Is this true? A friend of mine who works there said so, but I don’t know whether to believe him or not.
![[PSA] You don't need 14 open tabs to find a vehicle with award-winning safety. Mazda was just named the Safest New-Car Brand by Consumer Reports.*](https://preview.redd.it/bxcz1gwq0b9h1.gif?width=108&height=81&auto=webp&s=a57878bfdd67f3e28e6b1e079c65cbbcf9979c3e)
TL;DR: Check the report. And Mazda has debuted the past three years with more IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK+ awards than any other brand (as of May 2026).2 Here’s what that means for your next road trip.
Let's be real, a long family road trip to the tournament can be… a lot. You're the captain, navigating traffic while managing the "are we there yet?" chants from the back. You need a vehicle that supports your journey.
Our whole approach is about proactive safety that helps monitor what’s happening around you and makes driving safely a little easier.
It’s the difference between a goalie who only blocks shots and a midfielder who controls the pace of the game to help prevent those shots from ever being taken. The proactive safety features work with you, helping you stay alert and aware so you can drive with the confidence of having a whole team of sensors on your side.
Here’s the game plan:
On the road to victory: Standard Mazda Radar Cruise Control with Stop & Go3 and Lane-Keep Assist4 are designed to help keep you centered and at a safe following distance, so you can be mindful of the road without having to constantly micromanage.
Rise up: The Available Driver Monitoring5 and Driver Attention Alert6 are your MVP. Each is meant to subtly catch cues that you're getting fatigued or distracted and to give you a gentle alert before you start to drift or your gaze strays from the road for too long.
Increased Awareness: Standard Blind Spot Monitoring7 can give you a calm heads-up about vehicles in your blind spot, so you can merge with confidence.
Everywhere at once: Our i-Activsense® safety features act like your best defenders, 8 helping to detect hazards and alerting you earlier, so you have more time to react. If needed, Smart Brake Support can step in to help you slow down or stop. 9
It's a proactive safety system that is award-winning for the way it supports and empowers drivers. It's confidence-building. And it's part of what makes a Mazda vehicle a joy to drive. 8
And it gives you plenty of time to practice your team chants along the way.
Ready to see the tech in action? Tap to explore the award-winning safety of Mazda.
* Consumer Reports does not endorse products or services.
2. Visit www.iihs.org to learn more.
3. Mazda Radar Cruise Control (MRCC) with Stop & Go is not an automated driving system. It is not a substitute for safe and attentive driving. There are limitations to the range and detection of the system. Driver action is required to resume MRCC with Stop & Go after a complete stop. Please see your Owner’s Manual for further details.
4. Lane-keep Assist is not a substitute for safe and attentive driving. There are limitations to the range and detection of the system. Please see your Owner’s Manual for further details.
5. Driver Monitoring provides warnings when it detects changes in driver facial features indicating driver fatigue and sleepiness and encourages the driver to take a rest. No personal data is stored related to this feature. It is not a substitute for safe and attentive driving. There are limitations to the operation and detection of the system. Please see your Owner’s Manual for further details.
6. Driver Attention Alert is not a substitute for safe and attentive driving. There are limitations to the operation of the system. Please see your Owner’s Manual for further details.
7. Always check your mirrors. Be aware of the traffic around you. There are limitations to the range and detection of the system. Please see your Owner’s Manual for further details.
8. i-Activsense® safety features are not a substitute for safe and attentive driving. There are limitations to the range and detection of each safety feature. Safety features vary based on vehicle package and trim combinations. Please see your Owner’s Manual for further details.
9. Smart Brake Support features are not a substitute for safe and attentive driving. There are limitations to the operation of the system. Please see your Owner’s Manual for further details.
Tomorrow when you check out , the regional eye locks onto Monterey County’s oversight apparatus. But you don’t have to wait for the press releases to see where the structural breakdown occurred. A formal complaint has already bypassed closed doors, detailing how Pacific Grove’s single-license storefront retail drawing was methodically turned into an insulated corporate sweepstakes.
Look directly at the architecture of the 8-ball monopoly:
The Eight Corporate Tickets
When the City Clerk turned the crank on June 15, the public saw ten independent companies. The corporate registration records reveal a vastly different reality. Eight of those ten approved lottery balls were structured, financed, and deployed by a single multi-location corporate retail giant: Off the Charts (OTC), out of Costa Mesa.
By using a network of interconnected shell entities under a centralized ownership group, a single enterprise weaponized "permit stacking" to secure an 80% mathematical guarantee to capture the local market at . Legitimate local and independent entries were reduced to a microscopic 10% chance of success per(egg?).
What Did They Know?
The city can no longer claim administrative ignorance. The documented evidence chain establishes that city leadership, the City Manager’s office, and outside counsel were served with explicit, formal legal warnings as early as January 9. These warnings specifically detailed the precise corporate linkages of the eight overlapping applications and outlined how the drawing violated the spirit of a fair municipal process.
Rather than enforcing standard ownership disclosure mandates required under California’s state MAUCRSA regulations, city administration and their heavily compensated consultant, HdL Companies, actively chose to press forward. They hid behind the passive bureaucratic defense that the stacking was "technically permissible" under a loosely drafted municipal ordinance—effectively giving a green light to a rigged statistical outcome.
The Consequences
This wasn't an administrative oversight; it was a systemic failure of due process that completely eroded public trust. By allowing a public lottery to be hijacked by shell-stacking tactics, the city has exposed regional taxpayers to severe litigation vulnerabilities and an impending civil watchdog investigation.
The complete entity networks, public tracking logs, and formal filings submitted to the Civil Grand Jury are fully laid bare here:
