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| 5/23 |
| 2007/1/14-23 [Transportation/Car/RoadHogs, Transportation/Car] UID:45530 Activity:nil |
1/14 http://tinyurl.com/y6xjyp WSJ on web vigilantes. Features http://PlateWire.com; http://AboveAverageDriver.com; http://Irate-Driver.com; http://BadDriving.com |
| 5/23 |
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| tinyurl.com/y6xjyp -> online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116855242776974364-OeszoAs0Sa3YsO80IOEwzj7Vfg8_20080112.html?mod=blogs A ruling in the legal case on the use of steroids in baseball could reach far beyond the diamond and give the government broad search-and-seizure powers, some civil-liberties advocates say. Grocery-store shelves are increasingly crowded with pricey organic versions of everything from milk and eggs to hot dogs and beer. But some of the options pitched as healthier may not always be worth their higher price tags. What are the hits and misses among the concepts shown at the Detroit auto show? Joseph White offers his views and lets readers weigh in on whether the auto makers should do anything with these flights of fancy. MORE The Snoop Next Door Bad parking, loud talking -- no transgression is too trivial to document online. Our reporter on new Web sites for outing fellow citizens. So the New York theater director got on her cellphone and booked a date. Almost immediately, she started receiving "weird and creepy" calls directing her to a blog. There, under the posting "Eva Burgess Is Getting Glasses!" her name, cellphone number and other details mentioned in her call to the doctor's office were posted, along with the admonition, "next time, you might take your business outside." The offended blogger had been sitting next to Ms Burgess in the cafe. The dawn patrol: Tim Halberg filmed a newspaper-stealing neighbor, then put the video online. It used to be the worst you could get for a petty wrong in public was a rude look. Now, it's not just brutal police officers, panty-free celebrities and wayward politicians who are being outed online. The most trivial missteps by ordinary folks are increasingly ripe for exposure as well. One site documents locations where people have failed to pick up after their dogs. Capturing newspaper-stealing neighbors on video is also an emerging genre. Helping drive the exposs are a crop of entrepreneurs who hope to sell advertising and subscriptions. One site that lets people identify bad drivers is about to offer a $5 monthly service, for people to register several of their own plate numbers and receive notices if they are cited by other drivers. But the traffic and commercial prospects for many of the sites are so limited that clearly there is something else at work. The embrace of the Web to expose trivial transgressions in part represents a return to shame as a check on social behavior, says Henry Jenkins, director of the comparative media studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Some academics believe shame became less powerful as a control over everyday interactions with strangers in all but very small neighborhoods or social groups, as people moved to big cities or impersonal suburbs where they existed more anonymously. The sites documenting minor wrongs are the flip side of an online vigilantism movement that tackles meatier social issues. Community organization Cop Watch Los Angeles encourages users to send in stories and pictures of people being brutalized or harassed by police, for posting on the Web. The governor of Texas plans to launch a site this year that will air live video of the border, in hopes that people will watch and report illegal crossings. In a trial run in November, the site received more than 14,000 emails. Tips included spottings of individuals swimming in the Rio Grande, a person wearing a large white hat and a "wild" boy at the border. In China, Web postings have become a powerful social weapon, used to rally thousands of people to hound a man who allegedly had an affair with a married woman. An Anonymous Tip For people singled out, the sites can represent an unsettling form of street justice, with no due process. Chris Roth's driving skills have been roundly criticized online by self-anointed traffic monitors. "This man needs his license revoked," wrote one poster, who accused Mr Roth of cutting in and out. Another charged him with driving on a shoulder and having the audacity to "flip off" an old lady who wouldn't let him cut in. Mr Roth found the critiques when an anonymous writer added a comment to his MySpace profile in late November directing him to PlateWire, one of the handful of new sites devoted to bad driving. There, a user had posted Mr Roth's license-plate information -- his vanity plate reads "IDRVFAST" -- and complained about his reckless driving style. Subsequent posters found and listed his full name, cellphone number and link to his MySpace page, as well as comments like "big jerk" and "meathead." Chris Roth was criticized by anonymous posters on one site for his driving skills. You can just go online and say whatever you want whether it's factual or not," says the 37-year-old Mr Roth, of Raleigh, NC, who works in technology sales. He admits he is an impatient driver and speeds, but he has no plans to change his driving style based on posts by anonymous commentators. The company says the posts were started anonymously around 2005 by employees disgruntled with the parking situation. During that year, Yahoo hired more than 2,100 new employees, and finding a parking space become difficult. "I don't want to have my car posted up there so I definitely think twice about how I park," says Yahoo spokeswoman Heidi Burgett. The digital age allows critics to quickly find a fair amount of information about their targets. One day last November, at about 11:30 am, a blog focused on making New York streets more bike-friendly posted the license plate number of an SUV driver who allegedly accelerated from a dead stop to hit a bicycle blocking his way. At 1:16 pm, someone posted the registration information for the license plate, including the SUV owner's name and address. Ten minutes later, a user posted a link to an aerial photo of the owner's house. Within another hour, the posting also included the accused's picture and email address. The SUV's owner, Ian Goldman, the chief executive of Celerant Technology Corp. in the New York City borough of Staten Island, declined to comment for this article. According to an email exchange posted on the blog, Mr Goldman said that he had lent the vehicle in question to a relative with "an urgent medical situation" and that he was not aware of any incident. The alleged victim has decided to drop the matter since the damage to the bicycle, which he was standing next to at the time, was under $20. Last month, Aaron Naparstek, editor of the blog, says he removed Mr Goldman's home and email addresses from the site after receiving a "lawyerly cease and desist" email asking that the whole posting be deleted. Other sites have also received complaints asking that posts be removed. Most say they will remove identifying information like phone numbers or full names when it comes to their attention or if asked. Yet lawyers say alleged wrongdoers shamed online typically have little legal recourse under libel and privacy laws if the accusations in postings are true, if they are posters' opinions about behavior witnessed in a public place and if the personal information listed is available to the public. "It becomes very difficult when it comes to the shaming sites in terms of what you can do in creating a case," says Daniel Solove, an associate professor of law at George Washington University Law School, who is working on a book about gossiping, shaming and privacy on the Internet. org hosts pictures of cars illegally parked in handicapped spaces. com, where users have posted details about nannies committing misdeeds, like feeding children Ho Hos. Few Postings Some of the sites are attracting little attention. Many ask for donations to cover costs, but some owners are hoping to make money. Mark Buckman launched PlateWire in May after almost getting run off the road a few months earlier by several drivers, including one who was looking in his backseat and steering with his leg. The site now lists nearly 25,000 license-plate numbers, chastised for moves like tailgating with brights on and driving too slowly in the left lane. To drum up revenue, Mr Buckman recently added advertising and an online store with branded merchandise. Users in about 15 states can also pay $2 to have a postcard sent to an offending driver, directing the accused... |
| PlateWire.com Award Flag Wink Hazard To "Award" a driver, is to say thanks to a driver for showing courtesy and thoughtfulness. To "Flag" a driver, is to warn a driver of his/her rude and/or careless behavior that you have witnessed. To "Wink" at a driver, is to send a flirtacious message to a driver you've encountered. To "Hazard" a driver is to warn them of a physical hazard that their vehicle exhibits. PlateWire is a public repository and electronic forum of drivers by drivers. Using a drivers license plate, commuters can communicate their thoughts and feelings in regards to driving on today's roadways. She was tailgating me as I exited from Southbound SR 167 onto 84th. I signaled left in the middle of the turn to get in the left turn lane a half a block away. As I rolled up to the light she passed me on the right and cut in front of me to get into my lane. When she came over in front of me I could only see the roof of her car. I'm not sure why but she floored it, turned left on a red light and almost had a head on with a large SUV. On my dash is a camera, in each mirror there is a camera. Sooooo, If you know this person direct her to this website. The cameras were all working and your actions have been recorded. When I got out to see if we made contact, my partner got a real good shot of your face with the help of the zoom lens on the front camera of you watching me in your left mirror. The right camera shows you on my right coming off the ramp behind me and passing me. He (the officer)watched the tape before I handed it to him, along with a complaint. Only an hour later the states attorney called me and told me that YOU will be served. One, get youself a good lawyer, two, bring someone to court with you that has a valid drivers license, because YOU won't have a driver license when you leave that courtroom. The federal law is very clear on this, "driving in a reckless manner around a hazmated vehicle" is a class 3 felony. He also was put on court supervision for six months after he gets his license back. First, turning on your turn signal when you are halfway into a lane already is a little pointless don't you think. Plus the slight head move you did pretending to actually look for traffic before making this abrupt lane change was obviously not very effective since you failed to see my car coming up in that lane. I had to slam the brakes and move to keep from hitting you. Then you did it again seconds later to another car in the next lane over so you could decide at the last second to exit at Shawnee Mission Pkway. Go back to Oregon if you can't figure out the traffic rules in Kansas. I was trying to merge into the left lane well before the right lane was going to end and this jerk would not let me in. They kept speeding up until they about ran me off the road and I finally was able to squeeze in. This jerk was tailgating me on a small 2 lane road when I was going atleast 7 or 8 over the speed limit. I gently tapped my brakes to give them the message to back off and they did for a minute but then proceeded to ride my butt. We got to a four lane road and i stayed in the left lane to pass a slow truck and they were inches behind me. As soon as I moved over to the right lane they flew past me. A man in a white BMW 318 ti wanted to check out his ride, apparently. I was in the left lane waiting for a break in traffic, passing cars to my right, but behind an SUV. Guy behind me wants to go faster then me so I pull right to let him go. He gives forth a burst of speed, accellerating to approx 70 in a 55; doges right and weaves left cutting off the SUV and making him weave in his lane. After disrupting two vehicles with fast and erratic driving to get ahead of everyone, he moves to the left lane and proceeds do continue on at 58 mph until he turned off. Heading west on 55 past 64, I noticed this vehicle in the left-hand lane creep by me and nearly tailgate a white Chevy van in the same lane. Both the van and a bluish-grey Honda moved out of the way before the Mazda driver hit the gas and cross through two lanes of traffic before exiting onto a side street. All this took place within a distance of less than half a mile. Don't know who this guy tried to elude, but fortunately he didn't so quick for me to not notice. Sometimes these vanity plates can prove to be a double-edge sword sometimes. I love the way you know how to weave and shove your Nissan SUV between the cars in front of you while ignoring lane markers. In the process of doing that, you have evidently forgotten the ability to read speed limit signs (40 mph) and have lost the ability to use your left hand to start your turn signals. And your move to "hit the gap" between two cars like Ladanian Tomilinson or Reggie Bush would be great on a football field betwen two tackles. If you were a football player, your ability to slash and accelerate would have landed you a Heisman trophy. However, you were doing this in a 3000 pound car, endangering lives and property as you zipped and zagged along Colima Road in Rowland Heights at 3:00 - 3:15 PM on January 15th. Most of the drivers around you wouldn't give a rat's butt if you were late for something. And by the way, I was behind you while I saw your incredible performance. It didn't seem like you saved all that much time because I caught up with you, without doing my best impression of a football running back and with a lot less pressing on the gas pedal. Turn Already Monday, January 15, 2007 We have been yapping and arguing back and fourth about left lane activities and how the dummies and vigilantes keep blocking it. How about when you are waiting to turn right at an intersection, the light is red (it is legal here in the Southwest US to turn right on a red unless otherwise posted) and some person is sitting there looking like they are going to turn, but no, uh still no, nope still not going, maybe they are waiting for the green? They sit there and look at the road, the intersection, their watch, and whatever else but they can not figure out how to turn. In many situations I can see clearly that nobody is coming... I am honking until I am blue in the face but they just sit there. I am aware of (and have posted about) the less intelligent that unfortunately also have drivers licenses, but is that the only issue, or is there anyone out there that has some explanation for these people? Are there laws in other states that prevent turning on red as default rule that these folks may be coming from? Monday, January 15, 2007 Just when you thought you saw it all... Rt 9 S merge with I 91 N, Ct Plate TCD-2 Green Subaru Outback, decides he is far more important then me and the 18 wheeler in back of us! He was following me onto the highway stuffed me, meanwhile stuffing the existing oncoming 18 wheeler. I can maybe understand too early not enough coffee yada yada... he decides to flip me off, than slows down to 45-50 in the middle lane (speed limit is 65) I pass on right, He cuts behind me, Than he dogs me for a short, then he gets in front like he wanted to give me a brake job.... Monday, January 15, 2007 Hey out with the doldrums - time for some fun! Think of some signs that you would like to see (or have seen) on the road, you know, something funny (not too off-color please). Monday, January 15, 2007 There is a lot on this site about left lane vigilantes vs tailgater jerks, and a few tempered middle positions, but most folks seem to fall either on the radical "go fast and damn the rest" or "if I'm not going under the speed limit I don't have to give a damn about you" sides of the equation. I even have a mirror image banner in my windsheild that reads "Slower Traffic Keep Right" with an arrow. If I am not actively passing cars, then I am not in the far left hand lane. Without fail, I let people merge in, I stop to allow people to turn, I am very considerate of everybody on the road. In fact, I go far, far out of my way to be extra carefully considerate of the other drivers on the road, because if I do not, then I feel that I have no right to become angry when I see other drivers being selfish and cutting others off, blocking traffic, driving slow in the left lan... |
| AboveAverageDriver.com com is a growing online community whose main purpose is to provide visitors an outlet for road rage and the frustration that comes from our daily encounters on the open road. Members and visitors can file Incident Reports on bad drivers, good drivers, and weirdos, which are collected in our searchable database. the weather's lovely, I'm listening to music, having a cigarette, watching the road ahead. Meanwhile, the driver of this tiny hatchback Suzuki decides that he doesn't want to wait for me to pass and has to make the left turn from a little side street right now. So, all of a sudden, a little car that looks about as sturdy as an eggshell shoots from the side street right in front of my huge Buick. If I would've hit the guy with my 'boat', I don't even want to think what would've been left of his Suzuki. And I think it's very important to my mental well being to be able to whine and complain about them to other like-minded people. com is a growing online community whose main purpose is to provide visitors an outlet for the frustration that comes from our daily encounters on the open road. Members and visitors can file Incident Reports on bad drivers, good drivers, and weirdoes, which are collected in our searchable database. We also have discussion forums where some of the better Incident Reports are posted, and where discussion is welcome. com is open to all, and frequent visitors are encouraged to become members. Membership allows you to personalize your AAD experience. Since no one color scheme can be all things to all people, we currently allow members to customize the AAD display to suit their tastes. We also offer members an Egosurfing facility, which queries our database and returns information about their own license plate, hometown, and more. Members can enter contests, add personal information into our member profile database, and more." com also offers membership directory, statistics, contests, jokes, quotes, links, and more. The web site is simple, easy to navigate, and easy on the eyes. Incident Reports One of the unique activities available here at AAD is the filing of Incident Reports. If someone cuts you off, let you change lanes, or just freaked you out, you can write up the incident and add it to our ever-growing, searchable database. Look up your own license plate, your friends', or the plate of that jerk who cut you off this morning. Good drivers, bad drivers, and weird drivers are all to be found here. Forums Introduce yourself, look for help, read about other people's experiences with rage on the road, or post your own. You can also easily cross-post your Incident Reports to the appropriate Forums. |
| Irate-Driver.com Comments Make payments with PayPal - its fast, free and secure! News WE ARE MOVING TO A NEW SERVER AND THUS WILL CREATE EMAIL ISSUES AND MAYBE OTHER SERVER ISSUES. Submitted By: dbmdude (last modified: 2007-01-15 01:49:34) If you read about us in the WSJ... We are not charging $5 to receive reports on your own vehicle, we do that for FREE. We only do advertising to get web site traffic, not for money. You may now report incidents and not even have to be logged in. We encourage people to report incidents, so in order to truly encourage this, we created multiple ways for you to report: * Log in and report as normal. com and I also have been using it to make all my pages compliant. I will add more details later, but for now I only have the template and a few pages compliant. To know if the page is compliant I add the following logo at the bottom (just above the banners)! Also, you may check compliancy on any page by clicking on the link in the footer (under the copywrite). I have now started a FRP system that will ''eventually'' be used for rewards programs that are yet to be developed. The FRP will be calculated based upon a formula that is also yet to be developed, but this formula will use the number of incidents reported, the weight of the incident reported and the rank and fake voting results, as well as the number of accepted invitations to determine what you get as points. I hope to have things to win on a periodic basis, but again this has yet to be determined. I am NOT a commercial enterprise, so I do not have any funding... all my funding comes from donations -- SO PLEASE DONATE! |
| BadDriving.com Discussion Boards Go to the forum and exchange your views on anything and everything, you can also add your comments to the bad driver reports. Pictures Picture Ideas With more and more camera phones about, keep your eye out for dodgy parking, take a picture then add it to bad driver reports page. Add a Picture You can add a picture to the bad driving report by going to the, my account, section and add picture! It can be an actual picture of the incident if you have one or you can choose from a selection that we have. |