This week, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that users of medical marijuana are allowed to drive after using the drug.

In 2010 a Grand Traverse County man, Rodney Koon, was stopped for speeding, as he was traveling with 30 mph over the limit. He admitted he had smoked medical marijuana earlier and the blood test confirmed it. Therefore the court unanimously overturned an appeals court decision in this case.

“The medical marijuana law “shields registered patients from prosecution for the internal possession of marijuana,” the judges said.

The weird thing is that Michigan has a zero-tolerance policy for driving after using of marijuana, but at the same time it protects medical marijuana users. The law says that police must prove that the driver was ‘under the influence’ of marijuana, but does not specify what level of the drug in the body is considered trespass.

“It goes almost without saying that the (medical marijuana law) is an imperfect statute, the interpretation of which has repeatedly required this Court’s intervention,” the justices said. “Indeed, this case could have been easily resolved if the (law) had provided a definition of ‘under the influence.”

Source: usatoday.com

Local boy Rosberg, whose Finnish father Keke won in the Principality exactly 30 years ago, put his Mercedes on pole on Saturday — his third qualifying triumph in as many attempts.

“He’s been doing a fantastic job and its time it was said. He’s quietly been going about his business and not making a big noise about things,” Hill told the Mirror.

“When he was teammate to Michael, the thinking was that Michael was past his best and it was difficult to judge Nico,” said the former Williams driver.

“Well he’s got a new benchmark now and shown he’s not that bad. In fact he’s bloody good.”

German Rosberg’s new benchmark, of course, is Briton Hamilton — the highly-rated 2007 world champion who was tempted to switch from McLaren over the winter.

Hill said: “If Lewis is going to beat him (Rosberg) he’s going to have to put on his thinking cap and keep an eye on what Nico is doing.

“Nico is not going to be a pushover by any means.”

Foreign automakers say that US sales in the summer will be ‘bloody’ as car makers will fight for sales offering big incentives.

Last year auto sales in the US increased 13% to 14.5 million vehicles, reaching the highest level in the past 5 years. During the first four months of this year sales were up 6.9%, including the increase of 8.5% in May so far. Hyundai Motor America’s executive vice president of sales Dave Zuchowski says he expects sales to surpass 15.1 million.

“Profitability from the dealer perspective, from the (automaker) perspective, from the supplier perspective may be squeezed just because of this intensified level of competition,” Zuchowski said. “Summer’s going to be bloody. Everybody’s got inventory… I think it’s going to be very, very competitive.”

Bill Fay, Toyota Motor Sales USA vice president and general manager, predicts that US sales will end the year at around 15.3 million units, the same as Kia Motors America executive vice president for sales Tom Loveless. The Japanese automaker will introduce a few new models in the US during the second half of the year.

“I think it will be a hard-fought 15.3 — I think it will be extremely competitive,” Loveless said at the same discussion. “I think we will have incentives higher than any of us would like them to be.”

Mercedes-Benz expects to reach record sales this year too, as it prepares to introduce new models, such as the new S-Class later this year, and 30 new models in the following 7 years, “the biggest product offensive in its history”.

Source: The Detroit News

Chrysler announced that the Fiat 500L will go on sale in June for the starting price of $19,900.

The Fiat 500 was brought back to the US market in 2011 and the 500L, coming in June, is the second model, slightly longer and larger than its predecessor. Although Fiat has developed other variations of the Fiat 500 and came up with the Fiat Abarth performance package, they are all the same size. The 500L is 26-inches longer, 6-inches taller and has 4 doors. The automaker will introduce another version, with a more rugged look, called the 500L Trekking, with a starting price of $21,995.

“The all-new Fiat 500L expands the reach of the Fiat brand, appealing to customers who like the contemporary Italian style, but need more space and functionality,” Jason Stoicevich, head of Fiat’s North American sales, said in a statement.

The 500L can seat five passengers, has with 42% more interior space and is fitted with a 160-horsepower 1.4-liter MultiAir Turbo engine with a six-speed transmission. The model will rival the Mini Cooper hatchback, the Mini Countryman, the Nissan Juke and the Kia Soul. This year so far Fiat’s sales in the US were up 6.5% from last year.

Source : freep.com

Mika Hakkinen said he does not agree with those who think Pirelli’s heavily degrading tyres should be drastically amended.

“I am of the opinion that motor racing is show business,” the 1998 and 1999 world champion told Finnish broadcaster MTV3 in Monaco.

Hakkinen said the plethora of “overtaking and pitstops” is interesting for the fans, and so it’s up to F1′s engineers and drivers to “develop a car and driving style” that looks after the tyres.

He said the main reason for the controversy is some teams who are struggling with the situation “using the media to throw fuel on the fire”.

Four-time world champion Alain Prost, also in Monaco, agrees: “I think in the past there has been much criticism for there not being a show.

“We should feel very lucky that we have these kinds of races.”

At any rate, Paul Hembery has announced that – if the Italian supplier is still in F1 next year – Pirelli will take a “step back” and a more “cautious” approach for the sweeping new turbo V6 regulations.

“I think that we won’t be having discussions about tyres next year,” laughed Force India’s Bob Fernley. “It will be a completely different programme.”

We revealed on Friday that the Finn was told by Bernie Ecclestone to remove the artwork depicting the 1976 world champion because it broke some of the sport’s commercial protocols.

Lotus had confirmed that Raikkonen’s Hunt tribute was to mark the 40th anniversary of the legendary late British driver’s F1 debut.

On top of the helmet was artwork commissioned by Hunt’s family.

“It’s great that his family is launching products to represent one of my favourite eras of formula one,” the 2007 world champion was quoted as saying.

Nico Rosberg dominated Thursday practice on the fabled streets, and has locked out pole position since Bahrain a month ago.

But in the races, the W04 burns through the Pirelli tyres at an alarming rate.

“In Barcelona we were 70 seconds off in the race, which is one hell of a big chunk, and really difficult to make up in two weeks,” said German Rosberg on Thursday.

The problem could be less dramatic in unique Monaco, however, while chairman Niki Lauda told Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo: “There is no denying that we are making progress.

“We still have a lot to do, but we have good indications that we have evolved in that direction.”

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa told La Gazzetta dello Sport: “Mercedes will be hard to beat in qualifying.

“I also saw a long run from Rosberg and it was very fast. They don’t have so much tyre degradation.”

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel admitted he is hoping for some Saturday rain.

“Otherwise it will be hard to be right at the front. Mercedes looks very, very strong,” he told Bild newspaper.

Earlier, we reported rumours from the Monaco paddock that the deal for the British team could be on the cards, because Renault was charging multiple millions more than Mercedes for a turbo V6 package.

“The decision is made and it will be announced this weekend in Monaco,” said Swiss newspaper Blick’s veteran correspondent Roger Benoit.

Germany’s Michael Schmidt, of Auto Motor und Sport, is reporting similarly.

The Mercedes link is also an obvious one for Williams, with team co-owner Toto Wolff now the German marque’s executive director.

And Wolff’s wife Susie is the Williams test driver.

It is Williams’ fifth different engine partner since 2005, hot on the heels of BMW, Cosworth, Toyota and Renault.

For the second consecutive year, Jaguar managed to take the first place in the What Car? 2013 UK Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study in association with J.D. Power.

‘This is another great achievement for everyone at Jaguar,’ said What Car? editor-in-chief Chas Hallett. “This study shows that customers are really satisfied with their Jaguars.”

The second place was taken by Lexus, followed by Honda, Skoda took the 4th place, followed by Mercede-Benz, Land Rover landed on the 6th place, followed by Toyota, Nissan, Seat and VW. The last five places were taken by Fiat, Peuegot, Mitsubishi, Alfa and Chevrolet.

The study also presents the ranking of 116 individual models, according to consumer satisfaction. The first five places were taken by Skoda Superb, Skoda Yeti, Jaguar XF, Citroen DS3 and Lexus RX, while the last five places were taken by Fiat Panda, Ford Ka, Fiat Grande Punto/Evo, Alfa Romeo Mito ad the Chevrolet Spark on the last place.

The winners for each category are: Lexus RX as the best large SUV, Skoda Yeti is the best compact SUV, Mercedes-Benz B-Class is the best MPV, Jaguar XF is the best executive car, Skoda Superb is the best family car/compact executive, Toyota Prius is the best small family car, Citroen DS3 is best supermini and Citroen DS3 is best supermini.

Source: whatcar.com

Ford will launch this weekend a major new European advertising campaign related to the 2013 UEFA Champions League.

Ford of Europe relies on the highly-expected 2013 UEFA Champions League Final football match which will take place on Saturday, May 25th, to launch its new advertising campaign, under the worldwide positioning entitled “Go Further”, which was unveiled in 2012. The new strategy emphases the technology used in Ford’s products instead of focusing on individual nameplates.

The match is expected to be watched by 150 million people in Europe, and the premier boards on the Wembley Stadium in London will direct viewers to the automaker’s new web site, which includes information about the popular technologies, as well as entertaining videos. Each commercial ends with a scroll of Ford technologies and features and highlights the one which is the subject of the ad.

“The UEFA Champions League Final has a bigger TV audience even than the Super Bowl,” said Roelant de Waard, vice president of marketing for Ford of Europe, in a news release. “It’s the perfect opportunity to present the Blue Oval to millions of European customers as a brand that offers great cars with remarkable technologies that make life a little easier, safer and more fun.”

Source: Forbes