Nobody thinks of buses as high-tech, and GM don’t have a great reputation now, but at the time these were really well designed, innovative vehicles. GM rightly took a lot of market share from low-tech local coachbuilders. The New Looks were lighter, and reliable, and had adequate suspension - and fuel consumption was…

Surely the driver would have been braking at that moment, but that’s not good enough. At the moment of the crash it looks like the train is still going quite fast; close to line speed.

The crossing already has a bunch of things which are ostensibly safety features - like barriers across the road, and signs telling…

Do you remember the 1990s when car alarms were a new thing, and people would flaunt their alarms with novelty alarm sounds? Especially the ones which would cycle through several different siren noises every few seconds. Nobody else on the street can concentrate.

I don’t want to be That Guy, but: An amazingly brave rescue wouldn’t have been necessary if it was possible to stop rail traffic in those five minutes.

In the Before Times, the regulations made some sense, since it prevented airlines from cancelling tons of flights on a whim. If they did so, they faced repercussions and forfeited their flight slot.

This used to be an article about car racing. Why so outraged?

Amazing!

Litespeed titanium frames were, briefly, state-of-the-art. Some famous European bike brands would procure a Litespeed, put their own badges on it, and win Tour stages with them. I lusted after a Litespeed but could only afford aluminium frames in the late 1990s.

If there are several possible causes for a problem, and the vendor doesn’t say which is the cause, assume the worst. Even worse if the vendor is some kind of dealer or mechanic - surely they can fix (or pinpoint) a problem easier than most.

They have level crossings for high speed rail all across Europe and don’t have near the problems we have in ‘Murica.

Don’t go down the “dealer is a scumbag” path. What did they do wrong?

Explain this to me as though I was a small child, a friendly labrador, or somebody who thought that dealer plates were just for a handful of vehicles being transported to/from a dealer or mechanic.

Why pay all that for a 4x2, when you can buy a 4x4 Atego for €65k?

Mildly controversial take: VAG was always going to pivot to electric. It was inevitable. They have some strong diesel tech but, obviously, not strong enough for a future where everybody else is rushing to mass-produce electric cars. Dieselgate just changed the timing and the messaging of VAG’s pivot.

Last night I paid $7.57 per gallon, in the UK.

The Rally Porsche trend is still thriving. Give it a suspension lift, brush guards, and a light bar! You would have to remove the fender anyway, to fit a winch.

Short of destroying the sun, there’s nothing humans can do to prevent solar flares

Volkswagen is not a solely American-market manufacturer. They also sell cars to people who speak other languages. In some of these languages, “ID” is actually quite a forward-thinking name (although nothing can beat the Citroën DS).

This phenomenon may be location-specific.

Perfect for going round the vineyard!