RANT: 'code enforcement' on the teener Options

[anthony]

I drove for 10 years without being hassled about the front plate and then finally got a ticket. Now, I have the front plate on all my cars. It's not worth the hassel to look cool.

[Trekkor]

I know here in the Bay Area "they" take pictures of you.
For example, say you blast through the BayBridge toll plaza without paying or in my case, the FasTrak transponder doesn't trip.

"They" ID you by your plate. If the plate isn't on the bumper, they may not "see" you because of where the camera is aimed (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

Also for red light runner cams. front and rear views needed?

I may be wrong.


KT

[ClayPerrine]

I offer the following with all due respect. Please don't take this as critisism or a slam but I think it needs to be said:

You don't have a plate on the front bumper, but you know that is illegal.
Your rear plate is not on the bumper, it is in the rear window which you know is also illegal.

Are you pissed that you got caught, or that the officer is a bad guy because he is doing his job, or pissed because you don't agree with the law?

I don't get parking tickets because I don't park illegally. I don't get tickets for not having a front plate because I have one, right there in the middle of the bumper.
I don't get tickets for having a loud exhaust because I don't have a loud exhaust.

If i did any of those things and got a ticket for it I would just pay the fine because it was my fault, not the cops.
Fighting it even though I know i deserved it would be a tad on the ...... well you all know where I'm going with this.

Now if I was 100% in compliance with the law and was cited for something I absolutely did not do, I would fight it all the way.

I would agree with you 99% of the time. But there is that 1% where the cop is just being a dick.... Like the cop who gave me a ticket for no state inspection sticker, even though I was drving to the inspections station. My question to him was "How do I get it to the inspection station to get an inspection?". His answer was "You should never let it expire". I told him that the car had been off the road for 5 years getting rebuilt, but he was just in a bad mood.

I took it to court, with the inspection report with a time stamp of 20 minutes after the ticket was written. The judge looked at the registration info that showed it was registered 1 month before the inspection for the first time in 5 years, and the inspection report, and told the cop to use a little discretion in cases like this.

Then the judge spent 20 minutes asking about my 914. He owns a 74 911S. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Cap'n Krusty]

andy is semi on the ball....

it says "no plates" on the ticket, i went and looked it up.. online at the dmv...

its for my plate bing in the backwindow LOL
"no blah blah blah to obstruct the remote emission sensing device...."

my window obstructs camera views i guess LOL

and nope.. no front plates. but it is a 25 buck ticket

If you look at the code, it says the rear plate has to be fastened securely to the car, be on or very near the centerline, and cannot be covered by anything other than a frame. It also has to be clearly visible from directly behind the vehicle. The front plate must also be securely fastened to the car and may have nothing covering it.
The Cap'n

[URY914]

You know here in America we have laws and rules (health and building codes, etc) that society is required to live by. Then we have the people that enforce the laws and rules. The laws and rules are sometimes stupid and the people that enforce them are sometimes assholes. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/flag.gif) Don't ya just love it.

You should have just told him your car doesn't really look too good with a front plate.

[smj]

Then the judge spent 20 minutes asking about my 914. He owns a 74 911S. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

See, it's not always who you know... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool_shades.gif)

[Crazyhippy]

"has to be fastened securely to the car, be on or very near the centerline, and cannot be covered by anything other than a frame. It also has to be clearly visible from directly behind the vehicle."

Mount it to the transaxle, and cut a hole int the back the EXACT same size as the plate, directly behind it. Legal, to a "T" yet completely un-readable (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Could always mount it where They mounted them from the factory???

BJH

[anthony]

You know here in America we have laws and rules (health and building codes, etc) that society is required to live by. Then we have the people that enforce the laws and rules. The laws and rules are sometimes stupid and the people that enforce them are sometimes assholes. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/flag.gif) Don't ya just love it.

The other side of the equation are some of the types that are attracted to being enforcers of the law. I'm not saying it's all cops but some obviously get a certain amount of glee from giving people a hard time over minor crap.

IMO, they shouldn't even be able to pull someone over for expired registration. It should be a parking ticket only. How does harrassing people with expired tags benefit society? DMV is already getting these folks with fines and penalties.

[Joe Bob]

Tags pay the salary of the State Police.....it's a revenue thing....

[Brett W]

Somebody please tell me what makes CA such a great place to live. All I see are way to many laws and PC people?

Don't tell me the weather, cuz it ain't nice enough to offset the Nazis.

[Bruce Allert]

Somebody please tell me what makes CA such a great place to live.
Don't tell me the weather, cuz it ain't nice enough to offset the Nazis.

I live in ORYGUN cuz of da rain (IMG:style_emoticons/default/slap.gif)

I look at the rules as sort of a game. Play the (their) game & don't get a ticket. Break the rules & (get caught) , well, there's the game.

Don't pass Go ......... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif)

.......b

[Howard]

I look at the rules as sort of a game. Play the (their) game & don't get a ticket. Break the rules & (get caught) , well, there's the game.

Don't pass Go ......... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif)

.......b

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

Think Stealth. No plate, super tinted windows, rude stickers, loud exhaust or stereo all invite the man to pick you out of the herd.

That doesn't excuse the attitude of some people who feel compelled to exercise their minor authority, but that's another subject. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[914]

I live near LAX, They have car's pulled over in droves and its always for no frt plate.I just got a new bmw m3.One day i will have to install the frt lic plate mount and plate.It will be a sad day it will change the whole look of thr car.Remember its not like the old days,Big brother is watching you,Stay away from LAX if you dont have Frt plates......
914

[JPB]

Money makes the world go around and we can do without people but can't do without friends (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

With all the offenses I make off the top of my head like speeding and such......, I can see how it all averages out in the end when I come to think about it. I know with a small ticket like that, I'm getting off easy. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[chilli]

I know here in the Bay Area "they" take pictures of you.
For example, say you blast through the BayBridge toll plaza without paying or in my case, the FasTrak transponder doesn't trip.

"They" ID you by your plate. If the plate isn't on the bumper, they may not "see" you because of where the camera is aimed (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

Also for red light runner cams. front and rear views needed?

I may be wrong.


KT

Back bumper picture at the toll plaza, Got a notice as the transponder did not get recognized. Sent in transpoder infor and notice went away. Sent transponder back and got a new one. No more notices.

No front plate on the boxster looks like CR--

mike (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[chilli]

[quote name='anthony' date='Nov 17 2006, 08:16 PM' post='818702']
[quote name='URY914' post='818413' date='Nov 17 2006, 12:47 PM']





IMO, they shouldn't even be able to pull someone over for expired registration. It should be a parking ticket only. How does harrassing people with expired tags benefit society? DMV is already getting these folks with fines and penalties.
[/quote]


Thats because they are usually driving around without insurance ETC ETC. What ever happened to personal responsibility?????

mike

[ConeDodger]

And now for the #1 reason that "government" is the best business to be in...

This is on the topic and a true story.

A few years ago I thought I would save the cost of a stamp and send the registration for two of my vehicles in with one check in the same envelope. Big mistake. Since I have up to five different vehicles at any given time I did not notice that the tabs for one of them did not come.

Now for the next chapter, driving back from Sonoma Valley after helping harvest wine grapes (site of WCC 07) I was pulled over by a CHP officer in Yolo county. He was polite. I was respectful and genuinely shocked that indeed, I did not have current registration displayed. He liked my dog (golden retriever) and my girlfriends cleavage which he stared at without much shame and given this mitigation he gave me a fix-it ticket. I guess he could have towed the truck and shot us on sight. I was wondering how this could happen since my system of getting-a-bill - paying-the-bill has worked flawlessly in the past.

The following Monday I scoot right down to my secret-squirrel DMV location, secret only because I seldom have to wait more than 5 minutes and I find that indeed, my registration was not paid. I pay it, get my ticket signed off by my neighbor and friend who is an El Dorado Deputy, and wait for instruction from Yolo County which I figure will involve a court date. Instead, I get a letter instructing me that I need only send the proof in with a $10 check to cleanse myself of this offense to society.

Now one would think that the story ends here and that I had learned my lesson. But a curious thing happened. I got a rather large check in the mail from DMV. What could this be for? Turns out it is a refund because I sent in too much money for my Boxster. Two gets added to two and I realize I have just been "served" by my government. I had discounted the fact that some of our actors are government employees who aren't really concerned with actually doing their job. So at this point I go about life comfortable in the feeling that I am once again law-abiding... But no!

Apparently someone could not be bothered to indicate that I had done my part by getting the registration current and having the ticket signed off. To their credit they did their job as far as depositing my check and cashing it though.
So in our next chapter I get a "Courtesy Notice" that says I now owe $1490.00 for no registration and failure to appear at a court hearing that was never scheduled. (I told you the government business was good, where else can a $10 fee become $1490?).

In our last chapter, I pay my bank $50.00 to research all checks written to Yolo County and DMV so that I can prove that I did my part. I pay another $40 or $50 to Yolo County for "fees" (I am going to try that. I will call in sick and then charge my employer a calling in sick fee and a I don't want to work today fee) plus have to take a day off of work and drive to Woodland for a court date I had to demand. About an 80 mile round-trip from my home.

Like any good story this one has a lesson. Don't get involved with these people, they are neither intelligent or efficient and they will win or tazer you which technically counts as a win for their team I suppose.

Aaron, pay them. Do it in person and when you do beg them to do their job this one time. Throw yourself at their mercy. Offer them more than they are asking for since in the end you will probably have to give them more anyway.
These people are clearly superior to the rest of us. They only need to work 20 years and then get a pension paid by the rest of us. Meanwhile the rest of us have to save for our retirement.

If my little tale offends you, you are probably a government worker. Do your job. That is so little to ask and yet so out of reach. If I don't do my job correctly someone could die. Perhaps they need that kind of consequence to up their attention span...

[anthony]

Thats because they are usually driving around without insurance ETC ETC. What ever happened to personal responsibility?????

mike

You are "profiling". You are assuming that if someone's DMV tags are out of date that they have committed some other criminal act.

My guess would be that the majority of those running around without insurance have current dmv registration so targeting those with out of date registration doesn't solve that problem. That problem could be solved in a number of ways.