Weird Car News

Image Credit: Michael Kovac, Getty Images

Actress avoids ticket with pink license

British actress Emily Blunt was pulled over recently in Hollywood for speeding, but got out of it because of her pink "Barbie" license.

Blunt, 26, told talk show host Jay Leno that she was driving 8 miles over the speed limit, when a cop pulled her over like he was from the show CHiPS. "It was like he'd watched that show and been practicing all the moves at home in front of a mirror," she said. The officer was amused by her UK license, which is a pale pink color and features a 17-year-old Blunt with blond hair. "The guy takes it and asks "what is this," Blunt told Leno. "I know it looks like a Barbie card, but it's actually a UK driving license."

The police officer let her off with a warning to slow down, she said. See the Video

Image Credit: KOVR

Man shoots his way out of sinking car

A driver whose car plunged into a Northern California creek escaped the sinking station wagon by shooting out the window with his handgun.

The 28-year-old was startled by his hands-free cell phone device and veered off the bridge he was traveling on, hitting the guardrail and falling into the chilly water below, a story by CBS13.com said. The man, who works as an armed security guard at Thunder Valley Casino, was trapped in his 2005 Ford Focus about 6 to 8 feet underwater in the 50-degree water of Pleasant Grove Creek, the story said.

After blasting the window out, the man flagged down a passerby and was treated for minor injuries on the scene by emergency crews.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Mayor crashes new fire truck

The mayor of a Florida town ran into a pine tree with its newest fire truck, causing an estimated $2,000 worth of damage.

Grand Ridge mayor Chris Wright, also a volunteer firefighter, took the fire engine out on a non-emergency call, a story by JCFloridian.com said. Wright was attempting to turn the truck around in a private driveway when of the fire truck’s rear tires slid off the road and into a ditch, and then fell over into a pine tree, the story said.

Although emergency vehicles are not allowed to be taken out when there's no emergency, Wright told JCFloridian.com that he needed to let the truck warm up. "With it being so cold, we had just put some antifreeze in the truck. But (the antifreeze) doesn’t do any good without running the vehicle and letting it circulate.”

Image Credit: Getty Images

Swiss court fines speeding millionaire $290,000

ST. GALLEN, Switzerland (AP) -- A Swiss court has slapped a wealthy speeder with a chalet-sized fine -- a full $290,000.

Judges at the cantonal court in St. Gallen, in eastern Switzerland, based the record-breaking fine on the speeder's estimated wealth of over $20 million.

A statement on the court's Web site says the driver -- a repeat offender -- drove up to 35 miles an hour (57 kilometers an hour) faster than the 50-mile-an-hour (80-kilometer-an-hour) limit.

Court clerk Heidi Baumann-Becker said Thursday the unidentified driver can appeal the decision, handed down in November, to the Swiss supreme court. The Blick daily newspaper in Zurich reported the fine was more than twice the previous Swiss record of about $107,000.

Image Credit: jupiterimages

Police: Driver passes out, meth lab in back seat

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) -- Police say a driver passed out in his car at a Tennessee gas station while a batch of methamphetamine was cooking in the back seat.

An employee at the gas station in Murfreesboro, about 30 miles southeast of Nashville, called police because the car was sitting at the pump for about an hour on New Year's Day.

Police say a chemical process to make the drug was in progress. Some meth-making ingredients can be explosive. Murfreesboro Assistant Fire Chief Allen Swader told The Daily News Journal that gas pumps were shut off as a precaution.

Thirty-one-year-old Nathan E. Beasley is being held on a $15,000 bond on charges of driving under the influence, driving on a suspended license, reckless endangerment and manufacturing meth. No attorney was listed in police records.

Image Credit: WKRC-TV

Local Traffic Reporter Slides Off the Road

Image Credit: Paul Connors, AP

Man Calls 911 to Go Bar Hopping

Florida man calls 911 and tells lie in hope to get a ride to a bar.

Gregory J. Oras called 911 shortly after midnight Tuesday claiming he was being shot at and had been beaten up. When authorities arrived after multiple calls to 911, they found all he really wanted was a ride to another bar -- Hennessy's.

TampaBay reports that he now faces charges for misuse of the 911 system along with battery of a law enforcement officer after kicking the officer in the knees.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Police: Man uses hatchet on vehicle in road rage case

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- (AP) Maryland State police have arrested a man they say struck a vehicle with a hatchet in what they called a road rage incident. It happened Tuesday about 3:15 on I-495, the Capital Beltway, near Md. Route 97 in Rockville. Troopers received calls from motorists saying someone had gotten out of his car and was hitting another vehicle several times with a hatchet.

The suspect left the scene and was followed by witnesses, who gave the vehicle information to authorities. The suspect was stopped, and troopers said they found a hatchet under the seat of his car.

A man, 26, was arrested and charged with second-degree assault, malicious destruction of property and other offenses.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Driver praised for ramming patrol car in Utah

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah -- (AP) A Utah driver rammed a sheriff's patrol car on purpose and officers aren't even upset. West Valley City police say a man posted an ad asking for a massage. When he showed up at the appointed meeting place, instead of finding a woman police said a 21-year-old man hopped into the truck, flashed a gun and told the victim to drive.

Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Jason Johnson said the driver tried to stay calm but saw an opportunity to escape when he pulled up next to a sheriff's deputy.

Johnson said the man hit the patrol car, jumped out of the truck and started yelling. Officers quickly arrested the gunman. Johnson said a little damage to a vehicle that can be repaired is better than anyone getting hurt.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Onions Rain Down on Utah Highway

A truck lost its payload of onions on a Utah highway, sending onions rolling down the Interstate and closing the ramp for several hours.

The semitrailer took a sharp curve on the overpass too fast, causing the driver to swerve out of his lane and hit a barrier, a story by UPI.com said. The accident caused the semitrailer to roll over, spilling onions on the highway, and dropping them onto the Interstate below, the story said.

No one was injured, and the truck only had minor damage, the story said. The driver was cited with failure to operate his vehicle in a single lane.

Image Credit: Lasvegasvegas.com

"Strippermobile" to Take Show on the Road

Originators of a mobile strip show banned in Las Vegas has announced plans to take their show nationwide, a story by the Las Vegas Sun said.

Dubbed Strippermobile Winter Tour 2010, the truck with the Plexiglas cargo area where bikini-wearing strippers perform on-the-go, will hit the road in January, the story said. “We’re going to have them swinging from coast to coast,” Larry Beard, marketing guru for Déjà Vu, told the Sun. Beard says the tour will also be filmed and, he hopes, televised, the story said.

The "strippermobile" made headlines when it was unveiled on the Vegas strip last month as an advertisement for Déjà Vu Showgirls and Little Darlings strip clubs. After outrage from residents, strip shop owners and commissioners who deemed it distracting and worried that it could cause accidents, the mobile was banned from the Vegas strip and parked instead. See more photos

Image Credit: Getty Images

Homemade Blimp Shuts Down Interstate

A mechanical failure forced a homemade blimp to make an emergency landing on I-35 in Ardmore, Okla., stopping traffic in the northbound lanes while the aircraft was removed from the road.

There were no injuries in the blimp crash, caused by one of the two engines failed and a propeller broke, a story by Newsok.com said. Authorities believe the blimp belongs to Marvin Polzein, president of the Guest Inn in Ardmore, the story said.

This is the second blimp Polzein lost this year; the story said in May, his blimp advertising the Guest Inn broke free and landed 100 miles away in a tree in Texas.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Obese Man Found Not Guilty of DWI

An obese man was found not guilty of drunk driving because he said he couldn't pass the field sobriety test because of his weight, not because he was drunk.

Jaimil Choudhry, 20, was arrested earlier this year on a misdemeanor count of DWI while driving his 1997 Honda, a story by Seacoastonline.com said. His attorney said police are trained to know that some tests should not be given to obese people. At 5'10", 230 pounds, Choudhry is 60 pounds overweight, the story said.

Choudhry was instead found guilty of reckless operation, fined $500 and his driver's license was suspended for 60 days.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Driver Stuck in Cruise Control on Busy Highway

A man driving along a highway in Melbourne, Australia, escaped unharmed after his car got stuck in cruise control at 50 mph and he couldn't stop or slow down for 30 minutes.

The 22-year-old driver called police as soon as he realized he couldn't stop, a story by News.com.au said. Police caught up with him and used their lights and sirens to clear a path for him in the left-hand lane, the story said. Meanwhile, the driver tried everything from braking, switching gears and removing the keys but all attempts failed, the story said.

Eventually the driver hit traffic and was forced to cross into oncoming traffic, where the car finally stopped, the story said. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital to be treated for shock.

Image Credit: Toyota

Toyota Pulls "Sexist, Incestuous" Yaris Ad

Toyota Australia has pulled an advertisement for one of its cars after complaints that the commercial was "sexist and incestuous," a story by the Telegraph reported.

The car company used Facebook to invite filmmakers to produce an online ad for the Yaris, a small car sold to mostly females, the story said. The film voted most popular features a man talking to his date's father using sexual innuendo with quotes such as: "I'm here to take Jennifer's virginity out tonight," and "I'll have her on her back by 11."

After the film emerged the winner, the Facebook page was reportedly inundated with complaints, the story said. Toyota subsequently removed the video, but you can see it here.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Authorities say angry driver crashed into DMV

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- (AP) Arapahoe County officials said a disgruntled driver crashed his truck into a DMV because it was closed.

Arapahoe County Clerk and Recorder Nancy Doty said she thinks a driver was upset because he didn't make it to the office in time to get in. The sheriff's office was investigating surveillance video of the crash that happened at about 4:30 p.m. Friday.

The truck broke two office windows and damaged a window frame but no one was injured.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Scientists Create "Perfect Parking" Formula

Dread the thought of having to squeeze your car into a tight space? Not to worry; scientists have created a formula for parking your car perfectly.

The mathematical equation was a collaborative effort between Vauxhall Motors and math professor Simon Blackburn, a story by the Telegraph said. The formula reportedly makes even the tightest parking spaces easy to get in, the story said, to help the drivers of Vauxhall's survey which showed that 57 percent of drivers are not confident in their parking ability.

"Parking the car is something that most of us do on a daily basis -- and we all get a little frustrated with it sometimes," Blackburn told the Telegraph. "This was the perfect opportunity to show how we can apply mathematics to understanding something that we all share." See the formula

Image Credit: Peter Kramer/NBC, AP

Tiger's Alleged Mistress in 2010 Calendar

One of Tiger Woods' alleged mistresses is featured as a Fast Dates Calendar Kitten in the 2010 World Superbike calendar.

Jamie Jungers, 26, is one of several women claiming to have had a sexual relationship with the top golfer. But before the Las Vegas cocktail waitress was known as Woods' Mistress No. 4, photographer Jim Gianatsis used her as a model in his racing-oriented calendar, a story by USA Today said. She is featured in sexy poses on superbikes alone or with other models in five months of the calendar. See the picture

Image Credit: Getty Images

Pa. Police: Girl, 13, Led High-Speed Chase

LEBANON, Pa. (AP) -- Police say a 13-year-old girl led state troopers on a nine-mile chase in central Pennsylvania at speeds of more than 100 mph.

Authorities say the pursuit started around 9:30 a.m. Monday when troopers saw a driver weaving in and out of her lane on Interstate 81 in Swatara Township. Police say the driver wouldn't stop when they tried to pull her over.

The pursuit continued onto Interstate 78. Police say the girl finally stopped the 1994 Pontiac Grand Am on an off-ramp near Fredericksburg. Troopers say the girl was taken into custody and charged with several violations. Her name was not released, and police could not immediately offer more details of the case, including where she got the car.

Image Credit: GM

Corvette stolen in 1970 found in perfect condition

A 1965 Corvette stolen from its owner in 1970 was found by Scottsdale, Ariz. police and returned to its owner.

Chance Mayfield was in a bar in Nashville 39 years ago when his car was stolen, a story by the Tennessean.com said. "That ruined my night," Mayfield told the Nashville-based newspaper. When the car didn't show after a few years, Mayfield said he forgot all about it -- until he received a call on his 68th birthday saying his car has been found.

The car was discovered when a collector who bought the car for $65,000 took it to the Arizona department of motor vehicles for inspection, the story said. A routine check of the serial number identified the completely restored car as stolen.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Cowboy Motorist Helps Troopers Lasso Loose Cows

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- (AP) When two Connecticut-bound cows escaped onto a busy Massachusetts highway, a cowboy stuck in the traffic jam came to the rescue. State police say the man, wearing a Western hat and boots, lassoed each of the 500-pound heifers who were wandering on Interstate 91 South in Springfield Tuesday morning.

Troopers shut down the highway for about 30 minutes as the man helped load the animals back into the trailer that was carrying them to nearby Enfield, Conn. The cows had escaped into slow-moving traffic near Exit 8 after a latch opened on the trailer.

Police say the cowboy did not want to be publicly identified.

Image Credit: Newark (Ohio) Police Department, AP

Motorized bar stool from DUI case fetches $1,125

NEWARK, Ohio -- (AP) The bidding on eBay topped out at more than $1,000 for a motorized bar stool that an Ohio man rode right into an arrest for drunken driving.

The online auction ended Sunday night with a winning bid of $1,125 for the contraption Kile Wygle crashed in March in the central Ohio city of Newark. He was charged with driving under the influence, later pleaded guilty and served three days in a driver education program.

The bar stool was listed on eBay by the county, which had seized it and planned to use the sale proceeds toward back child support owed by Wygle. The winner will have to pick up the bar stool in person in Licking County. The auction page specified that it would not be shipped.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Carjacker "Too Tall" to Steal Car?

A New York driver said she would have been the victim of a carjacking if her car weren't so small, and her attacker weren't so tall.

Anne Justima, 31, and her husband Peter, 33, were approached by a 6-foot-tall man wielding a knife while on their way home, a story by UPI.com said. Justima, who drives a Volkswagen, said he forced her to get out of the car, but after taking a look inside he fled on foot, the story said.

"I'm small -- he cannot fit in my car," she told UPI. "And I don't think he could drive the stick shift!" The thief did get away with her iPhone, the story said. Police are investigating.

Image Credit: jupiterimages

Drunk Driver Registers One of the Highest Blood Alcohol Levels on Record

Australian police were stunned by a 21-year-old driver whose blood alcohol level was 19 times the amount allowed by law, and one of the highest levels ever recorded.

Police were called to the scene of a minor accident involving the female driver, who was screened before she was taken to the hospital, a story by FoxNews.com said. The results of her blood test revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.385, the story said. As a new driver, her permitted alcohol level was 0.02.

A blood alcohol level of 0.55 is usually considered fatal, but the highest level ever recorded by a survivor is 0.914, the story said.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Woman, 77, says she was pressured into buying a car

DES MOINES, Iowa -- (AP) A woman filed a lawsuit claiming a Clive auto dealership pressured her to buy a new car while she was waiting for an oil change. The Polk County lawsuit said a Holmes Hyundai saleswoman pressured 77-year-old Audrey McKnight to buy the car while she waited for the service on her 2006 car. McKnight claims she was adamant she couldn't afford a new car but finally gave up after being pressured for hours.

Dealership owner Max Holmes disputes those claims and says his lawyers will respond in court. He said his lawyers are trying to resolve the situation. McKnight made her claim under a new state consumer fraud law that makes such suits easier to file.

Image Credit: Lamborghini

Town to Record License Plates of Every Car That Comes and Goes

The Tiburon Town Council has voted to install six cameras that will record the license plate numbers of every car that enters or leaves the San Francisco town, a story by the SFGate.com reported.

Tiburon will become the first town in the Bay area and possibly the country, to install cameras along its borders, the story said. Although privacy advocates have voiced their concerns, city leaders say that the cameras will help keep Tiburon's already low crime rate down, the story said. After the license plate is recorded, it will be compared to a database of stolen or wanted cars. If there are matches, local officers will receive an immediate alert, the story said. Officers can also review license plates in connection with a crime for the 30 days that it will be available in the database.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Thief Drives Stolen SUV Into Jail

Not long after Spokane, Wash. police received a call about a stolen SUV, the thief crashed it into the jail.

Dustin Leeds, 31, was arrested after the stolen Lincoln Navigator he was driving jumped the curb and slammed into the prisoner intake area of the Spokane County Jail, a story by MyFOXPhilly.com said. Leeds, who family members say has a history of mental illness, stopped when he slammed into the wall, the story said.

No one was hurt, but officials estimate $14,000 in damage.

Image Credit: Nick Ut, AP

Elderly man drives 370 miles in the wrong direction

An elderly man trying to reach the Australian capital of Pambula, drove for nine hours in the wrong direction before he stopped to ask for help.

Eric Steward, 80, left his home in the rural town of Yass, New South Wales, and took a wrong turn onto the Humes Highway, a story by the Telegraph reported. Steward, who suffers from slight dementia, drove for 370 miles before he pulled over to ask police for help, the story said.

When officers asked Steward why he didn't stop earlier, police told the Telegraph that he said it was because he liked to drive.

Image Credit: Laura Rauch, AP

Boxing Great's Daughter Crashes Into Building

Freeda George Foreman, daughter of boxing great George Foreman, is accused of causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage to a Houston business after she slammed her car into it.

Earlier this month, Foreman lost control of her Cadillac CTS and crashed into Two Guys Auto Restoration, damaging the garage and five cars that were housed inside, a story by KTRK-TV Houston reported. "She told the officer and the officer relayed to me that she was coming home and was eating cake and that she lost control of her car," owner Guy Stidham, told KTRK-TV. He says repair estimates have come in between $20k - $30k, the story said, but he hasn't heard from Foreman about paying for the damage.

"I would think that with the spotlight being on them as it is, they would be more responsible," he told KRTK-TV. Foreman was not hurt, and she received two tickets for the incident, the story said.

Image Credit: llnesinthesand, Flickr

Police: Man upset over ticket phoned trooper's mom

CARLE PLACE, N.Y. -- Police said a Long Island man upset about a speeding ticket tried to get even with a state trooper by making a prank phone call to his mother. Authorities said Lawrence Demaio, of Carle Place, called the woman about a month after the ticket was issued and told her her son had been badly hurt in a car accident.

Police didn't think it was funny. They used phone records to trace the call to Demaio's cell phone. The 54-year-old was arrested Thursday and charged with second-degree aggravated harassment.

The phone at Demaio's home rang unanswered Saturday.

Image Credit: jupiterimages

$52 parking ticket turns into $1012 fine

A Seattle man who says he never received a $52 parking ticket is now paying a $1012 fine.

Former Baltimore resident Josh Roberts moved back to his hometown of Seattle in March 2004, the same month Baltimore authorities say he received a $52 parking ticket, a story by the Baltimore Sun reported. Despite filing the correct change of address forms, Roberts says he wasn't informed of the ticket -- which grew to $948 including late fees -- until a law firm for the city contacted him earlier this year, the story said. To contest the fees, Roberts was told he would have to appear in court, which he said would cost him more in travel fees and legal representation than the cost of the ticket.

Roberts told the Sun he paid the fine, which had increased by $64 since he got the notice, and wrote a letter to Mayor Shelia Dixon about his experience.

Image Credit: AP

Woman Crashes Into Aquarium at Airport

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A 36-year-old woman has been cited for careless driving after crashing into an aquarium at Tampa International Airport while her child sat unrestrained on her lap.

Airport officials say Yamile Campuzano-Martine lost control of her vehicle and drove into the saltwater tank Monday night. She told investigators that she was picking up a relative at the airport. Campuzano-Martine had two children in her vehicle, including a 6-year-old boy. Witnesses reportedly saw a child sitting on her lap at the time of the crash.

Campuzano-Martine declined an offer to transport the boy, who had a knot on his forehead, to a hospital. She was also cited for child restraint and failure to provide a driver's license. The aquarium drained during the crash. About 90 percent of the fish in the tank were killed.

Image Credit: AP

SUV nearly slams into elephant

OKLAHOMA CITY -- (AP) It's not unusual to see a deer or a cow crossing Oklahoma's rural highways. But an elephant? A couple driving home from church nearly slammed into a giant pachyderm that had escaped from a nearby circus late Wednesday.

"Didn't have time to hit the brakes. The elephant blended in with the road," driver Bill Carpenter said Thursday. "At the very last second I said 'elephant!'" Carpenter, 68, said he swerved his SUV at the last second and ended up sideswiping the 29-year-old female elephant on U.S. 81 in Enid, about 80 miles north of Oklahoma City.

"So help me Hanna, had I hit that elephant, not swerved, it would have knocked it off its legs, and it would have landed right on top of us," he said. "We'd have been history." The couple, who own a wheat farm, weren't injured. But the 8-foot, 4,500-pound elephant was being examined Thursday for a broken tusk and a leg wound. A local veterinarian said it appeared to have escaped major injury. Read more at AOL News

Image Credit: AP

Man says image of Jesus appears on truck window

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- (AP) Jim Stevens said he's not particularly religious and is clueless about why an image resembling Jesus Christ keeps appearing on his pickup. Stevens, of Jonesborough, said nearly every morning, an image that looks to him like the face of Jesus Christ has appeared in the condensation on the driver's side window of his Isuzu truck. A Johnson City Press photo of the truck showed a facial image.

Stevens said when he first saw the image, he figured it would evaporate and not return. But it kept reappearing for two weeks now.

Stevens said folks at the grocery store he goes to were amazed to see the image. He said he isn't going to wash the truck for a while.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Man Appears Alive at His Funeral After "Fatal" Car Crash

RIO DE JANEIRO -- (AP) A Brazilian bricklayer reportedly killed in a car crash shocked his mourning family by showing up alive at his funeral.

Relatives of Ademir Jorge Goncalves, 59, had identified him as the victim of a Sunday night car crash in Parana state in southern Brazil, police said. As is customary in Brazil, the funeral was held the following day, which happened to be the holiday of Finados, when Brazilians visit cemeteries to honor the dead.

What family members didn't know was that Goncalves had spent the night at a truck stop talking with friends over drinks of a sugarcane liquor known as cachaca, his niece Rosa Sampaio told the O Globo newspaper. He did not get word about his own funeral until it was happening Monday morning. Read more on AOL News

Image Credit: fox5vegas.com

"Lucky" Driver Unhurt After Plane Crashes Into Her SUV

No one was seriously injured after a plane hit an SUV and made a crash landing in the street during rush hour traffic in North Las Vegas.

A pilot and passenger in a home-built Dragonfly aircraft had just taken off from North Las Vegas Airport when it grazed overhead lines and flew over six lanes of traffic before hitting Candace Porter's SUV, a story by Fox5Vegas.com reported. Then the plane crashed landed in the street, the story said.

The pilot was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, while the roof of Porter's SUV was damaged. "I'm just lucky," she told Fox5Vegas.com. "Just driving, and all of a sudden, a crash on the top of my car." There is no word on what caused the crash.

Image Credit: Oxford Police Department

Man Dressed as Breathalyzer Caught Driving Drunk

A man dressed as a breathalyzer for Halloween was arrested after Oxford, Ohio police suspected him of driving drunk.

James P. Miller, 20, was stopped by police who spotted him driving down the wrong side of the street without his headlights on a story by the Dayton Daily News reported. Miller told the officer he had nothing to drink that night, while he was reportedly stuffing his mouth with gum, the story said. Police reportedly also found an open beer in the middle console, a partial case of beer on the passenger side front seat and more beer in the trunk of the car.

Miller was taken to the police station where his breathalyzer test showed his blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit.

Image Credit: Fox13now.com

Cops: TN mechanic disabled parked cars for repairs

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- (AP) Tennessee police said a mechanic was drumming up business by tampering with parked cars, then charging to help start them. Police arrested 41-year-old Christopher Walls of Johnson City on Thursday night.

Investigators said Walls disabled cars parked at restaurants, waited for the owners to try to start them and then offered his services as a mechanic. Police said Walls charged between $40 and $200 to get the vehicles running again.

He's charged with two counts of theft under $500, but police suspect there are other victims. They're urging anyone else who thinks they were scammed to call them.

Walls was held at the Washington County Jail where a jailer said there was no record of him yet having an attorney.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Survey: Blame Genetics for Bad Driving

A recent study published by the journal Cerebral Cortex found that people with a certain gene variant performed more than 30 percent worse on a driving test than people without it, a story by CNN.com said.

Researcher Steven Cramer, a neurology professor at the University of California Irvine, conducted a study involving 29 people recruited to drive 15 laps on a simulated course with difficult curves and turns. Seven of the drivers had the gene variant, and they had a more difficult time navigating the twists and turns in the course, the story said. "These people make more errors from the get-go, and they forget more of what they learned after time away," Cramer said in a statement.

"I'd be curious to know the genetics of people who get into car crashes," Cramer told CNN.com. "I wonder if the accident rate is higher for drivers with the variant." The gene variant test is not commercially available, the story said.

Image Credit: Wane.com

Kitten Rescue Snarls Traffic

Image Credit: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office

Passenger-Carrying Cab Driver Charged With DUI

A St. Petersburg, Fla. cab driver with two passengers in his car was stopped by police and charged with driving under the influence, a story by the St. Petersburg Times reported.

Jose Mirelez, 28, was seen swerving and driving on the wrong side of the road when police stopped him, the story said. Police told the Times that Mirelez smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and failed a field sobriety test, but refused a breath test. Mirelez was arrested and charged with DUI and resisting arrest without violence.

Police aren't sure where Mirelez picked up his passengers or where he was taking them, but another cab driver finished the fare, the story said.

Image Credit: Corbis

Man Drives Around the World, Wins Bet

Roy Locock, 62, drove his MG Midget 39,000 miles around the world to win a bet he had with his next door neighbor, a story by the Telegraph said..

Locock's neighbor Alan Lines told him that a trip around the world in his 1977 car couldn't be done, so Locock set out on a 16-month journey to prove him wrong, the story said. He drove through 27 countries, a Taliban attack, floods and an earthquake to win the bet, according to the story.

Lines thought it was a "fantastic achievement," and he told the Telegraph "to be honest, I thought he'd get half way round the world and give up." But for Locock, its just the beginning. He plans to take another drive through Africa, but not in the MG, which he retired from the road when he returned home to Oxfordshire, UK.

Image Credit: Daniel Munoz, AP

Busy Bridge Becomes Picnic Ground

Thousands packed the Sydney Harbour Bridge this weekend, but not in their cars. The famous landmark became a picnic ground as part of a city-wide food festival, a story by the Daily Mail reported.

The normally jam-packed bridge was closed to traffic while about 6,000 people gathered on freshly-laid grass in the middle of the highway to enjoy a picnic breakfast of croissants, sausages, bacon eggs and coffee, the story said. There were also several grazing cows nearby, brought in from a nearby agricultural college, the story said.

The event cost more than $652,000 to complete, which the New South Wales government said was worth it, the story said. Nathan Rees, the state's premier, told the Daily Mail that "Breakfast on the Bridge" would likely become an annual event.

Did You Hear About ...

... the auction of Al Capone's former Wisconsin hideout? The robber who stole a TV from a house while the police where there? Get It All: Weird Real Estate News

... the drunk pilot who couldn't find the runway? The "sexy" caddy service that's been banned from golf courses? Read All About It: Weird Travel News