Toyota engines: tough enough for the North Pole

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Toyota has long been associated with being reliable, safe, and efficient to the point where just about every Toyota dealer stands by their vehicles and offers a Lifetime Powertrain Warranty on each one sold. These vehicles have also been capable of incredible feats, such as towing a space shuttle. So would it surprise you to learn that a team of Russian scientists decided to journey from their home country, across the North Pole, and into Canada, using specially designed automobiles that were powered by Toyota engines?

The team, known as MLAE (Marine Live-Ice Automobile Expedition) managed to travel a whopping 2,485 miles over a span of 70 days, navigating across a sea of ice floes and temperatures that averaged -29 degrees Fahrenheit! According to Phys.org, the brightly colored vehicles used were built from multiple parts and components, and were powered by 2.0L Toyota diesel engines. They were specially designed to handle the extreme climate conditions, with over-inflated tires that could drive across the ice or float when needed at roughly six miles per hour. Three metric tons of diesel fuel were brought by the scientists to complete their  entire trip. To put things in perspective, the length of the MLAE would be the equivalent of coasting across the United States from Jacksonville, Florida to Los Angeles, California. If you were to make the same drive in a Prius (averaging 50 MPG), you'd be able to finish the trip much faster and efficiently- on a little over four tanks of gas, in two to three days! 

Besides the opportunity to encounter polar bears, walruses, and see the Aurora Borealis (all three of which they did), the scientists mainly wanted to test the ability of their vehicles to make such a lengthy trip. After finding success and reaching Resolute Bay, they were welcomed with applause, and then left their vehicles in garages, which will be picked up next year in February and driven back to Russia. Before setting out again, they plan to discuss the possibility of producing commercial vehicles of the prototypes that were used to cross the North Pole.

Would you make a journey like that if given the chance? Or have you ever been in a situation where your Toyota pulled through despite nasty weather or conditions? Share your thoughts below! 

How sick is "too sick" to drive?

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Could driving with a bad cold or a case of the flu affect your ability to drive? A new study claims it's nothing to sneeze at!
The study was conducted by Young Marmalade, an auto insurance company based in the UK, as well as Cardiff University in Wales. The researchers involved state that drivers experience a major loss of concentration while under the weather, up to a 50% drop in driving ability. Some of the trends they noticed were:

• An increase in the frequency of sudden braking
• Less awareness of surrounding traffic
• Slower reaction times

Now, I've previously written about impaired driving (more specifically, driving while sleep deprived) and believe that driving while tired is very similar, if not worse, than drunk driving because it impairs the brain significantly. Since illness is often associated with drowsiness and the feeling of wanting to rest, it makes sense that driving ability would become impaired. The question is, to what extent? In this study, it is being claimed that sick driving has the equivalent of drinking four double whiskies.

In order to complete the study, selected drivers were set up with black boxes that recorded their speed, braking, and cornering abilities, which were then measured. However, because the degree to which people feel sick can vary wildly, there isn't a standard measure of reference to go by. What is known though, is that most of us tend to get several colds a year, and when you multiply that by the entire U.S. population (roughly 311 million), that's close to a billion colds going around! In other words, there's a good chance that someone you're sharing the road with is going to be affected or impaired to some extent. Whether that's a mild sore throat, or coughing up more junk than a busted vaccuum cleaner, there's no telling for sure!

As Dr. Christopher Ohl, associate professor of medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina puts it, "One needs to understand there is a wide range of mental impairment from illness, and more minor ailments are really not much of a problem if symptoms are controlled with non-narcotic medications.”

When I've had strep throat in the past, I can vouch for it affecting my reaction times at the wheel (and later regret having not taken that sick day!) However, that's not always going to be the case with each individual person. The degree to which you or I feel sick will always vary depending on our general health, and how bad the sickness is.

What do you think about this study? Should we be more aware of illnesses and driving impairment?