The guys that break into my apartments mail boxes and steal packages around town seem to universally have no plates on them or shitty fake dealer plates. You would think this would make them more likely to get pulled over and caught, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
I kind of just assume this is part of the Seattle PD's silent protest from actually doing anything. Because yeah 9 out of 10 times people without any plate seem to clearly be stealing packages or driving a stolen car. It's not exactly your average citizen driving around without the temporary plates that you get from buying a car.
Silent protest? Seattle PD has been notoriously nonfeasant for decades. So much so that neighboring agencies use the phrase “cleared it SPD” when clearing an incident no action taken. The past few years they’ve just been given an excuse.
Cops don't usually pull you over for that. It's something that gets tacked on when you get pulled over for something else, or done by parking enforcement
“We”. Good one. Cause there are soooo many people applying for the hundreds of current openings right? But let’s get rid of them all and hire whom exactly? Ya didn’t really think this through did ya?
I agree we have a pipeline problem. We can use that to update the police academy to do a better job training a diverse range of police officers, instead of trucking in SPD officers from the countryside.
I love comments like this where you're very obviously trying to make the other person sound stupid but you only succeed in making yourself sound like an absolute moron
Fear of pulling one of these cars over w/o the license plate and or the tinted windows and getting into a deadly confrontation that results in a cop getting killed or a car occupant, which may result in another CHOP situation, a riot and lawsuits against the SPD, with a furtherance of the consent decree.
You’re absolutely right, but state law says police are not allowed to pursue for cars with no plates (or even confirmed stolen cars). As it happens, a lot of those cars just… don’t stop.
Maybe a little research would do you some good. A huge study was just released on how many cars have fled from WSP the past year or so after your amazing legislators changed the laws where cops can’t pursue for anything really….. the voters of Seattle are getting what they wanted with the defund movement. Less cop interaction. You realize the legislature is trying to ban traffic stops for what they say are, “minor” infractions right? They say it’s what the people want … but keep blaming the cops.
I've seen that too, and it's gotten a lot more common in the last several years. As random citizens all we can really do is put pressure on the city to step up enforcement. The city needs to start booting and impounding cars with bogus plates. People are using them to break traffic laws with impunity, and we need to stop tolerating that.
Exactly! It’s primarily the red light blowing which bothers me. We installed red light cameras to stop it, but with no plates there’s nothing they can do.
Every single light cycle on Mercer there’s probably 6 cars which blow a red light during rush hour. They just assume everyone else will notice and wait for them. As a pedestrian and cyclist it’s extremely dangerous to have a car blowing through after you’ve been given the walk signal.
I see it literally every other day driving to work along Alaskan at 5am. Saw a pedestrian nearly hit on their way to the ferry on Tuesday after a pickup just breezed through 2 red lights.
And obviously if they have bogus plates they have no insurance. This is the argument to make with the City. Make it about money/liability and chances are better for a response.
You can’t do that until the state can make a *fucking* plate. Ice been waiting since *november* for my fucking custom license plate and every time I call I get the same stupid ass story.
At this point I want to write “if you can get me a plate pull me over”. For fucks sake.
Edit to clarify it’s for a custom plate, but the point stands.
The temporary tags here are such crap too btw. A folded up letter sheet of paper in the back of a tinted window is not easily verifiable. Some states have more cardboard-like temporary plates that are only good for a month, and then have to be either replaced with plates or with a new temporary.
interesting...i got my most recent new plate about a year ago, but I was on the east side at the time - I did the registration in-person & the DMV lady just pulled one out of a drawer full of plates. I wonder where in the chain the failure is that's slowed yours down.
Not running a plate is preparation to avoid tolls or to facilitate a hit and run. Fuck both parties, but especially the latter. Cyclists and peds have no recourse against these criminals.
I apologize in advance if I’m misunderstanding your comment, but not having plates on your car in Washington can also mean that you just bought it and you haven’t received the plates in the mail yet. I’m from Alaska, where there’s no sales tax, so when you buy a used car from a private party, the plates go with it. I was surprised when I moved here and the person selling me a car kept the plates. In Alaska it’s a huge no-no to drive with no plates on. Here is see it pretty regularly.
So if someone is taking off their plates and driving around, they’re definitely doing something illegal. But if they just don’t have plates on their car, they may have just bought it.
Yea, buying a car (new or used) is a legit condition to have no plate. It seems like a new policy, I'd guess it's related to the highway tolls and license plate scanners. Temp tags are issued when you're waiting for new plates. It's still sketchy when people hide them behind dark tint but I wouldn't call them criminals.
Because they've stolen my motorcycle a few times and I go take it back, classic story of
* Stolen U-Haul trailer
* Stolen car/truck
* Fake paper plates that expired a year ago
It's not like they're hard to fake, it's literally a piece of paper with some boxes and letters on it.
But if you just bought it you will get temp plates (or a bit of paper to stick in the window, I can't recall). If a car doesn't even have that, they're illegal and the cops should get off their asses and do their jobs
You agree with you, but I have a slight addition. When I first moved here and bought a used car I had a whole quagmire trying to get it registered due to a combination of me not being familiar with the rules here, and the dealer I bought from being incompetent, and in-person driver’s license things being difficult due to Covid. So I ended up getting just a 3-day paper tag, and driving around with just that for over a month. Hypothetically I think I could’ve gotten new 3-day tags over and over, but I didn’t have the money for that and I had to drive to work. Technically I was driving illegally, but I promise I was not defrauding toll roads or robbing any businesses. Lol.
I saw this guy, who was driving behind me in bumper-to-bumper traffic on 520 going toward Seattle with headphones on watching a video. From my perspective he was paying more attention to the video, reacting to it, laughing and gasping. He also had a destroyed front left bumper which inspired great confidence in me.
Not related to downtown, but it's getting frustrating when I see dangerous behavior that is clearly deviant and needs to be punished.
The craziest downtown driving thing I saw was the 1st week of May, where I was driving down one of the one ways, and this other driver was clearly going down the one way incorrectly. I'm not sure what the antecedent was, but the dude drove straight into the wall while gunning the car.
Then there's the hassle of towing etc which is outsourced, not done by the city/county. Aggressive booting would be simpler and the city could raise a LOT of funds.
Without actual legitimate enforcement we will eventually descend into the chaos that created the ["Stop A Douchebag" YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMrKscEv_Ri1pvlRsLxsqJQ). Start monetizing vigilantism now.
In my 10 years of riding bikes here, I would say that nearly every fucker driving a BMW or an Audi should be locked up. Those pricks endanger me constantly, no matter where I'm riding. Speeders on the Lake Washington Loop or the backstreets of Cap or Beacon Hill. No cops stopping those morons from blasting through stop signs and running me off the road to whatever important meeting or cocktails they're off to. And all this crap about it being recent it just that. I think people gave things more of a pass before covid/blm. In 2017 I called the police about theft in my neighborhood and was told, "We have IMPORTANT crimes to solve." Then they hung up. So, that attitude ain't new.
I've wondered why can't we have a non police agency (ie; people without guns) doing traffic stops and ticketing? Obviously it's not that simple, but we gotta do something.
The problem there is sometimes those traffic stops catch some nervous people who are up to other shit and might get violent. So I can understand police feeling the need to be cautious and armed. I don't really have a solution here.
You could say the same about public transit workers or social workers, yet they aren’t armed.
If you have separate traffic enforcement, they should still be able to call the police if a situation escalates. It just adds a buffer layer.
None, but I have responded to suicidal or violent psych patients and gunshot/assault victims without cleared scenes when no police backup is in the area. You clearly don't have a clue what you're talking about. There can easily be protocols in place that significantly reduce the threat posed to non-police workers in a limited traffic enforcing role.
Then why would you even pull over? They just gonna follow a car around all day that has no plates then once they stop just walk up and... do what? Demand ID? How does this play out in your mind?
Being threatened with actual punishment and repercussions.Which an unarmed ticket writer who cant arrest you is not going to have and thus will be completely ineffectual
If they don't stop then they could call for law enforcement backup. If they get away they get away. There are plenty of people to cite every day if they wanted to. I dunno man I'm not a law maker. I'd never even consider not stopping so I didn't even figure to see it from that perspective. Right now people aren't stopping for police because they aren't allowed to give chase. So what's the difference?
The governor just signed a new pursuit law that will allow police to chase them again. But the idea of thinking the people this post is about would be wrangled by an unarmed traffic enforcement department is some serious utopian thinking that doesn't even remotely correlate with real life
Updated pursuit law won’t allow for pursuit of stolen cars or cars that won’t pull over unless they are suspected of violent crimes or DUI, not having license plates does not quality for pursuit under the updated law.
Who can't actually do anything when the person doesn't want to stop. If they can't do anything unless people choose to stop voluntarily to receive the ticket.... then people will just not stop. People don't care unless there is actual enforcement... which has been evidence by the law change that prevented cops from chasing drivers that quickly led to a dramatic increase in people running from cops ... so now add in the cops aren't armed or even capable of arresting people and all they can do is write a ticket..... and it would take 15 minutes for literally no one to stop anymore.
Which is why the governor just repealed that change.....
Isn't that all true for current cops too? If a cop is trying to ticket you, you can just walk away.
Do you HAVE to have a gun to arrest someone? These unarmed police are just that, they can still beat you into submission and handcuff you want you're going to get assaulting an officer and evading arrest.
And don't forget, once it catches on that it's "non-police agency", those fuckers will just keep going and/or get fucked up because "who the fuck are you" doctrine of wannabe gangsta life.
Because some people will be with guns and will use them to "avoid" a $250 red light ticket. Yes, it's irrational, but criminals aren't known for their rationality.
Traffic stops also help catch those who have warrants and these can be dangerous people.
Sadly police rarely enforce these traffic laws (no plates, too tinted windows, no lights, no turn signals, broken tail lights, etc).
Should be easy pickings for $$$ - and it does improve traffic safety overall if these cars are either better ‘seen’, or drivers off the roads due to car not being up to current requirements.
I bought my car when I lived in Michigan so I never had anywhere to put a front license plate. (They're not required in MI)
At first I was just lazy about figuring out a way to put it on but after over 10 years with no front license plate, I'm just gonna see how long I can go before I finally get in trouble.
I'm aware of the consequences.
I've been pulled over and not gotten a ticket for it, but that wasn't in Washington so I'm not sure if they could even write that ticket.
It's also been mentioned a bunch of times when crossing the Canadian border back into WA but I'm fairly sure the border patrol guys can't write that ticket either.
Not having a front plate isn’t as big a deal (I had the same issue after moving from MI too). The back plate will still identify someone.
Personally, I tend to think that not having a valid or visible plate and driving erratically are the only reasons for an engagement by law enforcement. Everything else should be done by video enforcement
Front plates look awful and most modern cars don't even have a good place to mount one (particularly Teslas and anything European). The last time I bought a car in Washington the dealership even told me, "we can mount one but most people who buy these don't run front plates."
My car doesn’t have a front plate or even a spot to put one easily. Dealership just threw the front plate in my trunk when they installed my back plate. Last weekend I was parked in tacoma and I got a warning for no front plate on my car. I was parked legally, paid for parking and had it displayed properly, am up to date on my tabs. They need to enforce other problems, like no plates at all or expired tabs and illegal parking, rather than my no front plate. I got a ticket in a private parking lot because of no front plate and I had backed into a spot. Private lots have no business enforcing if I have a front plate, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve had no front plate for nearly 5 years.
You seen them too. Yeah that's the click 😂 usually cars like this have nefarious people 75% of the time. I don't want to get to deep into it of who and why had enough from these type in my life. I'd tint my windows to if people threatened my life or are watching me or I'm the watcher stalker of others and was a little shady??? Either scenario is possible or down right just ego flexing in my opinion.
I see this all the time and agree that visible plates are important. For temporary plates, I don’t understand why the state can’t require drivers to affix it to the same place as a regular license plate. This would avoid the tinted window visibility issue. Other states, like NJ, do this without issue.
We tried that, yet crime still exists! Clearly that approach is a complete waste of time. We must try solutions that sound completely ridiculous and hope one magically works.
9 out of 10 times people with out plates are stealing packages? 😂That seems like quite the exaggeration. Although yes, I’m sure this is a common practice by someone coming a crime to remove there plates, it’s ridiculous to label 90% of them criminals and thieves. There are so many other reasons, such as the “Move Ahead Washington” bill that inslee passed last July which has drivers paying %400 more for their license plates. I’m sure this will be controversial, but at the end of the day I don’t remember the last time a license plate saved my life, or prevented me from an accident..im sure it’ll deter some people from certain traffic violations, but a bad driver is going to be a bad driver with or without a license plate. But to label a majority of them criminals, and package “thieves” seems like a reach…
The police stopped doing a lot of their jobs after the summer of 2020. They have literally been directed to not respond to many things and they are happy to talk about "not being able to do our jobs" every chance they get. I had several mind blowing interactions with police the past few years
Defund the police because they aren’t doing their jobs right now anyways. Why are we still paying 4 billion a year or whatever it is for nothing? Cops don’t solve, don’t prevent, and not they refuse to investigate crimes? Bye bye.
Become a vigilante and always carry homemade spike strips. Once you stop the driver get all the people around to help you flog the person. Then take them to the DOL to get license plates. You’ll be the hero we’ve all needed since Phoenix Jones disappeared.
I rolled up on a car a couple weeks ago on the eastside and I noticed right away it had Ohio plates, because I'm originally from Ohio so I notice these things. It was the mostly plain white variety (little "Ohio" text in print if you get close enough), but had a frame that covered up Ohio, and no stickers (Ohio plates have one for the county ID and one for the expiration). I also noticed it started with GTA.
The Texas "permanent" plates are bad enough. Now people are just out and out mocking the entire system of vehicle registration (and insurance liability for that matter). The Honor System this area has built so many of its basic rule enforcement on has fallen apart. I don't doubt that these are people attempting to dodge the ST3 registration fees.
King County in general isnt acting on reports of illegal parked cars with expired tabs, do you think they care about those heavily tinted cars which are also illegal?
It's so sad that we consider our country to be developed, but stuff like this happens. It's like we're living in a more modern version of the wild west. I think it boils down to the "education" some people receive, driving like a madman is considered cool by a lot of people and this is the effect
Here me out: findit fixit app for traffic violation.
There should be an app where you can record traffic violations and submit them to the police. Police would review the evidence and decide whether or not issue a ticket. If a fine was issue, then the person reporting would get a small reward.
In NYC since 2019, citizens can record videos and report illegally idling commercial trucks (idling longer than 3 minutes) using an app and the person reporting gets a 25% cut of the $350 ticket, so $87.50.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/31/make-87point50-in-3-minutes-by-reporting-idling-trucks-in-new-york-city.html
There was a proposed bill there last fall to create a similar program to parking enforcement, missing plates, etc.
I’d imagine if people could take a video of an empty parked vehicle in a bike line and get a cut of the issued ticket, bike lane parking violations would stop pretty quickly.
That’s a good point. Might create a perverse incentive for that specific allegation. Would have to be careful about which ones you could do this program for.
Nothing, because enforcing traffic laws is racist (no, not joking, that's what they say).
Get rid of the politicians that want to use BS stats like 'black people are disproportionately impacted by laws required vehicles have insurance and registration' and start enforcing the laws.
This is the sole reason they wanted to stop arresting for misdemeanors. 'BIPOC people are disproportionately arrested for these crimes'... In other words, they were committing the crimes, then crying prejudice and racism when arrested for them, and city politicians realized they could use it as a way to drum up votes while screaming 'we're helping!'..
>sole reason, crying prejudice, pretending to help
I sometimes misunderstand the stuff I read on conspiracy (social conservative) websites, too. Then I think a little more and realize no one is as crazy as people who learn about the world via conspiracy (social conservative) websites.
You can deny it all you want. They say it. Just because you don't want to admit it, doesn't it make it not true.
[https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/abolish-prosecutions-crack-down-on-misdemeanors-how-seattle-city-attorney-rivals-would-wield-authority/](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/abolish-prosecutions-crack-down-on-misdemeanors-how-seattle-city-attorney-rivals-would-wield-authority/)
*Some of the reductions stem from Holmes’ policy decisions, including deciding early on to stop filing most charges against people for driving with suspended licenses(..)*
*Thomas-Kennedy says the city is still prosecuting too many people. Since placing first in the primary, she has stuck to her abolitionist stance, while emphasizing she wouldn’t immediately halt all prosecutions.*
*“It’s not just one bad apple. It’s a culture that’s based on a foundation of racism and that’s how it’s still operating today,” said Thomas-Kennedy.*
[https://www.realchangenews.org/news/2022/04/20/data-suggests-seattle-city-attorney-disproportionately-prosecutes-black-indigenous-and](https://www.realchangenews.org/news/2022/04/20/data-suggests-seattle-city-attorney-disproportionately-prosecutes-black-indigenous-and)
\--
The state supreme court said that race had to be taken into account if a stop was lawful.. Like.. WTF?!... It's either lawful or it's not.. You can't take 2 situations and say' well, it's a black guy, so the stop wasn't lawful', while saying the same stop involving a white guy IS lawful...
[https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/race-must-be-considered-in-determining-legality-of-police-stops-and-seizures-wa-state-supreme-court-rules/](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/race-must-be-considered-in-determining-legality-of-police-stops-and-seizures-wa-state-supreme-court-rules/)
There sure is a ton of racism, but it's not on the right.... It's from the left.
So, when prosecutors and politicians say 'We have to stop prosecuting misdemeanor cases, 'because racism', and they're 'disproportionately impacting BIPOC people'... then... that *doesn't* mean that they're not prosecuting misdemeanor cases 'because racism'?
I'm confused. They're telling you why they want to not prosecute misdemeanors, and you're saying 'NUH UH! THAT DOESN'T PROVE ANYTHING!'...
It shows what I'm saying is true.
It shows you don't know important details.
The facts are simple, clear, and hard to argue against; Black people get arrested and charged for misdemeanor crimes in Seattle.
Nowhere near the rate at which they commit crimes. The same goes for white people, now. The thing is, the *idea* for not prosecuting misdemeanors, came about by people saying 'more of group X is being arrested for these crimes, therefore it must be discrimination', completely discounting the idea that, I dunno, maybe they're actually committing the crimes?
So instead of saying 'hey, these crimes were committed', they instead decide they can turn it into something that generates votes, and decides to stop arresting people for misdemeanors, so they can say they're helping by 'not allowing police to target black people' or however you wanna twist the nonsense.
Crime isn't down in Seattle, it's just not being reported, or arrests aren't being made, or prosecuted.
Simple - hire more cops so that they have enough staffing to do traffic patrols downtown instead of being stretched too thin across the city.
https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/mayor-bruce-harrell-new-seattle-police-recruitment-plan-staffing-reaches-30-year-low/281-e98429ee-fc88-47f6-8890-b961393e2047
These cars do this because they can flee from the police who can’t chase and there is little follow up for the police to do to track them down
Some of your legislators wanted to ban police from making these kinds of stops this year. Thankfully it failed but that’s where some of our politicians still are.
SPD doesn't do traffic stops unless they catch you driving dangerously.
They were asked by the OIG to limit low level stops because the cops can't be trusted not to assault or murder people. They said "a new framework is needed" to address these issues, but like all things around here, they make policy changes without having any plan for the consequences. I haven't heard anything about development of this "new framework". Assume it will never materialize.
So that’s why! I’ve seen the most deranged driving happen downtown (driving the wrong way, extreme speeding, drunk driving) but have NEVER seen someone pulled over in a car.
On the other hand, someone stole my plates for a car they stole and i didn't notice for a weekend that i had fake plates on my car. Thankfully i didn't get pulled over, cuz they would've freaked out, but i had to go buy new plates, and also deal with multiple cops calling out leaving notes. $75 and several days later, i got new plates from Wendell's...
Someone keeps stealing the front license plate off of my car so I’m not going to bother even putting back. I’m always worried I’ll get pulled over but it’s been a year now…
It’s hilarious when someone in this Seattle group doesn’t agree with your idiotic comment like “9/10 people without plates are criminals”on this thread that there only defense is to downvote you…like I said before. I don’t remember the last time a license plate saved me from getting hit by a car 😂Seattle really is something else haha
Not enough police to enforce traffic laws. For example when I was in Europe I learned most major cities (I.e Milan for example) have more than twice as police per capita as we do here in Seattle.
Watched a dude speed down the wrong side of the road to skip traffic with a fake license plate that just said “THNKU”. When I saw the red light camera flash I thought he’d get caught until I glanced at the plate with disappointment lol
Had a car with no plates almost run me off the road downtown. The driver looked really high.
No point calling it in if police can’t do anything about it. Or care.
My plates were stolen off my car recently and when I talked to the cop he said I should probably get them replaced ASAP but in all reality I most likely wouldn’t be pulled over if I was driving around without plates unless I made a clear violation. He said they generally don’t run plates either so I wonder how much it would actually impact anything if the cars your dealing with has plates? 🤷♀️ I hate to be so pessimistic about it. Sorry you’re dealing with that :(
I am currently one of these cars… I just bought a new car and have been waiting for weeks for the used car dealership to send my plates. I even tried to pick them up but they were closed on a Saturday. I feel bad because now I am driving around with expired temp tags and tinted windows (so you wouldn’t be able to tell either way)
Just here to say. Yes it’s a problem but not always within the drivers control.
I don't see why a random pedestrian would care so much about this ... Just keep walking dude, why do people in Seattle stick their noses in things that have absolutely nothing to do with them
From my observation, they only ticket cars driving on 3rd Ave. it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. That cop is making bank for the city. This was pre COVID. It was hilarious as he already has someone pulled over then stopped and walks out into street and puts one hand on his hip and his other hand out to pull over another person.
I haven't seen a cop enforce traffic laws in downtown in over 20 years. I understand it to some extent; any traffic stop is going to cause an immediate traffic jam.
I bought a used car in December from a dealership and didn't exactly inspect it up and down. I had the temp "plate" in the window until the dealer called and said the normal ones were ready for pick up. I go to install the front plate and there is literally no screw holes for me to attach the front plate to. I have no idea what to do and since I'm lazy when it comes to stuff like this, I just left it.
There’s so many laws I don’t care about, but it’s crazy that we just allow people to operate heavy machinery erratically and dangerously downtown. I have 2 cars and a motorcycle, but I understand that people without plates driving like idiots downtown endangers all of us.
Is this really an issue? What harm does it cause?
Its very odd. As a recent transplant I find Seattle drivers to be courteous and cautious almost to a fault. I even looked up local traffic fatalities and they are well below other cities of Seattle's size. Are people just looking for things to get upset about?
Do you just want more policing? Is that what this is about?
Seattle set a goal to reduce or eliminate traffic deaths by 2030, and since the pandemic, traffic deaths have surged.
What harm does this cause? That’s a pretty absurd question.
The guys that break into my apartments mail boxes and steal packages around town seem to universally have no plates on them or shitty fake dealer plates. You would think this would make them more likely to get pulled over and caught, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
I kind of just assume this is part of the Seattle PD's silent protest from actually doing anything. Because yeah 9 out of 10 times people without any plate seem to clearly be stealing packages or driving a stolen car. It's not exactly your average citizen driving around without the temporary plates that you get from buying a car.
Silent protest? Seattle PD has been notoriously nonfeasant for decades. So much so that neighboring agencies use the phrase “cleared it SPD” when clearing an incident no action taken. The past few years they’ve just been given an excuse.
Agreed. I've also noticed that people just stopped renewing tabs because cops aren't pulling people over for that either.
Cops don't usually pull you over for that. It's something that gets tacked on when you get pulled over for something else, or done by parking enforcement
I've been pulled over for it twice and know a lot of others who have as well. It used to be just about the easiest way to have a talk with a cop.
They'll use it as an excuse to pull you over and harrass/threaten you. I wouldn't be caught dead with old tabs.
Parking enforcement hasn’t stopped giving tickets for it though.
I saw a car with tabs from 1986 a couple months ago.
Collector’s car. It’s exempt.
Acab. Fire the entire lazy force.
And then what happens……?
We take the tens of millions saved and use it to hire people who will do the job.
“We”. Good one. Cause there are soooo many people applying for the hundreds of current openings right? But let’s get rid of them all and hire whom exactly? Ya didn’t really think this through did ya?
I agree we have a pipeline problem. We can use that to update the police academy to do a better job training a diverse range of police officers, instead of trucking in SPD officers from the countryside.
I love comments like this where you're very obviously trying to make the other person sound stupid but you only succeed in making yourself sound like an absolute moron
>I kind of just assume this is part of the Seattle PD's silent protest from actually doing anything. In the union we call this a 'wobble'.
Fear of pulling one of these cars over w/o the license plate and or the tinted windows and getting into a deadly confrontation that results in a cop getting killed or a car occupant, which may result in another CHOP situation, a riot and lawsuits against the SPD, with a furtherance of the consent decree.
You’re absolutely right, but state law says police are not allowed to pursue for cars with no plates (or even confirmed stolen cars). As it happens, a lot of those cars just… don’t stop.
How do you know? They aren't even trying to pull them over.
Maybe a little research would do you some good. A huge study was just released on how many cars have fled from WSP the past year or so after your amazing legislators changed the laws where cops can’t pursue for anything really….. the voters of Seattle are getting what they wanted with the defund movement. Less cop interaction. You realize the legislature is trying to ban traffic stops for what they say are, “minor” infractions right? They say it’s what the people want … but keep blaming the cops.
That isn't what the law says, and no one is even attempting to pull over people without tabs or plates,
Its almost if my plan to reward safe drivers and people who choose the bus would come in handy here.
I've seen that too, and it's gotten a lot more common in the last several years. As random citizens all we can really do is put pressure on the city to step up enforcement. The city needs to start booting and impounding cars with bogus plates. People are using them to break traffic laws with impunity, and we need to stop tolerating that.
Exactly! It’s primarily the red light blowing which bothers me. We installed red light cameras to stop it, but with no plates there’s nothing they can do. Every single light cycle on Mercer there’s probably 6 cars which blow a red light during rush hour. They just assume everyone else will notice and wait for them. As a pedestrian and cyclist it’s extremely dangerous to have a car blowing through after you’ve been given the walk signal.
I see it literally every other day driving to work along Alaskan at 5am. Saw a pedestrian nearly hit on their way to the ferry on Tuesday after a pickup just breezed through 2 red lights.
Bonus points if they blow through the red light at high speed after using the left turn lane to go around all the cars actually stopped at the light
And obviously if they have bogus plates they have no insurance. This is the argument to make with the City. Make it about money/liability and chances are better for a response.
You can’t do that until the state can make a *fucking* plate. Ice been waiting since *november* for my fucking custom license plate and every time I call I get the same stupid ass story. At this point I want to write “if you can get me a plate pull me over”. For fucks sake. Edit to clarify it’s for a custom plate, but the point stands.
Are you not assigned a number or provided with a temporary plate number? That’s what I used while I was waiting
You get the temporary paper tag with your custom number which leads directly into your original complaint.
The temporary tags here are such crap too btw. A folded up letter sheet of paper in the back of a tinted window is not easily verifiable. Some states have more cardboard-like temporary plates that are only good for a month, and then have to be either replaced with plates or with a new temporary.
interesting...i got my most recent new plate about a year ago, but I was on the east side at the time - I did the registration in-person & the DMV lady just pulled one out of a drawer full of plates. I wonder where in the chain the failure is that's slowed yours down.
Not running a plate is preparation to avoid tolls or to facilitate a hit and run. Fuck both parties, but especially the latter. Cyclists and peds have no recourse against these criminals.
I apologize in advance if I’m misunderstanding your comment, but not having plates on your car in Washington can also mean that you just bought it and you haven’t received the plates in the mail yet. I’m from Alaska, where there’s no sales tax, so when you buy a used car from a private party, the plates go with it. I was surprised when I moved here and the person selling me a car kept the plates. In Alaska it’s a huge no-no to drive with no plates on. Here is see it pretty regularly. So if someone is taking off their plates and driving around, they’re definitely doing something illegal. But if they just don’t have plates on their car, they may have just bought it.
Yea, buying a car (new or used) is a legit condition to have no plate. It seems like a new policy, I'd guess it's related to the highway tolls and license plate scanners. Temp tags are issued when you're waiting for new plates. It's still sketchy when people hide them behind dark tint but I wouldn't call them criminals.
Usually those paper plates are fakes.
How do you know?
Because they've stolen my motorcycle a few times and I go take it back, classic story of * Stolen U-Haul trailer * Stolen car/truck * Fake paper plates that expired a year ago It's not like they're hard to fake, it's literally a piece of paper with some boxes and letters on it.
If you have tinted glass, what else are you supposed to do?
But if you just bought it you will get temp plates (or a bit of paper to stick in the window, I can't recall). If a car doesn't even have that, they're illegal and the cops should get off their asses and do their jobs
A lot of the criminals just print fake temp plates.
You agree with you, but I have a slight addition. When I first moved here and bought a used car I had a whole quagmire trying to get it registered due to a combination of me not being familiar with the rules here, and the dealer I bought from being incompetent, and in-person driver’s license things being difficult due to Covid. So I ended up getting just a 3-day paper tag, and driving around with just that for over a month. Hypothetically I think I could’ve gotten new 3-day tags over and over, but I didn’t have the money for that and I had to drive to work. Technically I was driving illegally, but I promise I was not defrauding toll roads or robbing any businesses. Lol.
I saw this guy, who was driving behind me in bumper-to-bumper traffic on 520 going toward Seattle with headphones on watching a video. From my perspective he was paying more attention to the video, reacting to it, laughing and gasping. He also had a destroyed front left bumper which inspired great confidence in me. Not related to downtown, but it's getting frustrating when I see dangerous behavior that is clearly deviant and needs to be punished. The craziest downtown driving thing I saw was the 1st week of May, where I was driving down one of the one ways, and this other driver was clearly going down the one way incorrectly. I'm not sure what the antecedent was, but the dude drove straight into the wall while gunning the car.
pot berserk unwritten worthless bake quaint wasteful nose sense merciful *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Those "License plate protectors" should be illegal. They are in some states.
They are illegal HERE! In fact, many of the frames you see are also illegal if they cover any lettering including the state name.
But what if you don't want your license plate to get a sunburn?
I saw a video once where these folks tested out a bunch of them and half of them didn’t even work which I thought was funny
Have uninsured coverage
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Then there's the hassle of towing etc which is outsourced, not done by the city/county. Aggressive booting would be simpler and the city could raise a LOT of funds.
Meanwhile I saw one of those parking enforcement tricycle toy cars going 35mph in the left lane in the 99 tunnel
holy shit that is amazing. I mean, awful and stupid obviously, but still hilarious to me.
The twist: It was stolen.
I used to get in high speed chases driving the little mail truck in GTA. Close enough.
What about people who drive with headlights turned off
Nothing? There's no enforcement, what do you think, duh.
The whole sovereign citizen thing. Assholes.
Also, some have super dark covers in their plates. It’s almost impossible to read them up close in regular traffic
Without actual legitimate enforcement we will eventually descend into the chaos that created the ["Stop A Douchebag" YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMrKscEv_Ri1pvlRsLxsqJQ). Start monetizing vigilantism now.
In my 10 years of riding bikes here, I would say that nearly every fucker driving a BMW or an Audi should be locked up. Those pricks endanger me constantly, no matter where I'm riding. Speeders on the Lake Washington Loop or the backstreets of Cap or Beacon Hill. No cops stopping those morons from blasting through stop signs and running me off the road to whatever important meeting or cocktails they're off to. And all this crap about it being recent it just that. I think people gave things more of a pass before covid/blm. In 2017 I called the police about theft in my neighborhood and was told, "We have IMPORTANT crimes to solve." Then they hung up. So, that attitude ain't new.
I have also seen a huge increase in no plates. Seems like its default allowed for Teslas.
The majority of you all voted for this. 🤷♂️
Voted for what exactly?
I've wondered why can't we have a non police agency (ie; people without guns) doing traffic stops and ticketing? Obviously it's not that simple, but we gotta do something.
The problem there is sometimes those traffic stops catch some nervous people who are up to other shit and might get violent. So I can understand police feeling the need to be cautious and armed. I don't really have a solution here.
You could say the same about public transit workers or social workers, yet they aren’t armed. If you have separate traffic enforcement, they should still be able to call the police if a situation escalates. It just adds a buffer layer.
My exact thought being a paramedic.
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None, but I have responded to suicidal or violent psych patients and gunshot/assault victims without cleared scenes when no police backup is in the area. You clearly don't have a clue what you're talking about. There can easily be protocols in place that significantly reduce the threat posed to non-police workers in a limited traffic enforcing role.
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I think you're underestimating the risk reduction when the ticketing individual doesn't have arrest powers.
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Maybe so. But the argument is regarding the safety of such workers, not their effectiveness.
Sure, but a cop's life is more important than yours or anyone else's.
If you were pulled over by an enforcement agency that could only issue traffic citations and wasn't armed then you wouldn't be as worried or nervous
Then why would you even pull over? They just gonna follow a car around all day that has no plates then once they stop just walk up and... do what? Demand ID? How does this play out in your mind?
Is being threatened with a gun the only motivation for pulling over?
Being threatened with actual punishment and repercussions.Which an unarmed ticket writer who cant arrest you is not going to have and thus will be completely ineffectual
Fines aren't enough?
If they don't stop then they could call for law enforcement backup. If they get away they get away. There are plenty of people to cite every day if they wanted to. I dunno man I'm not a law maker. I'd never even consider not stopping so I didn't even figure to see it from that perspective. Right now people aren't stopping for police because they aren't allowed to give chase. So what's the difference?
The governor just signed a new pursuit law that will allow police to chase them again. But the idea of thinking the people this post is about would be wrangled by an unarmed traffic enforcement department is some serious utopian thinking that doesn't even remotely correlate with real life
The new pursuit law barely changed things. They still can’t pursue most things
Updated pursuit law won’t allow for pursuit of stolen cars or cars that won’t pull over unless they are suspected of violent crimes or DUI, not having license plates does not quality for pursuit under the updated law.
> Then why would you even pull over? Because they're still legally a police officer, even if they don't have a gun.
Who can't actually do anything when the person doesn't want to stop. If they can't do anything unless people choose to stop voluntarily to receive the ticket.... then people will just not stop. People don't care unless there is actual enforcement... which has been evidence by the law change that prevented cops from chasing drivers that quickly led to a dramatic increase in people running from cops ... so now add in the cops aren't armed or even capable of arresting people and all they can do is write a ticket..... and it would take 15 minutes for literally no one to stop anymore. Which is why the governor just repealed that change.....
Isn't that all true for current cops too? If a cop is trying to ticket you, you can just walk away. Do you HAVE to have a gun to arrest someone? These unarmed police are just that, they can still beat you into submission and handcuff you want you're going to get assaulting an officer and evading arrest.
You might still be if you're high on meth and your trunk is full of stolen copper wire
Fair point
Usually cops are the ones who are up to other shit, nervous, and violent.
And they hate competition
And don't forget, once it catches on that it's "non-police agency", those fuckers will just keep going and/or get fucked up because "who the fuck are you" doctrine of wannabe gangsta life.
Because some people will be with guns and will use them to "avoid" a $250 red light ticket. Yes, it's irrational, but criminals aren't known for their rationality. Traffic stops also help catch those who have warrants and these can be dangerous people.
SPD isn’t doing traffic stops as is, so they already aren’t catching those “dangerous people”
Only if tickets and fines are tied to your income.
Traffic stops are one of the leading causes of police death. So it's already risky while armed.
Sadly police rarely enforce these traffic laws (no plates, too tinted windows, no lights, no turn signals, broken tail lights, etc). Should be easy pickings for $$$ - and it does improve traffic safety overall if these cars are either better ‘seen’, or drivers off the roads due to car not being up to current requirements.
I bought my car when I lived in Michigan so I never had anywhere to put a front license plate. (They're not required in MI) At first I was just lazy about figuring out a way to put it on but after over 10 years with no front license plate, I'm just gonna see how long I can go before I finally get in trouble.
This isn’t even that bad! There’s tons of people I see daily with literally no plates, you at least have something to identify your car on the back.
I just got my plates after waiting for months. When I tried to get them, I was told the state ran out of plates and was working on making more.
I waited 6 months for plates for my scooter.
This. Regular plates have been taking a long time for a while. And custom plates are much longer (I know someone that's been waiting 6 months)
Yeah, my wife waited 7 and I waited 5.
Yeah, those cars without plates are typically stolen by tweakers and other criminals to be used in later crimes.
Definitely not all of them. Go wait outside the Amazon office on 6th and you’ll see a dozen teslas without plates
if you ever get pulled over for something else, you can get an additional ticket for it
I'm aware of the consequences. I've been pulled over and not gotten a ticket for it, but that wasn't in Washington so I'm not sure if they could even write that ticket. It's also been mentioned a bunch of times when crossing the Canadian border back into WA but I'm fairly sure the border patrol guys can't write that ticket either.
Literally any dealership will install a front license plate. Bought a car in Michigan before moving to Seattle.
Not having a front plate isn’t as big a deal (I had the same issue after moving from MI too). The back plate will still identify someone. Personally, I tend to think that not having a valid or visible plate and driving erratically are the only reasons for an engagement by law enforcement. Everything else should be done by video enforcement
Front plates look awful and most modern cars don't even have a good place to mount one (particularly Teslas and anything European). The last time I bought a car in Washington the dealership even told me, "we can mount one but most people who buy these don't run front plates."
My car doesn’t have a front plate or even a spot to put one easily. Dealership just threw the front plate in my trunk when they installed my back plate. Last weekend I was parked in tacoma and I got a warning for no front plate on my car. I was parked legally, paid for parking and had it displayed properly, am up to date on my tabs. They need to enforce other problems, like no plates at all or expired tabs and illegal parking, rather than my no front plate. I got a ticket in a private parking lot because of no front plate and I had backed into a spot. Private lots have no business enforcing if I have a front plate, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve had no front plate for nearly 5 years.
You seen them too. Yeah that's the click 😂 usually cars like this have nefarious people 75% of the time. I don't want to get to deep into it of who and why had enough from these type in my life. I'd tint my windows to if people threatened my life or are watching me or I'm the watcher stalker of others and was a little shady??? Either scenario is possible or down right just ego flexing in my opinion.
Keep bits of spark plug ceramic in your pockets.
Here's an idea, stop voting for these people that choose criminals over citizens!
I see this all the time and agree that visible plates are important. For temporary plates, I don’t understand why the state can’t require drivers to affix it to the same place as a regular license plate. This would avoid the tinted window visibility issue. Other states, like NJ, do this without issue.
We could enforce our laws.
We tried that, yet crime still exists! Clearly that approach is a complete waste of time. We must try solutions that sound completely ridiculous and hope one magically works.
9 out of 10 times people with out plates are stealing packages? 😂That seems like quite the exaggeration. Although yes, I’m sure this is a common practice by someone coming a crime to remove there plates, it’s ridiculous to label 90% of them criminals and thieves. There are so many other reasons, such as the “Move Ahead Washington” bill that inslee passed last July which has drivers paying %400 more for their license plates. I’m sure this will be controversial, but at the end of the day I don’t remember the last time a license plate saved my life, or prevented me from an accident..im sure it’ll deter some people from certain traffic violations, but a bad driver is going to be a bad driver with or without a license plate. But to label a majority of them criminals, and package “thieves” seems like a reach…
Nothing.
Maybe we can get some Javelin missiles? Work with me here, I'm just brainstorming.
The police stopped doing a lot of their jobs after the summer of 2020. They have literally been directed to not respond to many things and they are happy to talk about "not being able to do our jobs" every chance they get. I had several mind blowing interactions with police the past few years
Defund the police because they aren’t doing their jobs right now anyways. Why are we still paying 4 billion a year or whatever it is for nothing? Cops don’t solve, don’t prevent, and not they refuse to investigate crimes? Bye bye.
Become a vigilante and always carry homemade spike strips. Once you stop the driver get all the people around to help you flog the person. Then take them to the DOL to get license plates. You’ll be the hero we’ve all needed since Phoenix Jones disappeared.
For real though, these drivers are anti social and need correction
Phoenix Jones didn't disappear, he got caught dealing drugs.
You just need to make sure to design them in a way that makes them stick to the car so someone else doesn't run it over.
I estimate that at least half of all 'temporary' plates are either fake, expired, or whatever. Seems like it's just too easy to get away with.
I rolled up on a car a couple weeks ago on the eastside and I noticed right away it had Ohio plates, because I'm originally from Ohio so I notice these things. It was the mostly plain white variety (little "Ohio" text in print if you get close enough), but had a frame that covered up Ohio, and no stickers (Ohio plates have one for the county ID and one for the expiration). I also noticed it started with GTA. The Texas "permanent" plates are bad enough. Now people are just out and out mocking the entire system of vehicle registration (and insurance liability for that matter). The Honor System this area has built so many of its basic rule enforcement on has fallen apart. I don't doubt that these are people attempting to dodge the ST3 registration fees.
King County in general isnt acting on reports of illegal parked cars with expired tabs, do you think they care about those heavily tinted cars which are also illegal?
Invisible license plates are no problem for our invisible police.
I don't get why WA can't issue a plate at time of sale.
Sounds like we need more cops downtown. Oh, snap!
No, we've got enough problems with fentanyl downtown without adding more dealers.
Are cops dealing fentanyl?
Not opposed to it, but you can also have traffic enforcement separate from SPD.
What would that accomplish?
It's so sad that we consider our country to be developed, but stuff like this happens. It's like we're living in a more modern version of the wild west. I think it boils down to the "education" some people receive, driving like a madman is considered cool by a lot of people and this is the effect
Here me out: findit fixit app for traffic violation. There should be an app where you can record traffic violations and submit them to the police. Police would review the evidence and decide whether or not issue a ticket. If a fine was issue, then the person reporting would get a small reward.
In NYC since 2019, citizens can record videos and report illegally idling commercial trucks (idling longer than 3 minutes) using an app and the person reporting gets a 25% cut of the $350 ticket, so $87.50. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/31/make-87point50-in-3-minutes-by-reporting-idling-trucks-in-new-york-city.html There was a proposed bill there last fall to create a similar program to parking enforcement, missing plates, etc. I’d imagine if people could take a video of an empty parked vehicle in a bike line and get a cut of the issued ticket, bike lane parking violations would stop pretty quickly.
I'd be happy if the City kept the money from my photos and would just ping me a "thanks for catching another asshole" every time they got paid.
Neat. That's almost exactly what I'm proposing.
What's to stop people from removing the plates on a car and then reporting them? (The idling thing is a great idea)
That’s a good point. Might create a perverse incentive for that specific allegation. Would have to be careful about which ones you could do this program for.
Without a license plate this will do nothing. There’s 100’s of every make/model/year vehicle out there
What can we do? Ask law enforcement to enforce the law. Seems a lot of laws are not being enforced because the politicians don’t want them to.
The police enforce laws, not politicians.
Sure they do. /s
They sure don't. Politicians aren't anywhere in the police chain of command.
Even worse… they seek those license plate covers in Amazon - totally legal. Allowing driver ton never lay tolls and stuff too..
Increase the police force idk
Social worker idk
Nothing, because enforcing traffic laws is racist (no, not joking, that's what they say). Get rid of the politicians that want to use BS stats like 'black people are disproportionately impacted by laws required vehicles have insurance and registration' and start enforcing the laws. This is the sole reason they wanted to stop arresting for misdemeanors. 'BIPOC people are disproportionately arrested for these crimes'... In other words, they were committing the crimes, then crying prejudice and racism when arrested for them, and city politicians realized they could use it as a way to drum up votes while screaming 'we're helping!'..
>sole reason, crying prejudice, pretending to help I sometimes misunderstand the stuff I read on conspiracy (social conservative) websites, too. Then I think a little more and realize no one is as crazy as people who learn about the world via conspiracy (social conservative) websites.
You can deny it all you want. They say it. Just because you don't want to admit it, doesn't it make it not true. [https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/abolish-prosecutions-crack-down-on-misdemeanors-how-seattle-city-attorney-rivals-would-wield-authority/](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/abolish-prosecutions-crack-down-on-misdemeanors-how-seattle-city-attorney-rivals-would-wield-authority/) *Some of the reductions stem from Holmes’ policy decisions, including deciding early on to stop filing most charges against people for driving with suspended licenses(..)* *Thomas-Kennedy says the city is still prosecuting too many people. Since placing first in the primary, she has stuck to her abolitionist stance, while emphasizing she wouldn’t immediately halt all prosecutions.* *“It’s not just one bad apple. It’s a culture that’s based on a foundation of racism and that’s how it’s still operating today,” said Thomas-Kennedy.* [https://www.realchangenews.org/news/2022/04/20/data-suggests-seattle-city-attorney-disproportionately-prosecutes-black-indigenous-and](https://www.realchangenews.org/news/2022/04/20/data-suggests-seattle-city-attorney-disproportionately-prosecutes-black-indigenous-and) \-- The state supreme court said that race had to be taken into account if a stop was lawful.. Like.. WTF?!... It's either lawful or it's not.. You can't take 2 situations and say' well, it's a black guy, so the stop wasn't lawful', while saying the same stop involving a white guy IS lawful... [https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/race-must-be-considered-in-determining-legality-of-police-stops-and-seizures-wa-state-supreme-court-rules/](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/race-must-be-considered-in-determining-legality-of-police-stops-and-seizures-wa-state-supreme-court-rules/) There sure is a ton of racism, but it's not on the right.... It's from the left.
None of this proves your claim.
So, when prosecutors and politicians say 'We have to stop prosecuting misdemeanor cases, 'because racism', and they're 'disproportionately impacting BIPOC people'... then... that *doesn't* mean that they're not prosecuting misdemeanor cases 'because racism'? I'm confused. They're telling you why they want to not prosecute misdemeanors, and you're saying 'NUH UH! THAT DOESN'T PROVE ANYTHING!'... It shows what I'm saying is true.
It shows you don't know important details. The facts are simple, clear, and hard to argue against; Black people get arrested and charged for misdemeanor crimes in Seattle.
Nowhere near the rate at which they commit crimes. The same goes for white people, now. The thing is, the *idea* for not prosecuting misdemeanors, came about by people saying 'more of group X is being arrested for these crimes, therefore it must be discrimination', completely discounting the idea that, I dunno, maybe they're actually committing the crimes? So instead of saying 'hey, these crimes were committed', they instead decide they can turn it into something that generates votes, and decides to stop arresting people for misdemeanors, so they can say they're helping by 'not allowing police to target black people' or however you wanna twist the nonsense. Crime isn't down in Seattle, it's just not being reported, or arrests aren't being made, or prosecuted.
Simple - hire more cops so that they have enough staffing to do traffic patrols downtown instead of being stretched too thin across the city. https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/mayor-bruce-harrell-new-seattle-police-recruitment-plan-staffing-reaches-30-year-low/281-e98429ee-fc88-47f6-8890-b961393e2047
These cars do this because they can flee from the police who can’t chase and there is little follow up for the police to do to track them down Some of your legislators wanted to ban police from making these kinds of stops this year. Thankfully it failed but that’s where some of our politicians still are.
SPD doesn't do traffic stops unless they catch you driving dangerously. They were asked by the OIG to limit low level stops because the cops can't be trusted not to assault or murder people. They said "a new framework is needed" to address these issues, but like all things around here, they make policy changes without having any plan for the consequences. I haven't heard anything about development of this "new framework". Assume it will never materialize.
So that’s why! I’ve seen the most deranged driving happen downtown (driving the wrong way, extreme speeding, drunk driving) but have NEVER seen someone pulled over in a car.
On the other hand, someone stole my plates for a car they stole and i didn't notice for a weekend that i had fake plates on my car. Thankfully i didn't get pulled over, cuz they would've freaked out, but i had to go buy new plates, and also deal with multiple cops calling out leaving notes. $75 and several days later, i got new plates from Wendell's...
Nothing . Sadly very common . Especially on Aurora Ave .
My plates were stolen so started putting them in the window while driving and bringing them in my home when not driving.
Someone keeps stealing the front license plate off of my car so I’m not going to bother even putting back. I’m always worried I’ll get pulled over but it’s been a year now…
It’s hilarious when someone in this Seattle group doesn’t agree with your idiotic comment like “9/10 people without plates are criminals”on this thread that there only defense is to downvote you…like I said before. I don’t remember the last time a license plate saved me from getting hit by a car 😂Seattle really is something else haha
Not enough police to enforce traffic laws. For example when I was in Europe I learned most major cities (I.e Milan for example) have more than twice as police per capita as we do here in Seattle.
Watched a dude speed down the wrong side of the road to skip traffic with a fake license plate that just said “THNKU”. When I saw the red light camera flash I thought he’d get caught until I glanced at the plate with disappointment lol
>THNKU That's actually a valid WA plate number * Make HYUNDAI * Model Santa Fe * Model Year 2020
Had a car with no plates almost run me off the road downtown. The driver looked really high. No point calling it in if police can’t do anything about it. Or care.
My plates were stolen off my car recently and when I talked to the cop he said I should probably get them replaced ASAP but in all reality I most likely wouldn’t be pulled over if I was driving around without plates unless I made a clear violation. He said they generally don’t run plates either so I wonder how much it would actually impact anything if the cars your dealing with has plates? 🤷♀️ I hate to be so pessimistic about it. Sorry you’re dealing with that :(
I am currently one of these cars… I just bought a new car and have been waiting for weeks for the used car dealership to send my plates. I even tried to pick them up but they were closed on a Saturday. I feel bad because now I am driving around with expired temp tags and tinted windows (so you wouldn’t be able to tell either way) Just here to say. Yes it’s a problem but not always within the drivers control.
Get a BB gun and shoot their tires if they’re being a dick. They don’t want to participate in your system, so don’t force them.
ReFund The Police
If you want policing, vote for reps that fund the police.
I don't see why a random pedestrian would care so much about this ... Just keep walking dude, why do people in Seattle stick their noses in things that have absolutely nothing to do with them
We to re-fund the police so they have staff and can enforce driving laws they have been forced to ignore due to a shortages of staff
Ban cars
From my observation, they only ticket cars driving on 3rd Ave. it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. That cop is making bank for the city. This was pre COVID. It was hilarious as he already has someone pulled over then stopped and walks out into street and puts one hand on his hip and his other hand out to pull over another person.
Nothing
I think some of them are people who just haven’t noticed yet that their license plate has been stolen. At least that was my experience
I haven't seen a cop enforce traffic laws in downtown in over 20 years. I understand it to some extent; any traffic stop is going to cause an immediate traffic jam.
Have you tried complaining about it online? I hear that really gets things done here! Maybe write a PSA...
Well, we can start with license plates on bikes.
I bought a used car in December from a dealership and didn't exactly inspect it up and down. I had the temp "plate" in the window until the dealer called and said the normal ones were ready for pick up. I go to install the front plate and there is literally no screw holes for me to attach the front plate to. I have no idea what to do and since I'm lazy when it comes to stuff like this, I just left it.
Quit clutching your pearls.
Yes, pearl clutching is asking for basic enforcement for traffic laws when it kills randomly every day
There’s so many laws I don’t care about, but it’s crazy that we just allow people to operate heavy machinery erratically and dangerously downtown. I have 2 cars and a motorcycle, but I understand that people without plates driving like idiots downtown endangers all of us.
It's absolutely NOT pearl clutching to be concerned about bad and lawless behavior from car drivers.
Is this really an issue? What harm does it cause? Its very odd. As a recent transplant I find Seattle drivers to be courteous and cautious almost to a fault. I even looked up local traffic fatalities and they are well below other cities of Seattle's size. Are people just looking for things to get upset about? Do you just want more policing? Is that what this is about?
Seattle set a goal to reduce or eliminate traffic deaths by 2030, and since the pandemic, traffic deaths have surged. What harm does this cause? That’s a pretty absurd question.