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(Statesman) Strange In Texas, the law that requires cars to display license plates expires January 1   (statesman.com) divider line 66
More: Strange, Texas Transportation Institute, special session  
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10574 clicks; posted to Main » on 17 Nov 2011 at 2:11 AM   |  Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook   more»   |    Get this fabulous T-Shirt and impress the methane out of your friends! shirt it!



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ZAZ [TotalFark]
2011-11-16 09:17:52 PM
So it's a misdemeanor without a specified fine. In some states that makes it a generic misdemeanor, e.g. up to 1 year in jail or a fine at the court's discretion. Maybe Texas is different or the details of the law preclude that interpretation. I like the idea of a misdemeanor with no fine allowed. I often advocate for removing the fine component of traffic laws.
 
2011-11-16 09:40:00 PM
Considering that they charge nearly $150 for 2-year plates, this will save people a lot of money and time.
 
2011-11-16 10:49:34 PM
This would be the legislature that Rick Perry thinks should be the model for the US Congress.
 
2011-11-16 11:08:08 PM
GAT_00: This would be the legislature that Rick Perry thinks should be the model for the US Congress.

The US Congress that let the estate tax lapse a couple years ago?
 
2011-11-17 02:18:17 AM
Steve Jobs would be thrilled.
 
2011-11-17 02:28:03 AM
GAT_00: This would be the legislature that Rick Perry thinks should be the model for the US Congress.
 
2011-11-17 02:28:07 AM
In Texas... no one can hear you think.
 
2011-11-17 02:33:06 AM
I was surprised to find out it was a misdemeanor.
 
2011-11-17 02:33:55 AM
Kinda like Fireman plates, or Vet plates, they will put a surcharge on these Job plates
 
2011-11-17 02:39:54 AM
When no plates is decriminalized, only de criminals will have no plates.
 
2011-11-17 02:46:07 AM
I think we are long overdue for a Tex☆s tag.
 
2011-11-17 02:49:11 AM
FTA: "The revenue impact of losing the fine could not be determined Tuesday."

THIS SHOULD NEVER BE A FACTOR IN PASSING A LAW
 
2011-11-17 02:50:45 AM
I've been pulled over multiple times for "obscured plates" that weren't. The law is written so vaguely that if you have a dealer license plate frame, it likely partially "obscures" something. The law was written as a way of farming tickets. Warnings each time.

Reckon I was profiled as "driving whilst looking like a musician" and they were hoping to get a DWI or drug bust. I will laugh heartily at overzealous cops if this goes through to where it's basically an empty threat on their part and then we get to play the same game we always do play anyway: "So, you finally found an excuse to pull me over for no reason, obscured plates again...???" "I wasn't looking for an excuse, I just wanted to notify you that your plates are slightly obscured and technically that's a violation." "I just finished a gig and want to go home and don't drink on gigs or use drugs, you want to call the drug dogs or piss off?" "I was just trying to be helpful, sir." "Helpful like a bored thug, or helpful in an actual helpful sense?"

...thefnz1 goes about his business with another warning and another wasted bit of time. Sorry I don't have money for a spiffy new Charger like you and drive older vehicles, feel free to pull me over and waste my time ONCE...as I'll skip your town ever after.

As is, I've talked to two chiefs of police and said "If your cops do this, I won't do any business with your town, there's plenty of other towns with stores..." One department did it again and I gladly drive 10 miles around that town anymore. Sure as hell won't give them any trade.

Same BS is why I literally have a NO WILLIAMSON COUNTY clause in a contract related to a sideline music gig. "Yes, I shall play with you but NOT THERE..."

I hope that they fried themselves on this one. I honestly really do.
 
2011-11-17 02:55:18 AM
"It doesn't matter if there's a fine or not, it's still illegal, and you'll still be pulled over," Pickett said. "If there are other issues going on, why would you want to bring attention to yourself?"

Yes, be a good citizen and you vill have notting to fear!


www.crotonblog.com

Ja vol Herr kommandant!!!
 
2011-11-17 03:03:52 AM
I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: "It doesn't matter if there's a fine or not, it's still illegal, and you'll still be pulled over," Pickett said. "If there are other issues going on, why would you want to bring attention to yourself?"

Yes, be a good citizen and you vill have notting to fear!


[www.crotonblog.com image 400x244]

Ja vol Herr kommandant!!!


No, he makes a good point. Why do all of these drug-runners seem to get busted because of stupid mistakes? I mean, if you've got 50 pounds of weed in your trunk, it's just common sense to obey the flippin' traffic laws, and thus avoid getting pulled over. And yet, we've seen on Fark ourselves that some people just can't grasp that simple concept.

/also, the German word you were looking for was "Jawohl".
 
2011-11-17 03:06:25 AM
Good! This has always been a discriminatory practice. Why should only the people who have jobs and can afford license plates be allowed to drive? This law unfairly targets those living in their mom's basements smoking pot.
 
2011-11-17 03:10:26 AM
NEDM: I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: "It doesn't matter if there's a fine or not, it's still illegal, and you'll still be pulled over," Pickett said. "If there are other issues going on, why would you want to bring attention to yourself?"

Yes, be a good citizen and you vill have notting to fear!


[www.crotonblog.com image 400x244]

Ja vol Herr kommandant!!!

No, he makes a good point. Why do all of these drug-runners seem to get busted because of stupid mistakes? I mean, if you've got 50 pounds of weed in your trunk, it's just common sense to obey the flippin' traffic laws, and thus avoid getting pulled over. And yet, we've seen on Fark ourselves that some people just can't grasp that simple concept.

/also, the German word you were looking for was "Jawohl".


Current and perhaps former Texas license plate law is designed to allow leeway on the end of the LEO, not on the end of the human. Last time I got pulled over "Lakeway, TX" for a license plate violation because they were LOOKING FOR AN EXCUSE, I pointed out that 95% of the cars within sight by the grocery store wouldn't pass what he pulled me over for.

Simple concept, it's a profiling enabling device and if I wanted to move drugs, I'd shave my face, cut my hair, and drive a nicer and newer car and I'd never get bothered. True stories of the "texas highway patrol"...

This was perhaps supposed to slightly fix this issue, but they maybe did it wrong, so they may have fixed it even better for people on my side of the issue in Tejas. Non-criminal people that don't like getting pulled over by officers using the plate laws as an excuse to profile.
 
2011-11-17 03:19:01 AM
NEDM: I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: "It doesn't matter if there's a fine or not, it's still illegal, and you'll still be pulled over," Pickett said. "If there are other issues going on, why would you want to bring attention to yourself?"

Yes, be a good citizen and you vill have notting to fear!


www.crotonblog.com

Ja vol Herr kommandant!!!


No, he makes a good point. Why do all of these drug-runners seem to get busted because of stupid mistakes? I mean, if you've got 50 pounds of weed in your trunk, it's just common sense to obey the flippin' traffic laws, and thus avoid getting pulled over. And yet, we've seen on Fark ourselves that some people just can't grasp that simple concept.

/also, the German word you were looking for was "Jawohl".


Being stupid isn't against the law, AFAIK.

What next - "Mr. Jones, I noticed your porch light is burned out... Let's just have a look-see and make sure there's nothing in your house we should know about."

Heck, they're just about already doing that... thermal imaging people's houses looking for marijuana growing "hot-spots" inside... Checking people's electricity bills for any "unusual" usages.

/yep, I agree on the "Jawohl". My version was as close as I could get from Google based on my poor spelling.
 
2011-11-17 03:26:12 AM
Ryker's Peninsula: In Texas... no one can hear you think.

Thoughts are audible outside Texas?

gustavus.edu
 
2011-11-17 03:26:31 AM
ZAZ: So it's a misdemeanor without a specified fine. In some states that makes it a generic misdemeanor, e.g. up to 1 year in jail or a fine at the court's discretion. Maybe Texas is different or the details of the law preclude that interpretation. I like the idea of a misdemeanor with no fine allowed. I often advocate for removing the fine component of traffic laws.

Well it's Texas, so they probably execute you for it.
 
2011-11-17 03:26:33 AM
I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: NEDM: I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: "It doesn't matter if there's a fine or not, it's still illegal, and you'll still be pulled over," Pickett said. "If there are other issues going on, why would you want to bring attention to yourself?"

Yes, be a good citizen and you vill have notting to fear!


[www.crotonblog.com image 400x244]

Ja vol Herr kommandant!!!


No, he makes a good point. Why do all of these drug-runners seem to get busted because of stupid mistakes? I mean, if you've got 50 pounds of weed in your trunk, it's just common sense to obey the flippin' traffic laws, and thus avoid getting pulled over. And yet, we've seen on Fark ourselves that some people just can't grasp that simple concept.

/also, the German word you were looking for was "Jawohl".

Being stupid isn't against the law, AFAIK.


/yep, I agree on the "Jawohl". My version was as close as I could get from Google based on my poor spelling.


No no, I mean stuff like going 20 over the speed limit and blowing through lights and stop signs. Not doing that should be in Drug-runner 101. Contrived excuses are one thing (and BS, in my opinion). Getting your ass pulled over because you were blatantly breaking traffic laws is another.
 
2011-11-17 03:30:41 AM
NEDM: No, he makes a good point. Why do all of these drug-runners seem to get busted because of stupid mistakes? I mean, if you've got 50 pounds of weed in your trunk, it's just common sense to obey the flippin' traffic laws, and thus avoid getting pulled over. And yet, we've seen on Fark ourselves that some people just can't grasp that simple concept.

Well, when you say "We pulled him over because he was speeding" instead of "We pulled him over because our informant Joe Smith described the car and travel plans to us" it leaves Joe Smith alive longer...
 
2011-11-17 03:34:26 AM
NEDM: No no, I mean stuff like going 20 over the speed limit and blowing through lights and stop signs. Not doing that should be in Drug-runner 101. Contrived excuses are one thing (and BS, in my opinion). Getting your ass pulled over because you were blatantly breaking traffic laws is another.

My favorite example of this was on COPS. There was a 1970s mostly rust Ford pickup driving with one headlight, no brake lights, and speeding. Guy gets pulled over, and doesn't even bother to hide the crack pipe on the middle seat. Spare tire is full of weed he's transporting for someone else. I can't understand who would have that much weed and also be stupid enough to hand it over to these geniuses to transport in their completely illegal broken down rustbucket.

/false flag?
//COPS producers with no scruples?
///Stupid redneck with more money or weed than sense?
////You be the judge.
 
2011-11-17 03:36:15 AM
redmid17: FTA: "The revenue impact of losing the fine could not be determined Tuesday."

THIS SHOULD NEVER BE A FACTOR IN PASSING A LAW


Ohhhhh, that's where you made your first mistake.
You see, "JAKE GITTES
You can follow the action, which gets you good pictures. You can follow your instincts, which'll probably get you in trouble. Or, you can follow the money, which nine times out of ten will get you closer to the truth." has more truth in it than nearly anything I've ever read or heard from anyone
 
2011-11-17 04:05:43 AM
Marcintosh: redmid17: FTA: "The revenue impact of losing the fine could not be determined Tuesday."

THIS SHOULD NEVER BE A FACTOR IN PASSING A LAW

Ohhhhh, that's where you made your first mistake.
You see, "JAKE GITTES
You can follow the action, which gets you good pictures. You can follow your instincts, which'll probably get you in trouble. Or, you can follow the money, which nine times out of ten will get you closer to the truth." has more truth in it than nearly anything I've ever read or heard from anyone


nosey people get their noses cut
 
2011-11-17 04:46:21 AM
Somehow doubt we will ever see a tome called "The Collective Wisdom of Texas:. What is more likely is the collective wisdom of texas on the head of a pin.
 
2011-11-17 05:17:50 AM
aearra: Somehow doubt we will ever see a tome called "The Collective Wisdom of Texas:. What is more likely is the collective wisdom of texas on the head of a pin.

Are you volunteering your pin head?
 
2011-11-17 05:31:56 AM
untaken_name: aearra: Somehow doubt we will ever see a tome called "The Collective Wisdom of Texas:. What is more likely is the collective wisdom of texas on the head of a pin.

Are you volunteering your pin head?


*SNORT*
X-D
 
2011-11-17 06:08:35 AM
redmid17: FTA: "The revenue impact of losing the fine could not be determined Tuesday."

THIS SHOULD NEVER BE A FACTOR IN PASSING A LAW


Enjoy your gravel toll roads.
 
2011-11-17 06:18:30 AM
$10?!?! I drilled holes in my bumper to avoid a $10 fix-it ticket? Goddammitsomuch.
 
2011-11-17 06:37:04 AM
230+ pages and only 4 or 5 revisions. I guess they went to high school in Texas.
 
2011-11-17 07:23:52 AM
NEDM: Why do all of these drug-runners seem to get busted because of stupid mistakes? I mean, if you've got 50 pounds of weed in your trunk, it's just common sense to obey the flippin' traffic laws, and thus avoid getting pulled over. And yet, we've seen on Fark ourselves that some people just can't grasp that simple concept.

I spend quite a bit of time in my car. There's a radio station out of Amarillo, TX on the AM side that covers most of where I drive, so I tend to listen to it frequently. I don't think I've seen more than a week go by without hearing about some idiot getting pulled over on I27 or I40 for running 76 (yep, they'll hit you for 75 around there, drive nice) or having a broken tail light. This would be no big deal if that idiot didn't have 35 pounds of weed and a kilo of crack in the trunk.
 
2011-11-17 07:24:52 AM
kactuspatch: $10?!?! I drilled holes in my bumper to avoid a $10 fix-it ticket? Goddammitsomuch.

Second offense wouldn't have been just a ten-spot, it would have been twenty of them.
 
2011-11-17 07:27:46 AM
untaken_name: NEDM: No no, I mean stuff like going 20 over the speed limit and blowing through lights and stop signs. Not doing that should be in Drug-runner 101. Contrived excuses are one thing (and BS, in my opinion). Getting your ass pulled over because you were blatantly breaking traffic laws is another.

My favorite example of this was on COPS. There was a 1970s mostly rust Ford pickup driving with one headlight, no brake lights, and speeding. Guy gets pulled over, and doesn't even bother to hide the crack pipe on the middle seat. Spare tire is full of weed he's transporting for someone else. I can't understand who would have that much weed and also be stupid enough to hand it over to these geniuses to transport in their completely illegal broken down rustbucket.

/false flag?
//COPS producers with no scruples?
///Stupid redneck with more money or weed than sense?
////You be the judge.


these guys serve as the decoys while the bigger load moves in unabated.

/ uncle (now deceased) that was with the CIA told me that this was a trick of the smugglers. They would phone in the tips to the police so that they could score a major bust. Meanwhile 5X as much moves around while the police are shaking their own hands and posing for the cameras.
 
2011-11-17 07:37:40 AM
Meh, elections (of stupid legislators) have consequences.
 
2011-11-17 07:56:08 AM
Grand_Moff_Joseph: Considering that they charge nearly $150 for 2-year plates, this will save people a lot of money and time.

License plates are too expansive, but totalfark you can afford. Oh, you'r e not a drain on society.

Twunt.
 
2011-11-17 08:12:15 AM
thefnz1: Reckon I was profiled as "driving whilst looking like a musician" and they were hoping to get a DWI or drug bust. I will laugh heartily at overzealous cops if this goes through to where it's basically an empty threat on their part and then we get to play the same game we always do play anyway: "So, you finally found an excuse to pull me over for no reason, obscured plates again...???" "I wasn't looking for an excuse, I just wanted to notify you that your plates are slightly obscured and technically that's a violation." "I just finished a gig and want to go home and don't drink on gigs or use drugs, you want to call the drug dogs or piss off?" "I was just trying to be helpful, sir." "Helpful like a bored thug, or helpful in an actual helpful sense?"

...thefnz1 goes about his business with another warning and another wasted bit of time. gets beaten over the head with a baton for an hour so until the officer's arms get tired, and then gets tossed into a cell over the weekend until the judge lets him go on monday with 7 different moving violations and tells him he is lucky he doesn't spend 30 days in county for 'obstructing an officer' by shielding his head with this arms while getting a wood shampoo. Sorry I don't have money for a spiffy new Charger like you and drive older vehicles, feel free to pull me over and waste my time ONCE...as I'll skip your town ever after.

As is, I've talked to two chiefs of police and said "If your cops do this, I won't do any business with your town, there's plenty of other towns with stores..." One department did it again and I gladly drive 10 miles around that town anymore. Sure as hell won't give them any trade.


Translation: I am a self important douchebag with delusions of how cool and important I am.

So, because a cop pulled you over for willfuly violating a restriction, and only told you "Hey, you might want to get that fixed, have a nice day" You feel the proper course of action is to add 30 minutes to your drive around the town and not do any business there? Yeah, that will show them. I bet the town's coffers are already in the red because you don't stop by the Fuel N Flee every two weeks for a slurpee and a pack of twinkees.
 
2011-11-17 08:21:07 AM
All laws should have an expiration date. This would do several things:

1. It will let obsolete laws that nobody really cares about expire.
2. It will increase turnover in Congress as it will hurt an incumbents reelection campaign when they screw up and the law against rape or something expires because they were too busy killing small business and funneling money to Wall Street. Imagine those campaign ads.
3. Properly implemented, it will limit the total number of laws congress can pass, the more laws it passes, the more of it's time is spent renewing them. We then reach a point where Congress has to repeal laws in order to pass new ones.
 
2011-11-17 08:26:17 AM
DigitalCoffee: I think we are long overdue for a Tex☆s tag.

I kind of agree. Shouldn't be a Te☆as tag though?
 
2011-11-17 08:35:23 AM
Say what you want about Texas, but I have yet to get pulled over there for stupid things like in other states:
California: tint to dark.
Kansas: failure to indicate lane change when the single lane divided into two and I stayed in the roadside lane.
Oklahoma: failure to maintain position within lane.
All of these can be rolled up under one real reason, NM plates.

/going to get a bronze star medal plate when I get back home
 
2011-11-17 08:41:36 AM
techdesk.info

Approves
 
2011-11-17 08:49:00 AM
Dubai Vol: Grand_Moff_Joseph: Considering that they charge nearly $150 for 2-year plates, this will save people a lot of money and time.

License plates are too expansive, but totalfark you can afford. Oh, you'r e not a drain on society.

Twunt.


I'm sorry, I was too busy laughing at your poor command of spelling and grammar to notice you were trying to be snarky and cute. Unfortunately for you, I don't live in TX anymore, and now reside in a state where the lower cost of plates makes it easy to afford my TF.
 
2011-11-17 08:59:17 AM
Crosshair: All laws should have an expiration date. This would do several things:

1. It will let obsolete laws that nobody really cares about expire.
2. It will increase turnover in Congress as it will hurt an incumbents reelection campaign when they screw up and the law against rape or something expires because they were too busy killing small business and funneling money to Wall Street. Imagine those campaign ads.
3. Properly implemented, it will limit the total number of laws congress can pass, the more laws it passes, the more of it's time is spent renewing them. We then reach a point where Congress has to repeal laws in order to pass new ones.


I agree with you on something.
 
2011-11-17 09:01:27 AM
EnviroDude: these guys serve as the decoys while the bigger load moves in unabated.

/ uncle (now deceased) that was with the CIA told me that this was a trick of the smugglers. They would phone in the tips to the police so that they could score a major bust. Meanwhile 5X as much moves around while the police are shaking their own hands and posing for the cameras.



"You know how this works?"

"No. You tell me."

"We tell you who's moving against you... and we shake down who you want shaken down. Let's say that you got a real problem making a collection. And then we step in for you. Got eight killers with badges working for me. When they hit, it hurts. Same thing works the other way. You feed me a bust now and then. Some cowboy setting himself up in business. Small-fry, you know? We like snacks."
 
2011-11-17 09:05:18 AM
EnviroDude: untaken_name: NEDM: No no, I mean stuff like going 20 over the speed limit and blowing through lights and stop signs. Not doing that should be in Drug-runner 101. Contrived excuses are one thing (and BS, in my opinion). Getting your ass pulled over because you were blatantly breaking traffic laws is another.

My favorite example of this was on COPS. There was a 1970s mostly rust Ford pickup driving with one headlight, no brake lights, and speeding. Guy gets pulled over, and doesn't even bother to hide the crack pipe on the middle seat. Spare tire is full of weed he's transporting for someone else. I can't understand who would have that much weed and also be stupid enough to hand it over to these geniuses to transport in their completely illegal broken down rustbucket.

/false flag?
//COPS producers with no scruples?
///Stupid redneck with more money or weed than sense?
////You be the judge.

these guys serve as the decoys while the bigger load moves in unabated.

/ uncle (now deceased) that was with the CIA told me that this was a trick of the smugglers. They would phone in the tips to the police so that they could score a major bust. Meanwhile 5X as much moves around while the police are shaking their own hands and posing for the cameras.


That and when the CIA is smuggling the drugs it does make a very good diversion....
 
2011-11-17 09:07:46 AM
Oops!
 
2011-11-17 09:08:52 AM
Current and perhaps former Texas license plate law is designed to allow leeway on the end of the LEO, not on the end of the human. Last time I got pulled over "Lakeway, TX" for a license plate violation because they were LOOKING FOR AN EXCUSE, I pointed out that 95% of the cars within sight by the grocery store wouldn't pass what he pulled me over for.

Simple concept, it's a profiling enabling device and if I wanted to move drugs, I'd shave my face, cut my hair, and drive a nicer and newer car and I'd never get bothered. True stories of the "texas highway patrol"...

This was perhaps supposed to slightly fix this issue, but they maybe did it wrong, so they may have fixed it even better for people on my side of the issue in Tejas. Non-criminal people that don't like getting pulled over by officers using the plate laws as an excuse to profile.


I used to live in Lakeway and the tiny Law enforcement agency there once pulled me over for having curtains in my back window. They are just Peckers.
Totally agree with it gives them a reason to pull you over. Coming home from my Fathers house one night, in my Wifes Mustang GT, was pulled over. You should have seen the suprised look on Barneys face when, thinking he was getting some teens out partying, he realized he had pulled over an old man.

/warning ticket
//pricks
 
2011-11-17 09:22:40 AM
Bronzed War God: DigitalCoffee: I think we are long overdue for a Tex☆s tag.

I kind of agree. Shouldn't be a Te☆as tag though?


While it should be Te☆as remember that were talking about Tex☆s.

/i46.photobucket.com
 
2011-11-17 09:22:45 AM
I love how the registration on my vehicle expires year after year, one would think that I could register it once, and the government could save a lot of money by not repeating useless work year after year for every dingle motorist.

City of Alexandria charges a 'decal fee' in addition to registration. $35 for a sticker that isn't even necessary. It's one of the reasons I moved from there. Any place that does things like that in public is likely doing thousands of other asinine things that I don't see.
 
ZAZ [TotalFark]
2011-11-17 09:37:56 AM
Crosshair

I like the idea but the rules must be laid out with care to avoid evasion. Some legislatures routinely re-enact great masses of law and they would do the same if laws had expiration dates.

Hypothetical example modified from the way things really work:

In 2012 the East Carolina legislature approves a bill imposing a tax on floor wax and granting a subsidy for dessert toppings. The secretary of state dutifully enters it into the statute books. The new law does two different things and is vulnerable to legal challenge because bills are only allowed to cover one subject. The next session, in 2014, enacts a law saying "the law of the state is (giant wall of text containing the statute books as appearing at the end of 2013)." This is a single subject (recodification) and cures any procedural defects in the prior session.
 
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