|
The Central Georgian
Transportation│Cars
Comments or Questions?
E- Mail us at The
Central Georgian
Choosing Your Teen's First Car
(MSN) Motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 cause of
death among Americans aged 15-20. Limiting the number of passengers in a teen's
car reduces driver distraction—a cause of many crashes that involve teenagers.
More...
Major Construction
Project Information.
Click on an option below to view general information about
specific construction projects on major interstates and state routes in Georgia.
Please visit
www.511ga.org
for real-time traffic and travel information on our state highway system.
Gender plays a significant role in the cost
of insurance
Teens can't wait to get behind the wheel.
But it's a costly milestone—young, inexperienced drivers face some of the
biggest auto insurance premiums.Since teenagers have little experience behind
the wheel, insurers view them as high-risk drivers.
More...
Green Driving Tips
A little advance planning, a less-aggressive
driving style and a well-maintained car can help you get the most out of every
gallon of fuel.
By avoiding hard acceleration and sudden starts, you could see a 20% gain in
fuel economy.No matter where you live and what you drive, you can maximize every
gallon of fuel. Every gallon of fuel that you don't use saves you money and
helps to reduce global warming.
More...
High Priced Auto Loans Force Many Black Consumers
Down A Road Of Turmoil
(The Kansas City Call)
What do you do when you have “not so good” credit and need an automobile?
Chances are you go to a “we finance anyone” car dealership and get the what
could be viewed as the “once over.”
While the average car interest rates hover around 6.8 percent, it is not
unusual to find interest rates for the credit impaired hovering in the
neighborhood of 20 plus percent. More...
10 Tips:
How to avoid damaged goods at the car
lot
MSNBC
Even cars and trucks that seem like real “cream puffs”
can be concealing serious damage — and the vehicles’ titles may not clue you in
to that key detail. ...
Mustang Heaven |
2008 Ford Mustang
Mustang Heaven
Three new colors and available 18-inch premium wheels on the
V-6 coupe enhance Mustang’s bold American style. Shelby Mustang
Magic. ... |
Tow truck drivers face
danger with little recognition
By ROCKY SALMON
The Press-Enterprise
With the summer driving season at
its peak, tow truck company owner Mark Yarbrough is holding his breath every
time one of his drivers has to help a stranded motorist.
"In this business, accidents can
happen to anyone at anytime," the Perris business owner said. "One minute you
could be hooking up a car and the next, you are being dragged down the freeway."
Tow truck drivers may be called
for a variety of potentially dangerous missions -- from fixing a flat tire to
cleaning up an accident scene. And owners like Yarbrough have joined a national
campaign to implement stricter training standards and more recognition for those
who lose their lives.
The California Highway Patrol does
not keep statistics on tow truck accidents and fatalities but the Tow Truck
Association of America estimates that at least 60 operators are killed
nationally each year. It's equal to the number of police and paramedics killed
along our roadsides, said Mike Scott, safety director and researcher for the
association.
More....
Driving While Black:
The Car and Race Relations in Modern America
"Drivin' down
the Freeway:" Blacks and Car Culture
Whatever the hassles of driving,
African Americans, like whites, shared a passion for cars. The automobile was,
for most Americans, the most expensive item that they owned other than a house.
In a status-conscious consumer society, the car became one of the most prominent
symbols of "making it." The automobile industry, which developed some of the
most sophisticated marketing and advertising campaigns of the twentieth century,
appealed to consumers' desire to drive cars that played to their self-image.
Auto manufacturers developed new models that were luxurious, sporty, sturdy, or
family-friendly.
More...
Driving While Black:
On the
Line: Blacks and Auto Work
Blacks were not just consumers of
the car. Their history was also intertwined with the history of automobile
production. Here, too, the historical record was mixed. Detroit, the Motor City,
became one of the most important destinations for black migrants from the south
because of its reputation as a major center of car production. But the door to
auto factory jobs opened slowly for blacks. Until World War II, the auto
industry was not a particularly important employer of African Americans.
More...
Georgia schools
feeling crunch of state's new driver's ed law
Associated Press
ATLANTA
- Driver's education programs across Georgia
are experiencing traffic jams of their own because of a new state law requiring
16-year-olds to undergo behind-the-wheel training before getting a license.
The statute, which took effect Jan. 1, is known
as Joshua's Law - named for 17-year-old Joshua Brown of Cartersville, who died
in 2003 after his truck hydroplaned on a wet road and hit a tree. Under the
state law passed in 2005, 16-year-olds can't get a license until they take 30
hours of classroom instruction and have 40 hours of driving experience
supervised by a parent or a certified driving instructor.
More...
Car
Review: 2007 Saturn VUE Green Line
On Wheels
Magazine
Remember
the "five speed" badges that used to appear on early compact cars, when having
four forward gears was the norm? The 2007 Saturn VUE Green Line puts us in mind
of those cars, because it's not hard to envision a future in which the VUE Green
Line's "soft" hybrid system becomes something downright commonplace.
This
compact SUV doesn't look that much different from its conventionally-powered
stablemates. Just like the Ford Escape and Toyota Highlander hybrids, the VUE
Green Line carries its cards close to its vest. Unlike the competition, the
Saturn uses a milder hybrid system. It boosts fuel economy, but it's a more
compact system that doesn't take up as much space inside the car, and
consequently doesn't cost as much. The VUE Green Line blends perfectly into the
background, and that's just what it should do.
More....
Labor Department
announces retraining program for auto industry layoffs
WASHINGTON
- Some auto workers facing layoffs in five
states will be able to access $3,000 a year to pay for retraining under a
program by the Labor Department.
The demonstration program, targeting job
reductions and plant closures announced by General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor
Co., will help between 2,500 and 4,000 people who have worked for automakers,
auto suppliers and others affected by industry plant closings in Georgia,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Ohio.
More....
Stalling the dream....
Meizhu Lui is the Executive Director of United for a Fair Economy
and the co-author of
the new
report, "Stalling the Dream: Cars, Race and Hurricane Evacuation," available at
www.faireconomy.org.
Fifty years ago, the late Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat
on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, catalyzing history-making events.
Imagine, however, if Rosa Parks had lived in New Orleans in
September 2005 and was trying to escape from the gathering clouds of Hurricane
Katrina. Would she have jumped in her car? Would she have bought a train
ticket? It is likely she wouldn't have found any bus seat. Would she have
survived?
More....
Editor's Note: Safe Kids Worldwide is a
global network of organizations whose mission is to prevent accidental childhood
injury, a leading killer of children 14 and under. More than 450 coalitions in
16 countries bring together health and safety experts, educators, corporations,
foundations, governments and volunteers to educate and protect families.
Safe Kids Worldwide was founded in 1987 as the
National SAFE KIDS Campaign by Children's National Medical Center with support
from Johnson & Johnson. There is no one device or solution to prevent
effectively all types of accidental childhood injuries. Instead, Safe Kids
combines several factors to create programs that reduce injuries:
-
Every person riding in a car or truck needs his or
her own seat belt. Do not let passengers ride in storage areas or on other
people's laps.
-
Children always ride restrained with a car seat or
seat belt and in the back seat.
-
Infants should ride in rear-facing car seats until
at least 20 lbs (9 kg) and at
least 1 year old. Do not put a rear-facing car seat in the front seat of a
vehicle with an active passenger air bag.
-
Children over 1 year old and between 20 lbs (9kg)
and 40 lbs (18 kg) should ride in forward-facing car seats.
-
Children ages 4 to 8 between 40 lbs (18 kg) and 80
lbs (36 kg) should ride in booster seats restrained with lap and shoulder
belts. A regular seat belt won't fully protect a child this size in a crash.
-
Children and adults over 80 lbs (36kg) should use
a seat belt for every ride.
Highway crashes do not
discriminate
Children are all equally vulnerable - whether
they are Caucasian, Asian, Latino, African-American, and Native American -
because highway crashes do not discriminate . However, statistically, highway
fatalities are more prevalent among African-American and Latino children.
Research conducted by Baltimore's John Hopkins University School of Public
Health found that: The risk of African-American children, ages 5-12 dying in a
crash per mile travel is almost 3 times as great as that of Caucasian
children.African-American under 4 have the highest death rate; Latino children
under 4 have the 2nd highest death rate.Latino children, 5-12 years old have a
72 percent greater death rate than Caucasian children. However, the death rate
for Latino children is 43 percent lower than that for African-American children.
The Central Georgian, 2007,
Disclaimer..
| 
