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A Facebook Page Dedicated To Exposing Reckless DFW Drivers Was Taken Down

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For several months, Facebook users could post to "You Can't Drive, Dallas" to warn the community of bad drivers.

Five stories that have North Texas talking: "You Can't Drive, Dallas"; Austin’s Explosions In The Sky don’t want Gov. Abbott’s endorsement; Fort Worth’s Elizabeth Northern shattered the Cowtown Ultra Marathon record; and more.

On Friday, a Facebook page called “You Can’t Drive, Dallas” was taken down by Facebook administrators without notice after a story from WFAA aired the day before. The page, created by Pete Turner of The Colony, allowed people in the DFW metroplex to publish photos of and information about reckless drivers. That information included names and license plate numbers.

"The page started as a closed group for drivers in The Colony and Little Elm, but turned it into a public Facebook page in October to broaden the audience," according to The Dallas Morning News. The page had more than 5,500 likes when it was taken down on Friday, WFAA reported.

As the page administrator, Turner used open records to match names to license plate numbers from submitted photos and posts the information online,WFAA-TV reported.

In WFAA’s first story, Turner said, ““If we expose the lack of anonymity in social media – maybe these people will be more aware – that ‘hey, if I start driving recklessly somebody could see me and I could end up on that page.”

Although, the Texas DMV said what Turner was doing was illegal, in a follow-up with WFAA, Turner said he’ll start a new page “once the dust settles.”

[WFAA, The Dallas Morning News]

  • More than 1.1 million Texans cast their ballots early. The Texas Tribune reported: “Over the 11-day early voting period, a total of 1,107,607 voters, making up 12.08 percent of registered voters, cast ballots in the 15 counties with the highest number of registered voters. That's up from the 565,538 who voted early in 2012, but lower than the 1,193,576 who did so in 2008.” Ayan Mittra, managing editor of The Tribune, talked with Texas Standard about what issues these voters care about, and what they feel are the greatest threats to the U.S. Read and listen to more pre-Super Tuesday coverage. [The Texas Tribune, Texas Standard]

 

  • Gov. Greg Abbott endorsed two notable Texans last week — one was really unhappy about it. Abbott gave Sen. Ted Cruz his presidential blessing, but he used music — allegedly without permission — Austin’s Explosions In The Sky for the endorsement video. According to Texas Monthly, the band’s manager responded with:
“The song was used without our permission or knowledge, which is frustrating. We are not supporters of Ted Cruz or Greg Abbot [sic] and we have asked them to remove our music and not to use any of our songs in the future.”

The video has indeed been taken down. Read more.

  • A Fort Worth runner set a new record for The Cowtown Ultra Marathon on Sunday. According to The Cowtown Marathon’s Facebook page, Elizabeth Northern ran 50K (31 miles) in 3:21:04, surpassing the course record of 3:54:20 by more than half an hour. See more results for the ultra marathon, marathon and half marathon in Fort Worth this weekend.

 

  • Here’s the other Super Tuesday race to watch. Tension is building in Texas as elections approach. One newsworthy example from last week was the skirmish between Dallas County commissioner candidates, John Wiley Price and Dwaine Carraway. KERA’s Rick Holter and The Dallas Morning News’ Gromer Jeffers talked about the major implications of the fight between the longtime rivals. “I think before the scuffle. It was going to be full on referendum on Price’s leadership, his 30 years on the court and whether he should bow out and give Caraway a chance to show what he could do. Now, all the talk about the issues and the needs of that district is gone now. It's all about the fight.” Listen to more. [KERA News]