Fri, September 16, 2005
Amber Alert—9:07 AM
Not too long ago, I was driving on the 10 (or I-10, as the parlance may dictate in your region), and they had lit up the "Amber Alert" signs, which notify motorists of a child abduction and tell us what model of vehicle to look out for. Most of the time, you completely forget that these signs exist, because they're dark and blend into the trees. In L.A. Story they were giving traffic information and relationship advice, but in real life, they just sit there, silently wasting money until a kid gets stolen.
Anyway, this alert mentioned the make, model, and color of the kidnapper's vehicle, as well as the license plate. So, I was reading license plates a little more carefully as I made my way West (although it's a pointless exercise; the way you're going to recognize the kidnapper's vehicle is when it swerves off the freeway as soon as the driver sees the Amber Alert) and before long I noticed that one of the cars in front of me had a novelty plate.
Which got me thinking: how ironic would it be if the license plate on the Amber Alert sign were something like PDRAST1?
