Automobile Retailers

It turns out that tossing back a few beers and getting good and toasted during a Graduation Celebration may not be as healthy or worthwhile as was once though by our more esteemed educational facilitators.

Not only did the idea of allowing high school students below drinking age the sanction to toss back booze always sound somewhat funny to me (even when I was in high school), the idea of introducing a new facet of life with a socially destructive ideology of drunkenness seemed to me a fairly weak send-off.

Interestingly in the past years, more and more people and students have been agreeing with such a sentiment. Dry grads are becoming popular and lots of goodie-goodie corporate sponsors are getting in on the deal, offering up prizes and cash for kids that decide to remain sober during their Graduation Celebration at the end of the school year.

Case in point, Salinas Toyota-Scion in California gave away a Toyota Scion to a grad who would remain “dry” throughout the celebration. Jacob Quesenberry, party animal extraordinaire, stayed at Palma High School’s sober grad party all night and won Scion for his efforts. While some of Jacob’s classmates will wake up gripping a porcelain bowl the morning after, Jacob will take a spin in his new Scion. Sounds like a sweet deal.

18-year-old Quesenberry was one of 10 new graduates representing 10 high schools from King City High to North Monterey County High in Castroville who came to Salinas Toyota-Scion in the Salinas Auto Mall on Sunday afternoon with a chance to win. In order to scoop the Scion, each student had to stay to the end of their school’s graduation party - usually around 5 a.m. - thereby winning a shot at winning the car.

The winner, big bad Jacob, doesn’t know how to drive standard transmission, but he’s said to be very excited about his new Scion and gives big thanks to the local Scion dealer that helped with the sober grad giveaway.

Have you ever been the victim of one of those cameras that take your picture when you run a red light? In major metropolitan cities like Los Angeles, those cameras are becoming more and more common. But are they fair? Do they actually make people drive safer?

In some places in southern California, the cameras have been a great benefit for the local economy. Culver City, for instance, has generated more than $2 million in the last eight months from catching people going through the light. But other cities aren’t faring so well.

Paramount, a city in the same county as Culver City, decided to shut down its red light cameras because they were causing a deficit instead of an income.

But if these cameras are all about public safety rather than making money, why would cities shut down the cameras simply because they’re not making money from them? The argument that they are for safety simply loses credibility when you hear stories about cities shortening yellow light intervals and changing traffic laws at certain intersections to catch more drivers. I’ve even heard that one city wasn’t making enough from catching people going through red lights so they made it illegal to turn on a red light so they could make up the difference. Is that for safety’s sake? I don’t think so.

So just take this as a warning. You might leave your local Pontiac dealer full of excitement and enthusiasm because you just bought a new car, but don’t forget to drive with caution. Protecting yourself and others really is about being safe.