Archive for the ‘driver’ Category

Many police departments around the U.S. impound the cars of drivers caught behind the wheel without a license.

But starting Sunday, San Francisco plans to abolish that policy, calling it unfair to illegal immigrants.

Mayor Gavin Newsom, police chief George Gascón, and supervisor David Campos (himself a former illegal immigrant) all agree that impounding cars is particularly punitive for undocumented aliens, who are unable get licenses under California law.

Instead, police will give any license-less driver time to call a friend or relative to come drive the car away. The driver will still be cited for driving without a license, however, and...

It all began, explains author Tom Vanderbilt, when he finally became a "late merger". Instead of meekly getting into line while those [fill in epithet here] zoomed past him to merge just before the end of the lane...he joined them.

His wife cringed. He wondered what this would do to his self-image. Was he really that kind of person? And, more deeply, why do we behave the way we do in traffic? Is it true that late merging actually makes traffic move faster on average?

And that's how this unexpectedly compelling book starts. Face it, if someone said they wanted you to read a fascinating book on ... traffic ... you'd politely nod and try to...