Brakes

BMW has been striving to reconcile its dueling images for years. Best known for its luxurious, sport-oriented cars, the German manufacturer's motorcycles are only beginning to shed their reputation as wheels for safety-conscious old men, thanks to exciting new bikes like the S 1000 RR and K 1600 LT. At this weekend's International Motorcycle Shows event in Long Beach, BMW is likely to confuse its image even further when its first scooters make...

BEIJING — After months of careful tinkering aimed at slowing China's supercharged economy, Chinese officials may have gotten more than they bargained for: The nation's economic engine is decelerating with alarming speed. Industrial production in April hit its slowest pace in more than three years, while growth in exports sputtered and imports were flat. In response, China's central bank over the weekend said it would ease reserve requirements for the nation's banks. The move frees about $70 billion for lending to stimulate the economy.

Deregulation is like driving a car without the brakes. SAMUEL M. ROSEN Newbury Park

SACRAMENTO - The car salesman offers you a sleek new luxury model for $33,000. Go for it, you think. Time for an upgrade. Sold. Oops, the sales guy says later. Those numbers won't pencil. We'll need $98,000. You're stunned and outraged. Tell you what, the dealer counters. We'll let ya have it for $68,000 and take off some options. Take the car and shove it, you tell him. Can't afford it. Don't need it. You're entitled to do that - back out of a car deal before taking delivery.

Women are more likely than men to mistake the gas pedal for the brakes, according to federal safety regulators. But before all those male drivers out there smugly stereotype women as bad drivers, men are more likely to be involved in an accident, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. “The most consistent finding across data sources was the striking overrepresentation of females in pedal misapplication crashes, relative to their involvement in all types of crashes,” the agency said in a report supporting its proposal this week to require automakers to make brake-throttle override systems standard in all vehicles.

Gov. Jerry Brown was right on track when he told reporters at his budget unveiling that "We've got to bite the bullet. " It was the perfect choice of a word. But, of course, Brown didn't mean "bullet" the way I wanted him to. Brown was talking about sucking it up and again butchering programs for welfare families and the aged, blind and disabled. And if voters refuse to pass his tax increases in November, he'll try to whack education from kindergarten through graduate school while crippling courts and even eliminating lifeguards at beaches.

It's a beautiful summer day and tourists are enjoying the waterfront delights: harbor cruises, the carrier Midway museum, seafood restaurants, the tall ship Star of India. A quaint addition to the scene are the pedicab operators eager to pedal visitors to their next destination: a restaurant in the Gaslamp Quarter, perhaps, or the stores of Seaport Village. Or maybe back to their hotel. But the tourist tradition has become a civic nuisance as the number of pedicabs has soared in recent years.

Los Angeles has been installing red-light cameras since 2000 and now has them at 32 intersections. There might be some grumbling from libertarians fretful about electronic spying, but most Angelenos seem to accept the devices as a new fact of life ? after all, they improve traffic safety, right? Maybe not. An audit released Wednesday by City Controller Wendy Greuel turned up little evidence that cameras influence driver behavior. Accidents fell at 16 intersections in the six months after cameras were installed, but rose at 12 and stayed the same at four.

The Times recently carried a story about a man who was shot because he was afraid to stop when pursued by an officer. According to friends, he had a suspended license and no insurance. He "couldn't afford insurance." Will our legislators ever wake up and enact laws that require proof of insurance when a car is registered? Why are we so behind New York state, where this law has been in effect for years? If our legislators had any sense, they would see that the law covering this was enacted.

Four days before a Southern Pacific freight train derailed and slammed into seven homes here, the brakes on one of its rear locomotives were disconnected, authorities investigating the crash said Monday. Although the significance of the find was not immediately clear, authorities with the National Transportation Safety Board said it could be key, particularly if those handling the train believed all their brakes were operable. "The dynamic brakes on one engine were tagged on May 8, meaning they were cut out," said NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz.

Women are more likely than men to mistake the gas pedal for the brakes, according to federal safety regulators. "The most consistent finding across data sources was the striking overrepresentation of females in pedal misapplication crashes, relative to their involvement in all types of crashes," the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a report supporting its proposal this week to require automakers to make brake-throttle override...

WASHINGTON — More than 21/2 years after the fatal crash of a Lexus in suburban San Diego led to the recall of millions of Toyota vehicles, federal regulators are taking their most significant step to prevent future vehicles from accelerating out of control. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration formally proposed a requirement Thursday that automakers include a brake-throttle override system in all their passenger cars and light trucks to help drivers regain control when a vehicle accelerates suddenly.

BEIJING — China's roaring economy cooled the first three months of this year to its slowest pace of growth in three years because of slackening export demand and a weakened property market. The country's gross domestic product expanded 8.1% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, China's National Bureau of Statistics said Friday. That's down from 8.9% growth in the fourth quarter last year and below many analysts' expectations. The figure could spook investors and prolong fears of a potential hard landing for the world's second-largest economy after years of unsustainably high growth.

"To stop car, push on brake. " That's the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's simple solution to the problem of sudden, unintended acceleration. As The Times' Jerry Hirsch reported Thursday, "Federal regulators plan to require automakers to design a brake-throttle override system into future vehicles to reduce the risks of high-speed, unintended acceleration. " The proposal was prompted in part by a 2009 accident involving a Lexus ES 350, in which the floor mat may have jammed the accelerator pedal, causing the car to hit speeds of more than 100 miles per hour before crashing.

The plan to build the California bullet train is almost certain to be approved Thursday by the state's high-speed rail authority at a board meeting in San Francisco, but the project is facing a less certain future in Sacramento. The rail authority has long insisted that it needs to move as quickly as possible, starting construction on an initial $6-billion segment of track through the Central Valley this year to meet the terms of a federal grant that covers more than half of the initial project.

The death of a 7-year-old Iowa girl, hit by a driver whizzing past a stopped school bus, has triggered an effort in Congress to strengthen the penalties for ignoring the flashing red lights.  Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) has introduced Kadyn's Act, named after Kadyn Halverson, who was struck and killed by a pickup truck last year while crossing a street to board her stopped school bus.  Court records say that the driver was traveling 61 miles per hour. The measure seeks to press states into enacting a fine of least $250 -- with the possibility of up to 30 days in jail and driver's license suspension -- for a driver who fails to brake for a stopped school bus.  That would be for a first offense.

Sonora High School took a 12-point lead in the first quarter, but was shut out the rest of the way and Fullerton rallied for a 28-12 victory Friday in a Freeway League game at La Habra Stadium. Fullerton started its comeback on the last play of the first quarter, when Geoff Grenier scored from 14 yards out. He also ran in the two-point conversion to cut the Sonora (1-6, 0-2) lead to 12-8.