July 2010 Dispatch

Auto Graphs
•Chicks, man: It's women who are the better drivers, according to insurance.com, which punched the numbers on more than 7 million drivers to figure out who reported more violations. That would be men, if you're not with us. The study also showed that married female drivers reported violations more often than married males, but single males reported more than single females. Men had more DUIs, while women got more speeding citations, except for cases over the speed limit, which went to men. Wait, doesn't this all balance out in the end?

•Virginia will raise the interstate speed limit from 65 to 70 mph.

•And speaking of speeding-or rather, not-a bill is making its way through the Georgia House of Reps without a problem: A fine of $75 would be handed down to drivers who hang out in the left lane and are traveling lower than the posted speed limit when someone is coming up faster from behind.

•Been looking for the Déjà Vu stripper mobile on the streets of Tampa, Florida? A supposed registration issue took it out of commission temporarily, but it's back. Happy? We bet. However, the strippers pole dancing in the back are now wearing more clothing and can no longer simulate acts. You know the kind we mean. Yes, the second and third acts of Macbeth, that's exactly what we mean.

•The U.S. Department of Transportation said that the number of overall traffic fatalities reported by the end of 2009 was the lowest since 1954, and the lowest ever recorded.

•Thinking of leasing? Then you're probably over the hill. Leasetrader.com put together some demographic data and learned that the average age is 42.4 (that's up from 36.6 10 years ago). The site noted that drivers age 50 and up have been the largest percentile increase for lease marketplace activity (which explains the rise in the average age).

•On topic: ASafeDrive is a new iPhone app to help you stick to the speed limit, including a color-changing speedo and warnings such as a sound or vibration.

•AutoMD.com conducted an online survey and found that people are putting more miles on their current vehicles-to the tune of 50,000 or more-than on their previous vehicle, and with "the majority of respondents planning to keep their vehicle until it dies."

Not A Jeep
Ram PowerWagon. Sure, it could steal thunder from Ford's '10 F-150 SVT Raptor if it went into production, and it'll be a cool truck. But why isn't this a Jeep pickup? We know the Gladiator couldn't have just been fan fiction.