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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

#91

A relative had an immigrant colleague that was intrigued by different US license plates. One day their manager had one that had a new colour scheme that he never saw before. The intrigue overtook him and in a big group he had to ask how he got this new beautiful plate. And how could he get one themself? Turns out the state required you to “wear” this license plate after your third DUI or something. Oops. Edit: looks…

I wish we had something like this in the UK. More than 6 points on your licence and you have to drive a yellow car with a 1l engine or smaller.

Restricting vehicle size after a DUI would make a lot of sense. Same for “novice” drivers licenses.

Lawmakers with poor understandings of physics think speed is the only factor in energy.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#92
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...

Ontario Canada finally did away with them. Lots of people decry the loss of government revenue, but I’m happy to see some red tape/bureaucracy cut down for the consumer. I thought governments only did that for big business. Would have made more sense to just increase gas tax by 0.1 cents/litre. Tho you’re still supposed to register for free online every year or two, which I’m sure 90% of the population is going to fo…

increase gas tax? from the government that spent a bunch of money printing stickers decrying gas taxes, forcing private businesses to use them, and then defending the practice in court before having it struck down as unconstitutional?

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I think there has been a huge cultural change in how people regard drink driving - I'm old enough (50s) when i was almost regarded as a subject for humour. Now I don't know anyone who doesn't take it very seriously indeed - particularly here in Scotland where the blood-alcohol limits are quite a bit lower for driving than in the rest of the UK.

I feel a similar cultural change in Iceland, however in USA I feel no such change, quite the contrary. Moving to the USA was honestly a bit of a culture shock in observing how commonplace the practice is. What was more shocking is observing a practice of strategic drinking, that is try to drink just the right amount to keep your blood alcohol level at the legal limit. I’ve never seen anything like that before I moved here.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#94
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People usually drive their own car, and taking away someone's license can be life destroying in most parts of the country.

Wait, is it not possible to get banned from driving in the USA? For comparison the drink driving penalties are here: https://www.gov.uk/drink-driving-penalties

But you have to get caught first. USA is bigger on pulling vehicles over for ??? reasons than most other places.

I’m figuring in UK if you get a DUI, it’s because you were driving allll over the place or got into a 3am collision.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#96
post #27
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.

They do, the stickers are mostly to make it easier for cops to see expired reg without having to type in every license plate or have a vehicle fitted with LPR. They can also look up the vehicle status in the DMV database, and via an interstate compact.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#97
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Sounds like perfect market for some SaaS. Pull relevant information from everywhere and automate showing failures.

Sure, but do we really want to encourage ubiquitous LPR on every police vehicle? It's already becoming the norm in some cities but that's not exactly an unmitigated good.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Turns out the state required you to “wear” this license plate after your third DUI or something. This doesn't make much sense because the license plate is attached to the car, not the driver. Couldn't the manager just drive his wife's or friend's car or something? What purpose does the plate serve? "Warning everyone! A serial drink driver might be in this car, but might not be, and if he's in it he might be driving…

In Minnesota drivers recovering from DUI revocation are required to use the "whiskey" plates. (Incidentally the license plate database is incomplete because it does not include the Minnesota "whiskey" plate.) While "whiskey" plates are on the vehicle police officers can legally stop the driver of the vehicle for a impairment check without cause (e.g. without any indications that the driver is under the influence or a…

> While "whiskey" plates are on the vehicle police officers can legally stop the driver of the vehicle

Not any more. They changed this part of the law a few years ago. Probably around the same time that they (MN) began to implement breathalyzer interlocks where you can't start or drive the car if you're above a certain threshold.

However, I think that if you're pulled over and you have an active DUI but are not driving a car with whiskey plates, then it's an immediate loss of license.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#100
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Turns out the state required you to “wear” this license plate after your third DUI or something. This doesn't make much sense because the license plate is attached to the car, not the driver. Couldn't the manager just drive his wife's or friend's car or something? What purpose does the plate serve? "Warning everyone! A serial drink driver might be in this car, but might not be, and if he's in it he might be driving…

You're right! We should make them wear a star or something to indicate their specialness! Joking aside I imagine taking licenses away are a big part of it, but that doesn't stop them from driving, at least the license plate warns the rest of us not to drive too close to the guy.

I was thinking a Scarlet Letter. Maybe “A” for Alcoholic?
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