driving

Dubai was a mecca for expats. Now they are driving 10 hours and paying thousands of dollars for a flight to escape from there

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Iran has shown it needs very little to upend Middle East air traffic and hit the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where it hurts the most: the image of reliability that has been built for years at an international level, with great benefitsby the way. The wave of attacks launched by Tehran to neighboring countries that facilitate US military deployment in the region, such as Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or the UAE itself, has affected thousands of flights and left a curious image: expats desperate to leave Dubai. There are those who are shelling out large sums to fly on private jets and those who have even driven 10 hours to get to Riyadh and get on a plane there. What has happened? If Tehran wanted to damage the image of stability of neighbors like the UAE, it was completely right. Although the country managed to intercept most of the drones and missiles launched by Iran, the truth is that some of the projectiles reached Dubai, the tourist and financial heart of the region. In practice, this translated into fires in luxury hotels, towers with windows shattered by explosions, a knocked out airport and, above all, considerable reputational damage for a city that has spent years building the image of a safe and comfortable destination for expats. Sums it up beautifully Elizabeth Rayment, a consultant caught off guard by the Iranian attack in Palm Islands: “You never expect to hear missiles flying overhead in Dubai.” Have there been more consequences? Yes. The most serious are undoubtedly the victims. Arab News I was talking yesterday about three deceased and 58 injured in the United Arab Emirates. There are not many if you take into account that the country’s authorities claim to have detected a total of 156 ballistic missiles and several cruise missiles, in addition to more than half a thousand drones, most of them intercepted and destroyed. The other consequence is the chaos generated in air traffic in the Persian Gulf, where some airports and airlines have had to suspend their operations, affecting both customers in the region and others who had planned to pass through Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Qatar to take connecting flights between Europe and Asia. Have many been cancelled? FlightAware estimates that around 2,800 operations and on Sunday more than 3,1500. Added to these are the flights canceled and suspended today by Gulf airlines. For reference, Financial Times assured this morning that more than half of the services that had been booked for today in the region have been cancelled. The Iranian attacks have altered to a greater or lesser extent the programming of Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways and the airports of Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi, as well as other terminals in Kuwait and Bahrain. The BBC has chatted with travelers who have found flights canceled upon arriving at the terminal. There are those who already talk about the biggest crisis aviation since the pandemic. How do I leave the country? That is the question that expats and tourists have been asking themselves since Saturday. The Iranian attacks have surprised them in the region and now they find that there are few (or no) regular flights that take them to other parts of the globe. Faced with such a scenario, there are those who have armed themselves with patience, those who have drawn on their checkbook and those who have resigned themselves to traveling kilometers and kilometers to reach airports with flights. So I told it a few hours ago FTwhich speaks of “tens of thousands of passengers” stranded in the region and assures that there are Dubai residents who have traveled to neighboring Oman to get a flight. What’s more, some have even driven 10 hours to get on a plane in Riyadh. They don’t have it easy. Most scheduled flights these days between Muscat (Oman) and Europe are reserved. And what do they do? The wealthiest, pull out their checkbook and try their luck with private jet companies. EnterJet, which is dedicated to intermediating between customers and available planes, says that reservations have skyrocketed 40% since the weekend. The problem is that the sector also has its limitations. Its founder explains to Financial Times that “the only viable option” to operate is the Muscat terminal, which makes it difficult to obtain landing slots. Added to this are the difficulties in finding ships. The businessman hopes that as traffic recovers in the Gulf, private flights will increase. Are they very expensive? The situation in the Gulf has caused a curious effect: while the price of airlines such as International Airlines Group or Air France-KLM they resent the price of private services skyrockets. The JetVip agency (Oman) explains to Guardian that a flight to Istanbul on a small Nextant jet costs around 85,000 euros, about three times the normal price. The same media reveals that seats on private charter flights to Moscow are paid for about 20,000 euros… per person. Rates vary depending on the company, but they usually always range in the five digits, or even more. It may sound strange, but we must keep in mind that Donald Trump has hinted that the offensive against Iran could continue even further. “four weeks” and the question remains as to how Tehran will respond. Added to this is that over the last few years the UAE has managed to position itself as a priority destination for thousands of expatsa position largely based on reliability and stability that Tehran has now managed to damage with missiles. Images | Michael Ranzau (Flickr) In Xataka | The arrival of the B-2s to Iran can only mean one thing: the search for the greatest threat to the United States has begun

China is filling up with “quadricycles” that do not require a driving license. And they are a problem for road safety

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The two times I have been to China, two things about its automobile fleet have caught my attention: the furor for electric cars in terms of brands, models and dealerships, because you can almost find one on every corner of any central street in the big cities. And on the other side of the coin, I was also struck by the enormous amount of motorbikes (scooter is saying a lot) and cars without licenses parked in any side and circulating any manner. Don’t call it a light quadricycle, rather say laotoule. There they are known as “laotoule”, something like that like the joy of the old man. Because if in Spain the light quadricycles you see are usually driven by older people, in China too. They began to be seen back in the 90s from tuk-tuk modifications three wheels in rural areas, although today they have capacity for up to five people and a very diverse aesthetic. From occasional mobility to a vehicle for everything. Although the older ones are the star group, they are not the only ones: they are vehicles with very clear profiles of occasional use and short and (relatively) simple trajectories. As collects China Dailythese vehicles are the main means of transportation for running errands or picking up elderly grandchildren, but in recent years they have expanded their range to younger people: they offer a closed space and solve the problem of having to travel at a low cost. According to the China Electric Vehicle Associationannual sales of these lightweight non-highway quadricycles increased from 1.1 million in 2017 to 2.1 million in 2023, of which 1.4 million went to seniors. According to an investigation According to Banyuetan, the magazine linked to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, these cars are flooding rural roads and urban peripheries. And its proliferation has aroused the suspicion of the authorities. The legal vacuum of laotoule. Because unlike Spain, where any motor vehicle requires a technical sheet and a license plate, in China they have been marketed as if they were devices for personal mobility, something like a scooter or an electric wheelchair. Thus, the bulk of laotoule are sold without registration or approval or the need to pass your MOT. In fact, they are increasingly sold online. like low cost imitations of luxury cars. There is even a Porsche Cayenne without a license. Because there are brands and models of Chinese electric cars to bore, in a light quadricycle version, too. In fact, There are even Maseratis and Porsche Cayenne modelsor rather, Maserati style and Porsche style, because they are not official from the respective houses. And because the Maserati costs about 3,200 euros in exchange. Is take a look at the Alibaba website and find models for all tastes, such as this Mini. Also There is a version without a license of Xiaomi’s second electric car, the ambitious Xiaomi YU7as you can see below these lines. From afar they hit the mark, up close already such. Under that attractive bodywork they hide electric motors of low or medium power and a top speed of up to 70 km/h. Tap to go to the post. The card-free version of the Xiaomi YU7 The real problem is road safety. Leaving aside industrial property issues, laotoules look like miniature cars but they are not: they lack basic elements that are found in passenger cars, such as steel frames or airbags. The Banyuetan report echoes of a fatal hit by a 59-year-old driver in a laotule in Hebei, northern China. From prohibition to regulation. Some local administrations have already made a move: since January 1, 2024, cities such as Luoyang or Beijing banned circulation on public roads to low-speed three- and four-wheel electric vehicles. However, there is a middle way: China issued a regulation of technical specifications and safety requirements for electric vehicles, finally classifying laoutoule as motor vehicles. From here and as explained by Lu Yong, researcher in the low-speed electric vehicle sector for Sixth Tone: “We must recognize the real demand for low-speed vehicles and strengthen the design at national level, both for industry development and traffic management. Clear and enforceable rules must be quickly introduced for both product and driving standards, as well as for road access.” In Xataka | China has so many electric cars running on its streets that it is going to use them to generate energy for homes In Xataka | China is the only country in the world where car prices are falling. So much so that the Government is taking measures

There is a reason why Germany allows driving at 300 km/h and it is not history or politics: it is the asphalt

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If you like to step on the accelerator, you will have already seen firsthand that cornering at 100 km/h is better than at 130 km/h. I don’t need to remind you that the maximum speed allowed on state roads is 120 km/h. Although there are quite a few countries within the European Union with higher limits, Germany is the only state where there are sections without speed limit. 300 km/h without breaking a sweat. Obviously, this poses a danger to driving as cars such as a Porsche at 322 km/h. At these speeds, the risk of the car jumping or losing control is notable. But the “recipe” for manufacturing the German Autobahn has its particularities that allow it to offer enviable flatness and a road surface with high load capacity. And it can be found in the regulations and standards of the FGSV (Research Society for Highways and Transportation) and the BASt (German Federal Authority for Road Safety and Traffic). Blessed sandwich. While in Spain Flexible or semi-rigid pavement predominates with thicknesses of 40 to 60 centimeters. In Germany they use a standardized layer system called RStO 12 (Guidelines for the Standardization of Pavement Structures). That is, with a total thickness of between 70 and 90 centimeters with an antifreeze base composed of highly permeable gravel and sand so that water does not remain trapped (in case of freezing, it would generate large cracks as a result of expansion). About this, layers of gravel mixed with concrete or asphalt to provide sufficient rigidity to prevent collapse under the passage of heavy trucks. cwhen concrete and when asphalt. In the intermediate section the Germans use two materials, highlighting the concrete for those stretches of free speed and high truck traffic thanks to its rigidity and durability. In more detail: The 25 to 30 centimeter high-resistance concrete pavements longitudinally integrate plastic-coated steel bars. Thus, they allow some thermal expansion but do not allow them to move independently, causing steps. The transition between the concrete slabs is barely noticeable. Asphalt with stone matrix (S.M.A.), a combination with crushed stone and cellulose to offer extreme resistance to deformation and maximize the tire’s grip. The “superstructure” of German roads. Von Susan from Bielefeld, Deutschland – Straße, CC BY 2.0 Extreme plain for safety and by law. If you hit a speed bump at a certain speed, your car will go away. If you go 300 km/h in a sports car, the loss of aerodynamic load is such that it could be fatal. So Germany takes the plain very seriously by regulations: the maximum allowable deviation three millimeters in four meters. They achieve it with controlled pavers by global navigation and laser sensor systems. Auf wiedersehen, aquaplaning. Once the risk of steps, cracks and unevenness has been minimized, there remains another staunch enemy for speed: water on the asphalt. And they fight it in two ways. For starters, autobahns have a slope of at least 2.5% on the sides to evacuate the water as soon as possible. For concrete pavements, it is used waschbeton or washed concrete, a technique that brushes the surface to expose the aggregates, thus creating a rough, non-slip area that breaks up any water film that may form. In Xataka | Germany, Austria and Switzerland have plenty of roads. So they have started covering them with solar panels In Xataka | The Autobahn are the only roads in Europe without a speed limit. More and more Germans want to end them Cover | Wes Tindel and Nick Fewings

the changes already approved by the EU for our driving license

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Europe approved it and now we have three years to collect the ideas, adapt them to our country and implement them. It was decided in November and should mark the DGT’s agenda until 2028 because the idea of ​​the European Union is that the driving licenses of all the countries that make up it have the same rights and obligations. When and what? November 5, 2025. That was the date on which the European Commission approved Directive (EU) 2025/2205 of the European Parliament and of the Council of October 22, 2025 on driving licenses, which amends Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive (EU) 2022/2561 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repeals them. Directive 2006/126/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Regulation (EU) No 383/2012. If you have missed this tremendous title, what you should know is that all the changes to be applied are summarized in the first point of the directive, which specifies that common standards are established for the entire European Union for the following points: a) the models, standards and categories of driving licenses b) the issuance, validity, renewal and reciprocal recognition of driving licenses c) certain aspects of the exchange, replacement, cancellation, withdrawal, suspension and restriction of driving licenses d) certain aspects applicable to novice drivers, in particular in relation to the accompanied driving system and the trial period. How does it affect us? It is something that remains to be defined because we already know how the issue of European directives and applications in member countries works. And the fact is that, although a country has the obligation to implement the changes, the truth is that It’s not always done on time.at the risk of a reprimand from Europe or, in the worst case, economic sanctions. That said, the most important points in which we should see changes in the driving license are the following: Same validity in all member countries and communication in the withdrawal of points from the driving license between countries Extension of the validity of permits to 15 years (instead of the current 10 years) on licenses A and B Extension of the trial period (new driver) to two years Access to the B driving license from the age of 17 Access to permit C (trucks) at 18 years old and permit D (buses) at 21 years old all the same. If the European Union is interested in anything, it is in standardizing the validity of driving licenses throughout Europe. Right now, countries do not have clear communication with each other and a driver with a driving license without points can drive without restrictions in another country. Likewise, work is being done to ensure that the withdrawal of points for an infraction in a foreign country impacts the driver’s daily life and has consequences in their country. That is, if we are deducted points for an infraction in Germany, that punishment will be reflected on our license when we drive through Spain. In this homogenization, there has also been debate about the validity of the driving license, the time it can remain active and whether at some point it should be withdrawn. The latter is specified in the directive that it’s discriminatory Therefore, it is left in the hands of the member countries to maintain the relevant physical and psychological tests. In addition, the validity periods should be extended to 15 years as a general rule when, right now, it is 10 years. Two seasons as a beginner and access at 17 years old. Although there are no plans on the table for changes to Spanish regulations, the truth is that the new directive has some changes as far as younger drivers are concerned. Firstly, access to a driving license is reduced to 17 years of age for the B license (which allows driving cars) as long as the driving is accompanied by a co-driver with the following characteristics: Be over 24 years old Have more than five years of experience as a driver Have a valid driving license Comply with alcohol and drug limits In addition, drivers who receive a driving license when these years are implemented will be considered new drivers for two years. That, in Spain, has a direct impact on the limits in current alcohol controls. We need drivers. Furthermore, the European Union is experiencing a drought of truck and bus drivers. Right now it is estimated that the European Union has a deficit of more than 100,000 bus drivers and In Spain alone, 37,000 drivers will be needed this year as those who are now active retire. Let’s not talk about the truckers, with a hole of more than three million. To alleviate this crisis, the European Union wants to lower the limits for driving a truck (C license) to 18 years, something that is already active in Spain. For the D license (buses for the transport of more than eight passengers) you must be 21 years of age. Right now in our country it is necessary to be 24 years old or have, at least, the certificate of professional aptitude (CAP) in the accelerated initial qualification modality to obtain it sooner. The DGT collects all the possibilities here active at this time. Photo | Jack Delulio and Alexander Popov In Xataka | The DGT does not have an “ITV for V-16 beacons”, but the fact that many people believe that it does reveals how confusing everything is being.

keep driving on the left

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The one in Madrid is one of the most interesting subways in Europe and it is not even due to the work of coverage of your ticket vending machines not even because I’m going to remove drivers from L6. Nor for their pushersits controversial solution to minimize overcrowding. Since Alfonso At 294 kilometers long and with 302 stations, it is the ninth largest in the world. And in those more than 300 stations it hides historical particularities, such as the ghost station of Chamberí, converted into an air raid shelter during the Spanish Civil War and which remains intact and open to the public in the Platform 0. It’s not the only thing that hasn’t changed: The subway continues to circulate on the left. As a curiosity, some subway escalators are also arranged in that direction. A fairly common question if you are used to taking the metro in other cities, such as Barcelona or Paris, is the direction of the system’s circulation: in Madrid, the metro runs on the left, as does the London metro. That nod to Britishness is not accidental. When the Spanish civil engineers Miguel Otamendi, Carlos Mendoza and Antonio González Echarte were in charge of the design of the Madrid Metro, They were inspired by the London Undergroundadopting The Tube’s signaling and circulation standards. The metro network came before the highway code And it makes sense: at that time London was the world benchmark for suburban railways and, furthermore, there was no state traffic regulation that required driving on the right. Thus, for example in Madrid people drove on the left while in Barcelona they drove on the right. A side of the mayor of Madrid in 1924 officially decreed that they would drive on the right. However, a decade later the first highway code state. It doesn’t matter: the Madrid Metro had already been operational for years. The one of why in the UK we drive on the left It is an issue that has a lot of crumbs, but in short the historical reasons are two: war and comfort. Assuming that most people are right-handed, driving on the left was the best in case of having to fight an attacker that you came across head-on. You had a better angle of maneuver and your right hand was between you and the enemy. On the other hand, mounting and dismounting from a horse is also easier if you are right-handed and also safer, lowering yourself into the ditch. Likewise, when driving, accidental whipping of pedestrians was also avoided. Was Napoleon who changed this dynamic in the rest of Europe. Geographically and culturally, it would be logical to think that the Madrid Metro would have changed its orientation to align itself with the bulk of the old continent and current standards, but it did not happen. In addition, Madrid’s light metro lines do circulate on the right following the modern road system. Despite the adoption of the state traffic code that required driving on the left, the Madrid metro never changed direction. The Madrid Metro Network was and is independent of the state’s railway network, so in the 1930s they determined that it would continue to circulate on the left to avoid exorbitant cost which would mean in infrastructure and logistics the change of the installed signage, the reversal of the direction of travel of the trains and the pointers on the tracks and even how some stations were configured. In Xataka | Madrid wants to convert its least used Metro line into the “Gran Diagonal”. A 1,000 million project without a clear end In Xataka | Faced with daily collapses, the Madrid Metro could increase frequencies or put in “pushers.” He has chosen the second Cover | Photo of Martti Salmi in Unsplash

The owner of an Audi A3 was fined three times for driving without a license. On the fourth, the court took away the car

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What prevents a driver from driving without a license? Obviously, the law. But going down to a purely practical field, what prevents a driver without a driving license from going to the garage at home, taking his car, turning the key and putting it in first gear to take the car to work, take a walk or go out? That’s what has happened in Vigo where Justice has only found the way out for one woman: to take away her Audi. The Provincial Court, tired of imposing sanctions on him that emphasized that he was prohibited from driving, has decided to confiscate his Audi to avoid greater harm. By then the sentences had had “no deterrent effect,” in the words of the ruling. Either you give it to me or I’ll take it from you There are not many violations for which they can keep our car. There are not many reasons why they can revoke our driving license. Surely you have already found one of them. Bingo. A positive for alcohol or drugs leaves, for the moment, the car immobilized and depending on the severity of the positive, it can leave us without a driving license. In cases that the car is immobilizeda passenger who does not test positive may well take charge. alcohol control Or a family member or friend can come pick it up, as long as the immobilized car is not hindering driving. If neither of these two cases occur, the tow truck comes and takes it to the municipal warehouse. The next day, the car can be removed. By a person who has a driver’s license, of course. But, as we said, what really prevents a person from taking their car again when they arrive at the garage at home? The limits have been found by the resident of Vigo who stars in a story collected by The Voice of Galicia. The Provincial Court has ended up confiscating his Audi to prevent him from driving again without a license and in the process has answered the question of how many times is too many times. They explain in the Galician media that on March 15, 2025, she was caught driving without a valid driving license because all her points had previously been removed. Taking charge of the case, the Criminal Court sentenced him to six months and one day in prison for a crime against traffic safety. But he applied a less common decision: seized his Audi A3. The reason is that the convicted woman was the fourth time she had faced justice for similar events. To the point that the judge in charge pointed out that his record includes three other similar convictions in just 11 months. On those three previous occasions, the driver was fined for driving without a driving license. In the third, in addition to the financial penalty, he was imposed 60 days of work for the benefit of the community. On the fourth occasion lost the Audi A3 with whom he was driving. Upon hearing the verdict, the accused appealed to the Pontevedra Court, alleging that the three previous convictions for the same reason (driving without a license) are not enough to apply the aggravating circumstance of multiple recidivism. In addition, he requested that a mitigating circumstance be applied for drug addiction and asked that the car be returned because he considered that the measure was disproportionate and unjustified. For its part, the Pontevedra Court has confirmed that the seizure of the vehicle was a correct measure because the three previous convictions had had “no deterrent effect.” In addition, he emphasizes that the car itself was a “potentially dangerous instrument” since the driver had been detected driving without lights at night or under the influence of drugs. Photo | Audi and DGT In Xataka | In 1896 a man decided to drive at the reckless speed of 13 km/h. And he received the first fine in history

117,000 will review for autonomous driving failures

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Xiaomi has announced a campaign that will affect 116,887 units of your electric sedan Su7 due to failures in the driving assistance system. The measure arrives six months after A fatal accident Starring this model lit the alarms on the safety of its level 2 autonomous systems. The background problem. The State Administration for China Market Regulation has determined that the SLE7 motor autopist pilot system presents “insufficient recognition capacity” and may not detect or properly alert over certain risk scenarios. This affects all vehicles made between February 2024 and August 2025. The tragedy that triggered him. Last March, three university students lost their lives in China when their Xiaomi Su7 crashed into a cement post at 97 km/h on a highway. The vehicle circulated in autonomous driving mode and caught fire after the impact, which occurred seconds after the driver recovered control after receiving an obstacle system alert. The technical solution. Xiaomi will address the problem through A free software update that will be sent via Ota (over-the-Air) to the affected vehicles. The company will notify the owners in China through text messages and their mobile application. Regulation. This withdrawal coincides with the hardening of the norms Safety for vehicles with level 2 automation in China. On Wednesday, the authorities published a draft of new security standards that will enter into force in 2027. Under current regulations, level 2 systems require that the driver keep his hands in the steering wheel at all times and pay constant attention. Change of trend. The Xiaomi measure is part of a growing tendency towards greater transparency in the Chinese automobile sector. Recently, Xpeng too He notified his clients For its P7+ model for a failure in the direction, breaking with the previous practice of avoiding call calls in the Chinese market. In the case of Xiaomi, although the campaign consists of a software update that is installed wirelessly in the owner’s car, the Chinese authorities continue to classify it as a ‘call to review’ because it affects the safety of the vehicle, it requires regulatory approval and the manufacturer has to follow a series of notification protocols. In Xataka | China is manufacturing so many cars that concessionaires already send a message to the industry: they do not want to become their warehouses

The self -school denounces that the list of waiting for the driving exam is endless. The DGT denies it

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“I thought about changing my self -school, really, but as I had already approved the theoretical exam … when I asked in other places the waiting list was the same.” These words are from Elena, a student of an Aluche car to the south of Madrid. What he explains is the same as thousands of students live throughout Spain. Elena is 19 years old and wanted to get the driving license “because a car gives you a lot of freedom. If there is public transport, I prefer public transport but it is true that the car gives you that freedom not to depend on the schedules of the bus or the subway.” He was not in a hurry, luckily. He tells us that he approved the theoretical exam last March but had to stop the desire to get into the car to start the practices. “There was a waiting list that has come to August.” And, as we said, he clarifies that it doesn’t matter where you look. “I had to wait and now,” he emphasizes. Those who need yes or yes to work are not so lucky. “As an opponent, who in some cases ask traffic an extraordinary exam to be able to enter into the deadline,” they explain from Corella Autoescoles who will give us more details of what they are living in Valencia. Because the situation is repeated in the big cities of Spain. This is just a case in Madrid but there are similar testimonies in Valencia, Barcelona or Bilbao. Self -schools stuck due to lack of teachers. But also struck self -schools because, they say, the DGT does not have enough employees to give way to the waiting list to present to the practical exam. “The so -called waiting list,” they tell us from the DGT. Permanently struck self -schools It is a problem that has been repeating for years. Already in 2017DGT examiners were strike demanding job improvements. They said they were saturated and claimed more personal. Then, 100,000 applicants stayed on the road and Some self -schools raised the closure after some stops that were held more than half a year. Now the DGT ensures that “the ratio of jobs is covered in 97% and is the group that has a higher replacement rate since every year approximately 50 examiners access.” “Since 2017, 732 examiners have been incorporated. It is, with much difference, the collective with more incorporations within the DGT, ”they insist. Is it enough? Javier L. Tejedor, of Lara auto -schoolIt is resounding: “No.” He points out that the examiners “are obliged to take the holidays before February and that leaves months of very few examiners in staff. The months of December, January and February are very complicated. And also July.” The same says David Corella, from Corella Autoescoles. “We have to take the student to exam when we see him prepared but quadling that we have to wait a month and a half to introduce ourselves. There you have to run out the practices.” If everything were about rails, there would be not much problem. But everything is complicated when the student suspends (according to the DGT 46% of students do not exceed the first exam). “We have to put them on the waiting list of repeaters and there the deadlines go to two or three months because we have to continue taking people but there are few places. We have never had a waiting list like now,” they insist. Both point to the same problem. “Almost all traffic leaders are saturated throughout Spain,” they explain from Lara Auto School. “In our case, as we have 65 centers in Madrid, the waiting list to do the practices once you approve the theoretician is from a month and a half but today I have answered an email from a student of another car that claims to have to wait five months.” “An examiner does 12 car or motorcycle tests a day. It has 360 minutes to examine throughout the day but the number of tests are the same, regardless of the exam last five or twenty -eight minutes,” explains Javier L. Tejedor. The perception that students and self -schools have is that the traffic jam is continuous but the DGT defends that this is not such and that, in fact, it is not uncommon for empty squares to remain. “The so -called waiting list is not a fact that corresponds to people who would be in real disposition to request the exam,” they explain. David Corella says that in Alicante “they have the same examiners as us but they have a million less inhabitants. Come on, in Valencia we have few for the population we have.” And he points to a fact “We are in almost 19,000 students waiting. In three years we have increased more than 3,000 students.” Traffic, meanwhile, defends itself by saying that these students are counted on the CAPA SYSTEM But they ensure that not all students who appear there are willing to take the exam. They classify these in three major categories: Those who have suspended the first test Those who are completing practical training but are not prepared to get the driving license Those who delay the exam to take it out in their city of origin or during its holiday period. In Lara auto, they agree that this happens but they point out another reason: “Many students move to take the exam to do them in smaller headquarters taking advantage of the fact that they return to study but there are also those that come to Madrid to larger self -schools because they know we have more capacity to teach and there are more scheduled exams.” They do not share this vision in the DGT. From traffic they emphasize that, in addition to the usual template, they have 15 examiners who rotate between traffic leaders to adapt to demand. A demand that has forced 6.58% more exams with open traffic in the first … Read more

Bill Gates was so obsessed with driving a Porsche 959 that he managed to change the laws that prevented him

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Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co -founder is, in addition to one of the richest men in the worlda passionate about Supercars that Porsche manufactures. So much so that he even had to fight for more than a decade for the US government to change a law that would allow him to drive his Porsche through the streets of Seattle. Thanks to your perseverance, today Millionaires lovers of supercarlike Elon Musk or Larry Ellison, they can have their garages full of limited editing exotic hypercoches and drive them. The story of a Porsche 959 parked in customs Bill Gates is a great passionate about technology and engineering, so in 1987, he commissioned a brand new Porsche 959 that has just been presented. At that time, 959 was one of the most advanced supercarincluding one of the first biturbo engines with total traction and an electronic toe. The six -cylinder and 2.8 -liter engine of 959 delivered 450 horsepower and was able to reach 317 km/h. A prodigy of technology that the young and already millionaire Bill Gates did not resist driving. However, when his Porsche 959 arrived in the United States, he was held at Seattle Customs. The reason: the strict shock test imposed by US laws had not passed, and that prevented him from being able to circulate on public roads. The Porsche 959 was A technological revolution By the end of the 80s, a supercar that Porsche had developed with a huge expenditure that would never recover For direct sale. Due to the high cost that would add to the list of development expenses that they were not going to recover with sales, the German brand refused to perform the shock tests required by the United States. This left the Porsche 959 in anyone’s land and could not legally circulate in the country, and Porsche did not want to adapt it to comply with the regulations. Bill Gates then found an important problem, since his precious Porsche of the only 337 units were manufactured, he was CUSTOMS IN CUSTOMS of Seattle. Bill Gates’s obsession for that particular model led the millionaire to an unpublished situation that forced his brand new car to remain retained in Seattle customs for no less than 13 years. To ensure that he remained there, the millionaire paid throughout that time the $ 28 per day required by the Port Authority for keep the car parked In your deposit, adding a total of more than $ 138,000 for this concept for more than a decade. The Law “Show and Display” Bill Gates’ tenacity was essential to change this situation. Not satisfied with accepting that his car was confiscated in customs, the billionaire gathered the best lawyers and undertook a legal battle against US authorities to ensure that his Porsche 959 could legally circulate. For more than seven years, Gates pressed Washington to change the legislation and allow an exemption For importation and the use of certain rare and collectible cars that are not officially sold in the United States. In this way, the door opened to them US Millionaires and Collectors They can buy these exotic units and limited editions, although they do not meet certain legal traffic demands. Bill Gates’ perseverance was fruit and, in 1999, President Bill Clinton signed the Law “Show and Display” which allows certain historical or technologically relevant vehicles to be imported and driven under special conditions. This law only affects cars with less than 500 manufactured units and special editions, and limited its driving to no more than 2,500 miles per year (about 4,023 kilometers). These limits emphasized the orientation of the law to allow entry to collection pieces and rare units, not to regular use cars. Thanks to this law, the Porsche 959 of Gates was finally able to leave his captivity in the Customs of Seattle and circulate through the streets of the US. In Xataka | The fastest supercar of the 80s no longer beats speed records. Now height batting after falling from a truck Image | Porsche, Flickr (Government Tom Wolf)

He cheated the whole world, posing as Astronaut for years. I had no driving license

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“With you, Captain Robert J. Hunt, the youngest astronaut in the United States.” Applause. A man with NASA’s blue monkey took the stage and, for more than two hours, captivated the audience with his stories of secret missions aboard ATLANTIS SPACE FREE NASA. At one point he took two blackened collapse and said they had stayed like this during the atmospheric reentry of one of his trips to space. Years of lies. It was January 1989. His two -hour talk at the Boston experimental aircraft association would be the last after years of being entertained by politicians and all kinds of institutions. It had been passed by NASA’s Combat Pilot and Astronaut without anyone being discovered its complex network of lies. Until, days after that last talk, he broke hearts and ended up imprisoned. The origin of a fake. Robert Hunt’s obsession for space began at age seven, seeing Apollo’s moon landing 11. His father shared a similar fascination, but for military life. He was a plumber who called himself “Colonel Hunt”, although he would never have been in the army. With 14, Robert began in another of his specialties: the art of deception. At that age he sold yellow -painted sparrows to a neighbor telling him that they were canaries. After the institute, he enlisted the Navy, but was expelled after a psychological evaluation after only two months. Disappointed, decided to “continue the dream” on his own, according to The journalist Jeff Maysh recounts. He began to sneak into military bases and live his fantasies. On one occasion, he was caught by groking near the Air Force Two, the plane of the then vice president George Hw Bush, which triggered an FBI investigation. Creating Captain Hunt. In the 80s, Hunt married several times, presenting himself as a university graduate, professional baseball player and inventor of a spray diaper cream called “Love My Baby”, supposedly about to be bought by Johnson & Johnson for 2.5 million dollars. The secret ingredient, according to him, was “shark oil.” The jump to fame came when he decided to become a national hero. He falsified documents and a career as a Navy helicopter pilot was invented. Then, he bought Astronaut wings for $ 20 and proclaimed himself “the youngest astronaut in the United States.” His plan was to go to space. Robert Hunt had no pilot license or driving license, but the “Captain Hunt” had flown a F/A-18 Hornet in Libya and had formed as an astronaut at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. His goal, he confessed later, was to become the first imposter in space: make the lie so great that it ended up being reality. In December 1988, the farce reached its peak during a trip to Ireland. After impressing Aer Lingus crew with his credentials, he was invited to the cabin. When landing in Dublin, it was received by officials of the Irish government. “I didn’t even have to go through customs,” he says. “They had a small band there, playing the national anthem.” He later took the tea with the mayor and received the Irish Honorary citizenship. The fall of the imposter. People realized that Captain Hunt was not in his bockals, but the castle of cards did not collapse until a policeman named Andrew Palombo related two strange complaints. On the one hand, American Express had blocked a 4,000 -dollar charge for a private jet on the Ann Sweeney credit card, an engineer who worked in Polaroid. On the other hand, a family had denounced that a man disguised as an astronaut had convinced his 18 -year -old son to enlist the Navy and then demanded $ 4,000 to cancel the enlistment using his “connections in the Pentagon.” Palombo, a decorated agent, investigated those complaints and uncovered a surprising history of deceptions. “It was like seeing him die.” On January 28, 1989, agent Andrew Palombo knocked on Robert Hunt’s door and found military paraphernalia, flight monkeys, a NASA helmet and Korean war medals, a conflict that occurred before Hunt was born. The celebrities Space Transfording Tastestesses They turned out to be burned soil tiles. Hunt declared himself guilty of theft for using his wife’s card and scams the family of the child recruit. His wife, the optical engineer Ann Sweeney, had believed all his lies. He said that discovering it was “how to see someone die.” “This guy has passed NASA Astronaut, Marina’s Combat Pilot, Cambridge Police and God knows what else,” the Palombo agent told the press. A repeat scammer. Far from reforming, Hunt did not waste time. As soon as he left prison, he announced his candidacy for mayor of Revere, Massachusetts. “I know power and how to move in it,” he told the press. After not paying the restitution to his victims, he became a fugitive of the law. His next appearance was in San Francisco. He appeared at a military base as head of the Seal Team Six, the Navy’s anti -terrorism elite. He slept in the officers of the officers and worked for three weeks at the emergency operations center. His fall was almost comic: the FBI stopped him after he parked in the reserved square of a general. Today, Robert Hunt is 63 years old and lives in New Hampshire, working on construction. Images | NASA, Susan Lapides In Xataka | Dr Love, the teenager who pretended to be a gynecologist (and other recent and great impostors)

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