Vehicles

Northbound Interstate 95 is closed at Route 100 in Howard County because of a tractor-trailer overturning about 3 p.m. Thursday, police said. The crash will likely keep the highway closed through the evening rush hour, Maryland State Police said in a statement shortly before 5 p.m. Traffic is backed up to around Exit 35A onto Route 216. Drivers should avoid the area south of Elkridge, police said, because all four lanes are closed to...

Howard County officers snagged seven drunk drivers at an overnight checkpoint in Laurel, police said. Nearly 750 vehicles passed through the checkpoint at the Midway Plaza along Route 1 and 19 were flagged for further questioning, according to police. In addition to the drunk drivers caught, police charged one with a drug offense and three for driving on a suspended license. annie.linskey@baltsun.com twitter.com/annielinskey

Carroll County transportation officials have found after examining vehicle maintenance records that seven county-owned vehicles and other pieces of equipment were overdue for state-required inspection. The county's Bureau of Fleet Management and Warehouse Operations recently completed its review of the records after the bureau was charged last month with violating a state law requiring annual inspections and repairs of large trucks and equipment. County officials blamed confusing recordkeeping that led an inspector from the state police's Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Section to believe that county-owned vehicles were not being inspected.

Two children and three adults were injured yesterday after two vehicles collided at a Northwest Baltimore intersection while one of them was being followed by police for a traffic violation. One of the vehicles caught fire after it struck a utility pole, police said. Names of the injured were not available. About 5 p.m., at Gwynn Oak and Ferndale avenues in Howard Park, a van and an Audi, which was being followed by police, crashed, and one of them struck a parked vehicle. One vehicle caught fire after hitting a utility pole, and firefighters quickly extinguished the flames.

DEARBORN, Mich. - Ford Motor Co. and Qualcomm Inc. plan to form a joint venture to provide wireless Internet access and emergency call service in cars starting late next year. The venture, called Wingcast, will be led by former Microsoft Corp. Vice President Harel Kodesh, who will hold the titles of president and chief executive. Ford Vice Chairman Wayne Booker will be chairman of the venture. Ford, the world's second-largest automaker, is attempting to catch up to rival General Motors Corp.

About 85 vehicles driving along a foggy mountaintop in Garrett County crashed yesterday in a series of accidents that killed at least two people and injured more than 60, authorities said. The accidents left a tangle of damaged cars, trucks and tractor-trailers in the eastbound and westbound lanes of Interstate 68. Firefighters and emergency workers worked through the fog and rain on Big Savage Mountain, one of the highest points in Maryland, to rescue the injured. "It looked like a junkyard, cars piled on top of each other," said Keith Bailey, 48, a truck driver from Grand Rapids, Mich.

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Co. said yesterday that it planned to sell 9.34 million vehicles next year, a figure that analysts said would put it ahead of troubled General Motors Corp. as the world's largest auto company. Toyota reported global group sales this year of 8.8 million cars and trucks, below GM's 2006 sales forecast of 9.2 million vehicles. But figures released yesterday show the rival car giants on starkly different trajectories, with Toyota expecting to add a half-million vehicle sales next year, at a time when GM is closing plants and laying off workers.

Christopher Polyniak and a colleague encountered some rain and light fog yesterday morning as they drove east on Interstate 70 in western Howard County, but they weren't overly concerned. Suddenly, they found themselves enveloped in a soupy, treacherous fog. "We couldn't see the front of our hood, it was that thick," said Polyniak, 31, a computer specialist from Frederick. Seconds later, they heard the sounds of automobiles colliding. Then a vehicle struck their minivan in the left rear.

- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Toyota owners Wednesday they should stop driving their vehicles, then quickly took back his words, adding to confusion over the safety of millions of recalled cars. Toyota, for its part, tried to reassure drivers that sticky gas pedals have been rare - and that the cars can be stopped in any event by firmly stepping on the brakes. The final word from LaHood: "What I meant to say or what I thought I said was, if you own one of these cars or if you're in doubt, take it to the dealer and they're going to fix it."