A woman who lived in a posh suburb of Chicago was driving into the city when she saw a car approaching in the outbound lane with its lights off. Concerned about the driver's safety, the woman politely flashed her brights at the oncoming car to let him know his lights weren't on. The driver blinked his lights in gratitude as it passed by, and the woman felt good about doing a small favor for a fellow motorist. She pretty much forgot about the episode until about ten minutes later, when, on a rather quiet side street, she noticed a car riding her bumper-a car that looked an awful lot like the vehicle she had signaled earlier!
  Strangely, the car's lights were once again off. This wasn't right. In the woman's rearview mirror, she could make out the silhouettes of the driver and numerous passengers, all of whom were young men wearing hats and baseball jackets. Their car stereo was booming so loud she could practically feel it, even though her windows were rolled up. They seemed to be passing around a bottle.
  The woman could feel her heart pounding. What had she done wrong? What did they want wither her? A moment later, she found out. The car pulled along side her, and the driver motioned for the woman to roll down her window. Smiling bravely, she cooperated, hoping that the young men wished her no harm; maybe they wanted to tell her she had a busted taillight or a tire that was going flat. But those hopes vanished in a horrific instant, as the rear driver's side window rolled down and one of them pointed a shotgun at the woman, squeezing the trigger before she even had a chance to scream. As the dead woman's car careened into a nearby light pole, and accepted congratulations from the other punks in the car.
  "Your initiation is over," said the driver. "You're now in the gang." The poor woman, a churchgoing mother of three, had become the latest innocent victim of a gang initiation rite that has been enacted in major urban areas across the country. So whatever you do when you're driving, if you see someone whose lights are off-ignore it. Flashing your brights in an effort to play good Samaritan could get you killed.