I believe this all started with someone stating that the witness who reports seeing TB's truck that night at 10:10pm must have known TB to know for sure it was his truck. Someone else came along and said, no, maybe they for some reason took note of the truck itself or plate #. Most of us think the latter doesn't make sense, that some random stranger would just happen to jot down TB's truck plate # and it turn out to be his, or remember seeing "a black truck" that definitely turned out to be TB's truck. A black truck is a black truck. How would anyone know for sure that this witness FOR SURE saw TB's black truck when there are many black Dodge Ram trucks around that area I'm sure?
I'm not dissing the witness at all.....just saying to me it would make sense that he recognized it as TB's truck (or some reason) versus him just being a strangely hypervigilant citizen that just happen to take special notice of a not really rare black Dodge Ram or the plate # of that truck.
I suppose, however, it's possible that whomever was driving TB's truck, did something to attract attention SUCH that the witness took special note and therefore maybe jotted down plate # (eg: blew through a red light/stop sign, cut him off nearly causing an accident, etc).
The majority of people don't just memorize or jot down a stranger's vehicle's plate # without very very good reason. Like you, I do it too......have done it all my life......(started in high school.....always know the plate # of your parent's vehicles when you live in a small city so that if you're out for coffee/skipped class, you can survey parking lot for parental units prior to going into establishment LOL)......but ONLY if I feel the driver of that vehicle is driving erratically, seems suspicious, weaving all over the road, etc.