Freedom of plate
Bumper stickers and hybrids go together like, well, flags and pick-up trucks. But when Heather Moriah of Rapid City, S.D., bought a Prius last summer, she tried to up the ante.
Moriah’s not a fan of President Bush, and in fact she would like for the House of Representatives to bring forth a set of formal allegations of high crimes or misdemeanors leading to a trial by the Senate. This, of course, is much too long for a bumper sticker, so Moriah purchased vanity plates for her new car with a more succinct message: “MPEACHW.”
What Moriah didn’t consider is that South Dakota is a red state, and therefore it didn’t take long for someone to file a complaint. The DMV now wants Moriah to turn over her plates and said they never would have given them to her in the first place if they had realized what the letters meant.
Moriah said her political message is not offensive or indecent, but rather just her opinion. The DMV, however, points out that license plates are actually state property, and therefore such a message is not appropriate.
A DMV representative said that several other vanity plates have been recalled over the years, but for whatever reason, the owners of “SNIPER” and “OLDFART” didn’t make this much of a fuss.
Out on a limb
A Florida man with no arms and only one leg managed to lose police in a high-speed chase—again.
The inspiring story of Michael Wiley began when he lost his limbs fooling around at an Amtrak power substation at the age of 13. Undaunted, Wiley overcame his disability, taught himself how to drive and now, at the age of 40, has become one of the most prolific traffic offenders in the state.
After this latest incident, though, police would like to bring this chapter of Wiley’s life to an end. Now that his license has been suspended or revoked 18 times, not to mention the two occasions when he kicked an officer with his one leg, police are seeking an arrest warrant. Of course, before they can arrest him, they’ll have to catch him.
The soundtrack of an accident
Everyone loves a good driving song. Hit the open road with the right album and you won’t have to speak to your spouse until that rest stop in Dubuque.
But is there music that can actually drive you over the edge and turn your afternoon of Driving Miss Daisy into The Cannonball Run?
This was the question that AOL and Electronic Arts, makers of a new racing video game, put forth in an online poll to see what songs cause motorists to drive more aggressively.
Heading up the top 10 was “Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses, followed by several songs released well before most voters were likely born, including Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades,” Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out Of Hell,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run,” and most surprising, “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell.
It remains unclear whether voters find themselves in an aggressive mood because of the intrinsic nature of these songs, or because they get frustrated trying to operate the 8-track cassette deck in their Chevy Nova.
Who put that train there?
A Toronto woman may well have been blasting her favorite hits of the Gerald Ford administration when she crashed her SUV into a slow-moving train.
The woman told emergency workers that she simply didn’t see the giant freight train that was blocking the entire road.
The train didn’t exactly sneak up on her either, as it was only traveling at 5 mph. Despite being pregnant and having her SUV dragged 30 yards down the track, no one was injured.
The woman’s husband said that he now understands why the walls in their home have so many dents.
