In an interview with Tom Vanderbilt, author of the upcoming book Traffic :

"Then there’s the anonymity in traffic — there’s no one to spread rumors or gossip about you about how bad your behavior was — not to mention the lack of consequences for acting like an idiot. It’s all strikingly similar to the way we act on the internet, in what’s called the “online disinhibition effect.”

We can lurk behind screen names (our car and license plate), say nasty things about people (honk, give the finger), and then sign off and never be heard from again (drive away).

In a nice convergence of this, the website PlateWire allows people to anonymously insult others’ rude and unsafe behavior."

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/hows-my-driving-a-qa-with-the-author-of-traffic/

 

The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet is a great book written by associate professor of law at the George Washington University Law School, Daniel J. Solove, discussing how the internet affects privacy issues. This book also makes mention of PlateWire (p. 86)!

http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/dsolove/Future-of-Reputation/ 

How's your driving?

Been rude to other motorists lately?

Wasn't that you leapfrogging through traffic, cutting people off and giving them the old one-finger salute? In fact, isn't that your licence plate posted online, along with a description of your car and a blog telling all about your atrocious driving?

Yes, listed right there on the Internet, for everybody to see, on one of those websites where people vent about encounters they've had with rude and reckless drivers, like you.

Read Entire Article

I can't stand slow drivers or that annoying guy in my political science class who can't seem to get enough of his own voice. I hate bad dates and Wal-Mart is the pits.

I could continue, but I'll tell you right now: I like to complain, and venting tends to be my only solution. From bad quiz grades to a runny nose, my friends and family are the first to get an earful of my sorrows.

Read article here

Backseat drivers, Sunday drivers, whatever kind of driver you might verbally lash out at, you can relax. Here is an outlet for your road rage that is certain to improve public safety. It's not just bad drivers; you can reward good drivers in the process.

Story

Video

Great segment produced by Cleveland's Action News 19.

http://www.woio.com/Global/story.asp?S=7844475

Yes, PlateWire's next version has taken much longer than I originally anticipated, but I am almost there. Currently polishing off the logic that will import and transform the data from the existing site into the new sites' data schema. Once that is done it's just a matter of a few tweaks in the license plate maker (users will now have the ability to add custom plates templates to be used when filing wires) and some tweaks to user registration and I'll be ready to launch the private beta.

Once again I want to thank everyone that has helped throughout this process, your feedback was invaluable!

I also wanted to share a screenshot of the new versions' Class Diagram (for the non technical, a Class Diagram is just a graphical representation of the logic that encompasses an application). As context, PlateWire's current versions' Class Diagram only has 6 objects.

In response to a newsreaders' question about how to react to road rage, the Three Wise Guys, Joe Heim, Justin Rude, and Dan Zak, recommend PlateWire!

Read full article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/03/AR2008010303759.html