Submitted by luchobucho t3_z7srxk in baltimore
What’s the deal with so many temporary tags on cars? Are there really that many recently purchased cars? Kid t yesterday I saw one that was laminated. I know the city doesn’t enforce traffic rules but, this seems like easy low-hanging fruit.
You misspelled "Nissan Altima"
Don't forget Accord Coupe
They're an add on that most Nissan drivers also get
Yes! I couldn’t think of the other car 🤣
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I assume by the way they’re driven. Soo dangerous.
Keeping temporary tags on your car is a way to avoid paying for car insurance and the 6% titling tax. I'm not surprised at how common this practice is given that city car insurance rates are barely affordable for well-off, safe drivers. Unfortunately the city police have more important things to do than enforce vehicle registrations...
Or traffic safety….
I still think the city should setup a a traffic/parking auxiliary police force funded by ticketing revenue……
They can't hire enough police so they definitely aren't gonna get people for auxiliary.
Auxiliary typically is a revenue maker. That’s like saying you can’t afford to have a paid job.
I didn't say the city can't afford them. Can't find people to hire.
Auxiliary is a less dangerous job, and no one should care if they partake. You might be right, but it’s not quite the same as a police officer job.
Parking agents get assaulted/threatened often and their agency is short already. Auxiliary enforcing traffic would be extremely risky.
Agreed. The other person is probably thinking of enforcing registration status or speeding/illegal turns on President Street or Boston St/Fort Ave type places.
Lol at some auxiliary officer doing that job in the rest of the city. The city would be paying a lot of claims for assault.
Parking enforcement was forced to lay off a few employees during Covid. They can hire in a way that police can’t.
Um. Based on what logic? Walking around printing tickets is far more attractive of a profession than being a fucking cop in Baltimore.. not even danger aspect just because there is such hate (justifiably) for police here.
What they really need to do is put traffic/non-emergency services etc. under an entirely seperate authority.
There should be a public safety department directly reporting to the mayor. In it would be bpd, parking/traffic authority, life/health/safety code enforcement division.
>I'm not surprised at how common this practice is given that city car insurance rates are barely affordable for well-off, safe drivers.
It's gotta be a huge feedback loop. Higher accident rate and uninsured motorist rate drives up the premium which just incentivizes more uninsured motorists.
After my wife's car got stolen during a home break-in, we paid almost as much in monthly insurance as we did the new car note. Otherwise flawless records on both parts...
Insurance rates and practices are a scam more so now than ever. Insurance makes sense but when you're paying half as much or more for car insurance as you are for your car itself, it's too fucking expensive. And then when you need it it won't pay out. The insured party usually loses.
So if you have temporary tags, you don’t have to have car insurance?
Strictly, no, but I imagine that most of those temporary tags you see are fake as a three-dollar bill. If the MVA never gets your temp tag number, it can never get angry at you for not having insurance...
How does one obtain a car without getting proper plates? When i bought my used car last year i literally had to set up the insurance right then. I’m having a hard time believing this to be a real thing.
The only time the state asks for proof of insurance is at the point where you go to register the car. When you buy a car from an honest dealer, they apply for paper plates at the moment of purchase, which requires you to have insurance.
However, you can buy a car from a private party, sign the title over, and just not apply for plates, temporary or permanent, from the MVA. You would do this if you didn't live in Maryland and were going to title the car in a different state, as the MVA won't give temporary plates to people who don't live in Maryland.
So let's say you (a Maryland resident) buy a car from a private party. You can get a Maryland title without needing insurance. But, you can't get plates from the MVA until you prove to the MVA that you have insurance. You don't want to pay for insurance. What do you do instead? You buy fake temporary tags from a guy off Craigslist and drive around uninsured.
Its so dumb considering how much its going to suck when they inevitably get into an accident with no insurance.
You're thinking like a responsible person, because you most likely are one. There are lots of people who just don't care.
Yeah especially with the way they drive. Haven’t seen a temp tagged car that didn’t have someone driving it with extra assholism.
They will drive away or ditch the car.
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This person is incorrect.
They come free with 15% or darker tint, and they allow the driver to use the shoulder as another lane when there's traffic.
They also convert all of the windows of your vehicle to trashcans, just roll it down and dump your shit.
Especially temporary tags from Texas, they are everywhere
texas has a weird temp tag for dirt cheap you can buy online. its intended for people who are moving to texas, but you just need to check a box or whatever saying you intend to move there.
Texas had a huge problem where people figured out their temp tag laws were super lax so a bunch of people scammed the system and started selling them by the thousands.
Many temp tags are expired, not attached to the correct vehicle, or outright falsified. The issue is not that BPD cannot enforce traffic rules. The issue is that BPD’s Vehicle Pursuit Policy (Policy 1503 PDF) only authorizes pursuits under certain strict conditions which a simple registration infraction does not meet. Many drivers know this and will simply not stop when they are lit up.
Hold up, if a city cop lights up a car for a (minor) infraction like a bad/missing plate and they don't pull over there is nothing the cops can do about it!?
The officer can try to pursue, but as soon as they radio that they have a vehicle failing to stop, the first question a supervisor will ask is “What is it wanted for?” If the answer is “traffic,” then the supervisor is most likely to order that officer to stop pursuing so as to not run afoul of Policy 1503.
This is why you see extremely selective enforcement of traffic and registration infractions. The drivers with egregious violations are not likely to stop. Those who do stop are the exception rather than the rule; and because they actually stopped, they are more likely to get a warning rather than a citation.
They can radio it in so the next guy can watch it zoom past.
Wow. So that just straight up says they can’t chase you solely for committing a traffic offense if you basically aren’t a felon or dangerous
Not simply a felon, but a felon where failure to immediately stop them poses an immediate threat of death or serious bodily harm.
>1. Members may pursue an eluding vehicle when:
>1.1. The vehicle contains a felony suspect and failure to immediately apprehend poses an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury to the member or others; and
>1.2. Before the pursuit is initiated, there exists probable cause to believe the fleeing suspect committed a felony which resulted, or could have resulted, in death or serious bodily injury.
This means that even if the officer somehow knows an occupant is wanted on a felony warrant; they may not pursue them if the fleeing vehicle does not poses an immediate risk of harm.
Tbh, I used to get really annoyed and think BPD was being lazy when they didn’t enforce traffic laws. But now it’s like…I suppose they really can’t. Seems like unless somebody just killed someone, they aren’t allowed ro chase them
I’m no expert but I’ve always figured it’s because poor people buy shitty used cars and stretch out the temp period as long as possible to avoid paying for inspection and repairs and taxes…cheaper to cycle through beater cars than to run a decent car on permanent tags
Darcars Toyota didn't give me metal plates until the day the paper ones expired. They suck, don't go there.
If memory serves, there was a big holdup back during the height of the pandemic - people weren't getting proper tags due to the backlog.
Add to that the issue with Carvana not doing paperwork in time, or at all. Lots of folks with Carvana purchases and old temp tags.
It might have started or spiked there, but I'd be surprised if abuse didn't account for at least half of the paper tags on the road at the moment. Regardless, if you see paper tags (especially expired ones) it's safest to assume the driver is uninsured.
I def remember a holdup in 2020. But I bought a car in 2021 and was expecting to ride on my paper tags for months and I got perm ones in 3 weeks.
Gotcha! That was just a thought I had.
Carvana's still a problem, though. Have been seeing a LOT of their cars around with temp tags.
That’s interesting. I was thinking people were just printing fake ones out from some site. When I saw the laminated one yesterday….🤔
Yeah IDK. Just spitballing. :)
Insurance in Baltimore is very high, but the drivers are some of the worst in the country so it's a circular thing.
Several of my neighbors have expired temp VA tags
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riding on paper tags that are within expiration is not illegal, there's nothing to enforce.
Most of the ones I see are expired.
Hell, I saw one that was a year expired.
lol i saw one that expired in 21 as well. people got balls of steel driving around expired tags anywhere. i see so many in the city on my way to work now.
Who's gonna stop them? The cops? They're too busy logging overtime and complaining about it.
lol i just chuckle at the balls of steel of city people. i'm down in aa county and there's no way these cops out here would tolerate that shit. your ass will get pulled over with the quickness.
My record so far is three years.
Edit: I think someone took this to mean that I've had an expired temporary tag for three years. No: the worst one I've seen so far was a car with temporary tags that expired nearly three years ago.
Sweet baby jeebus
Avocadofarmer32 t1_iy84r1h wrote
They come standard on the tinted out Acuras that try to run me off the road everyday. That or VA tags.