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worst crash (in terms of # of dead) in California in decades, as a bus from a casino smashes at high speed into a semi trailer

12.26 Add Comment

The crash occurred at 5:17 a.m. Sunday in Desert Hot Springs as the bus headed back to Los Angeles from a casino in Thermal near the Salton Sea.

Passengers said they boarded the USA Holiday bus Saturday night at the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Vermont Avenue for a trip to the Red Earth Casino in Thermal.

In the past, the bus company charged $20 a ticket for round-trip travel to get to 4½ hours of gambling.

The bus went about 15 feet into the trailer




http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-tour-bus-20161023-snap-story.html

in August 2015 IMSA announced that as of Nov. 1, 2015, the series title sponsor would change from Tudor, the watch company, to WeatherTech.

07.51 Add Comment
one year later:
Aug. 28 2016, WeatherTech announced it was pulling the No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT3 R from the IMSA WeatherTech series’ final three races.

Why? Because IMSA has not done enough with the available “Balance of Performance” rules adjustments to properly level the playing field for the GT3 R, and without a rules change, the Porsche simply isn’t competitive with the other cars in the class
—the Dodge Viper GT3-R,
the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 and
the similar Audi R8 LMS GT3,
the Ferrari 488 GT3 and
the BMW M6 GT3.

On Sept. 1 2016, the MacNeils and Job announced not only would the Job-fielded WeatherTech Porsche not run IMSA’s final three races, they were moving to the Pirelli World Challenge, as close to an archrival the WeatherTech series has.

Here’s the problem: The new Porsche GT3 car is hard to drive. To compete with the other cars in the class, you must drive it on a knife edge every lap. Professional drivers like “Super” Mario Farnbacher can handle it, but for gentleman drivers like Cooper MacNeil and Lindsey, it’s very difficult. Consequently, the drivers who are essentially paying the bills feel they have no chance to win.

As for IMSA: “You’d have to be a fool to not be somewhat concerned,” said Scott Atherton, IMSA president and chief operating officer. “It’s not a healthy situation when you have your title sponsor’s

 http://autoweek.com/article/imsa/how-imsa-weathertech-championship-racing-series-pissed-its-weathertech-sponsored-team#ixzz4NTrOdmu1

Oceano Dunes/ Pismo State Beach - is the only California State Park where cars can be driven on the beach.

11.14 Add Comment

Half way from LA to Monterey, about 8 hours north of San Diego


But most of the past 6 years was a legal battle because locals wanted it shut down to vehicles... and they had a clever legal method, by making a law about how much dust could be found in the air.

San Luis Obispo County's Air Pollution Control District's created and passed the "Dust Rule," which requires state parks like Oceano Dunes to reduce particulate matter - in other words, dust - blowing out of the park into neighboring areas.

Someone wasn't very sharp though, and wrote down a numerical limit that is lower than the amount of dust when there are no vehicles present, clearly illustrating that it was a scam. Once you've said that mother nature is the greater offender than the vehicles, you've made it clear you are both a moron, and that you aren't fighting for a real cause.

A group went to court to get this dust law overturned, and though it took 6 years, and appeals, the desired result was achieved.

The legal cost? $380,000.

Opponents of the APCD have gone so far as to say that the true motive behind the Dust Rule had nothing to do with public health at all, but that it's just pandering to homeowner's groups to keep up property values in the nearby luxury housing developments that have sprouted up around Pismo Beach in recent years.

http://www.bikebandit.com/blog/post/the-battle-for-the-last-great-off-road-riding-area-on-the-pacific-coast

the EPA sued Harley-Davidson for selling a product that gave riders the ability to modify their bike’s emissions for higher performance, but would then fail smog levels, selling a tuner that allowed illegal modifications to be done by bike owners - at their own discretion. And Harley-Davidson didn’t fight it; they folded

11.13 Add Comment

The second, main focus of the suit was on Harley-Davidson’s sale of approximately 340,000 Screamin' Eagle Pro Super Tuners, a tuning module that allowed users to modify EFI programming to suit aftermarket modifications for proper fueling and to create better performance, which has the side effect of modifying emissions in ways that can end up outside of federal clean air standards.


“Given Harley-Davidson’s prominence in the industry, this is a very significant step toward our goal of stopping the illegal aftermarket defeat devices that cause harmful pollution on our roads and in our communities. Anyone else who manufactures, sells, or installs these types of illegal products should take heed of Harley-Davidson’s corrective actions and immediately stop violating the law.”

 The Justice Department’s statement is telling in multiple ways.

First, saying “given Harley-Davidson’s prominence in the industry” seems to hint that Harley-Davidson was singled out for a case like this to be made an example out of before the rest of the motorcycle industry; particularly those who manufacture performance exhaust parts and tuning modules.

 Describing the tuning modules as “illegal aftermarket defeat devices” presumes them and their use to be inherently illegal, regardless of how they are used (even off-road and in racing, where they are intended to be used by manufacturers.)

 The beginning of the closing sentence, “anyone else who manufactures, sells, or installs these types of illegal products” reads like a thinly veiled threat to every OEM and aftermarket manufacturer of any part or device that affects emissions; and suggesting they “should take heed of Harley-Davidson’s corrective actions” is all but proof that the EPA and the Justice Department used Harley-Davidson to make an example out of, and to scare the rest of the industry into submission.

If the Justice Department means what it said, the government is not only holding the manufacturers of these tuners liable for potentially illegal use by end users, but that it aims to shut the entire “illegal” industry down as a whole.

This story is about a lot more than Harley-Davidson getting fined for pushing the boundaries with its aftermarket parts.

 It means that not only can companies now be held liable for the unproven, potential misuse of their devices, but that the government has managed to bend the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the nation to their will.

http://www.bikebandit.com/blog/post/feds-charge-h-d-with-15-million-for-emissions-violations-what-will-come-next
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