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Use This App To Tell Your Fellow Drivers They Suck
Use your turn signal! (Photo by BlueSkyImage via Shutterstock)
There's a new app that allows you to communicate with someone via their license plate. If you've ever wanted to unleash your wrath on a double parker, but don't have a pen and paper, this would be your 21st century chance. PL8CHAT has a relatively simple setup. You enroll by entering your email address, plus your car's plate number and state. The app's intentions were altruistic. Creator Michael Lee imagined people would use the app to let people know their lights were on or that they were in a tow-away zone, L.A. Weekly reports.
But, PL8CHAT could also be used for more sinister purposes.
Has someone cut you off? Have they parked their precious Mercedes in not one, but two spots? Worse, was it a Trader Joe's parking lot? Did they just not pull forward enough meaning that no one else can park behind them without dangling into the red curb? As long as your road nemesis has the app, you can let them know how you really feel. And if you're typically a pedestrian (like this writer), you can finally compose complete sentences for those drivers who barrel halfway into a crosswalk—certainly more eloquent than the standard one-finger memo.
Lee also told L.A. Weekly that the app could be used to flirt which adds an uncomfortable creep factor, but the good news is that you can block a user, too.
Like most apps, it will only be super useful once it reaches a critical mass of users, and Lee is working on bumper stickers that would spread the word. PL8CHAT is currently available for iOS (Android is on its way).
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