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Comment by brianbreslin | Hacker News Reader

This one particularly stuck out "Traffic rules and traffic lights must be adjusted so that the Olympic traffic is prioritised. Meanwhile other traffic should be limited; IOC proposes closing schools and encouraging the local people to take holidays."

who do they think they are? the pope? Obama doesn't get schools closed for him. Does Putin?

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For Putin and other VIPs Russian police usually just removes all other traffic and pedestrians from streets and roads, ever ambulance cars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxGXT2b0W2A

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=кортеж+скорая

Most ridiculous Putin's requirement is to weld all manhole covers.

In 2013 Putin decided that he dislikes drivers' booing and started to fly to Kremlin by helicopter. To build new landing site he removed huge part of Taynitsky Garden.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taynitsky_Garden

http://i.imgur.com/bUuwmp4.jpg

Manhole covers are welded shut where Obama vists aswell, it's not like Putin is crazier than the rest of them.

>Most ridiculous Putin's requirement is to weld all manhole covers.

At least in the past, welding manhole covers closed for the presidential motorcade was standard procedure in the US.

But that was when the Secret Service had a clue...

> Obama doesn't get schools closed for him

That's true, but he does get roads completely shut down and large no-fly-zones set up wherever he goes, even it's just for a fundraiser.

For no more than a few days at a time, not weeks.

In Beijing, local car travel was put onto an even/odd system, so that you could only drive a given car every other day.

Interesting. For traffic/congestion reasons, Manila, Philippines had (has?) this on a permanent basis, not just for a special event. Your license was coded so that police could easily see if you were allowed to be on the roads that day (otherwise, it was public transit for you).

Bogotá, Colombia has the same restriction.

It doesn't help traffic at all. People just bought another car.

Mexico City started doing this in the 80s or early 90s. The rich just bought more cars as a solution.

On the contrary, Obama is speaking at Kellogg/Northwestern today which has closed class for the mid-morning and afternoon.

Right, but that's a school he's actually speaking at, not just a random school in his general vicinity.

The purpose of that is to allow students to attend the event without having to skip class for it.

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