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A video clip posted in China recently showed a young girl aged just four or so steering her parents’ car along a busy highway. The proud parent sat alongside her and gave her advice as she steered the vehicle along a busy stretch of road and overtook a series of other vehicles. The proud father eventually told the little girl to pull the car over to the side of the road so he could take the wheel again. The video revealed that the girl used pieces of wood to operate the foot pedals. China’s police now take

A truck accident in Bavaria’s capital Munich was the stuff of nightmares for the city’s beer drinkers. The truck shed a load of thousands of beer bottles but as firefighters cleared up after the incident, they simply hosed the beer down the drain. Famed for its beer festival, Munich is also known for the quality of its beer. The crash caused traffic jams to the city centre until the emergency services were able to clear up the spill. However the city’s beer lovers are likely to remember the wasted beer for

A Romanian truck driver has now realised that posting video clips of his antics while at the wheel has had serious repercussions that affect his chosen career. The man filmed himself dancing around the cab of his truck to music, oblivious to the risks that this posed to other road users as well as himself while his vehicle thundered along at highway speeds. The man gave the recordings to a TV station after videoing his own behaviour for the amusement of his friends. The man filmed himself unfastening his se

A Dutch firm has come up with a GPS system that uses music to guide its users. This special phone application can be used to navigate aurally and if the sound seemed to come through the right earphone, this is where the system is attempting to guide the user. Should the sound come from the left, this is the direction intended. However safety may be an issue that the designer has not considered as wearing earphones while cycling, motorcycling or driving a car, bus or truck is not recommended.

A British man was sent to prison for four years after being stopped by police while he was in the process of stealing a JCB telehandler. In his attempts to elude following police, the man veered wildly along narrow roads with no thought for other road users. He then drove the telehandler through a graveyard, smashing headstones and damaging graves in his escape bid. This proved fruitless however as a police helicopter had joined the pursuit and was able to direct police cars towards the speeding JCB. The ma

Thailand’s Metropolitan Police plan to install intelligent dummies in police roles across capital Bangkok. Nicknamed Sergeant Idly Silent, the dummies will be sited at 13 locations across the city and will keep a close watch for traffic violations using on-board CCTV equipment and ANPR technology. The aim of the dummies will be to aid their human counterparts in tracking those contravening traffic laws. Given the city’s reputation for its ‘spirited’ drivers, it seems like that the dummies will be kept busy.

Police in Norway spotted a vehicle travelling at an average 133km/h in a 100km/h zone along the E18 highway, some 40km from capital Oslo and gave pursuit. After the police tailed the vehicle for a kilometre, officers then stopped the car at a service station. The police realised the occupants, a man and a woman, were otherwise engaged but exercised discretion when describing the couple's second offence. However they did add that as the driver's attention was clearly distracted he faces a lengthy ban from dr

A pavement recycling contractor in eastern New York State in the US is using an innovative and versatile Wirtgen machine to carry out very different road rehabilitation tasks. This unit is being used to lay foamed bitumen-recycling pavements as well as carrying out cold-milling.

Colombia's rapidly improving highway network is making a major boost to the country's economy. Though a national roads plan had been in place since the last century, road building and pavement maintenance only became a priority in 2000 when the current administration headed by President Álvaro Uribe Vélez came to power.

JCB is broadening its product range by entering the portable lighting tower market. The new LT9 from the firm's Power Products division is a 9m dedicated lighting tower with a hydraulically activated, telescopic mast that holds four spotlights.

Rugged and durable, the new Rugby 260SG, 270SG and 280DG lasers from Leica Geosystems are said to suit a wide range of construction duties. These multipurpose horizontal/vertical grade lasers can be used for flat and grade applications and are equipped with a large LCD display and a five button key pad.

Bobcat is offering three new steel tracked versions of its heavyweight loaders, the T250, T300 and T320. The factory-fit steel track options for the loaders offer an alternative to the conventional rubber tracked configurations for applications such as demolition. The tracks allow the machines to work on rocky and abrasive soils, as well as breaking and clearing concrete/asphalt surfaces, providing better traction and increased ground adherence.

The innovative EZ-OP Monitoring system from Valley Slurry Seals (VSS) is said to help boost productivity for slurry seal and micro-surfacing crews. The unit can be fitted to the firm's well-proven Macropaver 12B model to boost performance.

Roadtec is improving its line of cold planer cutter drums to provide a better milling pattern and a longer tool and base life. The firm has reworked the drum end ring configuration for better match-cutting and to extend tool life. The impact angle of the tools on the drum has been optimise and this will lengthen the life of the consumable bit. The lacing pattern has been adjusted and this allows for a better texture on the milled surface as well as a more balanced impact when the tools strike the cutting ar

US firm Elliott Equipment is now offering a versatile and highly mobile BoomTruck model with a 50tonne capacity. The new 50105 unit features 32m of powered main boom and a 35m tip height and standard features include a 360º chart without front stabiliser