Adding the word ‘cloverleaf’ to the series ‘jughandle, hook, trumpet, and diamond’ should be the ‘dead giveaway’ that intersection design somehow connects them all.

Drunk driving is broadly condemned and approval for those charged “getting off on a technicality” in short supply. But for protection of our personal freedoms, drunk driving laws are necessarily highly technical, resulting in court decisions (and media reports of same) that often read like puzzlers.

Volkswagen’s alleged decision to risk fooling regulators using software that enabled their diesel cars to pass emissions testing while failing in ‘real-world’ driving have always begged for some broader context assuring such risk-taking would likely be ‘OK’.

These days, 24/7 news cycles can barely handle the glut of breaking news, let alone the latest developments in ongoing stories. And just when you think a behaviour or a trend or a conspiracy theory can’t find the ‘next level,’ it does. Road safety and automotive news are not immune.