Tag: wins

Followup: Motorcyclist wins taping case against Maryland state police

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Motorcycle

Anthony Graber meets the Maryland State Police – Click above to watch video after the jump

Score one for the good guys. Not that we think police in general are bad guys or anything, but after watching this video of a Maryland state trooper jumping out of his unmarked car in plain clothes while brandishing a gun, we’re not exactly keen to put him in the good guy category, either.

In any case, Anthony Graber, a man who was out shooting video of his (not exactly completely legal) motorcycling exploits when he was confronted by the aforementioned officer, was charged with felony wiretapping for recording the state trooper’s actions when being pulled over.

According to the Baltimore Sun, Judge Emory A. Pitt Jr. has thrown out the wiretapping charge, leaving Graber only to answer for his traffic violations. Why? Common sense, it would seem, has prevailed. The judge ruled that police officers shouldn’t have an expectation of privacy when engaged in a traffic stop. He said, in part:

Those of us who are public officials and are entrusted with the power of the state are ultimately accountable to the public. When we exercise that power in public fora, we should not expect our actions to be shielded from public observation.

Reacquaint yourself with the completely legal video after the break. Hat tips to Jason and Tom!

[Sources: Baltimore Sun, Slashdot]

Continue reading Followup: Motorcyclist wins taping case against Maryland state police

Followup: Motorcyclist wins taping case against Maryland state police originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Followup: Motorcyclist wins taping case against Maryland state police”

Ford Power Stroke wins Ward’s diesel shootout

Filed under: Car Buying, Truck, Work, Dodge, Ford, GMC

2011 Ford Super Duty

2011 Ford Super Duty – Click above for high-res image gallery

Wards Auto has crowned its king of the 2011 diesel pickup engine crowd. The editors pitted the mills in the 2011 Dodge Ram HD, Ford Super Duty and the GMC Sierra Denali HD against each other in one epic battle royale at the Robert Bosch LLC test track, and while each of the three oil-burners did a smart job of hauling payloads and the like, Wards clearly favored one above the rest. The publication said that the powerhouse 6.7-liter turbocharged V8 in the Super Duty was the clear winner, despite being the most expensive of the three engines.

The editors chose the Ford over its competitors because of its ridiculous 800 pound-feet of torque, quietness and effortless towing, even though the 6.6-liter turbocharged Duramax V8 in the GMC produced faster 0-60 times in tests. Interestingly enough, Pickuptrucks.com skipped the Powerstroke in the Super Duty in favor of the Duramax Sierra. Given the obsessively thorough testing by Mike Levine and the rest of the Pickuptrucks.com crew, we’re a little more inclined to agree with those results. Still, you know what they say about opinions and elbows.

Gallery: First Drive: 2011 Ford F-Series Super Duty

[Source: Wards Auto]

Ford Power Stroke wins Ward’s diesel shootout originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Ford Power Stroke wins Ward’s diesel shootout”

Straight to the Finnish line: Kimi Raikkonen wins his first rally

Filed under: Motorsports, Europe, Citroën

Kimi's Raikkonen's rally car

Okay, so it wasn’t a championship-level international stage, but just the same, Kimi Raikkonen has won his first rally. The event in question, called Rallye Vosgien, forms part of the French national series, and was contested by Kimi’s Citroën Junior Team as practice ahead of the WRC Rally of France.

The former F1 world champion and his co-pilot, Kaj Lindstrom, took their Citroën C4 to the finish line over three minutes ahead of the nearest competitor, Quentin Gilbert, driving a Renault Clio Maxi. Given the similar conditions – and that Citroën Junior Team had used up all its allotted test time – Vosgien proved an ideal warm-up to the main event set to take place at the end of the month.

[Source: Autosport | Image: Nikolay Doychinov/AFP/Getty]

Straight to the Finnish line: Kimi Raikkonen wins his first rally originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 19 Sep 2010 17:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Straight to the Finnish line: Kimi Raikkonen wins his first rally”

DUDE wins VW App My Ride contest

Filed under: Europe, Technology, Volkswagen

Volkswagen has chosen a winner for its App My Ride contest. Out of all of the clever coding submitted, one shining piece of software rose above the rest – DUDE. Think of it as a handy in-car butler that assists the driver with a number of tasks. For instance, the app measures vehicle speed, location and fuel consumption to offer up suggestions on driving style. You even get a handy little floating avatar to torment with your driving. Volkswagen hasn’t said who developed the DUDE app, though a user named Page is listed as the creator on the App My Ride site.

As you may recall, the German automaker went to the people in an attempt to craft the next piece of integrated on-board software. The contest winner was picked by the community of app developers at large and a panel of VW execs, and was awarded cash prizes. The lucky coder will also take part in a special Volkswagen vehicle debut. You can play around with the DUDE app by stopping by the program’s development page here, though we honestly couldn’t get it to do much.

[Source: Volkswagen]

DUDE wins VW App My Ride contest originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “DUDE wins VW App My Ride contest”

Report: Ford wins new trial in $31M Bronco II rollover case

Filed under: SUV, Government/Legal, Safety, Ford

Ford Bronco II old stock shotIn 2001, Jesse Branhalm III was a 12-year-old in the back seat of a 1987 Ford Bronco II. When the Bronco’s driver turned around to either look at or argue with the kids in the back seat, she nearly ran off the road. After making a quick steering correction, the Ford flipped, leaving the unbuckled Branhalm with severe brain injuries. Branhalm’s parents sued Ford, saying that the way the Bronco was engineered increased its propensity to roll over. In the first trial back in 2006, a South Carolina jury agreed with the family and awarded $16 million in damages and another $15 million in punitive damages.

According to a new article in BusinessWeek, the South Carolina Supreme Court, citing inadmissible and highly prejudicial evidence that the trial judge should have barred, has just reversed the decision. Ford gets the victory for now, but it’s not over: family attorney Ronnie Crosby said, “We believe there is ample evidence to demonstrate the Bronco II is defective and unreasonably dangerous and we’re eager to present that evidence to another jury.”

[Source: BusinessWeek]

Report: Ford wins new trial in $31M Bronco II rollover case originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Report: Ford wins new trial in $31M Bronco II rollover case”