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Expired License Plate
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Expired License Plate
Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
May 13, 2008
When you get your notice to renew your vehicle's registration, what do you do with it? Many thanks to a local reader of the Woodstock Advocate who submitted this photo.
Do you renew it right away? In-person or by mail? Do you put aside and place to do it "some day"? Any day? Before expiration? Do you even pay any attention to it?
There can be many reasons not to renew your registration on-time. One might be that $78.00 (or $103.00) that it takes to get the little piece of sticky tag with the new year on it. Or it might be the requirement to prove that there is valid insurance in force.
In some communities the police sit at stop signs on the first day of the month and just check every tag for a valid expiration date. In others, they notice the tags on every car, because an expired tag is a good reason to make a traffic stop. And, of course, they can't spot every expired registration.
This one expired March 31, 2007, almost FOURTEEN (14) months ago. How is it that this vehicle has not been stopped? The vehicle is being driven on the streets of Woodstock and is parked at times on the street. Perhaps when this driver gets stopped, the officer will also ask where the front plate is.
Should there be some arrangement available to the person who has too much month left at the end of the paycheck and who desperately needs his car for work and shopping? Absolutely! And I don't mean the payday loan outfits!
Have we forgotten so soon just how much the cost of license plates increased? Is it time to demand that the cost of that little sticky tag be reduced, since it is FAR in excess of its cost?
It does no good to call legislators one at a time. They get no sense of how their constituents feel. What is needed is organization, planning, creating steps that lead to change, and then communicating that loudly and clearly to legislators in such numbers that they get the message and take quick action.
What do you think? Is the annual cost of a license plate in Illinois too high?
© 2008 GUS PHILPOTT
