Ruins Brooklyn.

Whoops, wrong window. That post was supposed to go to the obama-meth head-assassin article.

You folks are writing as if these guys got off easy.

They are facing FEDERAL gun and drug charges! In case you don't know, federal sentencing guidelines are about the toughest in the nation. Moreover, all the circumstances of the crime, including the assassination plot, will be taken into account by the judge in sentencing. In other words, these guys are not going to be paroled in a couple of years. The judges will sentence them at the top of the range, or even adjust above it. They are not going to see the light of day anytime soon.

As for you conspiracy theorists, when Obama is president, he will OWN the Secret Service; they report to the president. If he couldn't even manage his own agencies then he would hardly deserve to be president. Let's be serious here.

Again, I'm not writing off the fact that given this is now BUSH'S DoJ there could be political and racial considerations at work (even though the career prosecutors at work are ethically bound to be neutral), but the idea that this is a setup for future assassinations is asinine, ignorant drivel.

"It's New York drivers. It's one thing I've observed from living here: They will not slow down. It's almost like you're taunting them. I was told in Boston that signaling is revealing your intentions to the enemy. It's the same here. You're better off not signaling."

That's just stupid. (And as a former courier in Boston I know of what I write.) They might not slow down if you put your signal on, but at least they're going to be aware that you are moving, so if you miscalculate they'll possibly have at least a quicker reaction time.

A huge part of the problem is lack of enforcement, especially on highways. Disregard of the speed limit is virtually universal. The chances of getting caught speeding are virtually zero. There are just not enough traffic police. The ranks of the traffic police should be increased by at least 200%.

Mark Marshall

Toronto

[Tom Vanderbilt thought]... Should he tuck into the crowd as soon as the road sign says "Merge Right" and practice a "random act of kindness," or stay in his lane and dart onto the skyway at the last minute with the bold attitude, "Live free or die"?

How is following the directive to merge right safely considered a random act of kindness? That's not kindness, it's common courtesy. Big part of the problem is this attitude that following the golden rule is something extraordinary.

It's like having an option of kicking a puppy, or not kicking a puppy.

Kicking the puppy is what an asshole chooses,

Not kicking the puppy is what any decent person chooses,

Going and getting the puppy a yummy treat is an act of kindness.

Just because you don't kick the puppy doesn't mean you're special, it just means you're not an asshole. Special is the person who brings the treat...

Actually, I didn't get the 15 mph part from hearsay, but from the Tennessee driver's handbook they gave us in driver's ed... in 1984. It would appear someone changed the law, since googling reveals that "there is no basic speed law in Tennessee," and I know for a fact that the basic speed law was one of the things on the official exam when I took it. I can even tell you the exact wording of the question, since several people missed it because it was poorly worded: "Q: The basic speed law is: A: driving too fast for conditions."

Which just goes to show that the legislature wants to make very sure that NO ONE knows what the law is.

You can't rely on "what someone said," even if it's "what someone said" in some driver's ed class. Were they a lawyer? Did they even cite to authority? No.

One quick google and 20 seconds later, Tennessee Code section 55-8-154(a):

"(a) No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law."

So, not only is there not any flat 15 mph standard (it's just impeding normal and reasonable movement of traffic, whatever that happens to be), but it doesn't apply if you would be going over the posted limit, because that would not be complying with section 55-8-152 on speed limits.

I drive 60 miles a day through the streets of Los Angeles --- from Pasadena to West L.A. --- every day. I have always heard that cops refer to Los Angeles drivers as near professional, and that is almost always my experience. I would say that literally 99% of the drivers I encounter are courteous and sensible, and as a consequence, Los Angeles rush hour traffic goes about as well as it can. Indeed, rush hour traffic is frequently less congested than weekend traffic because the rush hour drivers know exactly what they are doing, and do it smoothly and sensibly.

And almost no one honks, except to avoid a collision.

I don't know from "reckless driving," but in Tennessee you can be ticketed for violating the "basic speed law" if your speed is more than 15 mph slower or faster than surrounding traffic. The law is meant to stop little old ladies from driving 35 on the freeway and crazy young men from driving 65 in sheets of rain, but I was told in driver's ed that it can theoretically be used to ticket people for driving the speed limit if all others around them are speeding.

Seems unlikely to me. If everyone is driving 85 except one guy driving 65, the cops are more likely to go for the buffet of speeders than the one poor sod getting passed.

I was taught, by my saintly grandfather, to signal well ahead of when I needed to change lanes, to match the speed of the lane next to me, and then merge. This served me well in Memphis.

Not so much in Chicago, where, as Vanderbilt says about NYC, other drivers regard a signal as a challenge. My friend, who grew up in Chicago, told me that the time-honored way to switch lanes during rush hour in Chicago is to act crazy. Swerve slightly a few times as if you might actually be willing to plow into the passing traffic. Rev your engine. Flash lights at random. The people in the other lane will back off and make room.

It's against my nature and everything I was taught to act like this... but after missing my exit a few times I tried it out. I hate to say it, but it works.