Traffic Safety

Federal safety regulators have closed an inquiry into sudden-acceleration incidents involving certain Lexus ES models after concluding that a vehicle defect was unlikely. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's inquiry into the 2007 Lexus ES 350 and the 2002-03 Lexus ES 300 was triggered by a petition from Jeffrey A. Pepski of Plymouth, Minn. Pepski said his 2007 Lexus ES 350 suddenly accelerated from 60 to 80 mph while he was driving home from work Feb. 3. Pepski said his accelerator pedal became stuck and he could not lift it up with his right foot, while the car continued to accelerate.

Cheyenne, Wyo., City Councilman Jim Brown, thinking it was time his city joined the national movement to keep drivers from being distracted by their hand-held cellphones, steered an ordinance banning the practice into law last month. Now he's getting an earful from outraged Wyomingites. "We have the right to bear a cellphone," said M. Lee Hasenauer, 49, who collected more than 3,500 signatures for a petition against the ordinance. If the city clerk validates at least 2,800, officials must put the ordinance to a public vote or repeal it. If the effort -- dubbed "Can You Hear Me Now?"

Three years after Margaret Hamblin was busted for running a $50 betting pool on football at the Elks Lodge, the 76-year-old grandmother believes she got some justice Thursday when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law reducing the penalty for participating in such office betting contests. The betting pool measure was one of 128 bills the governor signed Thursday as he cleared his desk of legislation that had been delayed as lawmakers grappled with the state's budget problems.

Drunk driving deaths in California dropped for a third straight year in 2008, the state Office of Traffic Safety said Thursday, but motorcycle fatalities continued a decade-long rise, mirroring a national increase. Overall, traffic deaths dropped by 14% in 2008, to 3,434, the state said, using figures released last month by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Alcohol- related deaths accounted for slightly less than one-third of the total, and were down 9.1% -- a slightly smaller decline than for the nation as a whole.

The head of the Boston-area transit authority said Saturday that he would ban all train and bus operators from even carrying cellphones on board after a trolley driver told police that he was texting his girlfriend before a collision Friday. About 50 people were hurt in the underground crash in downtown Boston, though none of the injuries was life-threatening.

Like stories about people doing dumb things while driving? The letters section of The Times received the following e-mail the other day. They forwarded it to me -- I'm the transportation reporter -- thinking (correctly) that I would be interested. The letter is from Jessica Bradshaw of Anaheim, who found herself driving on the eastbound Santa Monica Freeway last week and saw something a bit disturbing.

Federal investigators said Wednesday that records from Metrolink engineer Robert M. Sanchez's cellphone show that he sent and received text messages while on duty Friday, the day he was involved in a catastrophic train collision in Chatsworth. However, investigators have not yet analyzed the records to determine whether Sanchez was using his phone at the time his train slammed into an oncoming Union Pacific freight train in an accident that left 25 people dead and 135 others injured.

Have you ever thought rush hour on the 405 Freeway might be more bearable if you could check your e-mail, shop for a book on Amazon, place some bids on EBay and maybe even, if nobody is looking, download a little porn? Then perhaps you should be driving a Chrysler. The nation's third-largest automaker is set to announce Thursday that it's making wireless Internet an option on all its 2009 models. The mobile hotspot, called UConnect Web, would be the first such technology from any automaker.

The threat of a $20 fine may not sway every California driver from using a hand-held cellphone when a state ban takes effect July 1, but a motorist who ignores the law and causes an accident could face huge civil judgments or even jail if fatalities result. "If you cause a fatal accident and you are running a stop sign, speeding or crossing a double line, any additional violation would add to the possibility a manslaughter charge could be filed," said W.