Watch: Tesla Cybertruck rolls into intersection, knocking over traffic sign

New video of the Tesla Cybertruck concept driving around L.A. Saturday night, reportedly with Elon Musk himself at the wheel, shows the prototype has quite a bit of body roll through corners, more than youd expect for a vehicle weighed down by a floor full of batteries. Maybe chalk it up to the suspension design on the demonstration vehicle not being quite finalized?The video, of Musk leaving high-end Japanese restaurant Nobu in the Cybertruck, was posted by celebrity blog TMZ, and ends with the truck clipping a pylon or traffic sign as it rolls through a red light.While many have speculated Musk either didnt hear the clunk of the strike, or didnt care, we figure its much more likely Musk did it on purpose as a faux PR gaffe to draw media attention to the truck, since nothing Musk does ever happens by accident.Whos driving @ElonMusk or the Auto-Pilot?$TSLA pic.twitter.com/xvmyHPG8Ol GuruLeaks (@Guruleaks1) December 8, 2019UPDATE: It’s being reported the truck did not technically run a red light, as there is no traffic signal specifically facing that restaurant exit; and that the sign the truck knocked over is a “Right turns only” warning sign.Later on in the night, the Cybertruck was also seen driving down a California highway.In video from YouTube user Roberto Cruz, the truck cruises down the 405 South, a main public highway. We mention the public highway part because, as a prototype, the vehicle and its manufacturer plates only technically clear its use for testing purposes, and were not quite sure a night out at Nobu and a drive back on the 405 counts, there.The Cybertrucks tires are wider than the body, something also not allowed for new vehicles. Plus it lacks physical rearview mirrors, as you couldve guessed from Musk hitting that pylon.So, a whole bunch of no-nos from the CEO and his wild Blade Runner truck. But, once again, it was likely done to make us journalists take notice, and write a bunch of articles about it. Pretty clever for a guy that breaks the windows of his own truck and knocks over traffic
Origin: Watch: Tesla Cybertruck rolls into intersection, knocking over traffic sign

A Fredericton Tim Hortons is creating a most Canadian traffic problem

Customers line up at a Tim Hortons on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2019. The City of Fredericton will spend $40,000 to direct motorists around a busy Tim Hortons, in the latest move by a Canadian municipality to curb traffic headaches and other concerns caused by restaurant drive-thrus.Andrew Vaughan / The Canadian Press Exhibited now by logjams at the corner of Wallace and Main in Fredericton, New Brunswicks north side, the biggest traffic issue now facing the city council intersection-blocking lineups into a Tim Hortons has its origins in a 2003 solution.There may be no traffic problem more Canadian than a thoroughfare snarled by a Tim Hortons drive-thru, aside from a drive-thru that backs up in part because a municipality attempted to provide easier access to a snow dump 16 years prior.Thats the situation in Fredericton, where city staff pitched the idea of a turnabout in late September only to see the issue tabled, CBC reports. Councillor John MacDermid questions which party bears responsibility for fixing the gridlock. Whose responsibility is it to deal with those unintended consequences? MacDermid asks. Is it the taxpayer or is it the users and the business owners? Drive-thru customers at the 290 Main Street Tim Hortons location pass through the traffic lights at a busy four-way intersection before quickly entering the Tims off Wallace Avenue. Not surprisingly, the lineup disrupts the intersection and creates headaches on Main Street and the opposing end of Wallace Avenue, as well.The recommendation brought to council by staff would require double-double drinkers to drive farther up Wallace Avenue, pass Tim Hortons on their way through a legal U-turn, and then venture back toward Tim Hortons for a right turn into the drive-thru. Expected to cost $40,000, the project was expected to begin before winter.Winter, of course, is partly to blame for all of the trouble. Wallace Avenue was constructed as a way for heavy truck traffic to make their way to, you guessed it, a snow dump.Tim Hortons and snow dumps: throw in a few apologies and youd have a Canadiana trifecta.Fredericton city council will revisit the issue on October
Origin: A Fredericton Tim Hortons is creating a most Canadian traffic problem

Is a supercar still fun to drive in traffic?

If you had asked 13-year-old me if I wanted to drive a supercar everywhere, I would have said absolutely. My younger self would say I would drive it to the grocery store; I would drive it to the movie theatre; and that of course I would drive it to work every day, likely at 200 mph the entire way there. Well, 13-year-old me didnt think about speed limits, speed bumps and speed cameras, all of which are facets of the real world in which even the most dreamy of supercars must exist. And its hard to think of one dreamier than this.The 2020 McLaren 720S Spider is the latest carbon-fibre missile from McLarens Super series of cars. The numbers surrounding this car are easy to find and staggering. You can Google up the Wikipedia list of fastest-accelerating production cars and find it there just behind the LaFerrari and ahead of a slower car called the Bugatti Veyron.It has doors that go up, electric tangerine paint (McLaren calls it Papaya); carbon-fibre aero bits everywhere you look; and, of course, a 710-hp V8 flanked by a pair of gnarly turbochargers. Given a long enough stretch of open pavement, it will do 217 mph (349 km/h) flat out. But were not going to find a stretch of road like that. No, were going to find out what its like to commute to work, in the real world, in a supercar. Now you can call this a waste of such high-calibre machinery and youd be right we are using a thoroughbred to pull a plow, as it were. If you want to know what the 720S is like on a racetrack, you can read our track test here; and if youd like to know what its like on winding backroads, check our first drive of the 720S Spider here. No, for our third drive of the spectacular 720S, we decided to use it like regular car. Which it absolutely isnt.Usually I try to avoid traffic, but for this test I threw myself straight into the wood chipper to slog it out with all the other 9 AM commuters. Immediately after setting off, the first thing you realize is how stiff the McLaren is over crumbling pavement. Of course it is. Its meant to feel grounded and stable at 200 mph. You feel every single imperfection in the road, and in Toronto, there are many to be felt. The seats are supportive, though not incredibly so, and the seating position, while natural, is almost normal. Whats not normal is the feeling of your butt skimming over the pavement with maybe three to four inches of carbon-fibre tub separating you from the ground.Even at low speeds, its obvious that this is no regular car. There is zero latency in the steering and directional changes happen right now. Mid-throttle driving will make the turbo blow-off valve whistle amusingly. You also just feel special sitting around in an alcantara-lined super-space pod like the McLaren. But in the same way that a Corolla isnt built for the race track, the McLaren wasnt designed for street driving. I can only imagine what it would be like if snow or ice was added to the mix. Dont get me wrong, its not that its too fragile for street work. Even on the hottest of days, the 4.0-litre V8 stayed cool, and thanks to superb air-conditioning, I stayed cool as well! But the McLaren is very low. Youll fret every raised manhole cover and every pothole in this car. I found myself on a one-lane construction zone where they were grading the road. I was confronted with a raised manhole cover and had to move construction cones while blocking traffic in my orange supercar to go around it. Not subtle.The McLaren simply isnt built for commuting. Its built for something more. You can commute in a McLaren in the same way you can track a Corolla: Itll do it but it wont be happy about it. Will you be happy commuting in a supercar? Fleeting moments of joy are possible when supercar commuting, but the opportunities you have to actually use the power are few and far between. Sorry, 13-year-old me, the future just isnt the way you imagined
Origin: Is a supercar still fun to drive in traffic?

Uber is suing New York City over rule aimed to reduce traffic congestion

Times Square, New York City, New York State, Night, TaxiGetty Uber is suing the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission over a new regulation intended to reduce traffic congestion, saying the rule is arbitrary and cant be achieved.The suit, which seeks to nullify the rule passed August 7, was filed in New York state court in Manhattan, and reported on late September.One part of the new regulation places a 31-per-cent cap on the amount of time that for-hire vehicles can spend on the road without passengers, while another provision bars the issuance of more for-hire vehicle licenses until August 2020.While reducing congestion in Manhattan is an important goal and one Uber has publicly and vocally supported the August 2019 rule is the product of a rushed and unlawful process, including reliance on flawed and arbitrary economic modeling, Uber said in the
Origin: Uber is suing New York City over rule aimed to reduce traffic congestion

Drivers stuck in Toronto traffic get out to play a little highway soccer

There are many ways to fight the tedium that comes along with standstill traffic. The right podcast can make hours seem like minutes. If you’re not moving, there are loads of smartphone games. Or you can go old-school and read. Like, paper, remember?But what if you’re sick of every podcast, haven’t read a ‘book’-book in a decade, and have already earned three stars on all the Angry Birds levels? Two drivers who found themselves in such a situation, stuck in traffic somewhere on the 401 in the Greater Toronto Area, decided to take the unplanned interruption to sneak in a little play time. 401 got people playing soccer❌😂.#hwy401 #401 #sarpanch #toronto #brampton #mississauga pic.twitter.com/BG0KkvdXy7 401_da_sarpanch (@401_da) August 18, 2019The Twitter video posted by the self-proclaimed “OFFICIAL HIGHWAY 401 TRUCKER PAGE” and captioned “401 got people playing soccer” shows a man in a tee-shirt and jeans kicking around a ball with another guy wearing a suit. A road sign reads “All lanes closed ahead,” and around them traffic sits motionless. Well, why not stretch the legs and kick a ball around a bit if you find yourself on a road that’s behaving like a parking lot? Come to think of it, with the way the 401 runs, we could probably organize a highway soccer league. That’s legal, right? Just try not to hit any cars,
Origin: Drivers stuck in Toronto traffic get out to play a little highway soccer

Toronto reducing speed limits as part of effort to curb traffic deaths

A speed limit sign in downtown Toronto Toronto will lower the speed limits on close to 50 of its busiest streets as soon as possible, in an effort to reduce the number of traffic fatalities in the city, the mayor announced late June.We simply have to see drivers slow down on streets where the numbers show us that speed has put peoples lives at risk, Mayor John Tory said at a news conference June 20.The speed limit reductions are part of the second phase of the citys Vision Zero plan, launched 2017 and so-named because it aims to lower the number of people killed on Toronto streets to zero, explains BlogTO.The city saw some 66 car collision fatalities in 2018, 40 of which involved pedestrians; it came off of a ten-year record-high number of deaths in 2016, when they totaled some 78.Proud to join City staff this morning to bring forward an evidence-based #VisionZero 2.0 Plan, focused on taking action to lower speed limits on hundreds of kilometres on our arterial roads across the city. pic.twitter.com/ESMJrlaRzp John Tory (@JohnTory) June 20, 2019The list of streets that will see their limits dropped include many 50 km/h, 60 km/h and 70 km/h major arteries, each of which will see its limit dropped by 10 km/h. The mayor even suggested speeding up the process by putting stickers over the speed limit signs if new ones couldnt be ordered quickly enough.Other proposed changes, says the magazine, are improving safety where there is roadwork, enhancing road lighting and advocating for the province to change the maximum Blood Alcohol Concentration for motorcyclists to zero per
Origin: Toronto reducing speed limits as part of effort to curb traffic deaths

63,000-plus Rams recalled in Canada over tailgates that may unlatch in traffic

2017 Ram 1500Handout Ram is recalling 63,753 trucks in Canada, and more than 410,000 in the U.S., because the tailgates could unlatch themselves in traffic if the power-locking mechanism fails. A component in the mechanism could break after enough time, though only in 1500, 2500 and 3500 trim-level trucks equipped with 8-foot cargo beds and the power-locking option. Specifically, pickups from model years 2015 through 2017 are affected, as well as 2018 models built before March 31, 2018. New 2019 model year trucks are not affected, nor are trucks with manual tailgate locks. Owners of affected vehicles will receive a notification regarding the recall beginning in
Origin: 63,000-plus Rams recalled in Canada over tailgates that may unlatch in traffic

‘Guardian angel’ pigeon saves speeder from ticket by photobombing traffic camera

Police in western Germany say divine intervention saved a speeding driver from getting a ticket, after a pigeon photobombed a traffic enforcement camera at just the right moment. Perhaps inspired by this week’s Ascension Day national Christian holiday, Viersen police said the Holy Ghost must have had a plan to help the driver. Just as the radar clocked the driver at 54 km/h in a 30 km/h zone and the camera flashed, the pigeon flew in front of the car, obscuring the face of the driver with its spread wings and thereby concealing the necessary evidence of who was at the wheel. Police say thanks to the feathered guardian angel, the driver was spared a 105 euro (US$117) fine but should take it as a sign from above to slow
Origin: ‘Guardian angel’ pigeon saves speeder from ticket by photobombing traffic camera

Autonomous cars could worsen traffic on Canadian roads, experts warn

TomTom’s 2013 congestion index ranks Vancouver the most congested among North American cities, ahead of L.A., ahead of Chicago, and even New York. Toronto ranked 7th on the list.Christina Ryan When you picture the future of autonomous transportation, you’re probably not picturing gridlock traffic. The robots are supposed to be smarter and more efficient than us humans, right? Some transport researchers and experts are warning traffic may get worse before it gets better as society moves toward automation in transportation. We may see increases in total vehicle traffic in Canada as significant as 30 per cent, says Todd Litman, the executive director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute in British Columbia, in a recent interview with Global News. “Cities need to start looking into regulations,” he said, warning the issue is approaching quicker than many realize. Today, for example, the average Toronto commuter spends 34 minutes in their vehicle. If Litman’s prediction proves accurate, that number could increase to as high as 45 minutes. Michal Antkiewicz is a research associate at the University of Waterloo who has been studying the potential future impacts of autonomous vehicles (AV). He told Global that though the problem is “at least five years away” in Canada, some U.S. centres are already feeling the strain. The issue, he explains, is the vehicles’ unwillingness to bend or break the rules, combined with mankind’s drive to do just that. “(AVs) will never break any traffic rules,” he said. “If there is a speed of 50 km/h, (AVs) will go 50 km/h. (AVs) will wait for an efficient gap to merge into traffic. Where a human would bend the rules to make progress, autonomous vehicles will be more cautious.” So, while having an AV that’s able to circle the block while you pop into the corner store for some eggs is undeniably convenient, being stuck on an on-ramp behind a robotic car that’s unable to merge into traffic that’s moving 5 km/h over the speed limit is anything but.
Origin: Autonomous cars could worsen traffic on Canadian roads, experts warn

#WeTheCongested: What do the Raptors’ wins mean for Toronto traffic?

In this file photo, vehicles makes their way into and out of downtown Toronto along the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto.Nathan Denette / The Canadian Press Are you an up-and-coming fair-weather basketball fan? You might want to get yourself some comfortable walking shoes—with the state of Toronto’s roads, and the team’s winning streak, the growing Raptors bandwagon ain’t going nowhere any time soon. Following the Eastern Conference victory Saturday night, fans everywhere were celebrating like never before. The honking traffic didn’t start driving around our mid-Toronto neighbourhood until after midnight, probably because the drivers simply couldn’t move before then. Recall this publication recently reported that 600 or so Toronto roads are getting the time-out this summer for around 140 km of roadworks. Consequently, Toronto’s current traffic functions as well as the Raptors’ defence circa 1998, or the Jays’ circa May 2019. Mind, you can’t accuse the city of not trying. This year, over $1 billion (a.k.a. Kawhi’s signing bonus) is being spent to remedy the situation. The gist? You probably won’t hear traveling called much throughout the finals in TO. Perhaps presciently, the Raps secured their first-ever finals run on the day following the kickoff of Hogtown’s annual Bike to Work Month. But with hilariously poetic timing, one of the city’s most vital bike paths, Bloor Street between Bathurst and Spadina, is being shredded today. The expected end date? Sometime in December. By then, invincibly optimistic Leaf fans (you know the sort) estimate their Buds will already have secured a spot in next year’s playoffs. So, what days will TO traffic reach its nadir, creating a Jurassic parking lot? Having won more games than Golden State this season, the Raptors enjoy home court advantage during these finals, which means at least two games will further clog our already Jurassic-ally clogged streets. The first game is this Thursday, May 30 at 9 pm; and the second three days later, Sunday, June 2, at 8 pm. If you worry that you or someone you love just ever-so-possibly may need to hurry to the hospital on either afternoon, evening or late night, consider arranging to be out of town. Or inflate the tire on your wheelbarrow because the ambulance is likely to be ambulatory. Now, not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but you also have to wonder what a victory parade would look like given the state of the city’s roads. There’s not much to compare it to: the closest we’ve got is the 1967 Leafs’ victory parade from the Gardens (which no longer exists) to City Hall (which was brand-new and actually capable of supporting fans on its now-crumbling grounds) to celebrate the Stanley Cup (which is what again?). A simple march from Scotiabank Arena to City Hall could be even more fraught. The population was 700,000 in 1967. Today it’s two million more than that. An undoctored screen capture of today’s road restrictions in Toronto. Steve Bochenek Will any parading Raps in size-20 kicks slip into one of the city’s as-yet unrepaired T-Rex-sized potholes and break an ankle? Stay tuned, sports fans! Don’t get us wrong. Of course, this victory is good for the city’s image. Tourism will flourish. And heaven knows Toronto’s long-suffering sports fans deserve a nod from God. But there’s one GTA collective who’ve suffered even more. We The Congested have endured a hell of a bad ride since long before Nick Nurse was even a candy striper, or Kawhi emitted his first awkward
Origin: #WeTheCongested: What do the Raptors’ wins mean for Toronto traffic?