By: David Matthews
Doesn’t add up
Now that text messaging has made grammar obsolete for an entire generation, it turns its icy gaze to traffic safety, leaving many drivers feeling conflicted.
On one hand, most drivers agree that texting behind the wheel is unsafe. A recent poll by Harris Interactive shows that 89% of adults in the U.S. believe that sending text messages while driving should be outlawed.
Even more (almost 91%) believe that texting is just as dangerous behind the wheel as having a couple of drinks.
On the other hand, you never know when your BFF in accounting is gonna catch your man creepin’ with that woman in shipping on the DL, you feel me?
So the same Harris poll then asked drivers who use text messaging if they ever do so on the road. Two-thirds (66%) admitted to reading text messages or e-mails while driving, and 57% admitted to composing and sending messages from behind the wheel.
Not surprisingly, the majority of those admitting to texting on the road were between the ages of 18 and 34. Only 6% were over the age of 55, half of whom misunderstood and were expecting a text massage.
It’s time for change
Remember when you came back from your European vacation with all that foreign change that you didn’t know what to do with? Remember how you decided to use it up in New York City parking meters because they can’t seem to tell the difference between a quarter and a drachma?
Well, you’re not the only one. New York City accumulates 500 lb of foreign coins every year in its parking meters. Because so many different coins are collected from every continent in the world, the DOT decided years ago to auction off the annual collection rather than try to exchange it all for U.S. currency. The collection usually sells for $2 to $4 per pound.
While 500 lb is a good chunk of change, the city is getting by just fine without it. The DOT collects about $90 million worth of American coins from parking meters each year.
Better late than never
The city of Waukesha, Wis., might not make quite so much money from their parking meters, but they did recently collect on a long-overdue fine.
A $1 parking ticket from 1980 arrived at the Waukesha police department this past May, paid in full including a $3 late fee.
Police would like to thank the person for paying their debt, but their identity remains a mystery. The signature on the money order used to pay the ticket was not legible, and the return address on the ticket simply read, “Someone who keeps way too many old papers way too long.”
Nearly a ton of fun
If it had been up to Alex Habay to choose a 1,500-lb uninvited guest to climb into the back seat of his car, he might have opted for a dozen swimsuit models.
In terms of curves and a diminished capacity for conversation, Habay’s wish came true this past July. Unfortunately, though, it came in the form of a runaway wrecking ball.
About a mile from the Meadville, Pa., traffic light where 20-year-old Habay was stopped, a cable broke on a crane and sent a 3-ft-diam. wrecking ball on a downhill tumble along a city street.
The wrecking ball zigzagged down the street, bouncing off of parked cars and crushing sections of the curb before rolling straight into the trunk of Habay’s car and coming to rest in his backseat. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt.
Habay said he didn’t try to get out of the way of the wrecking ball because he mistook it for a giant bag of foreign coins from New York City.
