Express solidarity, don’t get free car hire: Hertz pulls out of El Al Israel promotion

Further to my post earlier this week, you might be interested in this article published in this morning’s Independent.

Hertz withdraws from Israeli airline deal

By Stina Backer Saturday, 17 January 2009

The world’s largest car hire firm last night called on the Israeli airline EL AL to withdraw an internet advert which offered free Hertz rental to British passengers who flew to to Israel to show their “solidarity” with the country, The Independent has learnt.

…

A Hertz Corporation spokeswoman said it had not been aware of the promotion being run by EL AL and their Israeli franchise operator who trades under the Hertz brand. He added that the offer was designed, run and managed by EL AL.

“We regret if any individuals were offended by the language that EL AL used to promote this offer,” said Hertz’s spokesperson.

Full article: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/hertz-withdraws-from-israeli-airline-deal-1418248.html

WTF? Express solidarity, get free car hire

I don’t blog about my political thoughts, sentiments or allegiences. But this was too bizarre to overlook. Three panes from an animated column advertisement on an online frequent flyer forum, seen this afternoon.

Countdown

Here’s a subtle little urban observation for you. This is a pedestrian crossing on Argyle Street in Glasgow. While I lived on the hip and trendy Avenue du Mont Royal in Montréal in Canada, the city installed coutdown timers on a busy intersection near the Mont Royal metro station. The idea being that there would be fewer pedestrian / vehicle conflicts if crossing pedestrians knew how much longer they had priority. That’s because In North America the countdown ticks away on green, telling you how much longer you have left to cross. But here in Scotland, it ticks down on red, telling you how long you have to wait until you can cross.

What does this say about the Scottish people, as opposed to North Americans? I’ve never seen a countdown crosswalk like this one anywhere else in the UK. As far as I know it’s the only example of its kind in the country. Could this be the one and only example of a countdown pedestrian crossing, and also the one and only example of a misunderstood technology?

In my eyes, it’s the wrong way round, but it suggests an alternative appreciation of the dangers at the crosswalk. It doesn’t warn you that the lights are about to change and that you shouldn’t start to cross… quite the opposite: it placates you by telling you that you don’t have long to wait until the green man reappears.

I noticed a similar tactic during a cross country drive today. The A66 is a major east-west road that crosses from the M6 at Penrith to the A1M at Scotch Corner, linking the two north-south axes of Britain’s motorway network. It, however, is a partially upgraded A-road, and is only partially dualled, with many long sections remaining as regular two lane road. There are a number of four lane dualled sections, where faster traffic can pass slower vehicles (namely caravans, at this time of the year). Naturally, traffic tends to clog on the two lane section, because with only one lane in each direction and precious few passing opportunities, just one slow vehicle can affect the entire flow of traffic.

A few miles in advance of the dualled sections, however, road signs advise you that there is a dual carriageway ahead. What purpose do these signs serve, except to persuade you not to risk a dangerous passing on a two lane road? Patience, they implore, you’ll be able to sweep past this tractor in just a few miles.

Patience, the Scottish crosswalk implores. You can cross in thirty seconds. But like in Montréal, no-one pays any attention. They cross whenever they themselves judge it safe to do so.

An alternative Chevy Cruze

General Motors realised details and three pictures today of the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze (I know, I don’t understand why model years are being announced so far in advance, since it only serves to undermine sales of the crap they’re replacing). In the same way that Ford in America recently launched itself into applying a three bar chrome grille to the front of every new model, Chevrolet is attempting to re-design the face of their passenger cars with a frankly tenuous horizontal body colour bar across the grill. You can see it already on the 2008 Malibu.

A somewhat inconsistent proportion has been applied to these two cars, and in the case of the Cruze it just suggests that a bite has been taking out of the (otherwise rather attractively) sculpted bonnet.

Since it seems to me a rather mis-proportioned gesture, I couldn’t resist the urge to photochop an alternative.

In my humble opinion, it may make the car less striking, but it’s certainly cleaner. The bonnet reclaims a three dimensional sense of shape as well. Just a thought. Since we’re two and a half years away from 2011, maybe someone in Chevy could consider it?

Snapshot: Belgian road safety kit

I spent a few days last week pootling around southern Belgium, escorting a certain VIP to various historic sights (and rather nice restaurants as well). We shot to Brussels in less than two hours by Eurostar, and then used a rental car to explore.

Belgian law obliges you to carry a warning triangle, reflective jacket, first aid kit and fire extinguisher in every vehicle. Perhaps a desperate legislative attempt to compensate for their consistently horrific driving? This is the extract that most interested me from my Lonely Planet guidebook to Belgium & Luxembourg.

‘Aggressive’ is the word generally used to describe Belgian drivers, and many foreigners who take to the roads here find it apt. Whether cruising on a sleek highway or bouncing over potholed inner-city streets, drivers have a reputation for being fast, impatient and at times abusive … anyone idling at 120km/h in the fast lane of a motorway will be flashed from behind by speed demons doing 160km/h … One peculiarity that ensures adrenaline-pumped journeys is the voorrang van rechts / priorité à droite (give way to the right) law, which operates in both Belgium and Luxembourg. Thanks to this rule, cars darting out from side streets sometimes have right of way over vehicles on the main road (but not always – signs with an orange diamond surrounded by white mean the main road has priority). Recent figures show that 250 people die each year due to this rule … Statistically, Belgium has double the rate of road fatalities of most of its neighbouring countries (France is the exception) … And if you think all this is a bit exaggerated, have a read of Pisa Test’s recent study of 3000 European drives in which the Belgians came out as the worst drivers in Europe. Just 48% are capable of passing their driving test …

Leanne Logan & Geert Cole, Lonely Planet: Belgium & Luxembourg (2007)