I was living out in West Hollywood when a Hollywood strangler was strangling women. Every night
there was a panel discussion on TV about the strangler, speculations about his habits, his motives,
his methods. One thing was clear about him: he only strangled women when they were alone, or with
other women. And the panel members would always end the show by saying:
Now for all you women,
listen: don't go outside without a man. Don't walk out to your car, don't even take the garbage out
by yourself; always go with a man.
Then, one of the eyewitnesses identified a policeman as
one of the suspects. The next night, the chief of the police was on the panel, and he said:
Now for all you women, whatever happens, do not stop for a police officer, stay in your
car. If a police officer tries to stop you, do not stop, keep driving and under no circumstances
should you get out of your car.
For a few weeks, half the traffic in LA was doing twice
the speed limits.
