Driving

The Huntington News reports a Northeastern grad student who parked his car overnight in a college parking lot on Columbus Avenue returned the next afternoon to find both his side mirrors ripped off and a note "criticizing his parking and threatening to vandalize the car next time it is improperly parked."

State Police are investigating a particularly violent car crash around 12:30 a.m. by the Wellington T stop that sent three people to the hospital with serious injuries:

Preliminary investigation indicates that one car was traveling westbound in the eastbound lane when it collided head-on with the second car, which may have been racing at the time of the crash. Preliminary investigation further indicates that a 2004 Honda Accord driven by a 30-year-old Somerville man was going the wrong way when it collided with a 2001 Honda Civic being driven by a 23-year-old Cambridge man and carrying a 25-year-old Cambridge man as a passenger. Both drivers and the passenger were transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where they remain this morning with serious injuries. The investigation into why the Accord’s driver was going west in the eastbound lane, and whether the Civic was involved in a race at the time of the crash, remains ongoing.

Shocker: The driver of the second car in the impromptu speed trials fled the area, State Police say.

Stiofan forwards this photo of the result of a car-vs.-bollard incident in Harvard Square this morning. Lots of other smashups reported across the area as we magically lose the ability to drive in snow.

A groggy citizen complains about a mini-van parked in a lot off Northampton Street:

This car's alarm goes off every night several times a night and wakes up everyone on the block. Has been happening for at least three weeks... Can't leave a note because it is behind a gate in apt complex lot. Can someone trace and contact the owner?

Dave Ahern looked out the window of his Dorchester home to see what a thin coating of snow means. He used the hashtag #yougottabekiddin

Crash at Everett and Clevemont in Brighton. Photo by bbarbaruolo.

Update, 11 p.m.: Expressway in Dorchester at a complete standstill in both directions; six cars collided on the Zakim.

Drivers unaccustomed to powder-covered roads, coupled with a lack of salt, means spinouts and crashes are beginning to pile up. A Hummer ran up into a house on Lake Street in Brighton, but did no major damage to either house or people. Police shut Everett Street in Brighton after cars started playing pinball. Boston DPW salt trucks began blasting out of their yards to treat roads around 10:45 p.m.

Ed. note: I held off on raising the French Toast Alert based on a forecast that called for everything to melt by morning as temperatures rose into the 40s. I should have known better.

Don't even think of driving into the Financial District, Mike advises. Brian D'Amico reports the flooding extends from Atlantic to at least India - and that the Blue Line might be affected as well.

Jeff Cutler reports from the New England Auto Show, which runs through Monday at the convention center.

There were a ton of cars shipped here right from the Detroit show and also a few vehicles that made their debut here. Count the Fiat 500 Abarth edition and the Scion iQ among that list of cool cars that have only been glimpsed briefly around the United States and visitors to the Boston show can boast they’ve got to sit in and play with the newest technology.

In Brookline overnight, Wicked Local Brookline reports: The kid was in the car with his mother's boyfriend.

Wellesley PD Action News reports live from the scene!

Wouldn't you love to hear the explanation for this crash in a Wellesley parking garage?

BostonC75 snapped the photo this morning.

"Negative injuries," Wellesley PD reports.

Nick Sanchez, who took this photo underneath the Red Line stop around 1:30 p.m., reports the driver was removed and put on a stretcher - no doubt for the short trip across the street to MGH.

The Globe reports twas falling asleep at the wheel while doing 75 m.p.h. - and then accelerating past 100 m.p.h. - that led to the wreck of the state-owned Murraymobile.

A concerned citizen grows weary of obnoxious drivers blaring horns at pedestrians crossing with the light at Belvedire and Huntington by the Pru:

No, don't worry, the T probably isn't planning on raising fares that much. But, as the Patriot Ledger reports, thieves are now trolling the parking lots at commuter-rail and Red Line stops and stealing catalytic converters off cars - a seasoned thief can saw one off in less than 30 seconds. They get $200 for their "scrap" converters, you get a $1,000 bill for a new one.

The Herald reports a UK company is launching a service in Boston to let homeowners and condo dwellers rent out their parking spaces to visitors.

The company claims users save up to 70% on normal parking rates while letting space owners make some cash. But, really, is there demand for a $300-a-month parking space near Green Street in JP? And does that imply there are $430 parking spaces near Green Street?

Other Boston-area listings. Also see Parkopedia.

Christine Dunne photographs and gets angry at some jerk in a BMW who almost seemed to go out of his way to park like a moron at the Star Market on the Cambridge/Watertown line the other day.

Boston Police report finding a man lying on the ground at Allston and Kelton streets around 4:30 a.m. today.

BPD Officer Eddy Chrispin reports the man was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital with a head injury, but is in stable condition. He said the man was Hispanic but that no other information about him was available. he added investigators are still not sure what happened or whether another vehicle was involved.

Channel 4 reports a fatal crash involving an 18-wheeler making a right turn and an unnamed bicyclist at Mass. Ave. and Vassar Street last night.

Photo by Matt Tomlin.

A Roslindale man pleaded guilty today to killing a man with his car in front of the Roxbury Crossing T stop.

Colin Ratiu, 24, admitted to one count of motor vehicle homicide and one count of leaving the scene of an accident, for the death of Andrew Prior on Nov. 10, 2010, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Prosecutors asked for six to eight years in state prison. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol Ball instead sentenced him to five years in a county jail. He will also lose his license for 15 years.

Prior's father, David, recalled his son's work at a Syracuse, NY hospice. "He volunteered there for two years. He used to go read to terminally ill people. He used to feed terminally ill people. He used to talk to and hold their hand."

The day after local bicyclists celebrated the opening of bike lanes on the BU Bridge, an irate citizen forwarded this photo of lane-hogging cabs just a few blocks away outside BU's Warren Towers:

Apparently the bike lane on Comm. Ave. is now a cab stand. 8 cabs in a row were parked there this morning around 8:40.

Channel 4 reports on a road-rage pepper spraying off the Expressway in Quincy.

All it takes is a little extra tap on the accelerator, somebody discovered today. Jason Mihalko was on scene to record this rebuttal to the old nostrum.

Cambridge Police report two people were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries in the accident, which is still under investigation.

Wicked Local Newton reports.

Chris W. reports Storrow inbound is shut past the Doubletree, thanks to a tractor trailer whose driver seems to have lost the ability to read.

UPDATE, 3:50 a.m.: NEFirebuff reports another truck managed to get itself stuck at the BU Bridge eastbound.

On the hood of a '59 Plymouth Belvedere.