I know its normal to get asked for license, registration, and proof of insurance. But why ask for the registration? When I register every year, the county sends me a sticker with the plate number and expiration date to stick on the lic plate. The cops van see the plate and date right? Plus I'm sure they run the plate when they pull you over anyway. Seems to me they already know the registration status.

So why do they still ask for the registration paper?

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[–] 3 points 10 hours ago* (4 children)

Because how do they know you didn't just steal a sticker? Those stickers don't have anything on them to prove you actually registered the vehicle. Just a color and a date period.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 hours ago (1 child)

    Because when they pull you over and sit in their car for a minute before getting out, they are calling in your license plate number and make/model/color of the car. The dispatcher types it into their system and radios back to the officer with the owners name, address, whether the registration is valid, and whether the owner has any warrants out for them. They will automatically have all the information about the registration before they even get out of their car.

    This is based on my personal experience as a campus police dispatcher in college more than 40 years ago. I'm sure by now, they have data terminals in the car they can type it in and look it up themselves.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 hours ago

    They do have terminals, called MDT's (mobile data terminals). If the permissions are set for it in CAD, they can look things up. Your comment made me realize I do still hear them call for the info over the radio occasionally, though.

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  • [–] 5 points 8 hours ago (1 child)

    Why even bother with the sticker then lol

    These were phased out in Australia like 20.years ago.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 hours ago

    I'm not sure it's possible to convey how absolutely deadlocked any legal changes have become in the US. Jon Stewart fought for years to get September 11th first-responders the healthcare they were promised, it was a single page of extremely popular bi-partisan legislation.

    The system is as it is because that's the way it was in the 90s or so, and since there's no pressing need and no one has a reason to fight for years to change this particular aspect it will continue this way. Possibly for the next millennia or so.

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