Customers recently surprised a beloved bagel shop employee with a random act of kindness that stuns and inspires.
Shirley Ratliff has been taking three different buses to get to work every day at Bruegger’s Bagel Shop in Raleigh, North Carolina where she has worked since 2006. The 47-year old worker had been saving for a car but that money was consumed by the cost of cancer treatments she was faced with a few years back.

 
Ratliff has a group of loyal customers, who call themselves “The Shirley Fan Club”, wanted to make things a little easier for her. They decided to pool their resources and get her a car. Last week they delivered the car to her in a moment she described as unforgettable.

 
She told local reporters who were on hand for the event, she had no idea her customers would go to such extremes for her.
It is Shirley’s positive attitude that has won her so many loyal and devoted customers. One of those customers, David Burton, masterminded the plan. When he invited other customers to pitch in for the new car, they were enthusiastic.

 
He said none of them even blinked and most asked how much money he wanted them to contribute. Most offered up $100 or $200, proving the Christmas spirit is alive and well in Raleigh.

 
In just two days, Burton had secured enough cash to purchase a used 1992 Buick LeSabre. He was also able to pay the taxes and provide automobile insurance. Though Ratliff is currently without a driver’s license, that is something she will changing quickly.
When asked why the customers did this for Ratliff, Craig Boyd explained that Shirley always has a smile and that she takes care of all of them. Perhaps it was their way of taking care of her, too.

Pollution and car emissions are two very intertwined problems that many people are constantly upset about. Obviously in the past few years or decades cars have become much more environmentally friendly thanks to cleaner fuels and newer technology, but for many people this still isn’t enough. Fortunately today a group of state Governors formed a coalition to push for increased sales of non-polluting electric cars.

While it is not exactly possible to make all cars on the road completely pollution free, this coalition has the right idea. It is great news that there is finally an important government run group fighting for more electric or alternative fuel cars to hit the road in order to reduce emissions. Automotive emissions are always a big problem and these new electric cars are likely to be a big part of the future, hopefully government groups like this will be a step in the right direction.

At this point the coalition is simply trying to get the word out but they’re also fighting to lower the price of electric cars to make them more affordable. As a whole this is fantastic news because it will eventually make these cars cheaper and more affordable for everyone.

This fall brought a major tragedy to the north eastern United States with Hurricane Sandy; much of the area was destroyed or damaged severely and millions of people are still in the process of recovering from the storm. The good news is that there is some hope and there are signs that the recovery is taking hold.

The biggest indicator right now is that car dealers in the northeast are seeing an incredible increase in car sales following the storm. Millions of cars were totaled by the storm and thanks to insurance many of the owners are now out shopping for brand new cars. Car dealers are seeing record numbers in the northeast, but the sales are also way up in other areas too; both of these factors are absolutely great for the economy and the car industry as a whole.

The tragedy of Hurricane Sandy has also brought a few other pieces of good news. Donations and relief funding has been phenomenal following the storm as millions of Americans have chipped in to various charities that will help with the rebuilding process in New York, New Jersey, and other affected areas. For now the recovery is still on going but experts say it is absolutely looking promising.

Drunk driving is a very serious offense and it is unfortunately all too common in much of the world. In the United States drunk driving affects thousands of people but now it appears that at least in some aspects it is becoming a much smaller issue. According to a report released this week, drunk driving by teens has dropped by an absolutely astonishing amount in the past 20 years.

Since 1991 teen drinking and driving has dropped over 50%, which is absolutely great for everyone. This has been attributed to a variety of school and state sponsored educational programs that have been showing teens the terrible effects of drinking and driving. Officials are incredibly happy with the results they’ve seen in the past 20 years and are continuing to work hard until the number is even lower.

Not only have teenagers been drinking and driving less in the past 20 years, the general population as a whole has been doing it a lot less too. Thanks to increased police monitoring, dozens of advertising and awareness campaigns, and other factors, national drinking and driving rates have gone down around 30% since 1991. Both of these stats are absolutely great news and most officials are happy to report that the numbers are expected to continue dropping for years and years to come.

The future of transportation is very much up in the air right now. A lot of people are hoping for improved fuels, better economy, and lower prices, but at the same time they want faster and more efficient means of transportation. Fortunately it looks like the future is getting closer and closer as a number of new flying car designs are entering their final stages of testing and development.

Flying cars still have a lot of development left before they’ll be useful to the general public, but the fact that they are making progress is absolutely great news for everyone. It might take another 50 years before the flying car is really ready for primetime but the simple fact that we are making progress is great news. Of course this is also amazing news for anyone in the market for a new or futuristic vehicle, the price might be a bit high for most buyers but the future truly is now.

Whether you want to fly, or just get somewhere fast the flying car is definitely a very promising future. In the next few years we will likely have a much better idea of where exactly we stand.

The latest flying car designs will be on display this week at the New York auto show and depending on how things go, we may see some truly inspiring designs. Who knows, these really might be the future of transportation and aviation all rolled into a single package and that surely is great news.

Blind Man Drives Thanks to Google

It is not every day that we find a story as heartwarming as this. Thanks to advanced technology and research from Google and others a blind man was sent on the ride of his life today as he was able to successfully drive a car all by himself for the first time. Of course he was not technically driving, Google’s autonomous car was, but it is still an incredible story none the less.

Google has been developing this program for quite some time and today they decided to change a man’s life with it. Steve Mahan is legally blind and today he was given the opportunity to drive Google’s car. Thanks to the incredibly advanced technology of the autonomous car Google did change this man’s life in a number of ways. Google has not made this technology publicly available for obvious reasons, but the ongoing testing will likely prove that the technology is in fact very effective. Google has never really made it clear just how awesome this technology is and given that it works for a blind man it is pretty clear just how amazing this will be. Self driving cars have been in the future for such a long time that many people believed it would never be a reality but now Google is beginning to prove that it is going to happen. This is amazing news in every way because it means that the future is quickly approaching and Google is leading the way.

The fear of many sufferers of type 2 diabetes came true this weekend for Erin Bolefar. While out with her daughters, Kali Collins, 10, and 8 year-old twins Kaden and Kamryn, Bolefar had an episode that caused her to begin driving erratically.

Kali later told police her mom was not listening to her or her sisters. Bolefar had gone to Target and stopped at McDonald’s for ice cream and food when she began driving on the wrong side of the road and then going backwards. The car got a flat tire and Kali called her dad, Kevin Collins, for help. He told her to call 911 while he did the same.

Collins was frantic when he got the call at work from his daughter who said her mom was behind the wheel but not listening or stopping. Collins described knowing what it felt like to have your heart drop because his whole world was traveling in the out-of-control car. He called 911 but without the specific location of the vehicle, he couldn’t tell them very much.

Meanwhile, Kali dialed 911. Despite the hysteria she was feeling, she answered the dispatcher’s questioned when asked to describe were they were. Kali told them the car was near Bridgestone and Commerce City, CO police officer Brian Trujillo was dispatched to the scene.

According to spokesman Detective Christian Rasmussen of the Commerce City Police Department, Bolefar was not responding to Bolefar’s orders to stop the car. At one point, while the car was moving very slowly, Kali jumped out and yelled to the officer to let him know her mother was sick and then got back in the vehicle. Rasmussen was forced to open the driver’s door, reach over and forcibly stop the car since the driver was non-responsive.

Rasmussen said Kali was the hero in this situation because she did the right thing by calling 911 and telling them how to locate the vehicle. He also commended Officer Trujillo for following his training, acting quickly and bringing the situation under control.

The reasons for Bolefar’s episode are unclear. Kali told the 911 dispatcher that her mother had forgotten her medication that day. Other family members said she had forgotten to eat that day. Whatever the cause, she received medical treatment and was resting at home o Sunday.

As for Kali, she received a “Positive Ticket” from police. The year-old program rewards positive behavior of children. It can be redeemed for Ta variety of rewards at the Commerce City Recreation.

Google has been developing their self driving cars for quite some time now and while they’ve been having relative success with the program the idea of a driverless car was doomed from the start due to legal issues. Fortunately today the program might have gotten the support it so desperately needed in the form of legal support in California. Driverless cars could be the future of transportation and the good news is that municipalities around the country are slowly beginning to implement laws that would make it legal for Google and others to operate these cars.

Driverless cars will supposedly be nearly perfect when it comes to crashes and accidents and the good news is that this will save countless lives and thousands of dollars for millions of Americans. California is the first state pushing for legalization of this so that testing can begin and Google is at the forefront of the legal battle. If driverless cars are actually legalized it will open the world to testing and development from Google that will rapidly increase the rate at which these cars are being created. Google hasn’t publicly commented on the new developments but in the past Google has expressed strong concern with the laws banning autonomous cars. It might still be a few months before anything comes out of these legal proceedings but it is still great news for the automotive and tech industry alike.

The official sales reports from various auto makers have come in and overall the news is remarkably good. Despite the slow recovery of the economy auto sales have continued to grow rapidly over the past few months and November was no different according to the results. November auto sales were up by a significant amount all across the board which is great news for everyone as it means the economic recovery is likely to continue.

Overall the automotive industry reported a growth of about 14% over last year which is a remarkably dramatic increase. Analysts say that growth at that rate is absolutely amazing given the current economic situation and overall they’re very happy with the results.

Of course the real question comes when we consider the future sales growth. Analysts are overall quite hopeful that automotive sales will continue to grow but at this point they are being careful about making any extreme predictions. Assuming the current economic situation continues car sales will most likely continue to grow at or above the current rate which is great news for the entire industry as well as the economy as a whole. For now though it is just another small victory that a massive section of the economy has managed to sustain rapid growth for nearly a year now and at this time the automotive industry is showing no signs of stopping as nearly all manufacturers are predicting even more increases in sales.

Auto Sales Continue to Climb, Economy Recovering

For months analysts and economists have been searching for signs of the economy improving and it seems they have once again found a glimmer of good news that spreads all across the United States. Despite consistently low sales and significant economic turmoil car makers from all across the United States report an increase in sales for the past few months; not just an increase but a significant one at that.

For millions of Americans this is good news because it means that the economic situation is truly improving. Cars and the automotive industry have always been a relatively good indicator of how the economy is doing and the fact that car sales climbed over 10% in the past few months means that the economy should in fact be showing plenty of promising signs of improvement. Not only that, it also means that the millions of Americans employed in the auto industry have secure jobs and guaranteed income for quite some time as the auto manufacturers continue to keep production high.

This and other recent economic indicators are once again making analysts quite optimistic about the current economic situation. Assuming things continue in the way they current are the auto industry and many other major industries are expected to see some significant improvement in sales for the next few months which should eventually turn into consistent sales numbers at the new, higher amounts.