A taxi motors south along U.S. Highway 95 from downtown Las Vegas last week. Under state law, passengers have the right to request specific routes for cabbies to take. Photo by Gary Thompson.

This week, readers want to know whether it's cool to tell a cabbies how to do their job. And still more readers can't let go of their recent obsession with how those combinations of letters and numbers end up on our lil' ole license plates.

And the Road Warrior is told of a driver who needed a cop when she came across a firefighter.

Bill and Barb Alft ask: I recently read your article about long hauling. We have been flying to Vegas (from Green Bay, Wis.) for many years and have been taking taxis to the Golden Nugget. This past spring we were long hauled to the airport. The driver was a real idiot and I was very weary of complaining to him or trying to get his name. Is it appropriate to tell drivers what route you want to take? Interstate 15 is a very dangerous way to take to and from downtown, but the drivers often go this way.

OK, I'll give 'em an honest answer even though they're from -- ugh! -- Green Bay. (Full disclosure: the author is a Chicago Bears season ticket holder. So nyah nyah.)

Even if you hail from Cheesehead Central, drivers have to comply with your route choice here. "That is absolutely your right," said Rob Stewart, a spokesman and investigator with the Nevada Taxicab Authority, which regulates the industry in Clark County.

If you want to take the shortest route, the cabby must comply. If you want to drive around the valley doing mile-long lazy-eights in getting to the house next door, that's your right, as long as you pay the freight, do nothing illegal, don't threaten the driver and keep the cab in its geographical operating area.

"They have to comply. It's actually a Nevada law," Stewart said.

Really. In Section 706.8846 of the Nevada Revised Statutes, the state's book of laws, it says a driver shall not "take a longer route to the passenger's destination than is necessary, unless specifically requested so to do by the passenger (or) fail to comply with the reasonable and lawful requests of the passenger as to speed of travel and route to be taken."

The rule is in place to deter "long hauling," where drivers take a longer-than-needed route in hopes of inflating a fare. A typical long haul route is taking the airport tunnel and I-15 between McCarran International Airport and the Strip.

Penalties for long hauling range from a reprimand to a $500 fine to a suspension, depending on the frequency of offenses.

But it might not have been a long haul for a cabby to take the Alfts between the airport and downtown via the highway. "That's one of those ones that's borderline" in whether the route is the quickest and cheapest, Stewart said.

"The deciding factor would be the time of day and the type of traffic" on I-15 between downtown and the airport, Stewart said. "If the 15 is backed up at 4 p.m. or 7 a.m. (during the afternoon or morning rush hours), it's not your wisest move."

If you think you've been screwed by a cabby's actions, you can file a complaint with the Taxicab Authority by calling 486-6532 or going online to www.taxi.state.nv.us. Be sure to have handy the names and license numbers for the cab and its driver, along with time and place info.

And I strongly urge the Alfts to save their Packer-scarred souls by logging on to www.chicagobears.com and following the directions. Go Bears!

Kaynella Wallace asks: I'm still pondering the articles concerning the "never-ending" supply of license plate number/letter combinations. Although the letters are random, obviously, there will be times that naughty words will pop up. Who decided which words created by the three-letter combinations are no-nos?

There's actually an internal committee at the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, made up of licensing employees, that takes a look at random combos or vanity requests deemed questionable by front-line workers, and decides what may stay and what must go.

"Some of them are slam dunks," said Tom Jacobs, a vehicles department spokesman.

Like S-E-X. "That'll get kicked out of the system," Jacobs said.

When a driver requests a vanity plate, they are asked what the plate symbolizes, and the committee will consider if there's a double meaning.

Yes, there is a list of naughty names kept by the department.

"The list is a dynamic one," Jacobs said. "Because of youth-oriented slang phrases and gang-related stuff, the list changes."

Even if somebody sneaks one past the committee, there's no guarantee that they'll be able to keep their foul phrasing.

"If it gets past us and it comes to our attention that it's a bad one or a violent, racial or sexual reference, we can rescind the plates," Jacobs said.

So if you're gonna be sneaky, make it good.

Hit 'n Run: Road Warrior unindicted co-conspirator Rani Gill saw something that stood out about the white pickup on U.S. Highway 95 that was weaving in and out of lanes, cutting cars off and using the exit lane for passing about 5:45 a.m. July 31:

"I noted that he had a Nevada 'Professional Firefighter' license plate on his truck," Gill said. "Apparently, the driver was trying to drum up business for emergency services. I don't think Las Vegas needs that kind of help."

Probably not, Rani.

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call the Road Warrior at 387-2904, or e-mail him at roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com or OSofradzija@reviewjournal.com. Please include your phone number.