Latest news with #Ram2500
Motor Trend
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- Motor Trend
Would You Rather Daily Drive a Huge Pickup or a Mercedes Sprinter Van?
We took on a yearlong test of a 2024 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500 AWD to see if a van is a reasonable substitute for a pickup truck. So far, we've learned firsthand that a van is better for hauling, not so great for towing, surprisingly capable for off-roading, and is quite a bit more flexible than a truck. But what about, y'know, living with one? With nearly a year of Sauntering—er, sorry, Sprintering—under my belt, it was time to spend some time with a pickup truck to find out. 0:00 / 0:00 If You're Gonna Compare, Compare to the Best I called Ram, because why sandbag? The updated Ram 1500 recently won MotorTrend's 2025 Truck of the Year award, and the 2025 HD trucks just got many of the same upgrades. The Ram trucks have long been favorites of the MT staff for their handsome, modern interiors and day-to-day comfort. The Ram PR guy and I debated a bit on whether a 1500 or 2500 was more appropriate. My Sprinter wears a 2500 label, and its 2,988-pound payload is right up there in three-quarter-ton-truck territory. But the Sprinter's 5,000-pound towing capacity is less than a midsize pickup, whereas the Ram 2500 tows between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds—put another way, twice as much as the Sprinter plus the Sprinter itself. That requires pretty stiff rear springs, which affects the ride quality, and, given this was an article about daily driving, that was Ram's concern. In the end, we—and when I say 'we,' I mean 'I'—decided the Ram 2500 was the way to go. I had a brief road trip to take in New York, and Ram just so happened to have the perfect truck, a midrange 2500 Laramie crew-cab 4x4 with the high-output Cummins diesel engine, a 2,200-pound payload rating and 19,600 pounds of towing capacity. With a sticker price of $80,350, it was in the same ballpark as MotorTrend's $80,824 Sprinter 2500 AWD. One of the major pain points of the Sprinter is climbing into it—I'm only 5-foot-6—but this was even harder in the pickup truck, as there's no intermediate step between the ground and the floor. (My technique is the same for both vehicles: Grab the steering wheel and hoist.) Owners vs. Employees Once there, though, it's obvious the Ram was designed for owners while the Sprinter was designed for employees. The Sprinter's dash layout, though nicely arranged, is built of industrial-grade plastics, while the Ram, like most pickups, is designed more like a car. That said, I did miss the Sprinter's four 44-ounce Bladder Buster–sized cupholders. And the Sprinter's seats, while not as ornate as those of the Ram, are just as comfortable. Both vehicles have big, supportive, roomy back seats, but the Ram feels plusher, largely because the Sprinter makes back-seaters feel like they're sitting in a hallway. One thing I did miss was the view out. Like the Sprinter, the Ram gives you a commanding view of traffic ahead, but I missed the Sprinter's gigantic windshield. In the Ram, I felt like I was jammed into the left-top corner of the cab. But while both vehicles are the same width—79.5 inches without side mirrors factored in—the snub-nosed Sprinter feels way easier to line up on narrow roads. In the Ram, I often felt like I was encroaching on the oncoming lane, but a check of the side mirrors showed I was well inside the lines. Ram was concerned that my biggest gripe would be ride quality, but while the Ram's ride was definitely busier than the Sprinter's, I can't say it was significantly less comfortable. The Ram is one of the better-riding three-quarter-ton pickups, and it did a nice job rounding the edges off the bumps. When the pavement turned bumpy, the pickup got very uncomfortable, but the same is true of my Sprinter, with the height exaggerating the sense of pitch. Both are fine on smooth pavement and markedly not fine on rough roads. Much of my trip was on the open road, and here the Sprinter had an advantage: It tracks better, whereas the Ram has more of a tendency to wander and requires more constant steering correction. But the pickup is largely immune to the crosswinds that can turn a blustery day into a white-knuckle Sprinter drive. The Ram felt more stable at high speeds, and I could pass trucks without getting blown around by the bow wave, another big challenge with the slab-sided Sprinter. Power and Economy—and an Exhaust Brake Speaking of passing, that was way, way, way easier in the pickup truck. That should come as no surprise given the Ram's 6.7-liter, 430-hp, 1,075-lb-ft turbodiesel inline-six, which dwarfs the Sprinter's 2.0-liter, 208-hp, 332-lb-ft turbodiesel I-4 in nearly every data point. We tested a 2025 Ram 3500 with the HO Cummins, and it sprinted (heh) to 60 in seven second flat, nearly twice as quickly as the 11.7-second Sprinter. I figured that with nearly three and a half times the displacement and what had to be at least a half a ton more weight, the pickup's fuel economy wouldn't come anywhere near the 20 mpg I average in the Sprinter. Wrong-o, bucko: The Ram averaged 18.7 mpg on my road trip. Granted that was running empty at moderate speeds, whereas my average in the van includes quite a bit of hauling, towing, and speeding. Running light and gentle, the Sprinter will make it up into the low 20s, but I was expecting mid to low teens from the Ram, so almost 19 was a pleasant surprise. One of the bits that is standard on the Ram diesel is an exhaust brake—and if you remember my attempt to tow our partially loaded horse trailer with the Sprinter, you'll recall how desperately the Sprinter needs one of those. I wasn't towing anything this time 'round, but the extra engine braking was welcome even when running light, especially with the smart 'auto' function featured on the Ram. If I could pick one feature of the pickup truck to graft onto the van, the exhaust brake would be it. Both engines emit a relaxing thrum at cruising speed, but the Cummins adds a nice, throaty bass note. However, I found I could enjoy the sound (or whatever is on the stereo) better in the pickup truck. No surprise that the van body serves as an echo chamber for road noise (which is respectably muted in the Sprinter), while the Ram's smaller, carpeted cabin is better insulated. After nearly a year of Sprinter driving, I barely hear the constant creaks and rattles of the uninsulated steel body, but I sure noticed their absence in the truck, though it was largely replaced by a higher level of tire noise. One thing my junk-food-loving self was really looking forward to was a return to drive-throughs, from which the 9-foot 3-inch-tall Sprinter is generally disqualified. The Ram 2500 stands lower, and its turning circle is slightly tighter, but in real-world parking lots it's not a whole lot easier to maneuver than the van, and I realized the tight bends of the typical drive-through would be just as much of a challenge. I chose to park and walk, probably a good idea given the crap I love to eat on road trips. (My destination was Rochester, New York, where the Garbage Plate beckoned.) Which Would We Rather Drive? So which one makes a better daily driver, a pickup truck or a van? Both are unwieldier than a car or an SUV, though the pickup's broad turning circle is less invasive than the van's tall height. The pickup is certainly easier to drive fast, though its less precise steering makes higher speeds a challenge in its own way. The van prefers a more sedate pace, but its more carlike tires keep it going where you point it, which makes for less fatigue. Where the pickup holds its biggest advantage is the nicer interior, which we can chalk up to the fact that so many people use pickup trucks as daily drivers. When it comes to getting work done, I'll take the pickup truck for towing and the van for hauling, but as a daily driver, the pickup truck has a slight edge. More on Our Long-Term 2024 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter:
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Adams County: Three Creston teens charged for Prescott vehicle burglaries
May 8—Multiple vehicle burglaries in the Prescott area were reported April 5 to the Adams County Sheriff's Office. A resulting investigation lead to four juveniles being charged in the incidents and referred to juvenile court services. According to an Adams County Sheriff's Office report, a 14-year-old from Creston was charged with reckless use of a firearm; six counts of burglary, third degree; two counts of theft, third degree and two counts of theft, fourth degree. The juvenile was transported to a juvenile detention center. A second 14-year-old from Creston was charged with six counts of burglary, third degree; two counts of theft, third degree and one count of theft, fourth degree. Another 14-year-old from Creston was charged with two counts of burglary, third degree. A 14-year-old from Prescott was charged with two counts of burglary, third degree. — — — — — — David J. Downey, 34, of Afton, was taken into custody April 22, on Highway 34 for the charge of contempt — violation of no contact/protective order. According to an Adams County Sheriff's Office report, at approximately 12:19 p.m. a traffic stop was conducted on a 2015 Ram 2500 pickup for traveling 70 mph in a 55 mph zone. Contact was made with the driver, identified as Downey. A female passenger was also in the truck. During the stop, deputies were made aware of an active no contact order against Downey. The passenger was confirmed to be the protected party named in the order. Downey was transported to the Adams County Jail where he was released from on his own recognizance on a promise to appear. — — — — — Jennifer L. Collins, 50, of Dayton, Kentucky, was taken into custody April 25, at Highway 34 and Avenue of Industries on the charge of possession of a controlled substance — marijuana, first offense. According to an Adams County Sheriff's Office report, at approximately 3:47 p.m. a traffic stop was conducted on a 2017 Honda Vezel after it was observed to be traveling over 70 mph in a 55 mph zone. While making contact with the driver, a strong odor of marijuana was detected emitting from the Honda. Deputies ordered the occupants out of the vehicle and conducted a probable cause search. Deputies located a dispensary bag containing more than 10 grams of marijuana on the backseat floorboard, near where Collins was seated. A THC edible was also found in the glove compartment. Collins admitted to being a marijuana smoker and said she purchased the marijuana for her brother. Collins was transported to the Adams County Jail where she was released from after posting $1,000 cash bond. — — — — — Dennis E. Nekuda, 61, of Corning, was taken into custody April 28, in the 1900 block of Highway 148 on the charge of contempt — violation of a no contact order. According to an Adams County Sheriff's Office report, at approximately 5:30 p.m. a female who is the protected party in a no contact order against Nekuda reported Nekuda was attempting to enter her residence. When deputies arrived at the residence they observed Nekuda inside the residence speaking to the protected party from across the kitchen. The no contact order was confirmed to be valid. Nekuda was transported to the Adams County Jail where he was released from on his own recognizance on a promise to appear. — — — — — Patrick D. Jones, 56, of Lenox, was taken into custody April 29, on Davis Avenue in Corning on five Adams County warrants, all for the charge of failure to appear on the original charges of OWI, first offense, eluding, interference with official acts, failure to provide proof of financial liability — accident, speeding and operating a non-registered vehicle. According to Adams County District Court documents, Jones was ordered to appear in court Nov. 29 for compliance hearings (fine repayment) on the original charges and did not appear. Jones was transported to the Adams County Jail where he was released from on his own recognizance on promises to appear.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Yahoo
3 seriously hurt after being thrown from car during crash
Three people were seriously hurt after a crash in Auglaize County on Monday. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Around 1:30 p.m. Ohio State Highway Patrol was called to a crash at State Route 67 and Wrestle Creek Road. Don Burns, 51, was driving a Buick LeSabre southbound on Wrestle Creek Road when he didn't stop at a stop sign and was hit by a Ram 2500 truck driven by Christopher Hedges, 48. TRENDING STORIES: 'They're shooting, they're shooting;' 17-year-old gunned down near playground Popular seasonal ice cream shop not reopening for 2025 season 'Emergency message' orders Social Security withhold 50% of benefits for those who were overpaid After being hit, the Buick traveled off the left side of the road and overturned, according to OSP. The people inside the Buick — Burns, Lyric Simpson, 26, and Daniel Sparkman, 42 — were not wearing seatbelts and were thrown from the car. Burns, Simpson, and Sparkman were taken to the hospital with serious injuries, and state troopers said they are in stable condition. Hedges was not injured. Drugs and alcohol are not suspected. The crash remains under investigation by OSP. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
License to kill
(Photo Illustration by Gabe Hongsdusit, CalMatters; Larry Valenzuela CalMatters/CatchLight Local) This story was originally published by CalMatters. Ivan Dimov was convicted of reckless driving in 2013, after fleeing police in Washington state while his passenger allegedly dumped heroin out the window. Before that, he got six DUIs in California over a six-year period. None of that would keep him off the road. The California Department of Motor Vehicles reissued him a driver's license in 2017. The next year, on Christmas Eve, he drove drunk again, running stop signs and a traffic light in midtown Sacramento, going more than 80 mph, court records show. He T-boned another car, killing a 28-year-old man who was going home to feed the cat before heading to his mom's for the holiday. Kostas Linardos had 17 tickets — including for speeding, reckless driving and street racing — and had been in four collisions. Then, in November 2022, he gunned his Ram 2500 truck as he entered a Placer County highway and slammed into the back of a disabled sedan, killing a toddler, court records show. He's now facing felony manslaughter charges. In December of last year, while that case was open, the DMV renewed his driver's license. Ervin Wyatt's history behind the wheel spreads across two pages of a recent court filing: Fleeing police. Fleeing police again. Running a red light. Causing a traffic collision. Driving without a license, four times. A dozen speeding tickets. Yet the DMV issued him a license in 2019. Wyatt promptly got three more speeding tickets, court records show. Prosecutors say he was speeding again in 2023 when he lost control and crashed into oncoming traffic, killing three women. He's now facing murder charges in Stanislaus County. The California Department of Motor Vehicles routinely allows drivers like these — with horrifying histories of dangerous driving, including DUIs, crashes and numerous tickets — to continue to operate on our roadways, a CalMatters investigation has found. Too often they go on to kill. Many keep driving even after they kill. Some go on to kill again. With state lawmakers grappling with how to address the death toll on our roads, CalMatters wanted to understand how California handles dangerous drivers. We first asked the district attorneys for all 58 counties to provide us with a list of their vehicular manslaughter cases from 2019 through early last year. Every county but Santa Cruz provided the information. Because California has no centralized court system and records aren't online, we then traveled to courthouses up and down the state to read through tens of thousands of pages of files. Once we had defendants' names and other information, we were able to get DMV driver reports for more than 2,600 of the defendants, providing details on their recent collisions, citations and license status. The court records and driving histories reveal a state so concerned with people having access to motor vehicles for work and life that it allows deadly drivers to share our roads despite the cost. Officials may call driving a privilege, but they treat it as a right — often failing to take drivers' licenses even after they kill someone on the road. We found nearly 40% of the drivers charged with vehicular manslaughter since 2019 have a valid license. That includes a driver with two separate convictions for vehicular manslaughter, for crashes that killed a 16-year-old girl in 2009 and a 25-year-old woman in 2020. In July of last year, the DMV issued him a driver's license. The agency gave licenses to nearly 150 people less than a year after they allegedly killed someone on the road, we found. And while the agency has since suspended some of those, often after a conviction, the majority remain valid. In Santa Clara County, a man prosecutors charged with manslaughter got his current license just a month and a half after the collision that killed a mother of three young children. And many drivers accused of causing roadway deaths don't appear to have stopped driving recklessly. Records show that nearly 400 got a ticket or were in another crash — or both — after their deadly collisions. A commercial driver drove his semi truck on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic, killing a motorcyclist in Kern County in 2021. Less than a year later, he still had a valid license when he barreled his semi into slow-moving traffic, hitting four vehicles and killing a woman in Fresno County, records show. Another man, sentenced to nine years in prison for killing two women while driving drunk, got his privileges restored by the DMV after being paroled, only to drive high on meth in Riverside and weave head-on into another car, killing a woman. 'It is somewhat shocking to see how much you can get away with and still be a licensed driver in the state of California,' Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire said. 'I don't think anyone fully understands what you need to do behind the wheel to lose your driving privilege.' Almost as interesting as the information in the drivers' DMV records is what's not there. Hundreds of drivers' DMV records simply don't list convictions for manslaughter or another crime related to a fatal crash, we found. The apparent error means some drivers who should have their driving privileges suspended instead show up in DMV records as having a valid license. The cases we reviewed cut across demographics and geography. Defendants include farmworkers and a farm owner. They include off-duty police officers and people with lengthy rap sheets, drivers who killed in a fit of rage and others whose recklessness took the lives of those they loved most — high school sweethearts, siblings, children. The tragedies span this vast state. From twisty two-lane mountain roads near the Oregon border to the dusty scrubland touching Mexico. From the crowded streets of San Francisco to the highways of the Inland Empire. From Gold Country, to timber country, to Silicon Valley, to the almond capital of the world. So much death. More people than are killed by guns. Dangerous drivers are able to stay on the roads for many reasons. The state system that targets motorists who rack up tickets is designed to catch clusters of reckless behavior, not long-term patterns. And while there are laws requiring the DMV to suspend a driver's license for certain crimes, like DUIs, there is no such requirement for many vehicular manslaughter convictions. It's often up to the DMV whether to act. Routinely it doesn't. The DMV declined to make its director, Steve Gordon — who has been in charge since Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed him in 2019 — available for an interview to discuss our findings. Chris Orrock, a DMV spokesperson, said the agency follows the law when issuing licenses. 'We use our authority as mandated and as necessary,' he said. License to Kill Read the entire series. License to Kill Key takeaways: How the DMV allows dangerous drivers to stay on the road How we did it: Reporting on California's deadly drivers Even when the DMV does take away motorists' driving privileges, state officials, law enforcement and the courts are often unable or unwilling to keep them off the road. We found cases where drivers racked up numerous tickets while driving on a suspended license and faced little more than fines before eventually causing a fatal crash, even though authorities could have sent them to jail. Taking away someone's driving privilege is no small decision. It can consign a family to poverty, affecting job prospects, child care and medical decisions. Still, the stakes couldn't be higher. More than 20,000 people died on the roads of California from 2019 to early 2024. Kowana Strong thinks part of the problem is that lawmakers and regulators are too quick to treat fatal crashes as an unfortunate fact of life, as opposed to something they can address. Her son Melvin Strong III — who went by his middle name, Kwaun — was finishing college and planning to start a master's program in kinesiology when he was killed by Dimov, the driver with six prior DUI convictions. Kwaun was a bright and innocent young man, she said, just starting his life. 'It's just another accident as far as they're concerned,' Kowana Strong said. Young people think they're invincible. It's the old who know how unfair life is, Jerrod Tejeda said. His daughter Cassi Tejeda was just 22. She was months from graduating from Chico State with a bachelor's degree in history and a plan to be a teacher. Outgoing and athletic, she wanted to travel, see the world and make her own life. She had a girlfriend who was visiting. Courtney Kendall was 24 and a student at Louisiana State University. On a Sunday afternoon in January 2022, a Volvo SUV topping speeds of 75 mph ran a red light and smashed into their Jeep, court records show. The collision killed them both. 'The most difficult part besides the incident is every day that goes by you're always wondering what if. What would they be doing today?' Jerrod Tejeda said. 'Would they be married? Would they have developed into the career that they chose? Where would she be living?' Tanya Kendall lamented not being there to protect her daughter, hold her hand or say goodbye. 'Instead, I was left with the unbearable task of choosing what outfit she would be buried in. Buried, Your Honor. Not the gown she would wear to her graduation from LSU — the one she will never attend,' the mother wrote in a letter to a Butte County judge, adding that she and her husband stood in their daughter's place, accepting her diploma. Such pain was preventable. The driver of the Volvo, Matthew Moen, had a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit, according to court filings. And it wasn't his first time drinking and driving. Moen was caught driving drunk in Oregon in 2016. He never completed the requirements of a diversion program and had an outstanding warrant at the time of the fatal crash, the Butte County district attorney's office said. In January 2020, he was convicted of DUI in Nevada County for driving with a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit, given a couple weeks in jail and put on probation for three years. His license was valid at the time of the fatal 2022 crash, records show. Across the country, states grapple with how to effectively spot and punish drivers who could be a danger on the road. Often they rely on a basic point system, with drivers accruing points for various types of traffic violations and thresholds for when the state will take away a motorist's driving privileges. But like many, California has such high limits that drivers with a pattern of reckless behavior can avoid punishment. The state suspends a driver's license for accumulating four points in a year, six points in two years or eight points in three years. What does it take to get that many points? Using a cellphone while driving is zero points. A speeding ticket is a point. Vehicular manslaughter is two points. Between March 2017 and March 2022, Trevor Cook received two citations for running red lights, got two speeding tickets and was deemed responsible for two collisions, including one in which someone was injured, court records show. (A third red-light ticket was dismissed.) At-fault collisions add a point to a driver's license, according to the DMV. But the incidents were spaced out enough that none resulted in a suspension. So Cook had a valid license on April 14, 2022, just a month after his last speeding ticket, when he blew through a Yolo County stop sign at more than 100 mph. At that exact moment, Prajal Bista passed through the intersection, on his way to work after dinner and a movie with his wife, according to details of the crash that prosecutors included in court filings. Bista was driving the speed limit and on track to make it to work 30 minutes early. The force of the collision nearly split Bista's Honda Civic in half. Investigators determined Bista had been wearing his seat belt, but the crash tore it apart. They found his body 75 feet from the intersection. On March 28, 2024, Cook pleaded no contest to felony vehicular manslaughter. Just a month later, on April 30, the DMV issued Cook his current driver's license, agency records show. Less than two weeks after that, he got a ticket for disobeying a traffic signal. Melinda Aiello, chief deputy district attorney in Yolo County, said her office didn't know anything about the new license or the red-light ticket until contacted by CalMatters. What's more, the manslaughter conviction — like hundreds of others we found — isn't listed on Cook's driving record. Cook's license was still listed as valid in California DMV records as of early 2025. But for now, he's off the roadways: Last summer, Cook started serving time in state prison. 'It's stunning to me that eight months later his license is still showing as valid and the conviction for killing someone while driving is not reflected in his driving record,' Aiello said. 'You killed somebody. I'd think there might be some license implications.' Orrock, the DMV spokesperson, said he couldn't speak directly to why so many convictions are missing. But, he said, 'we acknowledge that the process and coordination between the judicial system and the DMV must continually evolve to address any gaps that have been identified. And we're looking into that.' There are laws requiring the DMV to suspend a driver's license for various convictions. A first DUI conviction, for example, is a 6-to-10-month suspension. Felony vehicular manslaughter is a three-year loss of driving privileges. The agency isn't necessarily required to give a license back if its driver safety branch deems a motorist too dangerous to drive, agency officials said. But CalMatters found the agency regularly gives drivers their licenses back as soon as the legally required period ends. And once crashes, tickets and suspensions fall off a driver's record after a few years, it's often as if the motorist's record is wiped clean. So even if the driver gets in trouble again, the agency often treats any future crashes and traffic violations as isolated incidents, not as part of a longer pattern of reckless driving. Perhaps that's why Joshua Daugherty is licensed to drive in California. In July 2020, Daugherty drifted onto the highway shoulder while driving near Mammoth Lakes, overcorrected to the left and lost control, court filings show. His Toyota Tacoma cut across the lane into oncoming traffic, where an SUV broadsided it. Daugherty's girlfriend, 25-year-old Krystal Kazmark, died. Police noted that Daugherty's eyes were red and watery and his speech was slurred when they arrived. He told officers that he'd smoked 'a couple of bowls' of marijuana earlier in the day, according to records filed in court. Kazmark's mother was devastated. Like other victim relatives we spoke to for this story, Mary Kazmark tried as best she could to summarize a life into a few words — an impossible task. Her daughter liked to sing, travel, cook, draw, snow-ski, water-ski, wakeboard, hike, read, entertain friends and plan parties. She was a responsible kid, her mother said, always the designated driver with her friends. She oversaw guest reservations at one of the Mammoth Lakes lodges. Mary Kazmark said she tracked down Daugherty on the phone a few days after the crash. 'He just said, 'I can't believe this happened again.' And I was like, 'What do you mean?'' She eventually learned it wasn't the first time Daugherty's driving had killed. In August 2009, in a strikingly similar incident, Daugherty was speeding along a Riverside County highway when his Ford Expedition drifted onto the shoulder. Witnesses told police he veered back to the left, lost control, hit a dirt embankment and went airborne, the SUV flipping onto its roof. A 16-year-old girl riding in the back died. Daugherty was convicted of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. He was sentenced to 180 days in custody and three years' probation, according to a summary of the case filed in court. Because of the earlier manslaughter conviction, police recommended he be charged with murder for the death of Krystal Kazmark. But the Mono County district attorney's office charged him with a mere misdemeanor. Felony charges typically require a prosecutor to prove 'gross negligence.' A prosecutor in another county described the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor this way: A felony is one in which you tell the average person the facts and they say, 'Wow, that's really dangerous.' A misdemeanor is one which they say, 'That's dumb but I've probably done it.' The Mono County district attorney's office refused to comment on the case, because the prosecutor and the elected DA at the time have both since retired. The office did provide a prepared statement explaining the charging decision. 'It was determined that there was not a substantial likelihood of conviction at trial,' it said. Daugherty pleaded guilty and was convicted in January 2023. He was sentenced to a year in jail. The DMV suspended his driving privileges after the fatal 2020 crash, a DMV report shows. But losing his license wasn't enough to keep Daugherty off the road, records show. Two months after his conviction for killing Kazmark, before he reported to jail, police caught him driving on a suspended license. Still, the DMV reissued Daugherty a license in July 2024. To recap: That's two convictions for two dead young women, plus a conviction for driving on a suspended license, and the California DMV says Daugherty can still share the road with you. 'It's so sad. You make a mistake and then you don't learn from it and then you cause another person to lose their life,' Mary Kazmark said. 'It's unbelievable that he can continue to drive.' Orrock said the DMV couldn't comment on individual drivers. When law enforcement reports a fatal crash, the agency's driver safety branch flags all drivers who might be at fault. It then looks into the collision and decides whether the agency should suspend those motorists' driving privileges. If the driver contests the action, there's a hearing that could include witness testimony. Suspensions are open-ended. Drivers need to ask for their license back, and agency personnel decide whether the suspension should end or continue. These discretionary suspensions typically last for about a year. And while officials said the DMV can continue a suspension if they think a driver poses a danger, Orrock said they need to give drivers an opportunity to get their license back. He said there's no process in the state 'to permanently revoke a license.' Roughly 400 drivers accused of causing a fatal crash since 2019 received a ticket, got in another collision or did both after the date they allegedly killed someone on the road. (The reports don't show whether the drivers were found at fault, only that they were involved in an accident.) That's about 15% of the drivers for whom we could get DMV reports. Drivers like William Beasley. From 2011 to 2016, Beasley collected five speeding tickets and a citation for running a red light in Sacramento County, court records show. Then around 9 a.m. on a sunny Tuesday in October 2019, he killed a man. William and Deborah Hester were crossing the street to go to a dentist appointment at a veterans facility when Beasley's silver pickup sped toward them. They thought they would make it across. But the truck didn't stop. At the last minute, William Hester shoved his wife out of the way. She heard the truck smash into her husband's body and screamed, according to court records. Beasley still didn't stop. He fled the area and tried to hide his truck. Investigators used nearby cameras and license plate readers to track him down days later. Beasley admitted to being in a collision. He later pleaded no contest in Sacramento to hit-and-run and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. A probation report in the case revealed Beasley was nearly blind in his left eye. 'Mr. Hester is with me every moment of my life,' Beasley said in an interview. 'I took away a father, a grandfather, a husband, and they consider me a murderer. That's not who I am. 'My accident with Mr. Hester was just that, an accident. Nothing more,' he said, adding that he worked as a courier for years and sometimes got speeding tickets because he was rushing. In May 2020, the DMV took away his driving privileges. In November 2022, Beasley got his license back — 'because I could and I needed to,' he said, adding that people deserve second chances, particularly for accidents. Almost immediately — less than three weeks after getting his license — he was in another collision, his DMV report shows. In early 2024, he got in yet another. His license was suspended when his car insurance was canceled, records show. 'It makes no sense to me that they would give him a license and give him the opportunity to hurt someone else,' said Loriann Hester Page, William Hester's daughter. Her father's death broke the family, she said. He drove a tank in the Army, played guitar in a band, liked to ride horses. 'My dad was such a wonderful, kind man,' she said. 'He would always walk in a room and wanted to make everyone smile.' Beasley said he doesn't plan to drive again. 'I am 75 years old,' he said. 'I am blind in one eye. I have had a situation where a man was killed, he lost his life. I am not going to repeat that situation at all.' The DMV does have the ability to act quickly. In some cases, it suspended a driver's license shortly after a fatal crash. However, we found numerous cases in which the DMV did nothing for months or years, often not until a criminal conviction. In July 2021, truck driver Baljit Singh drove his semi on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic, killing a motorcyclist in Kern County, court records show. There are no suspensions listed on his DMV record during that time, even though the agency has the discretion to suspend someone's license without a conviction. Less than a year later, as his case wound its way through the slow-moving court system, Singh plowed his semi into the back of a car in Fresno County, killing a woman, records show. He ultimately pleaded no contest to felony vehicular manslaughter in Kern County. He pleaded no contest to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in Fresno for the second fatal crash. The DMV finally took away his driving privileges in February of last year. Prosecutors say Jadon Mendez was speeding in December 2021 in Santa Clara County when he lost control and caused a crash that killed a mother of three young children. A few weeks later he got a speeding ticket. And yet, the DMV issued him his current driver's license on Jan. 27, 2022 — 49 days after the fatal crash. There were no suspensions listed on his DMV record as of early this year, even though Mendez was charged with manslaughter in May 2022. The judge in his case ordered him not to drive, as a condition of his release. But such court orders don't necessarily show up on a driver's DMV record. That might be why he didn't get in more trouble in December 2022 when he got a speeding ticket in Alameda County. Prosecutors didn't know about that ticket until CalMatters asked about it, said Angela Bernhard, assistant DA in the Santa Clara County district attorney's office. Mendez's manslaughter case is still open, and his license is still listed as valid. When asked about the Mendez case and others, Orrock acknowledged that while there's a DMV process for deciding when to revoke or suspend a license, 'sometimes the process takes a while to happen.' In many cases, the DMV doesn't take action even after a conviction. In May 2022, a semi driver named Ramon Pacheco made a U-turn in front of an oncoming motorcycle, killing 29-year-old Dominic Lopez-Toney, who was finishing his rotations to be a doctor. Court records show Pacheco had gotten in trouble behind the wheel before. He had been arrested for DUI in 2009, caused a collision in 2013 and got a ticket in 2016 for making an unsafe turn. It wasn't enough to keep him off the road. Neither was killing a man. Months after San Joaquin prosecutors charged Pacheco with vehicular manslaughter, he got into another collision for which he was also deemed most at fault. As the case dragged on, Lopez-Toney's large but tight-knit family wrote dozens of letters to the court, pleading for justice. Dorothy Toney wrote that, more than a year since her grandson's death, she was still haunted by images of his 'mangled and broken body' and the gruesome details in the police report. 'Somedays,' she wrote, 'I wish I had been there to gently hold his hands' and 'tell him how much I loved him.' The letters are full of shock and outrage that the driver had faced so few consequences. 'Allowing this truck driver to continue driving and engaging in civilian activities with only a mere consequence of probation is appalling,' wrote Lynelle Sigona, the victim's aunt. Pacheco ultimately pleaded no contest to misdemeanor manslaughter and received probation. His DMV record as of Feb. 11 indicates his driving privileges were never suspended; his commercial driver's license is valid. Pacheco's defense attorney, Gil Somera, said his client isn't a reckless driver. His prior incidents are relatively minimal, he said, given the fact that 'truck drivers drive thousands and thousands of miles a year.' Pacheco needed to turn around and didn't think there was another place he could do so, since he was approaching a residential area, Somera added. Pacheco wasn't being 'inattentive or reckless,' Somera said. 'And it's unfortunate and sad and tragic this young man died because of this decision he made to make a U-turn.' In the wake of the tragedy, Lopez-Toney's mother has become an advocate for truck safety. 'Road safety and truck safety is not a priority right now with our legislators, with our government,' Nora Lopez said. 'Changing our mindset, our attitudes, our culture on the roads is not impossible.' In an interview at her Castro Valley home, she talked about her only child. He was smart and caring, liked snowboarding and animals, loved food. On vacations they would take cooking classes together, Lopez said. He studied molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley and was almost done with medical school. She still has the dry-erase whiteboards in his old room. One is filled with his small and neat study notes; another has what appears to be a to-do list. There's a note that says 'Surgery: 600.' Lopez said that's when he was due to start his surgical rotation in a San Joaquin hospital, just a couple of days after he died. She said he just wanted to help people and serve the Native American community as a doctor, a future that a driver snatched away. 'It's because of a man's recklessness and carelessness — no regard for humanity,' she said. While felony manslaughter is an automatic three-year loss of driving privileges, a misdemeanor typically carries no such penalty. It's discretionary — it's up to the DMV to decide whether to do anything. And the man who killed Lopez-Toney is far from alone in facing no apparent punishment from the DMV. We found nearly 200 drivers with a valid license whose DMV record shows a conviction for misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter but for whom there is no suspension listed. When shown a copy of Pacheco's current driving report, Lopez sat in silence for several seconds. 'Does this make sense to you? It makes no sense to me,' she said. 'With his record, how does he still have a license?' Research on dangerous drivers appears to be thin and largely outdated. Liza Lutzker, a researcher at UC Berkeley's Safe Transportation Research and Education Center, said much of the focus in the traffic safety world is on creating better design and infrastructure, so people who make honest mistakes don't end up killing someone. 'I think that the issues of these reckless drivers are a separate and complex problem,' Lutzker said. 'The system we have clearly is not working. And people are paying with their lives for it.' Jeffrey Michael, who researches roadway safety issues at Johns Hopkins University and spent three decades working at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said he understands officials might be hesitant to impose harsher penalties more broadly, 'for fear of the unintended consequences.' 'We live in a society where driving is really essential,' he said. But he said the findings show the agency needs more scrutiny and analysis of who is on the roads. 'These are not unresolvable problems,' he said. Leah Shahum, executive director of the Vision Zero Network, a nonprofit promoting safe streets, said sometimes officials prioritize preserving people's ability to drive rather than ensuring safety. 'We don't all have the right to drive,' Shahum said. 'We have the responsibility to drive safely and ensure we don't hurt others.' She added that many people need to drive in this car-centric state. 'That does not mean there can be a license to kill.' 'If we know somebody has a history of dangerous behavior,' she said, 'are we going to put that loaded gun back in their hands?' The gun metaphor was common in the thousands of vehicular manslaughter cases we looked at across California. One prosecutor described dangerous behavior behind the wheel as akin to firing a gun into a crowd. In letters to the court, surviving relatives and friends described the hole left behind, writing about an empty seat at a high school graduation, a photo cutout taken without fail to home baseball games. It's a void one young man tried to explain to authorities — the sudden, violent, blink-of-an-eye moment where life forever changes. For him, it was at 6:45 p.m. on Feb. 27, 2020, on Lone Tree Way in the Bay Area city of Antioch. Two brothers, ages 11 and 15, were going to meet their dad at a Burger King. They crossed to the median and then waited for a break in the traffic before continuing to the other side. The older one made it across, according to court documents. His younger brother stepped into the street just as a driver gunned his car to 75 miles an hour — 30 over the speed limit. The older boy watched as his younger brother 'just disappeared.' Court research by Robert Lewis, Lauren Hepler, Anat Rubin, Sergio Olmos, Cayla Mihalovich, Ese Olumhense, Ko Bragg, Andrew Donohue and Jenna Peterson Court research by Robert Lewis, Lauren Hepler, Anat Rubin, Sergio Olmos, Cayla Mihalovich, Ese Olumhense, Ko Bragg, Andrew Donohue and Jenna Peterson. This is the first piece in a series about how California lets dangerous drivers stay on the road. Sign up for our License to Kill newsletter to be notified when the next story comes out, and to get more behind-the-scenes information from our reporting.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Stellantis Reports Q1 2025 Consolidated Shipment Estimates of 1.2 Million Units Globally, -9% y-o-y
Stellantis Reports Q1 2025 Consolidated Shipment Estimates of 1.2 Million Units Globally, -9% y-o-y Commercial Recovery Efforts Drive Initial Rebound in EU30 Market Share vs. H2 2024, Stabilization in U.S. Retail Share AMSTERDAM, April 11, 2025 – Stellantis N.V. today published global quarterly consolidated shipment estimates and provided commentary on related business trends. The term 'shipments' describes the volume of vehicles delivered to dealers, distributors, or directly from the Company to retail and fleet customers, which drive revenue recognition. Consolidated shipments for the three months ending March 31, 2025, were an estimated 1.2 million units, representing a 9% decline y-o-y, primarily reflecting lower North American production as a consequence of extended holiday downtime in January, and in Enlarged Europe due to the impacts of product transitions and lower light commercial vehicle (LCV) volumes. Commercial progress in the first quarter of 2025, included the launch of all new and refreshed models including the Citroën C3 Aircross, Opel Frontera, Fiat Grande Panda, Ram 2500 and 3500 heavy-duty trucks, helping to drive positive momentum in order intake, while maintaining normalized dealer inventory levels. In North America, Q1 shipments declined approximately 82 thousand units compared to the same period in 2024, representing a 20% y-o-y decline, mainly reflecting lower January production, a consequence of extended holiday downtime, as well as the initial ramp up of the updated 2025 Ram heavy duty trucks. Looking at U.S. sales performance, Jeep® Compass, Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500/2500 each saw volumes rise >10% y-o-y in Q1 2025. Also encouraging, March new retail orders were at the highest level since July 2023. Enlarged Europe Q1 shipments declined approximately 47 thousand units, representing a 8% y-o-y decline, two-thirds due to transition gaps in certain A and B-segment vehicles replacing prior-generation products discontinued at the end of H1 2024, and one-third from a decline in LCV volumes. Switching over to European sales performance, Q1 2025 EU30 market share was 17.3%, an increase of 1.9 percentage points compared to Q4 2024, reflecting in part the sales contributions of recent new product launches. Across Stellantis' 'Third Engine', shipments grew collectively 13 thousand units, representing a 4% increase driven mainly by a 19% increase in South America, more than offsetting shipment declines in Middle East & Africa, China and India & Asia Pacific. Stellantis maintained its leadership in South America while benefiting from higher industry volumes, especially in Brazil and Argentina. In Middle East & Africa the 15% decline in shipments was mostly driven by the impact of import restrictions in Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt. (1) Consolidated shipments only include shipments by Company's consolidated subsidiaries, which represent new vehicles invoiced to third party (dealers/importers or final customers). Consolidated shipment volumes for Q1 2025 presented here are unaudited and may be adjusted. Final figures will be provided in our official revenue/shipments report. Analysts should interpret these numbers with the understanding that they are preliminary and subject to change. (2) The 'Third Engine' refers to the aggregation of the South America, Middle East & Africa and China and India & Asia Pacific segments for presentation purposes only. # # #Stellantis N.V. (NYSE: STLA / Euronext Milan: STLAM / Euronext Paris: STLAP) is a leading global automaker, dedicated to giving its customers the freedom to choose the way the move, embracing the latest technologies and creating value for all its stakeholders. Its unique portfolio of iconic and innovative brands includes Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS Automobiles, FIAT, Jeep®, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram, Vauxhall, Free2move and Leasys. For more information, visit @Stellantis Stellantis Stellantis Stellantis For more information, contact: This document contains forward looking statements. Statements regarding future financial performance and the Company's expectations as to the achievement of certain targeted metrics, including revenues, industrial free cash flows, vehicle shipments, capital investments, research and development costs and other expenses at any future date or for any future period are forward-looking statements. These statements may include terms such as 'may', 'will', 'expect', 'could', 'should', 'intend', 'estimate', 'anticipate', 'believe', 'remain', 'on track', 'design', 'target', 'objective', 'goal', 'forecast', 'projection', 'outlook', 'prospects', 'plan', or similar terms. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Rather, they are based on the Company's current state of knowledge, future expectations and projections about future events and are by their nature, subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. They relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur or exist in the future and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on them. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including: the Company's ability to launch new products successfully and to maintain vehicle shipment volumes; changes in the global financial markets, general economic environment and changes in demand for automotive products, which is subject to cyclicality; the Company's ability to successfully manage the industry-wide transition from internal combustion engines to full electrification; the Company's ability to offer innovative, attractive products and to develop, manufacture and sell vehicles with advanced features including enhanced electrification, connectivity and autonomous-driving characteristics; the Company's ability to produce or procure electric batteries with competitive performance, cost and at required volumes; the Company's ability to successfully launch new businesses and integrate acquisitions; a significant malfunction, disruption or security breach compromising information technology systems or the electronic control systems contained in the Company's vehicles; exchange rate fluctuations, interest rate changes, credit risk and other market risks; increases in costs, disruptions of supply or shortages of raw materials, parts, components and systems used in the Company's vehicles; changes in local economic and political conditions; changes in trade policy, the imposition of global and regional tariffs or tariffs targeted to the automotive industry, the enactment of tax reforms or other changes in tax laws and regulations; the level of governmental economic incentives available to support the adoption of battery electric vehicles; the impact of increasingly stringent regulations regarding fuel efficiency requirements and reduced greenhouse gas and tailpipe emissions; various types of claims, lawsuits, governmental investigations and other contingencies, including product liability and warranty claims and environmental claims, investigations and lawsuits; material operating expenditures in relation to compliance with environmental, health and safety regulations; the level of competition in the automotive industry, which may increase due to consolidation and new entrants; the Company's ability to attract and retain experienced management and employees; exposure to shortfalls in the funding of the Company's defined benefit pension plans; the Company's ability to provide or arrange for access to adequate financing for dealers and retail customers and associated risks related to the operations of financial services companies; the Company's ability to access funding to execute its business plan; the Company's ability to realize anticipated benefits from joint venture arrangements; disruptions arising from political, social and economic instability; risks associated with the Company's relationships with employees, dealers and suppliers; the Company's ability to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting; developments in labor and industrial relations and developments in applicable labor laws; earthquakes or other disasters; and other risks and uncertainties. Any forward-looking statements contained in this document speak only as of the date of this document and the Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise publicly forward-looking statements. Further information concerning the Company and its businesses, including factors that could materially affect the Company's financial results, is included in the Company's reports and filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and AFM. Attachment EN-20250411-Stellantis-Q1-2025-Shipments-Estimates-ReleaseSign in to access your portfolio
