The manual transmission — an object of love and affection among many drivers, and an example of passé automotive technology to many more — is getting some serious props from Eddie Alterman, the editor of Car and Driver. In the July issue of the magazine, Mr. Alterman wrote a column calling on drivers to lobby carmakers to embrace the stick shift option in their offerings, and implored adults to foster three-pedal enthusiasts among the young.

“We started the campaign as enthusiasts, but we think driving is fun with a manual, and not only more fuel-efficient, but safer,” Mr. Alterman said in an interview this week. “You can’t text while driving a manual.” Mr. Alterman bemoaned statistics showing that fewer teens of driving age are excited about getting a license. “If kids actually drove the entire vehicle, had a connection to the mechanical essence of the machine, they might like driving more,” he said.

Figures show that only about 10 percent of the cars on the road in the United States are manuals, and an even smaller percentage — only about 6 percent — can be purchased new with sticks, Mr. Alterman said. “Even Ferrari’s sportiest model, the 458 Italia, doesn’t come with a stick,” he added as a point of emphasis.

Reaction to the Car and Driver’s crusade has been swift and voluminous, he said, with more than...

A Swedish man has been handed what is believed to be the world's largest speeding fine, which is expected to cost him £650,000. The 37-year-old man was driving at two and a half times the speed limit in his £140,000 Mercedes when he was pulled over by traffic police in Switzerland. They said he was travelling so fast it took him some distance to stop.

The motorist was travelling faster than any other person to be caught speeding in the country, according to prosecutors. In Switzerland, speeding fines are calculated using a formula that takes into consideration on the income of the motorist and the severity of the speed. The man is now facing the highest possible penalty of 300 days of fines at £2,166 a day – a total of £650,000.

"We have no record of anyone being caught travelling faster in the country," said a police spokesman. The driver was captured travelling at close to 300kph (186mph) during at least one stage of his journey. But he evaded being zapped by a number of radars simply because he was driving too fast and they were incapable of clocking speeds beyond 200kph (125mph).

He was caught by a speed camera on the A12 highway between Bern and Lausanne on Friday. A new gene...

It appears that the Wall Street Journal was correct when it reported that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration had found that the majority of Toyota  unintended acceleration claims was due to simple human error. Investigators with NHTSA have reviewed 58 cases of runaway Toyotas and found that in 35 instances, no brake was applied. That means in all likelihood, the driver may have stepped on the throttle instead. In the remainder of the cases, investigators attributed the company's problem to throttles that were either trapped by floor mats or became stuck mechanically.

What does all of that mean? So far, the NHTSA has found no indication that unintended acceleration is caused by anything other than mechanical issues. Critics and victims of the runaway vehicles had posited that there might be some sort of software flaw that caused the cars to take off. The news vindicates Toyota's findings on the matter, though NHTSA is quick to point out that the issue is still under investigation and that this is only a preliminary report.


Thanks to AutoBlog

Several passengers on the ill-fated American Airlines (AA) plane that crashed in Kingston last December have filed legal claims against the airline, AA officials confirmed yesterday. A total of 92 of the 154 people on board AA flight 331 on December 22 were injured when the aircraft overshot the runway in driving night rain, busted through a perimeter fence, crossed the Port Royal road and ended up on the beach across from the Norman Manley International Airport.

The aircraft broke into three, but there were no reported fatalities. Tim Wagner, the airline's senior public relations manager, told the Observer that several passengers on the ill-fated aircraft had filed legal action against the airline resulting from the crash. He said he could not give details as it was not airline policy to comment publicly on legal matters against it.

Efforts by the Observer to get comments from the Chicago-based law firm, Ribbeck Law Chartered, which is said to be representing victims of the crash, were unsuccessful as the firm did not return messages left on its voicemail. Claims for damages against the airline could run into million of dollars, legal sources said.

Meanwhile, the probe into the cause of the accident is still underway. Both AA's Wagner and Keith Holloway of the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed they were continu...

Users of the Portmore Leg of Highway 2000 will have to bear the headache of narrow lanes and occasional congestion for a few more months as repair work is expected to extend into the New Year. Transport and Works Minister Mike Henry told the Post Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday that work is expected to continue into January and February of next year.

Mr. Henry said suggestions were made to have the workmen work at nights, but the operators of the toll, Bouyges Road Construction Company had security concerns. Meanwhile, Mr. Henry said he is also concerned about the road being repaired less than five years after it was built.

“If you drive along the Toll Road and you get to near the Old Harbour exits by the Fersan factory, I am concerned about the bumps that you see there and that may be again because of how you have compacted the road but nothing as major as the ones being done here because you are really driving on reclaimed land,”

“I am not expecting any real major ones though we are looking more indepth at that but remember that all of that repair is at the cost of the builder and not at the taxpayer, that doesn’t mean I should not have the concern,” Mr. Henry said. 

In the meantime, work on the Mount Rosser Leg of the Highway has again hit a snag. Mr. Henr...