Recently I got a ticket in the mail for not having my car registered... Now normally I'd would just comply to pay it but the way it happened really left a bad taste in my mouth. It says that the ticket was issued 3/5/09 and that my registration expired 2/09... but the part that upsets me is that I wasn't even driving the car. Can a cop just cruise down neighborhood streets and run every license plate of cars parked in front of their home and slap them with a ticket?
I dunno. I got one once, but only because my city has a law that unregistered cars can't be parked on the streets, and only on private property for 30 days. I had one parked on the street in front of my house, and I didn't renew the registration for it since I was going to sell it.
That sucks.. I got a speeding ticket back on the 13th and went in Friday to pay for it and the cashier at the court office said it hadn't been turned it yet or hadn't made it into the system. I'm going to keep trying but if it comes down to the court date I'll tell the judge I don't think I should have to pay any court costs since it wasn't in the system when I kept trying to pay for it. I'm 90% certain it will be before the date, but still that kinda pisses me off that in about 3 weeks it still wasn't in the system..
That sucks man. I recently got a window tint ticket. I hate where I live because we have all these bottle necks and the state police set up registration/inspection sticker/now window tint traps nearly everyday. It verges on harressment for local citizens.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't an unregistered vehicle ticket in NJ only $35? I remember getting a ticket for no front plate back when i lived in jersey and I remember that driving an unregistered vehicle was in the same category of offenses. Well, maybe it varies by town.
Not much you can do about it. "Is your car registered?" "Well, no, but I wasn't driving it." "Was it parked on public property?" "Well, yes." "Then pay up, son!" Apparently your cop had nothing better to do. It's a dick move, and it shows he was spending his time running plates more than anything, unless you didn't have current tags, in which case it's your own fault.
we are having debates down here about the state wanting to pass a law outlawing texting while driving. our local paper says the law is stupid. odd that we have had several avoidable accidents by teens doing just that. sure, there are bogus laws on the books and cops dick you around with em, but sometimes the "law of common sense" has to be reinforced with a half-assed law. the ticket i can't stand is for "rolling stops". cops in enterprise love to catch folks at a stop sign that is on a hill and they have to roll the car up the hill so they can see traffic, and BAM! a ticket for doing that. i know rolling past a stop sign and not ever quite stopping is one thing, but when you have to climb a hill to see safely...that sucks.
Similar garbage here in Atlanta. It's crap. The city is suffering financially, and has been for longer than the economy tanked, but fighting criminals is expensive. Handing out nitpicking tickets to law-abiding citizens is a much easier and more profitable way to do business. Who gives a damn if it causes grief for the regular folks? This is a succinct and complete answer. You know that scene in Star Wars where the Empire guy is all, "Full power to deflector shields or sumthin'," and the other guy is all, "TOOOOOOOO LATE!"? Yeah.
Cops try and get us all the time. Our landlord said we could park on the street in front of our home due to the front door ramp and it's access. The cops know he's allowed us, and yet, once or twice a month, you'll see them sitting behind our car in the street, running our plate. One actually got out of his car and started coming towards the front door, but his partner yelled out the window "Nah. It's good!" Heh, he turned around, crumpled the ticket and slammed his door getting in. I loved it.
If the law says your car is supposed to be registered, or that your windows can only be tinted so much, and you're not compliant, how does this make you a law-abiding citizen?
Wow, this is funny because I'm tempting fate myself these days... Been driving around with an out of state expired registration for over a month. I know I will be held liable for any charges if I am pulled over, or in the case you mentioned, ticketed while parked in a public spot (which, around here, is everywhere). But hey, so far so good. This just makes me laugh because it shows me how different Baltimore is from my old home, Boston. In Baltimore I never see anyone getting pulled over for traffic violations, and on weekends I witness at minimum over a dozen cars illegally parked--all within a one block radius from my apartment. Not to mention that my quiet street becomes a strip club's valet parking lot at times... I never see anyone get ticketed, and most people feel they can get away with pretty much anything. In Boston, they had their sh*t together... You would get ticketed for even thinking about parking illegally. Hell, it wasn't a surprise to find you've been towed! Not just that, but in regards to the OP, my roommate was once ticketed in Massachusetts for... wait for it... not registering in state, although she was a student and held an up to date Maine registration! The craziest part? The car was simply parked in our driveway, which was private and off the street. Some cop was driving by, noticed the same car there every night, and actually wrote a ticket because she had Maine plates and not Mass plates.... That's persistence! Now if only Baltimore would wise up and start getting aggressive about their car problem, maybe they'd make some money and we'd be able to afford street cleaning.
You're right, of course, in the literal sense. But it's a big picture thing. Atlanta has limited law-enforcement resources. The police department has failed to meet staffing numbers for years now, and we're currently furloughing officers because of the budget crunch. Coming by a house party and papering all the cars in front of a house for facing the wrong direction while parking is silly, and it's a poor use of those limited resources. Same for having roadblocks to catch folks for seatbelt and failure to provide proof of insurance (even though it's all electronic in the state now). That's true regardless, but especially so since we're seeing an increase in non-violent property crimes almost across the board. The law exists to maintain an orderly society, but there has to be a common sense element to it. Interpreting it literally just to fill the city's coffers, especially when only selective laws are enforced as such, is a failure of leadership.
My mom got ticketed for parking in front of our house before. Funny thing, there was five other cars on the road that didn't. I think it was because she was parked right by a light pole that needed some work done.