<p>D’yer Maker:
I assume he got the bill later since it’s tied to points rather than a particular infraction/ticket. Maybe they only run/determine the assessments yearly since they’re paid yearly.</p>
<p>3K’s:</p>
<p>Did you try to fight that 3 person ticket? It doesn’t sound fair if the sign indicating occupancy was beyond where you received the ticket.</p>
<p>^^No we didn’t fight it…other than telling the officer how unfair it was…he was not sympathetic.</p>
<p>You know, I haven’t had many tickets over the years, in fact these two are the few that come to mind. Yet, I always feel they’re unfair! I always intend to fight the perceived injustice! I always end up paying them.</p>
<p>I have no doubt there’s lots of selectivity in pulling drivers over and issuing citations. Was meeting with a client/business partner just outside the D.C. beltway a few weeks ago; I accepted a ride to the airport from him - he convinced me saying “I have a brand new Hummer” - anyway, we hop in his new Hummer, and we started talking about cars.</p>
<p>It turns out he has access to a database that is a “cache” of sorts - it captures, and holds for a period of time (30 days rolling historical I think he said) the records on all license plates, and how often they’ve been “run”, meaning, the sort of quick check a police officer might do while idling behind a vehicle at a red light, etc. He and his wife have school age children, and they drive pretty much the same routes as part of their routine - office, school, daycare, etc. His wife drives something normal and boring, I forget what, perhaps a typical sedan or SUV; he has the Hummer; and, one of his close friends and colleagues drives some sort of convertible sports car, I forget the make/model on that car as well - anyway, they checked their plates in this database - his wife’s plate had been run something like 20-25 times in the prior 30 days rolling; his, for the Hummer, 400 times, and the sports car, over 800 times. </p>
<p>I never thought to inquire if his friend with the sports car has any sort of bumper stickers or any other insignia on the car…</p>
<p>Driving boring cars for nearly 15 years, I was never, ever pulled over. Driving the Mustang GT, pulled over four times in the last six months - no tickets - just pulled over…</p>
<p>Wow latetoschool, that is an amazing bit of info. I definitely felt targeted while driving my husband’s car.</p>
<p>The funny thing when I was stopped, the officer asked if I knew I was driving without plates on the front. I didn’t have a clue. I didn’t even know that my husband is among the car enthusiasts that view displaying a front plate as ruining the lines of the car! Needless to say, I was mad at my husband.</p>
<p>I’ve gone on patrol twice now with some deputy sheriffs in my area and they say they don’t bother running tags of moms in minivans because they’ve always got their paperwork in order. But if it’s a car they want to check out or looks like it might get a “hit” on the computer for some reason, they’re running that tag. They just drive and plug in numbers…much as you and I might tap our fingers on the steering wheel to a song on the stereo. They probably run tags on a full 1/4 of the cars they encounter as they drive around. That’s a whole lot of tags, especially if they’re on a congested road. </p>
<p>800 hits in 30 days, though, sounds pretty high. You’d have to drive within sight of at least 800 law enforcement people in that time. That’s 25 a day. Who sees 25 cop cars a day? Someone who parks in a parking lot at a strip mall that has a Dunkin’ Donuts. Maybe.</p>
<p>I am definitely targeted in the Mustang. It’s an attractive nuisance I guess - something I never considered when I bought it, but, three of the four police persons (one was female) who pulled me over spent more time talking about the car than whatever infraction it was I was supposed to have committed - the one offense I am sure they had me on was an illegal u-turn, and, my record was run, I was let off with a verbal warning.</p>
<p>D’maker, I cannot remember exactly but I think the friend with the sports car is a single man, he would be in his late 30’s early 40’s-ish, and I sort of had the sense he is very active in sports, social life, etc. - vs. my client/colleague who is home every night for dinner and family life.</p>
<p>
I was pulled over on the freeway a couple years ago while driving my 1966 Mustang convertible (top down, of course). I knew there was a CHP behind me and knew I wasn’t speeding or anything else. When the cop approached he said he pulled me over for not having an updated registration sticker on the license plate. I don’t know what happend to it but my reg was up to date so he just gave me a ticket for not having a sticker - a nuisance $25 ticket. </p>
<p>I asked him how he happened to notice my sticker was old on a freeway while most cars are speeding past me and he said that he and his ride-along were admiring my Mustang when he happened to notice the sticker. I sad “gee, thanks a lot”. It was all actually all very amiable but I would have been even more amiable had I not received a ticket.</p>
<p>^^ LOL, I totally understand. A few times I have come out from the grocery store or some other place, returned to my car and found groups of people collected around it, talking about it; I arrive at my car with my groceries or whatever and they want to talk to me about the car. (How much did it cost? Where did you get it? What’s it like to drive it? And so on, these complete strangers will ask…)</p>
<p>I never considered this when I bought it…I don’t regret the purchase AT ALL, absolutely love the car, but, it does take some getting used to, and, maybe it’s a good thing because it certainly has made me far more attentive to my driving habits.</p>
<p>latetoschool, I can’t believe you mentioned about how often plates are run by police. Just a couple of days ago, I asked my husband how often he thought that happened, and he figured almost never (ha). I had thought it would be pretty routine with the police cars equipped with laptops at their fingertips. I love to be right! :)</p>
<p>Coronax, I would think it probably depends on (1) where you are; (2) what you’re driving; (3) to some degree, perhaps, what you look like. </p>
<p>For example, the gentleman with the sports car, this is an area in Maryland, just outside of D.C., but not quite to the NSA area, and, he’s in the intel business/private industry, in addition to being single and very social, so, one can just imagine where that car is parked, where he drives, etc. </p>
<p>I would imagine - just guessing but - maybe if you’re driving a rather boring car, in a less “active” area of the country with regard to crime, etc., perhaps tags are not run quite so much. Or perhaps if you’re much older, and don’t “look” very exciting or interesting.</p>
<p>But I can see why police might do this - it’s easy to speculate that at any moment they may encounter another vehicle in traffic where that driver may be wanted, perhaps even for just misdemeanors, etc., so, perhaps they catch a lot of people with outstanding warrants etc. in this way…and, they do all seem to have those laptops right at their fingertips. I would imagine too that police officers are evaluated on performance metrics such as how many people they catch, ticket, etc. I don’t know any of this for certain, just speculating, but, it makes sense…</p>
<p>@ coronax2: Both times I rode along with sheriff’s deputies in their cruisers, they did just what you suspected. Riding along on a street, they’d be entering tags non-stop. Here’s what the patter of their fingertips sounded like:</p>
<p>bahda-da-dahda-DA-boom; pause - pause; bahda-da-dahda-DA-boom; pause - pause.</p>
<p>Here’s what they were entering:</p>
<p>KM C 32 5 ENTER pause-pause; TJ V 45 9 ENTER pause-pause. In 30 seconds they could run up to 5 tags, no sweat. And that was while they were driving and talking to me. At a red light…getouttahere, nobody was safe!</p>
<p>As they were tapping out tags, I had a little mantra of my own racing through my head:</p>
<p>“I will always pay my tags on time; pause-pause; I will always pay my tags on time; pause-pause.”</p>
<p>Thanks LTS and D’yer. </p>
<p>(“I will always pay my tags on time; pause-pause; I will always pay my tags on time; pause-pause.”) haha - I WILL TOO!</p>
<p>I can’t believe that a boring “mom car” would be accessed 25 times in a month!</p>
<p>[Petition:</a> New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV): Stop the Driver Responsibility Assessment Program | Change.org](<a href=“Petition · New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV): Stop the Driver Responsibility Assessment Program · Change.org”>Petition · New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV): Stop the Driver Responsibility Assessment Program · Change.org)</p>
<p>Oh my God. This thread is a freak out.</p>
<p>I’m with you, zmom!</p>
<p>They have equipment now that can automatically scan and run every plate of every car the cop drives by, without having to type in anything.</p>
<p>
They are not identifying the driver, just the registered owner of the vehicle.</p>
<p>If you are not committing an infraction, the cops should have no right to run your plate, IMO.</p>