Archive for July, 2008

Shia LaBeouf arrested for drunken driving

Jul 27

Posted by Staff in Celebrity Car Accidents / News

 

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - “Indiana Jones” star Shia LaBeouf was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after an auto accident in which he was injured early Sunday, a police official said on Sunday.

LaBeouf was driving a vehicle that collided with another vehicle at 3 a.m. in Hollywood, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Scott Wolf said. “He subsequently injured his head, knee and hand and was hospitalized,” Wolf said. Wolf said LaBeouf was booked for misdemeanor DUI (driving under the influence) and then released.

LaBeouf’s passenger and the driver of the other vehicle sustained minor injuries, Wolf said, adding that he did not know their identities. The accident occurred when LaBeouf made a left turn in front of the other vehicle, causing a collision in which his car rolled over, Wolf said.

LaBeouf, a protege of director Steven Spielberg, starred in this summer’s box office hit “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” He was arrested last November in a Chicago Walgreen Co. store after he refused several requests by a security guard to leave. The trespassing charge was later dropped after the drugstore asked that the case be dismissed. LaBeouf’s publicists were not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Anupreeta Das; editing by Todd Eastham)

No Comments

AP IMPACT: Traffic deaths fall as gas prices climb

Jul 22

Posted by Staff in Auto - Car Information

By MARK WILLIAMS

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Rising prices at the gas pump appear to be having at least one positive effect: Traffic deaths around the country are plummeting, just as they did during the Arab oil embargo three decades ago. Researchers with the National Safety Council report a 9 percent drop in motor vehicle deaths overall through May compared with the first five months of 2007, including a drop of 18 percent in March and 14 percent in April.

Preliminary figures obtained by The Associated Press show that some states have reported declines of 20 percent or more. Thirty-one states have seen declines of at least 10 percent, and eight states have reported an increase, according to the council.No one can say definitively why road fatalities are falling, but it is happening as Americans cut back sharply on driving because of record-high gas prices.

Fewer people on the road means fewer fatalities, said Gus Williams, 52, of Albany, Ga., who frequently drives to northern Ohio. “That shows a good thing coming out of this crisis.” He has also noticed that many motorists are going slower. The federal government reported in April that miles traveled fell 1.8 percent in April compared with a year earlier, continuing a trend that began in November.Experts say a slumping economy and fuel prices have brought down the number of road fatalities in a hurry.

“When the economy is in the tank and fuel prices are high, you typically see a decline in miles driven and traffic deaths,” said John Ulczycki, the council’s executive director for transportation safety. States also cite other factors such as police stepping up their pursuit of speeders and drunken drivers, as well as better teen-licensing programs, safer vehicles and winter weather that kept many drivers at home. The Governors Highway Safety Association also says seat belt use is probably at record levels and will top 90 percent in several states when figures are released later this year.

But the last time road deaths fell this fast and this sharply was during the Arab oil embargo in 1973-1974, when fatalities tumbled 17 percent, from about 55,100 to 46,000; and as states raised the drinking age to 21 in 1982-83, when fatalities fell 11 percent, from roughly 49,300 to 44,000. Chuck Hurley, a former official with the National Safety Council and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said half of the decline in road deaths during the 1970s was attributed to high gas prices. The remainder was linked to the lowering of freeway speed limits to 55 mph. Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia has said Congress might want to consider reimposing a national speed limit. “People aren’t driving as much. We’re definitely seeing a difference” in crashes, said Pam Fischer, director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Safety.

1 Comment

Khloe Kardashian gets ready for DUI lockup

Jul 16

Posted by Staff in Celebrity Car Accidents / News

Source : FoxNews.com

Khloe Kardashian may be getting ready to spend a month in the pokey for violating her DUI probation, but that certainly wasn’t stopping the reality starlet from having a good time at the Gamespot party at Goa in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

Ms. Kardashian (E!’s Keeping Up With the Kardashians) was all smiles as she posed for pics and sipped champagne with her male posse. But party organizers ensured that she was picked up and dropped off at home by a car service.

On July 3 she pleaded guilty to violating the probation stemming from a 2007 arrest on drunken driving charges. She has until Friday to surrender to police and serve up to 30 days in prison.

Picture: Kourtney, Kim and Khloe

No Comments

Rampage Jackson - UFC Fighter knocked out

Jul 15

Posted by Staff in Celebrity Car Accidents / News

Source: TMZ

The just-defeated UFC champ was busted yesterday afternoon for alleged felony hit and run. Now we have the details — and they’re insane! Rampage was on the 55 Freeway in the O.C., hit two cars and got off the freeway. The chase was on.

Rampage then began driving on the center divider. But it gets worse. According to the police report, Jackson then drove on the sidewalk, “causing pedestrians to flee for their lives.” He started driving the wrong way on a crowded street, colliding with yet another car in an intersection. As he continued on, running several red lights, his tire disintegrated and he began driving on the rim.

Rampage eventually got to the exclusive Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, where he again drove on the sidewalk, “causing pedestrians to flee in terror.”

Eventually, his car came to a stop and he was taken into custody at gunpoint. Cops took him to the Orange County Jail, but they determined he was “medically unfit” to be booked. Cops won’t say if he was high. Rampage is currently in an O.C. hospital.

No Comments