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All of the vehicle license plates available in America

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Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#51

Post by ezfe »

Ekaros wrote: post #9

As coming from country with actually working IT, I always wondered about those year and month tags... I get my yearly tax directly as bill to my bank...

My car's tax is an annual bill, as you describe.

That's not what the tags are for though, the tags are registration tags indicating your plate is active. In Massachusetts, it's $30/yr for active registration and the plate cannot be renewed without active insurance, etc.

So, if you fail to renew your insurance then you won't get a new registration sticker and your plate will eventually be easily identified as lapsed. The automated systems will see it immediately – and they do! But we still apply the sticker for manual identification.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#52

Post by ComputerGuru »

pragma_x wrote: post #39
travisgriggs wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious what others think of this? My own thoughts, is that after one DUI you should just not get any plates at all. Period. It seems almost darkly comical that there would be a second and then a third time, and that the punishment would be an altered plate color?? Why not just put local graffiti artists to work, and give them a free pass to keep the offenders car in a constant state of "DUI" in scarlet letters.

As someone who read "The Scarlet Letter" in highschool, the lesson I learned is that the state really should avoid encouraging and supporting a culture of vigilantism and ostrization. I for one don't think that lasting punishment* for life are appropriate where addiction is likely the root cause. But if the goal is just that, the laws should be changed to do so more deliberately, rather than offload the dirty work to…

> Also, I can't decide if "whiskey plates" are useful in any real way

Whiskey plates give police permission to pull over the (driver of the) vehicle and perform a sobriety test at any time, without (additional) cause.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#53

Post by ezfe »

Ekaros wrote: post #27
fps wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's to notify police to stop the car if they see it on the road. The US has a lot of infrequently used or unused cars that gradually transition to a sedentary life in a garage or yard. It's not illegal to let your registration or inspection lapse if the car isn't being driven. If you drive a car with a lapsed registration or safety inspection sticker, police will notice, stop you, and issue a ticket.

Nothing prevents DMV and police having interconnected database. Which would allow automatically communicating vehicles removed from use or with lapsed MOT.

In Massachusetts they do, but we still use those stickers as another form of labeling.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#54

Post by cosmodisk »

calpaterson wrote: post #38
spiderice wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m just wondering why they’re allowed to drive at all after 3 DUIs.

I don't know about America but in the UK people don't get their driving licence taken away that often, even if they have hit 12 points (ie: racked up enough offences to theoretically lose it). There is a lot of consideration as to whether removing the driving licence will cause hardship and defendants obviously usually argue that it will (with some truth) so judges sometimes don't remove the licence. Anecdotally, I f…

In Lithuania the rules are fairly simple: fines up to a certain level of intoxication.Criminal record, car seizure,massive fine and lost licence if it goes above certain limit. Also, one needs to take a driving test at the end( after 2 or 3 years) if they want to drive again and the examiners are known to apply every rule in the book so they'd have hard time to pass.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#55

Post by Tarball10 »

runarberg wrote: post #30
travisgriggs wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious what others think of this? My own thoughts, is that after one DUI you should just not get any plates at all. Period. It seems almost darkly comical that there would be a second and then a third time, and that the punishment would be an altered plate color?? Why not just put local graffiti artists to work, and give them a free pass to keep the offenders car in a constant state of "DUI" in scarlet letters.

My opinion is that DUI should revoke your license. I know it is common in Europe where first offenders loose their license for a few months, and then it gets progressively longer. The USA has IMO a terrible system which punishes DUI drivers through the justice system regardless of if they caused any harm. This leaves people with pretty shitty lives and prevents people from calling the police on DUI drivers. They can…

Revoking their license does not stop them from driving.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#56

Post by ezfe »

WkndTriathlete wrote: post #47
Ekaros wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing prevents DMV and police having interconnected database. Which would allow automatically communicating vehicles removed from use or with lapsed MOT.

The tag is to indicate that the vehicle has paid the appropriate taxes for using the roads. If the tax on the vehicle is not paid then it should not be used on the roads. Without the tag there is no way to enforce that without the police having to manually enter the plate number for every vehicle they see. Hence the tag: if the police see a vehicle without an up-to-date tag applied it is not legally allowed to use th…

While I have no problem with the tag, your claim is false:

> Without the tag there is no way to enforce that without the police having to manually enter the plate number for every vehicle they see.

Police have automatic systems that scan vehicles. I was pulled over once due to an inconsistency in my vehicle registration data (not anything visible on the plate/exterior) because the computer in the police vehicle flagged my car and they decided to follow up on it.

In my case, it was just a quirk of the vehicle owner being unlicensed to drive and there was no violation - but the system correlated the DMV registration details and license status of the owner and flagged the car.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#57

Post by cosmodisk »

blamazon wrote: post #11
spiderice wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m just wondering why they’re allowed to drive at all after 3 DUIs.

In Mississippi, one of those two aforementioned states, it's perfectly legal to drink and drive (with an open container in your hand!) as long as you stay below 0.08 BAC. (Nit: it's legal at a state level but municipalities and counties are allowed to dictate more rules on drunk driving - most don't, but YMMV)

I suppose it still looks a little bit like this then: https://youtu.be/2xcQIoh3FQQ

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#58

Post by reaperducer »

Ekaros wrote: post #27
fps wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's to notify police to stop the car if they see it on the road. The US has a lot of infrequently used or unused cars that gradually transition to a sedentary life in a garage or yard. It's not illegal to let your registration or inspection lapse if the car isn't being driven. If you drive a car with a lapsed registration or safety inspection sticker, police will notice, stop you, and issue a ticket.

Nothing prevents DMV and police having interconnected database. Which would allow automatically communicating vehicles removed from use or with lapsed MOT.

That works fine if you live in a tiny country. But in the United States there are tens of thousands of law enforcement agencies authorized to write tickets. Some of them are massive organizations like state highway patrols. Others are towns of 200 people, or even individual schools that don't have the time, money, or infrastructure to integrate with a national system.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#59

Post by ComputerGuru »

So Illinois has St Louis Cardinals MLB plates, presumably for downstate residents that relate to STL more than Chicago… I guess in addition to being a question of state pride it’s probably also a matter of public safety that they don’t have Green Bay Packers NFL plates for Lake and McHenry residents, though!

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#60

Post by [deleted] »

hnbear wrote: post #50

Finally a reason for a custom plate: The explosion of full color images on special plates has also created some concerns for law enforcement’s use of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs), which automatically scan the plates of cars as they drive down the road or through tolls. Many police cars are equipped with ALPRs that scoop up all of the plates that drive by. A report by the American Association of Motor Vehic…

[deleted]
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