I’m not sure that there’s yet been an invasion of Nazi zombies, but should one ever happen there’s a fair chance the authorities wouldn’t want to shout about it. Or warn approaching motorists.

All the same, it’s hard not to laugh at a recent craze that has seen temporary road warning signs in the US hacked to read something other than considered safety messages about roadworks.

The messages, reported by the blog Jalopnik, range from the matter of fact (THIS SIGN HAS BEEN HACKED), through the cautionary (ZOMBIES AHEAD! and RAPTORS AHEAD, CAUTION!) to the rather heartbreaking (NOBODY HAS EVER / LOVED YOU).

Instructions for altering the signs’ messages were published in January on a website dedicated to hacking various hardware and software. In most cases, the site claims, the sign controls aren’t protected by a lock or anything other than the default password.

But while their altered messages are clearly a little irresponsible, the signs themselves are yet another example of technology making people’s lives easier. In the past, warning motorists of impending doom took a can of paint and some dedication:

IMAGES by Flickr users underbiteman and shinythings

Related articles by Zemanta

• DIY digital view camera rig (makezine.com)

Similar Posts:

• Car insurance fraud: don’t be a victim
• Alternatives to Microsoft — what are my options?OpenOffice, Mozilla, Ubuntu and more
• Helpful sites to encourage eating seasonal, local foods
• The UK’s strangest safety tips
• Mini cleans up in emissions table

Originally posted 2009-02-05 18:20:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

There are plenty of car manufacturers boasting about the eco-credentials of their latest models these days. But I came across one this weekend which genuinely impressed me.

The Fiat 500 is a funky little town car – it echoes the cute style queues of earlier Fiats with the same number back in the 1960s and early 70s.

All well and good. It’s certainly a nice looking creation.

But what I think is a genuinely smart innovation is the eco:Drive system that comes with latest models.

eco:Drive helps you understand the impact of your driving style on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. You just plug a USB stick into the port on the car’s dashboard and eco:Drive records detailed information about the vehicle and how it is driven onto the USB stick.

Then download the free eco:Drive software from Fiat’s website and install on your computer. Plug the USB stick into your computer and the eco:Drive software analyses the data on it and converts it into useful facts and figures. It gives you your ‘eco:Drive index’ – a mark out of 100 showing how efficiently you’ve been driving based on your acceleration, deceleration, gear changes and speed. It then makes recommendations about how you can improve the efficiency of your driving.

It even provides information on how much money this could save you. And for the seriously obsessive it lets you set yourself targets and see if you can meet them.

Fiat suggests you could reduce your fuel bills by up to 15%. That’s a big saving!

The software will evolve and improve with feedback from users – automatically updating as time goes on too.

A genuinely brilliant idea. My one criticism is that it feels very blokey indeed – even a tad nerdy. At the risk of sounding sexist, I wonder if girl-drivers – who tend to be the more eco-friendly of the sexes when it comes to driving and are probably more likely to buy a small funky car like the Fiat 500 – would ever bother to use it?

IMAGES: by Flickr user

Related articles by Zemanta

• Chrysler To Build All-Electric Version of Fiat 500 for U.S. Market (thecarconnection.com)
• Report: Fiat to cut 5,000 jobs (sfgate.com)
• Fiat may produce seven models in North America, including Alfa Romeo: Report (windsorstar.com)

Similar Posts:

• Engine stop-start systems save fuel at traffic lights
• Treehugger on green driving
• Mini cleans up in emissions table
• Manufacturers design lighter cars to reduce CO2 emissions
• Green driving adviceEco-drivingFuel-saving top tips

Originally posted 2008-12-02 04:50:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The last few weeks have really given us the opportunity to test out our car deicing techniques.

One that we neglected to mention was this one, courtesy of Autotrader. It’s billed as stop-gap if you run out of ‘proper’ deicer.

Mix up a 50/50 solution of household vinegar and water, place in a old plastic bottle with a hole cut in its lid and squeeze liberally across your car windows. Then simply scrape off the resulting sludge with an ice scraper or (not-to-be-used-again-for transactional-purposes) credit card.

Having tried brown malt vinegar over the last couple of weeks, we have to say it does leave the glass shiny, albeit with the odd whiff reminiscent of fish and chips.

Though definitely no need to add salt.

For more hints and tips for coping with the cold, see Living’s advice on winter driving.

IMAGE image by Flickr user malias

Related articles by Zemanta

• Avoiding Carpet Stains When Red Wine Spills (sommelierindia.com)
• Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Ice cold outside, “hot ice” inside (boingboing.net)

Similar Posts:

• Cars skidding on ice: chilling YouTube footage
• Green options for de-icing your car this winter
• Top survival tips for when your car gets stuck in the snow
• Fish for sea kittens — about PETA’s new campaign
• Winter driving guideSafe driving tips

Originally posted 2007-12-21 20:02:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Chances are that when we were kids, most of us were able to ride up front where Mum or Dad could keep an eye on us. Now, with the advent of car seats and safety features like passenger airbags, children and toddlers are banished to the back seat – which can be a problem if you’re the only adult in the car and your child is behind you, playing up.

According to a Halfords survey, 99% of parents had been distracted by noisy children in the car. More than half of the 2,000 parents who took part said they believed that driving with a screaming child was more dangerous than using a mobile phone.

This may just be a survey, but road traffic statistics from the States show how dangerous such distractions can be. According to the University of Richmond in Virginia, being distracted by other passengers, including children, was said to be responsible for 9% of road accidents.

But we can’t always leave the kids at home, so that means we must manage the distraction they cause. Firstly, a sleepy baby is a quiet baby, so keep your children awake before you get in the car if you know you have a long journey coming up. If they’re old enough, try to get them to play energetic games to really tire them out. Then, when in the car, ensure you have adequate sun shades to keep the light outside from waking them up.

Once they’re safely in their car seat, feed them! A good way of keeping a toddler quiet is to give them a small pack of raisins, or something that it takes ages for them to eat, like a dried fruit bar.

Take a special cuddly toy or game with you that they never normally get a chance to play with. For young babies, you can also get activity centres which attach to their car seats. Also, plan some breaks along the way to break the monotony for them, and reduce tiredness for you.

Keeping older children informed as to where you are in the journey will avoid the constant cry of, “are we there yet?”

Related articles by Zemanta

• Rear-Facing Toddler in Britax Car Seat (parenting-success.com)
• What are child seat belt laws? (brainz.org)
• Peppa Pig: Will careless pork cost lives? (telegraph.co.uk)

Similar Posts:

• Five tips for entertaining children on a journey
• Five best websites for children under-5Rainy-day activities for kids
• Treehugger on green driving
• Babies, birthdays and weddings: top green tips
• eco-driving in UK test from September 2008

Originally posted 2008-01-29 12:18:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

There are periodic reports about how much car insurance fraud costs the insurance industry – the Association of British Insurers reckons it’s in excess of £40 for every policy.

Scene of the crimes — Eden Point roundabout, on the A34 close to Cheadle (Greater Manchester Police/PA Wire)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bad winter costs insurers £650m (newstatesman.com)
• Report: UK man claims he lost Lamborghini while drunk, beats insurance fraud charges (autoblog.com)
• FSA raises fees as it beefs up supervision after financial crisis (telegraph.co.uk)

Similar Posts:

• Driving with children
• Car insurance fraud: don’t be a victim
• The UK’s strangest safety tips
• All power to the shower: Paul pulls the plug on his no-bath energy saving challenge
• Using vinegar to deice your car windscreen

Originally posted 2009-10-21 02:40:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

British engineer Richard Jenkins has become the fastest driver ever to use only the power of the wind – smashing the previous record in the process.

And the all-British Greenbird carbon fibre land yacht needed winds of only 30mph to reach its top speed of 126.1mph, besting previous record holder, American Bob Schumacher by almost 10mph.

The record-breaking run took place at the dried-out bed of Lake Ivanpah on the border between Nevada and California.

Originally the Windjet project, the craft can operate on both dry land and on frozen water – and is designed to break the record on both surfaces.

It was renamed to capture the spirit of the Bluebird – the legendary series of craft headed by Donald Campbell in the 1950s and 60s before his death at more than 300mph on Coniston Water.

The Ecotricity–sponsored Greenbird is billed as being “part aeroplane, part sailboat, part Formula One car” and it used some clever, but relatively simple principles to speed itself to glory.

Power is produced in a similar way to how an aeroplane generates ‘lift’ to climb in the air; using wind moving over the ’sail’, which is essentially a vertical wing.

?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Wind Energy Pioneer Answers Your Questions: Dale Vince in Guardian Q&A (treehugger.com)
• Hippie windfarm kingpin Dale Vince slapped down by ASA (go.theregister.com)
• A Year-Long Video Review of the MiEV Electric Car: Robert Llewellyn’s Gearless (Video) (treehugger.com)

Similar Posts:

• Pouring water on dirty fumes
• Traffic avoidance technique # 342: the helium balloon car
• Find out if your house could use a wind turbine
• Electric Blue milk float aims to break land speed record
• CBI calls for wind-power cut ahead of 2009 energy white paper

Originally posted 2009-04-01 17:32:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter