The Long and Winding Road

Happy New year everybody!

Stay safe and drive within your limits.

As reported at RACER and Autosports.com. Michael Schumacher will return to Formula 1 in 2010, with Mercedes GP. Along with Nico Rosberg making this an all German team.

It will be interesting to see if he still has what it takes to compete at the top level of motorsports.

Every once in a while during the early morning commute, you get to see some truly incredible sights.

This day was one of them.


I was really glad to be awake for this one. The pictures hardly show how magnificent this sun rise was.

And look almost no traffic.

A 75 year old women drive wrong way over Tappan zee Bridge. This is two weeks after the horrific crash that took the lives of eight people, including four children. The latest indecent brings up (again) the question od how old is too old to drive?

This is a serious question, and one that is in no way clear cut. While it is true that our reflexes, sight and overall thought processes do slow down as we age, we all do not suffer this fate at the same rate. So is there a specific age that drivers should surrender their license? After all, driving is a privilege and not a right. Or should there be mandatory testing after reaching a certain age? If so what age? 65? 70? And how often should older drivers be retested? Annually? Bi-annually? How much should it cost?

All valid questions, and I’m sure they all require all sorts of studies with some ridiculous amount of money to come up with some sort of answer. But until the time comes keep a special eye out and some extra patience for our elderly drivers.

I have been driving past this bumper cover for about a month and a half now.  It was left behind during a feirce thunderstorm.  The driver had lost control and nosed into the barrier.  When I passed by they were out of the car surveying the damage.  I’m guessing that they simply got back in the car and left,  leaving the bumper cover behind.

Seeing this, along with a miriad of other bits and pieces of various cars and trucks,  has got me wondering.  Who is responsible for picking this stuff up?

My first thought would be, in this case, the person that lost it. But what about bigger accedents?  I have seen lots of large bits and pieces left behind.   I looked on the NJ Department of  Transportation.  They have a place to report pot holes, sign problems, or deer carcasses.  No place to report road debris.  More then likely it is not the responsibility of the tow truck driver, or the NJ  State Police. Unless it is in a dangerous spot in the roadway, then I have seen the police moving it off to the shoulder, but not removing it.

I have also seen the signs along the high way stating this mile maintained by so and so, but that is a once or twice a year thing and how dangerous is that?

So I ask again. Who is responsible for all the junk along the high ways?

According to Racer magazine Michael will be coming out of retirement starting at the European Grand Prix at Valencia, Spain.
get the full story here at Racer

According to Racer Magazine
Great news for Felipe and his family.

Felipe Massa’s horrible accident at the Gran Prix of Hungary.
A spring fell off of Rubens Barrichello’s car and hit Felipe just above the face shield of his helmet.

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God speed Felipe. Get well soon!!!!

I’m not talking about the non-bid government contracts or no-show jobs that that the well connected are receiving.  This is real money that the average Joe can get their hands on.

All you have to do is car pool to work for at least 24 days in a two month period. Dollar amounts go from $100 for a two  person car pool up to $200 for a four person pool.

This cash is in the for of a gas card and you can get the details at the NJ Dept. of Transportation website.

Its a good deal with only a slight amount of paper work. Well worth the little bit of time that it takes.

Not driving for a living, but having to drive to make a living. I have been traveling over 100 miles per day back and forth to my job for about four years now. During this time I have seen a lot of bizaar, interseting and some dangerous things along the hyways and byways of NY/NJ.

This past year I have started to commute with a co-worker. Sharing the ride not only helps with the fuel costs but you also get to nap for the hour or so to and from work. This I am not too sure is a good thing or not, because you do get used to it during your off week and it can be tough to stay awake the next week when you have to drive. I guess I need more research into this so I’ll keep on napping for now.

Of course there are a few draw backs to commuting wth some one. You can not always make those unplanned trips that you some times like to make, but all in all the good certainly out weighs the bad.