Results tagged “autos”

Wire reports now confirm that a fatal early-morning car accident on the GW Parkway did indeed involve U.S. Men's National soccer team forward Charlie Davies. Davies was not behind the wheel at the time of the accident. WTOP reported that the collision, which occurred at about 3:15 a.m., claimed at least one fatality and seriously injured two others. One look at the car involved in the wreck, and it's understandable that Davies' injuries -- which have required hours of surgery -- are being described as "possibly career-threatening." (Although as of 5 p.m., the U.S. Soccer Federation is backing off of that assessment, calling the effect of Davies' injuries on his future "unclear.") Steve Goff's SoccerInsider twitter account first reported the news, and confirmed that Davies, who is still under the knife, did not suffer "life threatening" injuries.

You have to feel sorry for the 15-year-old son of Vienna's Jenifer Joy Madden, who got outed by his mom in an op-ed in Sunday's Washington Post for having only just now learned how to ride a bus.

We couched it as another test of their mettle. After all, if these 15-year-olds could swing at objects flying 90 miles an hour and get whacked by titanium lacrosse sticks, they could walk to a bus stop and ride a few miles across town.

The story of Madden's teenage son's first public bus ride home from school comes off sounding like a joke to those of us who live inside the District (one commenter on the Post's web site, who noted that they were "sure the kid was about 10, not 15!", neatly summed up my initial reaction), but we suppose sometimes we forget how different life is out in Fairfax County. And hey, if Madden's article inspires a few other suburban families to rethink their car-centric lifestyles just a little bit, then that's certainly a good thing.

One of the biggest crime problems in the Metro system has long been thefts from autos parked in the lots at the end of the different rail lines. Thieves know that Metro's large, outer parking lots are filled with cars whose owners won't return until the end of the day, so they prowl them like kids in a candy store.

There's nothing classy about driving drunk, perhaps especially when you're the Chief of Police. But former Alexandria Police Chief David Baker has at least managed to handle the aftermath of his recent DUI arrest with a healthy amount of respect for the law. After retiring from his position almost immediately following his arrest, Baker today pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated, and will serve five days in jail. Baker will also lose his driver's license for a year, pay a $300 fine and attend the county's Alcohol Safety Action Program for DUI offenders. From the statement Baker released after his court hearing, via the Post: "I offer no excuses for my bad decisions and behavior because there are none. And I am, and will be, forever haunted by the personal embarrassment and humiliation I caused to those who have supported, mentored and guided me through my personal life and long and rewarding public safety career."

DC Department of Motor Vehicles

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty likes to keep active. The man gets up almost every day and runs, bikes or otherwise exercises for a solid hour (if not more), and he likes to be seen always zipping across town to take care of his mayoral business, whether in his little Smart Car or his big Lincoln Navigator. But ever since Fenty got in a fender-bender about a week ago, the Washington Post has had a hard-on about whether or not the mayor did anything wrong to cause the accident, and today Nikita Stewart goes ahead and asks the question: Should the mayor be driving himself around the city at all?

Maybe it's just August doldrums, but I'm having a hard time getting too worked up about today's revelation that Mayor Fenty's weekend fender-bender may not have happened exactly the way his spokesperson first said. From the Post:

Spokeswoman Mafara Hobson wrote in an e-mail Sunday that "a vehicle ran a stop sign and pulled out in front of the Mayor's vehicle, causing a collision."

Continue reading "Fender-bendergate?"

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty was in what sounds like a fender bender last night, the Post is reporting. The mayor was driving his kids in the family SUV in upper Northwest at about 7 p.m. when another driver went through a stop sign and the two cars hit each other. No injuries were reported, and no word on who was at fault. Wonder how the mayoral Smart Car would have fared.

Reuters (via MSNBC) has a story about an annual driver survey that now ranks New York City drivers at the top when it comes to overly aggressive driving. Miami had been number one for the last few years, but New Yorkers have since taken their rightful place as the rudest Americans (behind the wheel). So how does D.C. stack up? Washington was actually ranked fifth on the list of least courteous driving cities last year, but has since fallen out of the top five. So have we really become nicer drivers? Umm... not so much:

Most people, 43 percent, reacted to bad driving by honking the horn. But 36 percent resorted to cursing, 13 percent waved their fists or arms and 10 percent made an obscene gesture.

Continue reading "D.C Drivers Admit to Bad Road Rage Behavior "