The U.S./Mexican border at San Ysidro, California, is one busy place. In 2005 alone, more than 17 million cars and 50 million people passed through -- making it the world's busiest land border crossing. In an effort to speed things up, officials have unveiled a drive-through X-ray machine. From outward appearances, it looks like a simple car wash. In fact, the device is a huge "backscatter" X-ray imaging machine called a Z Portal. Car owners (or a border agent) drive through the device while the vehicle is screened for contraband. Downplaying any safety concerns, Custom and Border Patrol officials say a couple thousand trips through the Z Portal is equal the radiation exposure from a single traditional medical X-ray. The imaging machine was unveiled just last week, and San Diego officials claim it has already helped them seize more than 3,000 pounds of drugs.
Thinking with their wallets, and avoiding $4.59/gallon fuel prices, truck owners in the States have been sneaking across the Mexican border to fill up with low-cost diesel (in Mexico, the fuel averages just $2.20/gallon). While filling a primary fuel tank isn't illegal, Mexico prohibits additional fuel tanks (aka auxiliary tanks) to be filled and moved across the border, so many truck owners with long-range tanks are finding themselves breaking Mexican federal law. Truck owners are getting stopped on the Mexican side of the border and their trucks are confiscated while authorities run tests to determine the origin of the fuel. If found in violation, owners face stiff fines. The Mexican Consulate is offering a blanket warning for all truck owners equipped with secondary fuel tanks to not drive those vehicles into Mexico. Not only do those owners risk truck confiscation, but the Mexican fuel is not formulated to U.S. ultra-low-sulfur regulations meaning emissions components will likely be damaged.
If any of you were stuck in traffic trying to get through the Detroit Windsor tunnel late last week, we may now know why. There was no major international incident or terrorist crackdown happening. Apparently, Chrysler Canada CEO Reid Bigland grabbed a fresh-off-the-line Dodge Challenger SRT8 and headed over to Detroit from his office in Windsor, Ontario. Agents of the Customs and Border Protection Service decided they wanted to check out Chrysler's new muscle car. Several agents spent time going over the new Challenger and asking questions about it rather than processing travelers through the downtown Detroit border crossing point. Traffic quickly got backed up and according to Bigland there was about an hour delay by the time the agents let him proceed. Oh, and they never even asked for Bigland's ID.
If you car comes up missing here in the U.S., you probably don't want it back once the thieves are done with it. Over in Scotland, they do things differently, even illegal things. Police say someone in southeast Scotland's Borders area is sneaking into houses, taking car keys and going for rides in the homeowners' cars. In this country, that'd be the end of it until the police found your Malibu up on cinder blocks in a bad neighborhood. The Scottish twist, however, is that the next morning all these cars are right where they were parked the day before. The burglar has struck at least eight times, and so far, only one car has ended up crashed.
The only things that tip people their car has been stolen are finding their keys in strange places and discoverign more miles on their odometers. Sometimes lots of miles. Until the thief is nabbed, we recommend the Scottish keep their tanks empty and their keys on the nightstand.
