Phones topple tailgating as most hated driving habit

THERE’S a new ‘hate’ at the top of drivers’ lists, after a study from Kwik Fit showed that using a phone at the wheel has overtaken the long-standing bad habit of tailgating. Talking or texting while driving is hated by 47% of drivers, according to the research; comfortably ahead of tailgating on 42%. It’s the first time that following too closely has been knocked off its seriously irritating perch in years.

Pilkington Vehicle Design Awards 2011

One student designer has made history by winning the prizes for Best Overall Design and Best Use of Glazing at the 2011 Pilkington Vehicle Design Awards. For the first time in the awards' 24-year history, the prizes were awarded to Adam Phillips, a postgraduate of the vehicle design course at the Royal College of Art (RCA). Phillips, who previously worked as a toy designer for Lego before studying at the RCA, scooped the awards with a concept on the modern family car that uses iPad-style technology called ‘Family Dynamic'.

The Great Texas Beer Run

For reasons still not clear, boatloads of German immigrants made Texas their home in the 1800s. What they thought they would find similar to their cold, richly forested homeland in the hellaciously hot, mes-quite-scrub, rattlesnake-filled Texas Hill Country is lost to history. Worse, they brought almost nothing with them from the Old World to remind them of home.