 As a walker and cyclist, I'm often left standing in slack-jawed amazement at the incredible asshole-ness of drivers, wishing I had a paint gun so I could tag the car. Something that might wash off eventually, but would signal to others that this car pissed a pedestrian so much that they got tagged. One tag wouldn't mean much, of course -- there are plenty of asshole pedestrians too. But if your car was starting to accumulate a lot of yellow, your family might not want to ride with you. Or when a cop pulled you over he or she might not be so easily talked out of giving you a ticket. Or taking you to jail. It would give some power to people who have no power, when compared to the driver who's encased in tons of steel with many tons of bone-crushing and skin-ripping momentum.  On the long drive back from Toronto yesterday, I hit a bit of traffic going through Syracuse. The signs said Left Lane Closed Ahead. And 99.9 percent of the drivers lined up as soon as the traffic slowed down, leaving the left lane open. I'm sure you know what happened. The other 00.1 percent, mostly driving huge pickup trucks, come barreling down the left lane, passing all the people waiting their turn, and then, when they can't go any further, try to merge with the adjacent lane. Of course at that moment I thought of the yellow paint. But then I thought of something else. How about getting out my phone and taking a picture of their license plate and uploading it to a special site. Tagging the assholes. Again, one tag wouldn't mean anything. But hundreds of them, that would make life interesting. And might get a few more people to line up and wait their turn.
Bill Seitz suggests using a paintball gun. Wonder how the NYPD would feel about citizens walking around with big guns like that!
 I started a thread on the zipper merge, which believe it or not is faster, according to the Minnesota DOT, than the wait-your-turn method.
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