A federal appeals court has overthrown the National Transportation Safety Administration’s new fuel standards for some SUVs, minivans and light trucks.

The Ninth District Court of Appeals Thursday sided with California, 10 other states and environmental groups that the agency’s standards did not fully address the risk of carbon dioxide emissions from such Vehicles. Carbon dioxide, as a greenhouse gas, is widely considered to play a role in global warming.

The new standard, set to take effect with the 2011f model year, would require the fuel mileage of SUVS, minivans and Light Trucks to increase to 24.1 miles per gallon.

The court also ruled the new regulations don’t address why Light Trucks are allowed to pollute more than passenger cars. In addition, the court said heavier trucks used for commuting should also be subject to the new fuel standard.

Critics of the new standard maintain better fuel mileage can be achieved in large part with current technology. Defenders of the new fuel standard maintain manufacturers need lead time to implement changes.

A sport utility vehicle crashed into a Chick-fil-A in Edgewater yesterday afternoon, injuring five restaurant patrons, two seriously, an Anne Arundel County fire official said.

The SUV crashed through the brick-and-glass exterior of the restaurant at 3220 Solomons Island Road about 12:30 p.m. and into the dining area, said Battalion Chief Michael Cox, a Fire Department spokesman.

A 67-year-old customer who was sitting directly where the car struck, in front of a handicapped parking spot, suffered serious injuries and was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center. A 6-year-old boy also was hurt and was taken by ambulance to Anne Arundel Medical Center, Cox said.

Three state troopers who were having lunch at the restaurant suffered “very minor” injuries, said 1st Sgt. David Jones, a Maryland State Police spokesman. They refused medical treatment and returned to work, he said.

“They just picked the wrong place to eat lunch,” Jones said.

The driver of the SUV was uninjured, Cox said. No additional information was available.

A Commercial Truck rumbles down Bonaparte Avenue in East Baltimore despite a law forbidding it. John D. Brown, a longtime Bonaparte resident, said he’s been told to write down license plate numbers and report them to police. But, he said, they move too fast.

THE PROBLEM  Large Trucks use Bonaparte Avenue in East Baltimore even though doing so is prohibited.

THE BACKSTORY Bonaparte Avenue is a residential street that runs through the East Baltimore-Midway neighborhood. Truck drivers seem to like it as a convenient shortcut to industries at the eastern edge of the city, ignoring signs that bar them from using the road.

“The Trucks are shaking our houses and knocking our pictures off the walls,” said John D. Brown, who has lived on Bonaparte for 21 years. “We’ve called 311 many times to no avail. The trucks just go all day long, off and on, all day long.”

Baltimore police do enforcement stings to catch trucks rumbling on city streets from which they are barred. The most visible is the yearly crackdown on Boston Street in an operation dubbed Shake, Rattle and Roll. Truckers use Boston Street to avoid tolls and the long trek around the Beltway.

Brown said he is convinced that police concentrate on routes such as Boston Street, which go through affluent Canton, and ignore the inner city where he lives. “They don’t come here because of the neighborhood,” he said, adding in an e-mail, “If this incident happened in Roland Park or Guilford or Federal Hill, something would have been done immediately.”

Watchdog has no way of knowing whether Brown’s street is not getting as robust enforcement as he would like because of where it is situated. How to allocate limited police resources can be debated forever.

Sterling Clifford, the spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department, said Trucks illegally using Bonaparte Avenue “is an ongoing problem” and that his department is getting help from the Maryland Transportation Authority to do more enforcement on city streets.

He denied preferential treatment in how the rules are enforced but said there is a significant problem on Boston Street and that the no-trucking-zone law can be used to go after other crimes. Clifford said various police agencies do regular enforcement and patrols “to discourage Truck traffic in areas where truck traffic is prohibited.”

The spokesman advised residents to copy down license plate numbers of offending trucks and report them to 311. That is exactly what Brown said he was told to do by his city councilman. “That’s just about impossible because they’re driving so fast,” he said.

WHO CAN FIX THIS Clifford declined to say who in the Police Department was responsible for this issue, saying that not only is it part of the traffic enforcement unit but also must be dealt with by patrol officers and the Maryland Transportation Authority Police.

Tossing bags that can weigh as much as 50 pounds from in front of as many as 500 homes is a difficult job, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not one worth doing.

“They think it’s bad because it’s trash,” Mike Robinson, a residential trash employee for Olathe said of the public’s perception. “It’s hard work, but it’s not a bad job.”

Donnie Morrison, the commercial supervisor in the solid waste division, began throwing trash for the city 15 years ago. He said it wasn’t a glamorous job.

“No one grows up and says, ‘I want to be a trash man,’” he said.

Robinson and 29 others who work for the division patrol the city’s neighborhood streets, often working overtime to make sure what you put in front of your house to be disposed of doesn’t stay there long.

Three groups comprise the division: residential, commercial and recycling. Each week, the city collects trash from 35,200 Olathe houses, yard waste from 32,000 houses and recycling from 10,000 houses.

Unlike most of the more than 900 city employees who had the day off on Veterans Day, Robinson and his fellow workers hit the streets to pick up residents’ grass clippings, leaves, small plant trimmings and tree limbs.

Winnebago is set to launch its new-generation Ford Transit- and Fiat Ducato-based six-and-seven-metre motor-homes. Dubbed the Birdsville, the four models carry price tags between $87,990 and $99,990 and the B or C-class six-metre versions are constructed on the new Transit T4250 cab/chassis and the seven-metre B or C-class homes on wheels use the Ducato X251 cab/chassis.

Because there is no bed over the cabin, the B-class Birdsvilles sport a sleeker, more-aerodynamic and the more traditional C-class design offers additional sleeping space in the above-cabin luton peak.

The new motor-homes are constructed with a strong aluminum frame and laminated walls, floor and roof meet Federal Government manufacturing standards.

The four Birdsville models are fully self-contained with sizeable low beds, well-equipped kitchens, a bathroom with vanity basin, flushing toilet and a shower with hot or cold water on tap.

The driver and passenger chairs are designed to become part of the living area and they swivel for TV viewing or to double as just another two comfortable chairs.

There is plenty of cupboard space and drawers and a wardrobe as well as external storage compartments.

Water carried in the on-board fresh-water tank is for drinking as well as for washing up and showering and LP gas handles the cooking and hot-water heating.

Two deep-cycle batteries coupled with a battery charger offer sufficient power for lighting and other appliances,

The family owned Winnebago Industries now designs and builds more than 70 models covering 10 major ranges at its factory at Emu Plains, west of Sydney.

Demand for diesel-powered cars is soaring.

Diesel produces fewer greenhouse gases than unleaded petrol but it is more dangerous to our health. RICHARD BLACKBURN reports on an automotive dilemma.

Demand for diesel-powered cars is soaring. Australians bought more diesel cars in the first four months of this year than they did in the whole of 2005.

Sales this year are up 135 per cent on the same period last year and the latest figures show that almost 20 per cent of new vehicles sold this year are powered by diesel. In 2000, the figure was just 10 per cent.

However, the explosive growth is a double-edged sword.

The good news is that diesel-powered engines are more efficient than their petrol cousins and therefore emit less CO2 - the major contributor to global warming.

The bad news is that emissions from Diesel engines are harmful to your health. That includes the latest generation of so-called “clean” diesels.

The Federal Government’s Green Vehicle Guide, which ranks vehicles on their greenhouse gas and air pollution performance, doesn’t have a single diesel vehicle in its top 50 list of low polluters.

Just one makes the top 150 and there are only five in the top 200 vehicles.

Jon Real, a spokesman for the Federal Department of Transport, which maintains the guide, says diesel cars are marked down because they have a “much more significant health effect”.

He says diesels produce about the same amount of hydrocarbons as petrol but significantly more nitrogen oxides (NOx) - a precursor to smog - and particulate matter.

Air quality experts estimate that diesel engines produce particles at about 20 times the rate of petrol engines and it is those emissions that are bad for your health.

Particulate matter has been linked with thousands of deaths worldwide. Side effects range from cancer to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. NOx have also been linked to serious health problems, including asthma, respiratory disease, infections and reduced lung function in children.

A recent NSW parliamentary inquiry into air quality found that motor vehicles produce 71 per cent of NOx emissions in Sydney and just under 20 per cent of particle pollution.

Real says particulate matter emissions carry a hefty weighting in the department’s assessment of pollution effects from different vehicles. It’s easy to see why.

The most recent figures from the Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics - for 2000 - put the annual death toll from vehicle exhaust pollution at between 900 and 2000 people - higher than the national road toll. It is also estimated to contribute to between 700 and 2050 asthma attacks in Australia each year.

A VOTE by Tamworth Regional councillors to reject an application for a Heavy Truck repair facility in Impala Estate has been described as “a glimpse of democracy”.

The vote was taken at the recent services and infrastructure committee meeting and a number of councillors readily accepted responsibility for the “anxiety” the vote, which was deferred from a previous meeting, had caused.

Cr Rob Schofield said he’d “received hundreds of letters û some nice and some not so nice”. “I am more than happy to reconsider (the application) and I am sorry for the anxiety this (deferral) has caused,” he said.

Cr Shirley Close said, “it is wonderful we have such interested people (referring to Impala Estate residents) who contributed what they did with such dignity”.

Residents of the estate, off Warral Rd south of the city, had met on October 5 to rally support to have the application rejected at council level.
Impala Estate resident David Simmons was one of a number of residents who addressed the councillors in the open forum session prior to the committee meeting.
He referred to the council’s own development policy which would not permit any application for a Truck repair workshop to get to a vote in open meeting.

Mr Simmons said the single lane, tar road would not withstand increased numbers of truck movements û he recorded up to 13 movements a day in the course of a week.
Another resident, Terese Vincent, said she and her husband û a race horse trainer û had bought the property 12 years ago as a rural retreat. She said horses they owned were at risk by any increased Truck movements as the noise tended to “make the horses react violently”.

Another resident was Pat Varley, who said she bought her property three years ago so she could enjoy the quality of life a rural residence offered.

“We are quite passionate about our area,” she said.
Terry Dawson said the fact there were no speed limit signs along the road, no kerbs or paths exposed pedestrians to increased risk from passing traffic. He said if the application were approved, then the movement of trucks increased the level of risk.

The application was rejected in a unanimous vote as it was not consistent with the objectives of zone 1d rural residential and it did not comply with the definition of a home activity.