Used cars contaminated by radiation from the tsunami-caused meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant are being sold in Japan. Unscrupulous auto dealers reregister them with new license plates. The vehicles were supposed to be destroyed and they cannot be exported because of beefed-up inspections at the buyer nations. One contaminated van resold in Japan was found to emit 110 microsieverts of radiation an hour — the legal limit is only 0.3 microsieverts per hour.
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A proposal to close one lane of busy Oak Street to accommodate bicyclists coming from the Panhandle has critics predicting a parking and traffic nightmare along a stretch of road that drivers from the western part of The City use to reach the freeway.
Click on the photo at right to see more on this story.
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About fifty vehicles in Santa Cruz were vandalized between late Friday night and early Saturday morning, police said.
Many car owners in the western area of the city discovered their tires had been slashed, and at least six had hate symbols painted on them.
Police said most of the vehicles were in the area around Almar Avenue, and they believe the crimes were committed between 11 p.m. Friday and 1 a.m. Saturday.
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Danny Baker considers himself a “jack of all trades,” but “jack of all wheels” may be a better fit.
The San Francisco photographer, fitness instructor and sports apparel entrepreneur tools around town via skateboard, bicycle, scooter and a vintage Porsche.
On the weekend auto-racing circuit, his wheels spin faster.
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San Francisco’s new top cop is trading in the gas-guzzling SUVs and Crown Victorias driven by the department’s command staff for more environmentally friendly hybrid vehicles.
Police Chief Greg Suhr himself will be driving around The City in a Ford Fusion Hybrid, the very same car Mayor Ed Lee switched to after being selected interim mayor.
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Folks parking older-model Japanese cars on San Francisco streets, or leaving valuables inside their vehicles, take heed: Police say thieves are salivating more than usual.
To date, auto thefts have spiked 10 percent citywide, and burglary thefts from vehicles are up 22 percent, compared with the same time last year, police said Wednesday.
The numbers are part of an overall trend of increased property crimes this year, according to interim police Chief Jeff Godown.
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European Union officials are preparing to ban all cars from major cities, according to The Telegraph in London. The ban would begin in 2050, and would be in effect in most major European cities.
Fighting global warming is, of course, the alleged justification for the coming ban, which is contained in a larger transportation plan for Europe that EU officials say is designed to force Europeans to stop driving conventionally fueled vehicles.
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A powerful 8.9 magnitude earthquake shook northeast Japan, which set off a massive tsunami.Watch below
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For most Americans — make that most of mankind — the car is an instrument of mobility, flexibility and speed. Yet officials in Washington, transportation experts, state and local functionaries, planners, and transit officials are consistently puzzled about why their efforts to lure people from their cars continue to fail.
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California has 30 million-plus motor vehicles and 24 million-plus licensed drivers. And like it or not, auto travel is fundamental to life as we Californians know it.
That is why motorists are captive cash cows. Politicians know we must drive to live and therefore assume that no matter how hard they hit us, we will pay up.
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