Smart parking

Brisbane City Council is the first local government authority in Australia to endorse legal parking of two smart cars in one parking space. The smart fortwo coupe, measuring 2.5m in length, has been hailed by the Federal Government as Australia's most environmentally friendly car. Brisbane city councillor Graham Quirk told the Courier Mail: "If people want to go to the trouble of buying environmentally friendly, space-saving cars, we ought to be giving them incentives." The move follows a court ruling in Switzerland that found in favour of a couple who challenged a fine after parking their two smart fortwo coupes in one parking space and paying for only one ticket. The smart cars are part of the Mercedes-Benz group. There are some on Auckland's roads.

Fast car, slow driver

Spotted the other day on State Highway 1, north of Warkworth, a timid woman driver, hunched over the wheel at 70-80 km/h, braking for every curve and crawling around every corner. Even more frustrating for the long line of vehicles trailing her was that she was driving a new Bentley Continental Coupe, a $350,000 car capable of leaving traffic far behind.

Confused and dangerous

Moves to introduce age-specific driver tests in the United States have met with resistance from older drivers, despite evidence that oldies can confuse the accelerator and brake pedals in automatic cars. Police cite as examples the 90-year-old man who crashed into a chemist's in Scarborough, Maine; the 83-year-old who drove off the second floor of a parking building in Las Vegas; the 80-year-old who drove into a Veterans' Day parade in Whitman, Massachusetts, where one person died; a 74-year-old man who crashed into a coffee shop in Corvallis, Oregon; a 74-year-old man who struck and killed two pedestrians on a footpath in Montreal. In the most prominent case, George Weller, 87, heads back to court this week after pleading not guilty to vehicular manslaughter in the 2003 Santa Monica farmers' market "massacre", in which 10 people were killed and 63 injured when Weller couldn't find the brakes at 100km/h.

i-Pods for Alfas

Alfa Romeo is to equip all its cars with integrated i-Pod systems, the mini music makers from computer company Apple. The first new Alfa Romeos to offer i-Pod will be launched this year. Existing cars will get the audio system at model upgrades. The i-Pod is one of the most successful products in computer history and can hold up to 10,000 songs. Meanwhile, Alfa Romeo importer Ateco Automotive NZ has landed the 2-litre version of the smashing-looking GT, the coupe voted by judges in Europe last year as the "most beautiful car in the world". Called the JTS, it is priced at $69,990 and joins the premium GT model, the $82,990 3.2-litre V6. The JTS engine produces 121kW (163bhp) and sprints to 100km/h in a claimed 8.7 sec and on to a top speed of 216km/h. The JTS goes on sale on February 1.

We are the world

* Arson suspect Steven Coleman, 37, gunned his vehicle and made a run for it when a police patrol car in New Hampshire, ordered him to pull over. He didn't get far - he was on a ride-on lawn mower.

* In an attempt to evade pursuing police, Jason Rodd pulled off Interstate 91 near St Johnsbury, Vermont, doused his car's lights, turned into a paddock - and drove straight into a manure pit. The Caledonian-Record said police found Rodd's car up to its axles in the sticky stuff and Rodd up to his knees in it.