 20 percent of traffic fatalities are blamed on drunk drivers, then 80 percent must be blamed on sober drivers.

That said, based on the respective sizes of the 'populations', we are collectively twenty times worse when we're impaired.

And don't delude yourself into thinking you're OK with just one or two drinks. The legal limit is .08, but everybody - everybody - is a worse driver at as low as .02.

You may think you're a better driver at .02 than your brother-in-law is sober.

That's no excuse, because YOU aren't as good at .02 as YOU are at .00.

Why take that chance?

Call a cab, take the TTC, designate a driver, whatever.

You think impaired driving could change YOUR life forever?

While you're still sober, think about how it will change the lives of your victims forever.

Or maybe even end them...

Sorry if it means less business for my paralegal friends, but with apologies to Nike, my holiday message to all of you is:

Just don't do it.

 

Whose Rights are More Important?

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has ruled that the roadside spot check program the province has been running for the past year is unconstitutional, because it violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms by not (if I've got this right...) allowing an alleged perp proper opportunity to defend himself or to appeal the case.

Justice Jon Sigurdson said, "Although I am fully satisfied of the importance of the objective of reducing harms [sic] caused by impaired driving...the impugned legislation infringes the rights of individuals to be free from unreasonable search and seizure."

"Fully satisfied" about the 'harms' caused by drunk driving?

Apparently he's not quite satisfied enough.

What about the rights of the rest of us to be free from being run into and injured or killed by drunk drivers?

While Justice Sigurdson's ruling is binding only in British Columbia, various legal experts believe other provinces which have similar legislation (such as Ontario now or Alberta soon) will face similar challenges.

The B.C. legislation, among other things, allows police officers to issue immediate licence suspensions, impound cars on the spot, and issue heavy fines.

Sound familiar?

You bet. Ontario cops can do that now for doing 50 over the limit.

That law was challenged on Charter provisions and was found to be constitutional.

I argued against that decision, but decry this one.

The difference?

There isn't a lick of evidence that exceeding the speed limit by ANY amount is per se dangerous.

But nobody - not even Justice Sigurdson - argues that driving drunk isn't dangerous. Apart from failure to wear a seat belt, it is probably the single most dangerous driving behaviour there is.

B.C. officials say the now-illegal program was instrumental in reducing drunk driving deaths this year by 40 percent compared to the average of the previous five years.

So, statistically, people are going to die because of Justice Sigurdson's ruling.

Way to go, Judge.

Representatives of the drinking establishment business welcomed the ruling because they said the spot check program had reduced their business.

Well, boo hoo.

Bar profits versus dead citizens?

Give me a break.

All laws restrict our rights and freedoms to some degree. It is up to Supreme Court judges to determine how far the laws should go.

In my view, Justice Sigurdson got this one wrong.

Dead wrong.

In the longer term, the B.C. government may appeal.

In the shorter term, it will re-design the provisions of the spot check procedure to comply with Justice Sigurdson's misguided view of this situation.

They better.

The safety of your friends and relatives (and complete strangers) in that province and possibly elsewhere in Canada depends on it.

 

Motor City Madness

Detroit's economy is in the toilet, right?

So who was driving the, oh, maybe millions of cars that clogged their local freeways the other day as I was coming back from a Ford F-Series pick-up preview in Romeo?

(More on an new family of engines for the best-selling vehicle on this - or probably any other - continent in Wheels soon.)

They couldn't have all just been walking/driving away from their houses, abandoning mortgages on which they owe more than those houses are worth.

That said, gasoline is essentially free down there, so they could be - and maybe are - living in their cars, which is probably cheaper than living in those houses.

As I always say, you can eat, sleep and make love in a car - you can't drive a house.

Whatever, the traffic was horrible.

One bright spot - it was the first time I had seen a new Fiat 500 on this side of the pond. Chrysler, now controlled by Fiat, has announced that this cute little thing will be sold here. As much as I love the car (I am a three-time Fiat owner, and have lived to tell the tale) I really wonder if maybe it IS too small for North American butts.

We'll see.

Interestingly, both this car, a pure re-imaging of the original from the late-1950s, and that other great iconic European re-make from the same decade, the new Mini, were both styled under the direction of the same man - Frank Stephenson.

And he's an American!

The little Fiat crossed the Ambassador Bridge just ahead of me - it appeared to have Ontario plates, but I really couldn't get close enough to it to see for sure or to take a snap. This is a shot I took of one in Italy a couple of years ago.

BTW, two things about the Ambassador Bridge:

1. There is now gasoline available at the duty-free (maybe it's been there for a while, but it was the first time I had seen it). It was $2.69 a US gallon, twenty cents less than I had paid inland half an hour before. Needless to say, the pumps were crowded with returning Canadians;

2. The toll there rips Canadians off. It was $4 US, and $4.75 Canadian. This when the two dollars are almost at par, and when the Blue Water Bridge to Sarnia, a short trek up the pike, is $3.00 - in either currency.

Also, coming from Toronto, Sarnia is a shorter route than going through Windsor, which a lot of people still don't seem to know.

Live and learn.

I lost track of the Fiat once over the bridge - maybe it was being driven by a Chrysler Canada executive heading back south from Detroit to Windsor.

Yes, south - check a map.

A bit further along, I needed an upload facility, so I stopped at one of the new Service Centres which have been built along the 401. This one, at Dutton between Chatham and London, has been open just three weeks.

It was hugely stupid of the Ontario government to close nearly ALL the centres all at once as they were being re-built; they should have staggered the reconstruction.

At least they've done a nice job. They look attractive, and the one I stopped at offered a wide range of fast-food options (A&W, Timmy's, Taco Bell, KFC).

There was one chap whose entire job seemed to be sweeping up, so with luck it will remain as clean as it looks now.

(Speaking of, the cleanest road-side service centres I've ever seen are on either side of the I-94, south from Port Huron, just north of the Macomb Correctional Facility - the signs warn you to NOT pick up hitchhikers. American infrastructure may be falling apart, but somebody's doing the job here.)

It also appears that Canadian Tire has acquired the fuel-selling rights to all of these - at least, it looked that way from a quick glance as I motored along.

To complete this circular story, yesterday as I drove into The Big Smoke, there was ANOTHER Fiat 500 - what are the chances? Except this time it was an original-generation one, looking almost brand-new, painted the same light blue as my first car (a bigger Fiat 600).

The car was on the wrong end of a CAA tow truck. Wish I could have taken a photo of that too, but you would have been (rightly) all over me if I had taken a picture while driving.

The rig headed north on the 400.

Fix It Again, Tony.

Targa Newfoundland Tid-Bits

At last, we know why Porsches have those big spoilers on the back...