Feeling tired, angry and stressed? Here's how not to drive like it.

Sometimes when you’re out on the road it’s easy to lose one’s temper. We've all experienced the horn blaring, cursing, aggressive driving road rage beast before, whether it was ourselves or someone else with the bad attitude. You can avoid submitting to a cranky temper with these tips:

Sleep. Seriously, sleep. A full night. No excuses. Everyone is a grouch when they don’t get enough sleep, this is just a given.

Plan ahead! It’s okay to leave early. This gives you time to be able to conquer unforeseen road difficulties without the stress.

Treat rude behavior the same way you would in a restaurant. Would you lose your cool over someone cutting you off in line at a bodega?

Probably not – it would be embarrassing. We are isolated in our cars, and feel a false sense of privacy and security while there. The truth is, everyone can see you flipping the bird and just a head’s up – nobody needs to be a lip reader to know what words you’re using.

The coolest way to save gas? Don't be a drag!

You've probably been told that you can save gas by turning off your air conditioning and rolling down your windows. No matter what, turning off the AC helps your gas mileage more than it hurts.  But it’s not so black and white when it comes to windows!  Cars are designed to slice through the air, so depending on your speed, rolling your windows down could slow you down. To avoid aerodynamic drag, keep ‘em rolled up if you’re traveling more than 40MPH.

Fun Summer Event: NC Museum of History State Exhibit

Photos: NC Museum of History

The North Carolina Museum of History is hosting its largest exhibit ever, The Story of North Carolina. As the title suggests, this exhibit is all about North Carolina: how it started, who started it, what changes it has gone through, and what its distinguishing features are. The result is a massive series of artifacts, multimedia presentations, dioramas, interactive components, and full-size immersive constructs that span more than 14,000 years of the state’s history.

It’s a herculean undertaking to portray even a decade of history, much less 14 millennia. There are a nearly fathomless number of stories, people, places, and events to explore in that time. The historical experts have worked very hard, however, to create an exhibit that offers a variety of elements so that visitors are neither overwhelmed nor underserved.

We have visited this exhibit ourselves, and learned a lot about North Carolina. There are so many names that we hear while traveling around the state—Morehead, Blount, Cary, Cameron, Hargett, McDowell—that it’s easy to forget that these names are prominent because they involve important events. As you learn more about different areas in Raleigh, and cities throughout the state, it can make you more conscious of your place in a larger story.

Feeling connected with something larger than one’s self can give people a stronger sense of meaning and purpose. Learning more about your surroundings builds a sense of personal connection, which in turn promotes happiness. A good way then to feel better about your life is to take a look at what’s around you. As Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

The Story of North Carolina is a free exhibit, and a great reason to visit our state’s capital. Parking is available for free on the weekends and weekday evenings. Nearby is the legislative building, Capitol building, and plenty of restaurants if you need to recharge (we especially recommend Oakwood Café and Centro). Happy learning!

“Mercedes-Benz Food Stamp” Writer Shows Complexity of Poverty

Writer Darlena Cunha, and her family

We are writing because two weeks ago an article appeared in The Washington Post about a woman’s struggle with becoming suddenly impoverished. This article was quickly shared throughout the Internet because there was something about the woman’s story that seemed unusual to people. We first noticed it when we saw dozens of retweets with the fetching headline, “This is what happened when I drove my Mercedes to pick up food stamps.” From a journalistic perspective, that’s a great hook.

We think that the article was popular because people could easily imagine it happening to them. Which is interesting because lots of people fantasize about being able to buy a Mercedes-Benz. This story took that visualization one step further by considering what happens if you “make it” but then lose it. It asked, “What would you do if your wages went down, your spouse lost his or her job, you gave birth to twins, the market gutted the value of your home, and the Mercedes-Benz was paid off?”

Plenty of people had opinions on whether the story’s author handled her life correctly. Right or wrong, thousands of people felt comfortable judging the story’s author. A lot of those opinions centered on the Mercedes-Benz and the house because they are signs of economic success. Many people thought the woman and her husband should sell both because they’re “luxury” items, which can be downgraded.

As the woman explained, weeks after purchasing the house, the market fell out, and to sell the house would be to assume an enormous amount of debt. The Mercedes-Benz was an older model which had also depreciated in value and had been paid off long, long ago. But because they are strong economic symbols, people rushed quickly to judgment, irrespective of facts below the symbolic level. People in the story, and those reading it, second-guessed the woman and her husband every step of the way because her appearance (nice house, nice car) didn’t match her reality (not being able to buy food, not being to find a job).

We would submit that poverty can be an incredibly nuanced concept. We usually hear “poverty” and jump straight to “lower class,” assuming that you’re already there, or that you should immediately start to look like what we imagine lower class looks like. This isn’t a very compassionate view, and in the wake of the economic turbulence of the Great Recession, we think it would behoove us all to be more flexible in our viewpoints and less hasty in our judgments. In short: Learn. Observe. Watch. Ask questions. Be helpful. Swallow advice. Everyone’s experience is different, even and especially those who look unusual, like a woman in a Mercedes-Benz picking up food stamps.

Billions of people walk this planet with their own unique challenges and circumstances. In many cases a lot of good can be done simply by asking to hear their stories. The whole point of this article’s widespread interest is that the woman’s story did not match what people imagined it would be. Doling out advice and judgment based on her appearance is the exact opposite of what people should be taking away, and yet, that’s what we’ve been witnessing. The next time you hear or read a story that excites you, pause—take a moment. Take a day or even two. We are willing to bet that that extra time will create empathy, which is one thing this woman and her family could have used more of.

2015 C-Class Gets Plug-In Hybrid Electric Version This Fall

The age-old balance between gasoline and electric cars is inching toward resolution. A new plug-in hybrid electric version of the C-Class is due to arrive in the U.S. this fall. Initial estimates say that the PHEV will have a 109 MPG equivalency. We say equivalency because PHEVs run on a mixture of gasoline and electricity, so we can’t evaluate things strictly by the gallon.

PHEVs represent the best of the gasoline and electric worlds. They have a gasoline engine and an electric motor. They can run just on electricity or just on gasoline. They use things like gravity, inertia, and momentum to power the car instead of insisting that fossil fuels burn at all times. They have the range of a gasoline vehicle with much better CO2 and pollutant levels. And when you need to floor it, you get the roar of a classic internal combustion engine.

In many cases, PHEVs can offer more power than equivalent vehicles through the instant response of electric acceleration and a higher combined horsepower. The 2015 PHEV C-Class will have a turbocharger for its 4-cylinder engine, which means it will get a boost in the higher RPMs. Assuming the battery is charged, you should receive a similar boost in the lower RPMs thanks to the electric motor.

We see this as a positive movement toward saving money at the pump, lowering our overall gasoline consumption, and expelling fewer pollutants into the world. Everyday more and more people are getting their driver’s licenses and owning their own cars. PHEVs are a great way to make sure that we keep the planet safe for ourselves and generations to come. The S-Class will soon get a PHEV version, as well.

We’ll be sure to let you know when we get our first models in here at Raleigh, and we would love for you to see for yourself what a PHEV is like.

MB Embraces Electric Vehicles, Millenials and Self-Driving Cars

Autonomous cars and Mercedes-Benz are a lot more closely related than you think. Features like Park Assist, Intelligent Drive, Blind Spot Assist and Lane Keeping Assist feel like incremental novelties when evaluated one-by-one. But consider them together and you actually have a vehicle that’s almost driving on its own entirely. The result is something that Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Steve Cannon sees as relatively simple:

“We already have an intelligent S-Class that can steer itself around curves. It monitors the blind spot, and it nudges you back into traffic. So all the building blocks are there, it’s just a question of time, legislation, and cost.”

Cost is closely related to time: reduce one and you’ll likely reduce the other. Cannon believes that 2025 is the magic number for commercial viability, although his definition of that last term (Is an S-Class commercially viable? E-Class? C?) is key. Still, it is impressive to hear about something that used to be the provenance of science fiction now spoken of casually by an automotive executive.

One reason for that optimism might be the successful launch of the B-Class this week in California. Electric vehicles have been the whipping boy of pundits, critics and analysts for years. Americans were said to be too in love with gasoline to consider the whisper-quiet rolling of an EV’s tires.

Then a little vehicle known as the Chevy Volt came along. Then the Nissan Leaf. Now with two EV’s on the market (the smart fortwo electric drive also debuted in the U.S. this year), Mercedes-Benz is bringing their trademark class to the evolving power lines of the industry.

Another mountain that Mercedes-Benz has traversed has less to do with technology as it does demographics. Millennials, the youngish generation to emerge from the beaches of the Great Recession with 1 trillion dollars in student loans and grim employment prospects, are famously just not that into buying new cars. Cannon’s solution? Price.

“First and foremost you need a vehicle package at a price point that’s relevant. If you want to build bridges to this generation, you have to build a product they can afford.”

That bridge, the CLA-Class, costs a little under $30,000, which is more attainable than many people would expect. It also reflects the expanding bounds of incomes in America: some people are making more, but a lot of people are making less.

These three ways that Mercedes-Benz is stretching itself—autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles, and Millenial vehicles—exhibit clear attention to this market. We don’t know exactly if or how they will converge, but we are reminded of a quote by another CEO, Steve Jobs:

“Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Nintendo Opens Virtual World to Mercedes-Benz Vehicles

For decades we have watched our children grow up with video games, and wondered what the draw was. Video games have progressed from machines in pizza parlors fed with quarters to $500 boxes that sit in living rooms and offer Internet, shopping and DVD players, besides the actual games.

When Mercedes-Benz announced this week that it was strengthening a partnership with Japanese company Nintendo, another page was added to this chapter of video games and our lives. Nintendo is the maker of mega-franchises like Super Mario Bros., whose featured portly plumber is one of the most-recognized icons on Earth. This past week, Mercedes-Benz agreed to let a virtual version of its GLA to be driven around by Mario and his friends in a video game.

What does this mean? Nintendo is not the juggernaut it once was. Microsoft and Sony have become powerful competitors who claimed huge chunks of the $20.5 billion in video game-related sales in 2013. Nintendo has tremendous brand cache, but its games are frequently noted for appealing more to children and young adults than the consumer base cultivated by its rivals.

We believe, however, that Mercedes-Benz is on the right track. Nintendo is famous for controlling all aspects of its business, from licensing to distribution, so to allow Mercedes-Benz vehicles into its virtual world is a highly-unusual opportunity. Many of the programmers and coders in Silicon Valley today grew up with a Nintendo controller in their hand, and given the increasingly high valuations of technology companies in the U.S., it would behoove Mercedes-Benz to increase awareness of its brand in the children who might make the Facebooks and Twitters of the future.

Technology is increasingly important to Mercedes-Benz as well: driverless driving, head-up displays, automatic parking—the most progressive integrations of technology in driving all lend themselves to virtual simulation, which is the bedrock of video games. Partnering more with Nintendo could give Mercedes-Benz a 1-UP (also known as an extra life).

The Incredible Amount of Detail in Mercedes-Benz Designo Interiors

The interior of a Mercedes-Benz receives numerous hours of thought and preparation. To give you a sense of what’s included in your vehicle’s interior, the automaker has prepared a guide on the holistic experience which is called designo.

A collection of materials, paints and finishes available for select models, designo takes the best elements to create a total perspective not unlike a landscape painting. For paintwork you can choose between a unique set of deep high-gloss colors or ultramodern low-sheen matte finishes. For upholstery you can elect for incomparable forgiving Nappa leather in solid or two-tone themes; an option for dinamica suede appearance ceilings are also available. For cabin trim, a host of exotic woods, hand stitched leather matching, and even stone granite can be incorporated.

Also important is how the above materials are utilized. No matter what choice of paintwork you designate, designo processes are multi-layered and contain a nano-technology of clearcoat and ceramic particles to ensure durability and protection. The Nappa leather referenced above is procured and outfitted from south Germany, and a special dye is designed to bring the leather’s natural grain to the surface; if any imperfections exist, they can be identified and the offending leather removed. Exotic woods should never come at the cost of damaging the environment, so Mercedes-Benz harvests in accordance with sustainable foresting practices.

Finally, the craftspeople that wed these elements to form your Mercedes-Benz designointerior should be mentioned. Paint, after all, is only as good as the painter who uses it, so Mercedes-Benz designo painters are selected for their level of experience. Upholstery materials are matched for a car before ever being cut or sewn to ensure that uniformity is present from the beginning. Wood finishes and lacquers are all applied by hand because they’re meant to be appreciated by hand.

The standards for designo workmanship are high for many reasons, some of which we hope are now better illustrated.

What Does the Car of the Future Look Like? Google Googles It

Google released some footage this week of people in the company’s self-driving car in a cutesy video reminiscent of how a toy company would show newborns engaging with mobiles, colorful blocks and stuffed animals. The reason this video merits our attention is that Google is not an automotive company. Many companies that make cars are experimenting with self-driving cars, and we think that they can find success given that they know a lot about cars in general.

Google, on the other hand, has the blessing and curse of not knowing how to make a car. The parallel between this video and a toy company is not dissimilar in the sense that many people would approach this type of vehicle with more curiosity and trepidation than they’ve encountered anything since their very first years. It’s also a parallel that makes Google the newborn in a way. Though they possibly employ and/or consult with former automotive engineers, there is a sense of naiveté in the company’s efforts to not only make a car, but make one that has a wholly different experience for consumers.

Photo: Google

The car has no steering wheel. There are no pedals. It has two seats, safety belts, and a start/stop button. Sensors and software speed or slow the car as it whisks you to your destination, just like a taxi. It’s just a prototype, and thus probably runs only a preprogrammed route, but the principle seems to be that you would input your destination in Google Maps, press start and let the car do the rest. One lady in the video commented about how it slowed down before the turn and accelerated out of it, just like she was taught in high school and how she’s always telling her husband to do. It’s like an automated taxi that completely does all of the work for you and is faster at seeing trouble and avoiding it than a human could ever possibly be.

This is made possible by software, which Google is very good at making. Google has been working with cars for years thanks to their Street View and Google Maps products. Combining that knowledge with the mechanics of collision avoidance and user input is the challenge at hand. By the way, it’s worth noting that the amount of programming code in the average car is massive. Like, a lot. An infographic prepared by independent sources shows that the tens of millions of lines of code in regular cars is more than the operating system that your computer or phone is running right now to let you read this article. A modern car needs more programming code to run than Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s OS X, Facebook, the Hadron Collider, an F-35 Fighter Jet, Google Chrome or the Mars Curiosity Rover. Think about that: cars, which have been around for more than a century, need more computer code to run than computers.

Photo: LA Times

Clearly the automotive industry is ripe for change in the software department. With programming code, more does not necessarily equal better. It could be that Google can do code for cars better than most automotive makers, and would make their car quite viable. That in turn could spur automakers to streamline their code, which would make everyone’s products better. Google’s self-driving car is thus a good thing, we think, because it raises competition and introduces innovation. It’s goofy looking, but we don’t mind. The new kid is often made fun of for looking funny. We love how the video points out the advances in mobility a self-driving car could enable: blind people, the elderly, those without a license, those who don’t know how to drive, etc. People now can use their driving time to do other things, which presents a tremendous potential boost in leisure and productivity.

Google will be testing about 100 of their self-driving cars in real-life conditions for the next 12 months or so. They will use real people as testers and no doubt learn a lot. We wish them well in their enterprise, and look forward to the great things that will emerge from their work.

C-Class Estate Wagon Announced for 2015 and Everyone Went Crazy

For some reason, auto journalists are prone to favor station wagons. Not all of us, of course. But enough that when Mercedes-Benz announced this week that it’s releasing an Estate version of the C-Class, it’s been the leading item on Google News for Mercedes-Benz, and every major publication wrote about it, mainly to say that they already want it even though they haven’t driven it.

The 2015 C-Class Estate will not be coming to America, but that doesn’t mean Mercedes-Benz doubts that there will be demand for it. The station wagon will provide three four-cylinder gasoline engines, four diesel engines (two of which will be hybrids), and larger V6 engines later on, not to mention a probable plug-in hybrid version. Right there we have about 10 possible engine configurations for what many in the U.S. believe to be a dying breed of vehicle. It suggests to us that there is plenty of appreciation left for station wagons in the world, only that America is a bit behind the times.

The video announcing the C-Class Estate shows the car quite well. As an extension of the C-Class, its lengthy proportions do justice to the C’s bottom-heavy body, and put that bottom to good use by letting the voluminous trunk expand. We couldn’t help but find Mercedes-Benz’s video of the Estate’s cargo space a bit unusual, however.

After talking a fair bit about how the Estate lets emotion meet “functionality” and “class,” the video shows a man loading his rather large model helicopter, blades and all, into the rear trunk. A helicopter? Is that really a hobby? Perhaps our lack of model helicopter flying is why the Estate is going to literally anywhere on earth except the U.S. The man uses the open trunk as a bench as he happily steers his helo through the desert air, and the camera cuts to a woman in a tailored business jacket driving her Estate because presumably she has something better to do than pretend to fly.

In any case, we love station wagons and appreciate the E-Class Wagon that we do have in the U.S. Perhaps you would like to try it, as well.

Summer Donation Campaign for Military Members and Families

The people who serve in our military sacrifice much for our country, our well-being and our safety. The Drive for Troops campaign was created to raise funds for service members and their families. Donated funds are given to a number of charities that have a range of focuses.

Leith’s way of contributing to this campaign is to make a donation for every vehicle sold, new or used, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. That means that vehicles bought during the summer have a huge impact in improving the lives of service members and their families. Even if you don’t purchase a vehicle, however, you can still donate directly to the Drive for Troops campaign. You can also vote for your favorite charity; the charity which receives the most votes will receive an extra $50,000.

• North Carolina has one military ocean terminal, five military bases and a Coast Guard base
• NC has the ninth largest population of military veterans —nearly 800,000
• One-third of NC’s population is military, former military or has an immediate family member who is military/veteran

Below is a description of each charity involved, as well as their particular focuses. Vote here for your favorite and please consider supporting this aspect of our community.

Operation Homefront

The Carolinas chapter (OH-C) provides assistance to military families and wounded warriors. OH-C helps with rent, food, utilities, car and home repair, essential baby items, holiday toys, and more.

Patriot Foundation

Patriot Foundation provides college scholarships for children and child care assistance for spouses who need to go back to school to provide for the financial stability of their families.

Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation

The MCSF is the oldest and largest provider of need-based scholarships to military children. More than 30,000 need-based scholarships valued at more than $80 million have gone to children of Marines and Navy Corpsmen since 1962.

Fisher House Foundation 

Fisher House Foundation provides housing for military and veterans’ families to stay while a loved one is receiving treatment. Donations received from this program will build a new Fisher House at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina.

Hiring Our Heroes

Hiring Our Heroes helps veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses find meaningful employment opportunities.

5 Bad Driving Habits Putting Yourself and Everyone Else at Risk

Good driving is more than not having been in a collision recently. Many of us think that we’re basically good drivers, which entitles us to bend the rules here and there. A no-look lane change. A little driving while sleepy. A bottled water while we drive (water’s good for us, right?). A closed-eye sneeze (just kidding, nothing you can do about that).

In reality, however, these small actions create opportunity for collisions and even fatalities. Keeping your safety skills sharp is the best way to avoid complacency, and we’ve composed a list of the biggest driving mistakes currently happening. This list is based on actual driving habits observed and recorded in North Carolina, our own back yard! Look out for your friends, family and neighbors by being a good driver; it’s the best thing you can do.

5. Driving with headphones

This is a big one. It’s also illegal in North Carolina and most other states. Many people like to listen to podcasts, music, news, or even TV and movies while driving. The problem is that headphones and ear buds seal your ears from outside noises, making it very difficult to hear all the things that you’re responsible for hearing.

Even if you keep the volume low and think that you can hear outside noise, your hearing is still severely compromised and can lead to collisions. Like we said, it’s illegal for a reason.

4. No-look backing up

Two reasons for this: a) you’re in a hurry, or b) you know the area. Both are terrible reasons. Backing up without looking is like driving forward with your eyes closed. Even using your mirrors is not a good enough excuse. Your mirrors, and even a rearview camera, are there to help your eyes, not replace them.

The low-speeds of rear driving are enough to cause significant damage to people or cars. Take the time to put your hand on the headrest, twist around in your seat, and look where you’re going before you step on the gas, just like you were taught—or supposed to have been taught—in driver’s ed.

3. Intersection lane-changes

Also illegal in North Carolina. Once you enter an intersection, you are required by law to remain in your lane until you exit, even if the vehicle in front of you stops short. Why? Because it’s an intersection. Inter. Section. Vehicles are intersecting here. A traffic hub is the worst possible place to change your lane because there are vehicles entering lanes from multiple directions.

Unless you have three pairs of eyes or a car made out of marshmallows, don’t do it.

2. Applying make-up/grooming

Ah, looking good. So important to look your best in the morgue, isn’t it? That’s exactly where you or anyone near you could be headed if you mistake your steering wheel for a sink and mirror. Many places in the U.S. now have restrooms available to the public, which means that you could actually find the perfect shade of lipstick or trim that soul patch into nirvana when stationary.

Rather than doing the old “driving with knees or elbows” thing, take a good look at yourself in that mirror and repeat after us: “My self-worth is not bound up in my attractiveness. I value human life more than looking good. I’d rather look scraggy than spend 30 years in the pokey.”

1. Mobile devices

You knew it was coming. Whether it’s texting, calling, or Facebooking, don’t touch your phone. You might recall a widely-publicized study from two years ago that showed thattexting while driving cuts your reaction time in half, making collisions far more likely. A further study showed that a car can travel the length of a football field—100 yards—in the time it takes to read a text.

Our reflexes are at our best when we’re 15-25 years old. Even kids that age, however, have reaction times roughly equivalent to a senior citizen when using a mobile device. You might feel more alive or on point, but it’s an illusion. Your brain can’t keep up with everything at once, and that’s all it takes to ruin someone’s day or life.

So there you have it. Be a better person and take comfort in knowing that you’re making the world a better place, and likely saving yourself thousands of dollars in the process. Pump the brakes, slow down, and enjoy life by taking it in.

Avoid Distracted Driving!

-Put the cell phone down. 

Turn it off if the sound of a text alert or call will tempt you to check it.  This seems like an obvious one, but according to the Official US Government Website for Distracted Driving, approximately 660,000 drivers are using cell phones or manipulating electronic devices while driving at ANY given daylight moment in America.

-Don’t eat or drink while driving.  

It’s tempting to swing by a drive-thru and hop back on the road to make good time on your trip. But think about the risks involved–fiddling with wrappers, finding condiment packages, and dealing with the mess made are all distractions that take your eyes off the road.  Think about whether shaving that extra hour off your trip is worth cutting your life or the lives of others short.

-Clean up & fuel up.

Make sure your windshield is clean, oil changed, and vehicle generally maintained BEFORE you start your travels! Seeing your check engine light switch on or struggling with low visibility due to windshield grime is an avoidable distraction–so avoid it

5 Bad Driving Habits Putting Yourself and Everyone Else at Risk

Good driving is more than not having been in a collision recently. Many of us think that we’re basically good drivers, which entitles us to bend the rules here and there. A no-look lane change. A little driving while sleepy. A bottled water while we drive (water’s good for us, right?). A closed-eye sneeze (just kidding, nothing you can do about that).

In reality, however, these small actions create opportunity for collisions and even fatalities. Keeping your safety skills sharp is the best way to avoid complacency, and we've composed a list of the biggest driving mistakes currently happening. This list is based on actual driving habits observed and recorded in North Carolina, our own back yard! Look out for your friends, family and neighbors by being a good driver; it’s the best thing you can do.

5. Driving with headphones

This is a big one. It’s also illegal in North Carolina and most other states. Many people like to listen to podcasts, music, news, or even TV and movies while driving. The problem is that headphones and ear buds seal your ears from outside noises, making it very difficult to hear all the things that you’re responsible for hearing.

Even if you keep the volume low and think that you can hear outside noise, your hearing is still severely compromised and can lead to collisions. Like we said, it’s illegal for a reason.

4. No-look backing up

Two reasons for this: a) you’re in a hurry, or b) you know the area. Both are terrible reasons. Backing up without looking is like driving forward with your eyes closed. Even using your mirrors is not a good enough excuse. Your mirrors, and even a rearview camera, are there to help your eyes, not replace them.

The low-speeds of rear driving are enough to cause significant damage to people or cars. Take the time to put your hand on the headrest, twist around in your seat, and look where you’re going before you step on the gas, just like you were taught—or supposed to have been taught—in driver’s ed.

3. Intersection lane-changes

Also illegal in North Carolina. Once you enter an intersection, you are required by law to remain in your lane until you exit, even if the vehicle in front of you stops short. Why? Because it’s an intersection. Inter. Section. Vehicles are intersecting here. A traffic hub is the worst possible place to change your lane because there are vehicles entering lanes from multiple directions.

Unless you have three pairs of eyes or a car made out of marshmallows, don’t do it.

2. Applying make-up/grooming

Ah, looking good. So important to look your best in the morgue, isn’t it? That’s exactly where you or anyone near you could be headed if you mistake your steering wheel for a sink and mirror. Many places in the U.S. now have restrooms available to the public, which means that you could actually find the perfect shade of lipstick or trim that soul patch into nirvana when stationary.

Rather than doing the old “driving with knees or elbows” thing, take a good look at yourself in that mirror and repeat after us: “My self-worth is not bound up in my attractiveness. I value human life more than looking good. I’d rather look scraggy than spend 30 years in the pokey.”

1. Mobile devices

You knew it was coming. Whether it’s texting, calling, or Facebooking, don’t touch your phone. You might recall a widely-publicized study from two years ago that showed thattexting while driving cuts your reaction time in half, making collisions far more likely. A further study showed that a car can travel the length of a football field—100 yards—in the time it takes to read a text.

Our reflexes are at our best when we’re 15-25 years old. Even kids that age, however, have reaction times roughly equivalent to a senior citizen when using a mobile device. You might feel more alive or on point, but it’s an illusion. Your brain can’t keep up with everything at once, and that’s all it takes to ruin someone’s day or life.

So there you have it. Be a better person and take comfort in knowing that you’re making the world a better place, and likely saving yourself thousands of dollars in the process. Pump the brakes, slow down, and enjoy life by taking it in.

Oh, the Ways You Can Cabriolet!

Drop the top and any trip in a Mercedes-Benz Roadster or Cabriolet becomes positively dreamy. We certainly have a few favorite top-down moments of our own, but what about you? Showing up to your best friend(aka Bridezilla)'s wedding with wind-blown hair? Tanning while commuting? Summertime stargazing? Maybe going on your first single solitary road trip? Share your story with us and have an amazing weekend!

The Pleasurable Business of the 2014 Sprinter Van

About two months ago we reviewed the 2014 Sprinter 2500 Passenger Van, which is not a vehicle that gets a lot of reviews. It’s a tall, long cargo van that focuses more on function and utility than form or comfort. It appears that Mercedes-Benz is moving forward with plans to bring the smaller, luxury-oriented V-Class van to the U.S., but until that happens the Sprinter will remain the only van under the Mercedes-Benz marquee in the States. To supplement our review, we’d like to draw attention to Road & Track’s recent review of the 2014 Sprinter.

Mercedes-Benz is all about luxury. Whether considering a roadster, coupe, sedan, wagon or SUV, this brand is all about providing an excellently-crafted experience with premium materials, controls, technology and design. Beneath all of that there happens to be precisely-engineered machinery and mechanics, but the utility aspect of a Mercedes-Benz is usually overshadowed by the carefully-sculpted surface. Watch any commercial by the automaker and you’ll get this sense: a soothing voice over, a remarkably composed vehicle, an actor wearing just the trace of a smile, and something to suggest rewarding yourself.

The Sprinter is not about luxury. It’s a vehicle for business, not pleasure, and though a very nice business vehicle—Mercedes-Benz gave it a glossy remake for 2014—it is something of an anomaly for the brand. Business owners need to get things done, and they need the following values from a vehicle: reliability, low cost and spaciousness. That’s it. The Sprinter van therefore reflects these values, but being a Mercedes-Benz, it also comes with things that don’t fall strictly within those categories.

There’s a technologically advanced LCD screen for navigation, communication, mobile connection and camera vision. There are safety systems that MB has poured years into developing: Lane-keeping assist, forward collisions alert, blind spot alerts and crosswind assist soon. There’s a highly-efficient and robust four-cylinder diesel that is exceptionally well-made and capitalizes on a seven-speed transmission. Drivetrains this well-made are not typically found in business-class vehicles, which is the point.

We highly recommend Road & Track’s review of the 2014 Sprinter, and that you come by Leith, Inc. to try one for yourself. As the review notes, they’re remarkably easy to drive and open many possibilities for drivers dissatisfied with the familiarity of coupes, sedans and SUVs.

These Cities Swapped Out Freeways for Gardens and It Worked Out Fantastically

Editor’s Note: We are going to acknowledge right off the bat that this post is based on Gizmodo’s fantastic piece, “6 Freeway Removals That Changed Their Cities Forever”

Once upon a time, the automobile was born. Wheat-chewing farmers and cigar-chomping industrialists regarded the new machine with wonder and avarice, respectively. Baseball-loving boys and gradually-liberated girls clambered over the new horseless wagons as the newest plaything. And city councilmen cracked open cases of cigarettes, pouring burnt coffee into environmentally-unsound paper cup after environmentally-unsound paper cup as they stayed late at the office, trying to figure out how their city was going to handle the inevitable coming of the gasoline traveler.

Many of these freeways—like I-440 around Raleigh—handled the new wave of traffic just fine, and have even had to be widened. But some freeways never received the traffic they were built to handle. Other freeways received too much traffic with nearby viable roads receiving very little. In either case, inefficiency was happening. When city freeways are overloaded, it can create smog, pollution, a decrease in health, increase of crime and even a raising of cities’ internal temperatures.

Instead of expanding over strained roadways, some cities have chosen a different route altogether: they've demolished them.

Despite arguments that this would only make matters worse, traffic flowed to other areas of town and created an explosion of nature, good health and a shift in the cities’ cultures. Streams, rivers, bicyclists, joggers, street vendors and pedestrians have all laid claim to these miles of new space. We've included a few photos here, but you should check out the examples in San Francisco, Seoul, Portland, Milwaukee, Madrid, Seattle, and plans for the same in Dallas, Texas and Rochester, New York.

What do you think about this concept? Are there areas in our city that you think could benefit from it? If nothing else, we hope this prompts new thinking about roadways and city development.

Here’s Seoul before…

And here it is after!

These Self-Smacking Wipers Knock Ice Off Your Windshield!

Great clouds almighty: is winter over yet? Snow, sleet, |freezing rain, hail—come on now! It’s been a season of much precipitation and through it Raleigh has received a hard lesson: we’re not quite as equipped for winter as we thought we were.

As we drove through neighborhoods frozen by winter weather, however, we did notice that many residents had one trick down pat: keeping windshield wipers off the front window overnight so that they wouldn’t be frozen to the glass. As commendable as that is, many of us know that ice can still form on the wipers themselves, not to mention the glass, and trying to break up a half-inch layer of ice in the morning cold is no picnic.

One company has come up with a rather innovative—and automatic—way to circumvent this seasonal annoyance. Motor City Wiper is a company based out of Rochester Hills, Michigan, just outside of Detroit. They’re so far north that they’re nearly into—gasp!—Canadian levels of latitude, and at that area of the U.S., they encounter serious amounts of snow and ice for not just days, but months.

MCW’s solution is a special, wiper-banging arm mechanism that installs right in place of your normal wiper arms, only looking a bit more muscular. Do you sometimes tap your toothbrush against the sink to knock the water off the bristles? Same principle. The wipers themselves are nothing special, just whatever you happen to know. The muscly arm, however, smacks them against the glass with enough force to dislodge any ice on the blades themselves or your windshield. Observer:

You’ll notice that it’s a very confident, assertive rapping that isn’t overly violent or overbearing. As you can see at the end, the smacking isn’t automatic, but rather, triggered by the driver instead pushing a small, custom installed red button. That way you never have to worry about rogue wipers smacking you around the parking lot—unless you’re being chased by someone with a sense of humor behind the wheel.

As of yet this system isn’t for sale to people. Its inventors are shopping it around the major automakers in hopes that it will be either invested in or implemented across a brand’s lineup. In either case, we wish them well as this is one more device intended to keep us in the car where we belong while technology does the outside work for us.