For the last column of the year, I decided to take a look at the best and the worst that life behind the wheel has to offer.
The best reason NOT to complain about gas prices: The cost of regular gasoline in Amsterdam last year hit record highs of well over $7 per gallon.
The best reason to vacation in California: According to the Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeding along the East Coast can be especially hazardous to your wallet's health. Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland and New Hampshire have been known to hit speeders with a maximum fine of $500 for first offenses.
The best reason ever to be certain that your health insurance premiums are paid: While working as a "traffic collision reconstructionist," W.R. "Rusty" Haight has endured 718 collisions in cars as a "human crash-test dummy."
The worst fake excuse to get out of a ticket: As the story goes, there is a gentleman who has repeatedly gotten out of receiving traffic citations by carrying a water bottle in his vehicle. When he is pulled over, he pours a little into his lap and explains to the officer that he is in a hurry to get home because of a bladder problem.
The top three worst cars of the millennium: Tom and Ray Magliozzi of the radio show "Car Talk" asked their listeners to send in nominations for the worst cars they ever owned. The results were compiled into a list and posted on the radio duo's Web site, www.CarTalk.com, along with comments from the anonymous voters.
Some 12.6 percent of voters had a bad memory or two to share about one car company's "little, better idea" - the Ford Pinto. According to voter opinion, the Pinto was the third-worst vehicle ever made. One owner wrote, "Dad had a baby-poop-orange Pinto the year that car thieves hit our street. Although a dozen cars were stolen in one night, ours was there the next morning, on a strangely empty block."
Nearly 16 percent of those who weighed in named the Chevy Vega as the second-worst vehicle ever to hit the road. One Vega owner said his car burned so much oil, "it was single-handedly responsible for the formation of OPEC."
The vehicle that achieved the dubious honor of being the absolute worst car of the millennium, with a convincing 33.7 percent of the vote, was he Yugo. The Yugo's legendary unreliability and questionable construction came under fire as one unnamed voter after another vented their frustrations.
One driver wrote, "I once test-drove a Yugo, during which the radio fell out, the gear shift knob came off in my hand, and I saw daylight through the strip around the windshield."
Another driver lamented, "The Yugo's first stop after the showroom was the service department: `Fill 'er up and replace the engine!"'
Finally, an owner summed up his experience with a Yugo by saying, "At least it had heated rear windows - so your hands would stay warm while you pushed."
Michelle Groh-Gordy is the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online at www.trafficinteractive.com , and writes a syndicated weekly column on driving for the publications of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
