Tickets, Fines, And Wth!

[Tyger]

This could go in Politics, or here, but I chose here cuz, well, I am irritated. LOL

So, my hubby has this friend, who has gotten pulled over for no vehicle registration, no insurance, and not inspected. Plus his out of state driver's license expired. He bought this truck about 6 mos ago. Here in TX, if you buy a vehicle from a dealer, you don't have to register it, the dealership transfers the registration for you (unless you want vanity plates). But, if you buy it from a private citizen, you must register it yourself, ASAP. Plus, as with most states (probably all), you have to show proof of insurance. To get the vehicle inspected, the registration must be current.

OK, with that out of the way, his friend got pulled over a few times, with varying degrees of violations. Never paid the tickets, and acrued, with court costs/warrant, over $2000 of fines, fees, and whatever else. Gets arrested, his GF is in the truck with him (the unregistered, uninspected, uninsured truck). He goes to jail, the officer allows her to drive this truck home, with their almost 2 yr old son in it.

That's what pisses me off. Had that been me, or anyone else, the vehicle would've been impounded! WTF???? They have fewer bills than we do, both of them work, bringing in the same with the combined income, as my husband does. And my hubby and I have 2 vehicles that are only 4 yrs old (paid for). We spend money on making sure that our vehicles are legal & safe. Their truck is like a 1992, runs like crap, and they put their son in it, and haul horses with it.

And they're still driving it around, illegally. THIS is why insurance rates are so high. Eventually, the truck will either cause an accident due to it falling apart, or they'll hit someone (neither can drive well at all) or something, and the victim will be the one that has to pay out the waazoo cuz they're too lazy and cheap to be street legal. They don't own anything, so suing them wouldn't accomplish much, and they'll just buy another truck to neglect.

Sorry, irresponsibility irks me....

[Tyger]

[pappyld04]

I bought a car once from a mechanic that he had gotten by a person who couldn't pay for the repairs that they had requested. Apparently the former owner decided that I hadn't registered the car in my name quickly enough so she stole the license plate off of the vehicle. I hadn't paid much attention to the expiration date on the tag but since I had the tag number I made a stolen tag sign to hang in the rear window for all to see. I pushed my irresponsibility too far when I took my old gf back to her house in another town. I was pulled over within 5-6 blocks of her house. The cop said that my tag was 3 months out of date and that he could not allow me to drive it either to her house or back home. The had the car impounded. After the tag was straightened out, I had to go to the PD to get an impound release from them which cost even more money, then I had to pay $450 to get the car from impound. I didn't get any tickets at all and everything else was up to snuff but just the fact that your hubby's friend got away with such a thing PISSES ME OFF! A lot of people would blame the cop for this but the man was doing his job. Regardless of how much it irked my ass it was my own fault. I'm not sure if they leave this sort of thing to the discretion of the officer or if the cop just felt that the lady and child would have been jeopardized by the situation if they had to walk home. I have NEVER been a fan of these newer vehicles but that is my choice. I take better care of my own cars than most do their own new ones. My 69 Chevy and the 82 El Camino cost me $50 each just to change the spark plugs. I paid $1100 to have the brakes on my 74 Chevy PU completely redone except for the master cylinder. If I get the slightest hint that my vehicle could even possibly cause me or another harm they will not hit the street until the problem is taken care of. Point being, it is not the age of the vehicle it is the assinine behavior of the owner(s) that cause the problems. Violations to the extent you speak of with the only consequence being a day or two in jail are a real pisser for those of us who do spend the money to assure the public's safety and our own. Not to mention what tango speaks of from his own experience.