Trap Streets

It's the middle of the 1990s. You're driving through a town you've never visited before, but you're not all that worried: you have a road map.

You turn to the left, following the tiny, inked lines on the giant paper map now unfolded on your passenger seat. According to this authoritative guide, you should be arriving at your destination in a few minutes.

Suddenly, the street names you’re seeing don’t match those on the map. You backtrack a few streets, try again, pull over, squinting at your map. You must have made a wrong turn. But no, you’ve followed the road names and turns on the map your entire voyage here, and this neighborhood is no exception.

Confused and irritated, you don’t realize that you’ve fallen victim to a trap street.

Trap streets are deliberate inaccuracies on maps, aimed not at helping you find your way, but at catching those who would copy the map unlawfully.

I can truly sympathize with the above story. Because of my decision to dive head-first into a life of entrepren…