I know the blog has been silent for quite some time, but if you've been following me on Twitter or Facebook, you'll know that we have arrived safely in England and have been busy getting adjusted to our new life here. Our trip over was uneventful, although there was a delay in the flight and about a forty-five minute wait at immigration. But we are here now, adjusted to the new time zone, and so far enjoying the much cooler weather (except for the day we arrived in the UK when it was 27°C, we've not seen over 20°C). Robin has started a blog to keep people up to date on our new life here.

The most enjoyable part of our trip for me was driving our hired Peugeot 207 from London Gatwick airport to Hull. This was my first time driving a right-hand drive vehicle, but I found the switch rather easy. The car was good to drive too; I've never driven a Peugeot before (I don't think you can even buy them in North America unless they've been imported by someone), but I have heard they have a reputation for being solid, reliable cars. The 207 we had was certainly a good little package, fitted with a 1.6L diesel and a 5-speed transmission. Even with the stop-and-go-but-mostly-stop on the London carpark (otherwise known as the M25), and congestion on parts of the M1, the car returned a fantastic 54mpg.

The church family at St John's has been so very welcoming, which has been a tremendous blessing. We have met so many people in these first two weeks, and we have been very encouraged by their faith and unity, and are excited to be a part of this community of believers. 

Yesterday, I began work here by spending the day with a colleague learning about the community project St John's has undertaken. One of the things I've been brought on to do is develop this project and find other ways that we as a church can minister to the city. One of my main priorities over the coming months will be to really get to know Hull and its needs.

I plan to return to regularly scheduled programming from here on in, by which I mean, of course, a return to the main subjects of this blog. It is good to be here in England, and back into a routine. I look forward to picking up the conversations here again soon.

And now for something completely different.

Shortly after we moved to Orlando, I remember there being a report on the news about speed limits on Interstate 4, the main highway that runs through the city. The police had gone on a blitz writing up speeding tickets because they were concerned about the number of people regularly traveling at 70mph or more on the interstate. When one of the local news teams did an investigation, however, it was discovered that few people actually knew the speed limit of the highway, largely due to poor signage. Adjustable speed limit signs had been installed, but there was one stretch of I-4, something like eight miles long, where none of them were operational.

To their credit, the authorities remedied the problem immediately. However, they proceeded to make a particularly unintelligent decision by going forward with their adjustable speed limit idea. If you have ever driven on I-4, you know how busy it always is and how bad of a drive it can be. And it is precisely these conditions – frequent congestion – that make adjustable speed limits absolutely absurd.

When the signs were originally installed, a guy named Steve Homan, of the Department of Transportation, said, "We want them to drive slower so they can move faster... The idea is to have traffic moving slowly but steadily through a congested area. This will help drivers get through the area quicker."

Apparently, Homan never took a physics class. If he did, he would know that this is what will actually happen: traffic will be heavy, but moving along at a steady 50mph (the actual limit of I-4 through Orlando). But suddenly the speed limit sign up ahead changes to 40mph, and there will be that one guy in the centre lane who will see it and hit the brakes to match the new speed limit. Needless to say, this requires all the cars behind him to brake, and the sudden flurry of brakelights will cause the drivers in the outside lanes to react by braking suddenly as well. This will not simply slow the flow of traffic down to 40mph, but instead will ensure that a half-mile behind the guy who braked first, traffic will come to a grinding halt. It's just like throwing a big rock in the middle of a river. It disrupts the flow and creates a dam-like effect.

By using the adjustable speed limits, it is clear the authorities wanted to do two things: first, they wanted to make traffic flow better by having everyone drive the same speed. As I have already demonstrated (and as anyone who regularly drives I-4 will tell you), they failed miserably. To be fair, though, it's not entirely their fault. There is a lot of traffic on I-4, and the flow problems are not going to be solved by adjusting the speed limits.

Second, and related, they put their faith in a bunch of signs to fix everything. I read an article some time ago arguing that Americans spend so much time watching the ridiculous amount of signage along their roads that they don't focus on what's going on in front of them. This problem only grows when you install signs that do not read the same thing every time you drive by them. I drive a lot of the same roads every day, and I don't need to look at the speed limit signs because I know them all by heart. But when the speed limit is constantly in flux, you can't help but drive along checking every sign to ensure you're not driving at double the speed limit.

But what's more, this is just another way of taking responsibility away from the driver under the guise of improving safety. I am not suggesting that there should be no speed limits, of course, but only that drivers need to be responsible for what they do in varying conditions, such as occasions when traffic is heavy. Changing the speed limit when the interstate gets congested takes their focus off what they need to be focused on and actually makes conditions less safe. We, as a culture – both individuals and government – need to stop thinking that the way to get people to act more responsibily is to impose more external regulations.

What is the solution, then? Well, the only way I-4 is ever going to flow properly is if there are more lanes available and if a number of the major on- and off-ramps are reconstructed (such as the nightmare that is the I-4/408 interchange). Of course, this really cannot be done because shutting I-4 down for any length of time would cause chaos beyond what we can even imagine.

So, the solution I propose is that the adjustable speed limit signs be removed, and static signs be installed. Additionally, the new speed limits need to be higher. You see, the majority of people already travel between 65-70mph, and efforts to slow them down have not worked. To be sure, you have drivers doing the posted speed limit, but that raises the problem I mentioned above of obstructing the flow. I-4 does not need to be 50mph – that is absurdly slow for a major interstate – but would work much better if the limit was higher, say 60mph. Since most people already travel within the acceptable bounds of this limit, you would just be bringing the slower drivers up to speed so that they no longer disrupt the flow. If the police wanted to, they could increase their efforts to enforce a raised limit, but I don't think they would have to since very few travel over 70mph anyway. And when the interstate becomes congested, people will react to what is going on in front of them instead of watching the speed limit signs.

The Department of Transportation needs to stop making decisions based on uninformed hypotheses and take the time to engage with those who drive stretches of road like I-4 everyday. I am sure they feel the need to regulate things like this because they are concerned that are too many people who drive irresponsibly – and there's certainly an element of truth to that – but the way to teach people to be more responsible is not to take the responsibility away from them. They need to learn to react to the road, to the conditions, and to other drivers around them, and this is not done by focusing on speed limit signs. Adjustable speed limits are simply absurd, and they need to go.

One of the newer bits of technology that an increasing number of cars are equipped with is a parking assist feature. Many cars have sensors in the rear bumper that will cause a beep to sound inside the cabin when you are close to hitting something while reversing. The Lincoln Navigator, to use one example, has sensors all around the vehicle, not just in the rear bumper. While many might consider this a convenient feature, in my case, it ends up being a bit of an annoyance. I am often required to park cars in tight spaces, and when parking the Navigator the other day, the sensors went ballistic when I got too close (in its opinion) to a car in front of me, beside me, and to a few pylons on the other side of me. Sorry, Lincoln. The vehicle had to go there, even if it meant I couldn't open the doors all the way.

Of course, this is only one of the many 'driving aids' that manufacturers are installing on vehicles today. Some cars have an automated cruise control, such that when the cruise is set and you approach another vehicle the car will adjust the speed to match the vehicle in front of you, while others have sensors that warn you if you wander out of your lane on the highway. Still other cars have the ability to park themselves. Indeed, many foresee a future of driver-less cars.

What are we to make of all this technology that is designed to make driving easier? There are definite benefits, the most notable being that many of these technological advances are designed to prevent accidents and ensure safer driving conditions. 

But do they make us better drivers? Of course not. In fact, I think they contribute to the increasing desire of many people to take on as little responsibility as possible.

The ability to drive gives you an extraordinary amount of power. You have a great deal of independence, being able to get in the vehicle and go wherever you please. But more important is the responsibility you assume for others. When I was learning to drive, I remember both my dad and my driving instructor telling me that as soon as you get into your car, you have taken the lives of others into your hands, whether it be pedestrians, other drivers, or the friends you drive to the movie theatre.

The safety benefits of some of the new features different cars are equipped with are certainly to be lauded. But I think it is worth noting that such features also contribute to drivers thinking less of the responsibility they take on when driving a car. People begin to put their faith in the car to keep them safe. Humans are fallible and make mistakes, but so do machines. And with the passing of responsibility from the driver to the car itself, what happens when one of these features fails to operate as it should, and the driver is not paying as much attention as they should?

Driving has evolved in other ways as well. What used to be a pleasure (driving) has now turned into a chore (commuting). This is particularly the case in North America. People want to do as little as possible when driving, and so the vast majority of cars are equipped with things like automatic transmissions and cruise control. No longer is a driver responsible for what the car itself is doing, nor are they praised for their ability to smoothly and skilfully operate and manoeuvre the vehicle. And they want to be as comfortable as possible, which entails buying a lot of large vehicles with soft suspensions, big, plush seats, and state of the art stereo systems and DVD players. Driving is all about getting places now. No longer do people go out for a Sunday drive just for the sake of driving.

Interestingly, Car and Driver magazine launched a campaign some time ago called 'Save the Manuals', an attempt to reignite people's interest in driving the entire car. They note too that the added responsibility that comes with driving a manual means that you have to focus more on driving (you can't text while driving a manual), which in turn produces safer drivers. You don't have enough hands to shift gears, operate a cell phone, change CDs, program the navigator and balance a coffee cup. And that's precisely the point. I fully intend to teach my child how to drive in a car with a manual transmission.

Maybe I'm just a purist. I want a car with firm handling and a solid ride so I can feel the road when I'm driving. I want a manual transmission because I want control over what the car is doing. And few things give me more pleasure than a twisty back road with minimal traffic and lots of scenery. More than that, though, I want other drivers out there to be aware of the enormous responsibility they take on when operating a 4000-pound vehicle at 70 miles per hour. And so while we praise the continued technological advances of new cars, we cannot forget the responsibility that comes with getting behind the wheel of an automobile. Anybody who forgets that simply should not be allowed to drive.

Yesterday, Robin and I drove out to Daytona Beach for the 52nd annual Daytona 500 (it was our birthday present to each other, as mine was on the 12th and hers is on the 17th). We went last year as well, although they ended up calling the race early due to rain. This year, it was clear and sunny all day, although chilly—by the time we left it was in the low 40s. We also sat there a lot longer than we anticipated due to a couple of red flags, the first one lasting almost two hours. Apparently the frost and rain we've had here over the past few weeks did a number on the track and created a pretty sizeable pothole that they had to fill to make the track safe for racing. As the cars were running over it, bits of asphalt were coming up and expanding the hole. But in the end the racing was great, and we were fortunate to have some really good seats on the frontstretch near the start/finish line to see the action.

Being the gearhead that I am, a get a big rush from the power, speed, and sound of these cars. Some people look at NASCAR and just see a bunch of cars turning left. But for me it's about tuning engines to squeeze out that extra bit of horsepower, setting up the suspension so that it will be able to hit the apex of the turn perfectly each time, making the right calls on pit road, and learning how to work the draft. It takes a lot of skill and talent from every member of the team, not just the driver.

Anyway, here's a short clip (really short!) of the pack of cars flying by at 190mph toward the end of the race. It's pretty wild to see them cover 2.5 miles in 30 seconds.

Below is a picture of my 1994 Mazda 626 DX as it looked in 2006. I bought the car in August of 2002, and have put over 100,000 miles on the odometer. It's parked in my driveway right now with 193,200 (about 311,000km), and I won't be logging any more miles on it. Unfortunately, it has run into some mechanical problems that would not be worth fixing. I put an ad up on Craigslist yesterday, was completely honest about the problems, and have already had three emails from potential buyers.

This was my first car. I worked hard for several summers before college saving up for a car, and my uncle and aunt were very gracious to sell the car to me for quite less than it was worth at the time so that it would fit in my budget. The car has been fantastic, and a real pleasure to own. It's a 5-speed, and at the time I hadn't had a great deal of experience driving a manual, except on a tractor. But I drove it the 200km home to Hamilton from their house in Peterborough, including an entertaining ride through rush hour stop-and-go traffic on the 401 through Toronto (which, having the notorious reputation of being North America's busiest stretch of highway, was great practice). Though the four-cylinder wasn't powerful by any means, I couldn't have been happier when I started dating a girl from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and began bi-weekly trips back and forth to visit her in the summer. That 4-cylinder, 5-speed combination netted me a consistent 34-35mpg at highway speeds. My best was a trip up and down western Ontario—Hanover to Sheffield to Tobermory to Hamilton—a total distance of 827km, in which the car got 37.9mpg.

The car was always a pleasure to drive. It sat comfortably, felt solid on the road, and rode smoothly, especially on the highway. Being 6'4", I needed a car with a good amount of room, and the 626 was great. The clutch was light and it shifted well. On the snowy roads of Ontario in winter, it was always predictable, even being front-wheel drive. And speaking of winter, it almost never got stuck in the snow.

As I said, the car was never fast, but that also never stopped me from trying. In my younger, immature days, I raced a number of cars down the highway and off the line from traffic lights. My favorite memory was a girl in a Mustang GT convertible who pulled up beside me and started revving the engine. I laughed a bit, but had no intention of racing a car I knew I'd never beat. However, when the light turned green, she stalled it and so I won without even trying. At the next traffic light, she did not pull up beside me.

Also, I remember reading online that the 626 did not have a governed top speed. It took me awhile to build up the courage to determine if that was in fact true. One sunny day, with an open stretch of road ahead of me and my good friend, John Boks, in the passenger's seat, I dropped it into third gear and mashed the accelerator. Third gear was always great in the car when it hit the powerband—around 3000-4000rpm—and we watched the speedometer climb, 120, 130, 140km/h. By the time 4th gear ran out we had passed 180km/h (most governed cars are limited to about 175) and were still going. The car ran out of steam in 5th, right around the time the needle passed 195km/h (121mph).

Most of the time, though, I enjoyed the comfort of the car. For a base model with few options, it drove and rode very well. In addition to the many trips to Michigan, the car has been to North Carolina, New York City, and back and forth to Florida twice. I never once hesitated to get in and drive long distances.

But as with anything, over the years the car took some hits, both literally and figuratively. In the first few weeks I owned it, some fool on a riding lawnmower left the blades turned on as he pulled onto the shoulder, and I heard numerous pieces of gravel ricochet off the quarter panel. Another gravel-induced wound is on the windshield, a fair-sized crack courtesy of a gravel truck I was passing on the 402 just east of Sarnia. A very petite young girl driving a very big 3/4-ton Dodge Ram pickup backed into the car in the Redeemer parking lot, putting a sizeable dent in the right-front. Sidebar on that—she never owned up to it, but a friend of mine and myself figured it out. Also, the over-salting of the roads in winter subjected it to some rust, and the intense Florida sun has quickly destroyed the paint. Orlando's heavy stop-and-go traffic has certainly not helped the car either.

And so the end of the road has come. I just don't want to put any more money into the car. The other day I was driving and one of the cylinders stopped firing. After changing spark plugs, wires, and so on, it still didn't fire. Process of elimination leads me to think it's the distributor itself, or a faulty fuel injector. With other age- and mileage-related problems accumulated as well, it's time for something else.

There are a lot of memories in this car, though, and it will be hard to see her go. It's already a little disheartening to see her sitting parked in the driveway. But it is time. You will be missed, faithful friend.

We just returned yesterday from ten days on the road. We traveled over 3,100 miles of Interstate and 400-series highways, both urban and rural. Highway driving is relatively easy and enjoyable (at least for me). But in traveling so far, you do encounter a lot of different types of drivers. Obviously, not everyone fits into a certain category; most are good, courteous drivers. But not all—I spent part of the time behind the wheel coming up with seven categories of drivers who are particularly annoying (you have to pass the time somehow, especially when your wife is sleeping):

1. The Vacillator. This guy is usually found on the empty stretches of rural highway. He cannot, to save his life, maintain a steady speed. You will pass him, only to have him pass you again ten minutes later. This cycle will repeat itself until he either gets off the highway, or you pass him at a high rate of speed and continue on until you have put enough distance between him and you that he likely won’t pass you again.
2. The Aggressive Tailgater. There are two varieties of tailgaters. The first is the guy who feels as if he owns the left-hand lane and will remain within inches of your bumper until you let him by. He usually drives a large SUV. You will often encounter him when you are passing someone, and although you are nearly around the other vehicle, he will nevertheless ride your bumper until you are back in the right-hand lane. He will then pass you at a much higher rate of speed to emphasize his frustration with you obstructing his path and reassert his supposed ownership of the left-hand lane.
3. The Enigmatic Tailgater. This is the second type of tailgater. This is the guy who will just tailgate you for no reason. He will come up behind you, usually on an empty stretch of road, but instead of passing you, will suddenly decide he likes the speed you are going and will follow you. Only, he will do so with no more than a couple of feet in between his bumper and yours. This will conclude with him finally deciding he wants to pass you, whereupon he will do so at a rapid rate of speed, only to commence following the next car he happens upon.
4. The Charger. This guy is hybrid of 1 and 3. Usually he will have a number of passengers in the car, who get far more attention than his driving does. He will come charging up behind you and, suddenly noticing he is about to rear-end you, will hammer on the brakes until he is several car-lengths back again. His attention will then be given back to his passengers, coinciding with increased pressure on the accelerator, until his windshield is once again full of the back of your car.
5. The Left-Lane Hog. You will usually find this guy in the busiest parts of urban areas where he will doggedly hold his position driving in the left lane, come hell or high water. He is usually older and driving a Buick or Cadillac. Nothing can budge him; not tailgating, honking, or aggressively swerving around him. To further annoy highway travelers, he will drive at or slightly under the speed limit.
6. The Cruise-Controller. This is the guy who will use his cruise control all the time. This is fine in and of itself, but not when you are traveling at 70mph and he is going 70.5mph. Not wanting to upset his perfectly set cruising speed, he will refuse to tap on the accelerator to move on past you, and so will take about 10 minutes to get around your car. If you are the only two cars on an empty stretch of rural highway, this is slightly irritating though inconsequential. But when you are approaching other cars and want to pass them yourself, you either need to brake to let him pass or accelerate to get in front of him.
7. The Pass-Going-Uphill Trucker. Loaded semis are often the slowest vehicles on the highway, and it can be a bit annoying when they pass each other. But nothing compares to the idiot trucker who decides to pass another truck while going up a hill when a number of cars are quickly approaching in the left lane. The driver gets a bit of a run on the other semi while going down the preceding hill, but can’t maintain that speed when going up the next. You get stuck behind him as his speed continues to drop, and can only hope that the next stretch of downhill is long enough for him to get around the other truck.

While these are all traits of bad drivers, a number of them are simply a result of drivers not paying enough attention to what they're doing. Anything you would add to the list? Are there any other types of bad drivers that I missed?

My sister and brother-in-law drove down to see us last week, and one of the things we did was to head out to Daytona to watch the 500. All of us are NASCAR fans to varying degrees, so we enjoyed the day a lot, even though it was rained out in the end. This is some footage I shot throughout the day, and posted here mostly to test out how well Vimeo embeds and plays on the blog. Enjoy.

It's no secret to those of you who know me that I am a gearhead, and now and then I like to have a good discussion about cars. I have a Slovak friend at work who was kind enough to lend me a few issues of European Car magazine to browse through, and I ran across this today in the June 2007 issue. One of the columnists outlined some of the history of hybrid technology, which was first developed by European car manufacturers (and actually goes back to 1899, when Ferdinand Porsche raced a variant of a hybrid car). He then says,

With such a big lead and a heritage of hybrid technology, why are today's hybrids coming from Japan and the United States, and not from Stuttgart, Munich or Wolfsburg?

The answer is diesel. European manufacturers spent most of the 1990s perfecting turbocharged direct injection diesel technology so that it can produce incredible fuel economy while dramatically reducing emissions. Further research has brought the latest urea-injection technology, pioneered on European heavy trucks to the passenger segment, making these engines nearly as clean as the cleanest gasoline offerings.

Why should European manufactures place two drive systems (gas and electric) in a vehicle to attain 30 to 40 mpg when they can get the same results using a single modern direct injection diesel engine? European engineers simply scratch their heads when you ask them why they aren't building a hybrid...Europe's manufacturers have steadfastly held their positions that a new modern diesel is a better solution than a hybrid.

And rightly so, I think. Two engines will inevitably cost you more than one, both in initial cost and later on in repair costs. Plus, the technology for strong, reliable, and very efficient diesel engines is already there. Consider this as well: according to a Popular Mechanics comparison test, the Volkswagen Jetta TDI will return better highway fuel mileage than the Toyota Prius, and costs less overall (factoring in taxes and destination charges). On top of that, the 140hp and 236 ft. lb. Jetta will effortlessly leave the wimpy 75hp Prius in the dust. The Jetta is also larger and far more comfortable and accomodating.

Americans have an aversion to diesel technology, which is not surprising given the horrible diesel engineering they were subject to in the '70s and '80s (remember those Oldsmobile diesels?). But times have changed. For example, as I mentioned in an earlier post, BMW's new 335d will do 0-60 in six seconds flat (as fast as a Charger R/T) and get a claimed 36 mpg at highway speeds (compared to the Charger's measly 22).

There is a lot to be said for diesel technology, and I would not be surprised to eventually see diesels replace hybrids as the eco-friendly engine of choice. The technology is already there and continually being improved on. Would you buy a diesel?