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Joy

Owner of Porsche 911 sees man taking photo of it, gives him once-in-a-lifetime surprise

"He told me I was taking it a little bit too easy, and he wanted me to try the turbo out."

Image via Canva

Car enthusiasts speak the same language and connect through their love of all things auto, especially Porsche owners. And for Instagrammer Jacob Zander's (@jacobzander_) love for the car brand, in particular the Porsche 911, found him striking up a new friendship with a total stranger.

In a touching video shared on Instagram, Jacobs shares the story of how he met Lyman, a fellow Porsche 911 owner. Although the two are complete strangers, this car created a connection that both will remember forever.

"So this morning I was walking around the Carmel farmer's market, and you're not going to believe what happened. So I saw this cool (Porsche) 911, and I was like, 'Oh I should take a picture of it. So I take a picture and this guy was walking towards it and he opened the door, and I was like, 'Cool car!' and he said, 'Thank you,'" as Jacob shared that he just got himself one as well. "Then he asked if I want to get lunch tomorrow," he shares, before adding that Lyman had a few other Porsche's he had in storage that he wanted to show him.

The video pans to Jacob grabbing lunch with Lyman, before the two head to a large garage to check out Lyman's Porsche collection. "I'm excited," he says, before Lyman adds, "I'll be the star of your show," to the camera. Jacob explains that their connection is special because he is currently on a road trip from Eugene, Oregon, to Los Angeles, and he only stopped in Carmel for a few days.

The video then shows the two men checking out Lyman's cars, lifting up the hood to check out engines and admiring interiors. "After that, he was like, 'Hey Jacob, do you wanna drive?' So we took a drive, and he let me drive all around Carmel. He told me I was taking it a little bit too easy, and he wanted me to try the turbo out. He said let's get on the freeway so you can test it out," he says.

The next clip is of Jacob putting the car into turbo and really working the engine, as he simply says, "Wow!" The video ends with the two continuing to cruise to the coast, taking in a gorgeous sunset.

In the comments, Jacob added, "You never know where something might lead if you say hi to someone you don’t know!! My favorite part: 'I’ll be the star of your show'."

PorscheCar Drifting GIFGiphy

And viewers love the new friendship between Lyman and Jacob. "This made me cry, if someone did this to my dad, it would literally make him the happiest man. My dad has so many cool old school cars in his storage that he wants to show off but you just can’t trust people. He’s been taken advantage of before and he’s very timid. Thank you for being so kind to this man and allowing him to have this moment," one wrote. Another shared, "He found someone who appreciates his passion, sweet." And another viewer added, "Love this!! When you’re open to strangers being nice, you start to see true human connection 🥹."

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Joy

Jeeps have 'Easter eggs' hidden on the vehicle and people are sharing theirs

Well, this is fun.

SOURCE: TIKTOK

Little secrets to be found.

Half of the Internet learned that Jeep vehicles have hidden 'Easter eggs' on them. Apparently, the other half already knew but didn't bother to tell us.

As Joel Feder of Motor Authority explains, Jeep vehicles have had these little surprises since the 90s. Hired as a designer in 1989, Michael Santoro decided to slip an Easter egg into the Wrangler TJ. Since then, pretty much every vehicle has included at least one Easter Egg. According to Mopar Insiders, the Easter eggs can be found on each of the brand's cars.

Not everyone was aware of this fact, though, as a TikTok by jackiefosterrealtor recently revealed. The user discovered a spider hidden in his fuel tank and decided to share the Easter egg in a video.

"So I bought my first car, and a fun fact about Jeeps is that they have a hidden animal which is called an Easter egg," the user said. "I couldn't find my Easter egg for the longest time, and one day I was pumping my gas, and I saw this spider coming at me, and I thought 'oh my god', and then I realized it was my Easter egg."

@nkyrealestate 🕷JEEP WAS REALING TRYING TO GET ME.🕷🤦🏼😂 #fyp #jeepsoftiktok #spider ♬ original sound - Jackie

Now, TikTok users have been looking a little closer at their jeeps to discover the Easter eggs hidden in their cars. Most of them posted @jackiefosterrealtor's original narration over their videos to explain what was going on.

This user found a cute little lizard.

@katepetersonn Bruh wut #fyp ♬ original sound - Jackie

This user found multiple Easter eggs, including Bigfoot and a miniature grill in the headlights.

@jazzy._.boo i never realized these were easter eggs😳 #fyp #jeeprenegade ♬ original sound - Jackie

Others found jeeps on their jeeps among other Easter eggs.

@katie.deren Shook #jeep #renagade #finalsathome #fyp ♬ original sound - Jackie

Some people have even found a tiny pair of flip flops on their cars.

@micaelaaaraeee welcome home to the love of my life 💕🥺👉👈 #2020 #jeepwrangler #jeepwranglerjl #wrangler #jeep #jl #jeepeasteregg #orange #car #fyp ♬ original sound - Jackie

Everyone is having a lot of fun trying to find their Easter egg.

@kennedankk

We searched the trackhawk for 30 minutes before I found it in the headlight

♬ original sound - Jackie

So. Many. Animals.

@jackieforesterrealtor even found two more Easter eggs on the front and back windows of his Jeep.

‼️PART 2: EASTER EGG HUNT‼️ WHO WOULD’VE THOUGHT?! 😂🤦🏼 THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME FIND THE OTHER ONES❤️ #fyp #fypchallenge #jeepsoftiktok

@jackiefosterrealtor

‼️PART 2: EASTER EGG HUNT‼️ WHO WOULD’VE THOUGHT?! 😂🤦🏼 THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME FIND THE OTHER ONES❤️ #fyp #fypchallenge #jeepsoftiktok

If you can't find the Easter eggs in your vehicles, NowCar.com put together a handy guide that seems to cover most of them.

Hopefully everyone can have some fun searching their cars for hidden animals and objects.


This article first appeared four years ago.

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Education

Study shares the state with the worst drivers in the U.S.—it's not New York or California

It ranked highest for both accidents and general traffic-related incidents.

Photo credit: Canva

We could probably all stand to be a little more careful on the road.

Sorry Bay Staters—Massachusetts has the worst drivers in America, according to a recent study from the finance site Lending Tree. Data was collected from all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., from Nov. 5, 2023 to Nov. 4, 2024 and researchers found Massachusetts ranked No.1 for the highest number of reported incidents—including speeding, DUIs and citations—with 61.1 incidents per 1,000 drivers.

But wait, there’s more. Of those reported incidents, Massachusetts also had the highest accident rate, with 44.4 accidents per 1,000 drivers, giving it the boasting right of being the only state to rate above 40.

Lastly, Massachusetts also had two DUIs per 1,000 drivers, tying with Tennessee for the 11th-highest DUI rate in the U.S. Yikes.

via GIPHY

Unsurprisingly, these factors have caused Massachusetts to have some of the highest car maintenance and insurance costs in the country, according to WalletHub, which put the state not in dead last place, but at 45 out of 50.

As for the why of it all, CBS affiliate WBZ partnered with the Waze app back in September and discovered that traffic in the state increased by more than 5% between 2022 and 2023. The data also showed increases in specific cities— 10% more in Newton, 15% more in Framingham, 12% in Salem, just to name a few.

And why is traffic increasing? Namely due to companies mandating a return to the office and employees opting to drive themselves rather than use public transportation. With increased traffic and brutal winters, it’s easy to see why this would be the perfect recipe for less-than-stellar driving conditions.

However, it’s not all bad statistics. Massachusetts did get good marks somewhere. Its speeding-related incident rate was a mere 1.3, tying it with New Jersey for the fifth-lowest speeding-related incident rate.

via GIPHY

Massachusetts is in good company with Rhode Island, California, Washington D.C., and New Jersey, the next four states with the worst drivers. Meanwhile, Arkansas, Michigan, Vermont, Kentucky, and Oklahoma were the top five states.

Let’s be honest: at some point in our lives, we’ve all thought that the city we live in has the worst drivers. We’ve tried (and failed) to repress our road rage as someone cut us off, groaned as someone failed to use their turn signal or waved our fist at someone tailgating us. And we've all seen someone distracted on the road by their phone—though let's face it, most of us have been guilty of that modern day sin.

via GIPHY

At the very least, we point a finger at the next state over. For many of us that wouldn't be the case, but if you live in New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, or New York, you’d be correct! Enjoy living in superiority!

Although I must say, as a Californian I truly thought the Sunshine State would take home the title. Our freeway systems alone…oy. I suppose we'll have to settle for 3rd place in a contest nobody wants to win.

See where your state ranks here.

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Pop Culture

It turns out Gen Z is resistant to driving and maybe they’re onto something

A growing number of young people say they're afraid to get behind the wheel.

Photo by JD Weiher on Unsplash

The percent of teens getting their driver's licenses has declined signifcantly.

If it feels like you're meeting more and more older teens and young adults who don't have their driver's license, it's not your imagination. Gen Z has been much less interested in driving than previous generations, according to Department of Transportation data shared by USA Today.

In 1983, about half of 16-year-olds had driver's licenses. By 2022, that number declined to about a quarter. During that same time, 18-year-olds with driver's licenses dropped from 80% to 60%.

There are some explanations for what's caused the drop. For one, thanks to video calling, young people don't need to drive to see each other like previous generations did. Even if they do get together in person, improvements in public transportation and the proliferation of ride share offerings like Uber and Lyft have made it easier to do so without a car. Driving is also expensive, especially when you take the higher insurance premiums of young drivers into account. Gen Z has grown up more environmentally conscious than previous generations, and have grown up hearing about the blight of carbon emissions on the planet.

But in addition to that, there appears to be a sharp increase in anxiety around driving, and some experienced adult drivers are defending those fears as warranted.

According to a survey of non-driving teens by insurance comparison website The Zebra, nearly 1 in 4 said that they haven't gotten a license because they are afraid to drive a car. While it's easy to chock that up to the general increase in mental health disorders among young people, the fear of driving may be warranted.

In our car dependent society, choosing not to drive might seem like an odd decision, but there may be some wisdom behind it. As a user on X posted, "Honestly, I don't understand why ppl shame teens for not wanting to know how to drive. Why do we act like it's not terrifying?" and many people shared their experiences of car accidents really messing them up.

Statistically speaking, driving is the most dangerous thing most humans do, and Americans do it more than any other nation. But because we drive so often, the risk factor isn't something we think about as much as maybe we should.

Young people learning to drive today are logically more aware of the risks than previous generations. Ask a boomer what they learned in Driver's Ed and it's a far cry from what Gen Z learns. Boomers didn't even have required seat belts when they learned to drive. Kids today have not only grown up with seat belts but with high tech car seats and various booster seat iterations specific to their age and size. Those safety restraints keep us all safer, of course, but they are also a constant reminder of the dangers inherent in being in a moving vehicle. Being a passenger is one thing, but the responsibility of being the driver of that moving vehicle is entirely another.

Driver education courses have also evolved over the years to include graphic warnings about driving under the influence and distracted driving, which previous generations only got a fraction of. The idea is to scare teens who believe they're immortal into understanding the danger that comes with doing those things, but for young people who are already prone to feeling anxious, seeing those terrifying scenarios can make the fear of driving worse. Most young people I've spoken to who have completed Driver's Ed but aren't in any hurry to get their license say that driving just makes them too nervous. Some of them have decided after a couple of years that they wanted their license, so it's just delayed a bit. Others don't have any plans to and seem to be doing fine with other ways of getting around.

Holding off on driving simply doesn't need to be viewed negatively, especially when the risks of driving are real. Driving may be a valuable skill to have, but there's no reason that skill has to be mastered by a certain age. If a good portion of Gen Z isn't feeling it and choose to walk or bike or carpool or use public transportation instead, more power to them. Those choices are more affordable and better for the environment anyway, so let's embrace the idea that choosing not to drive is a reasonable one and not judge or shame anyone for it.

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