Brickbat: Phantom Tickets

Anthony Furgison / Dreamstime.com

Last year, Joseph Youngstein's 2004 Dodge Durango was stolen and totaled. He turned the plates in to the New York Department of Motor Vehicles and got a receipt saying they'd been destroyed. So he wonders why he keeps getting tickets issued to the old license plates. He is also angry that his new vehicle, a Chevy Equinox with completely different plates, got booted because of all the tickets on the old plates.

Comments

[The Fusionist]

That reminds me of this old Russell Baker column

"When Francisco Franco died he went to the New York Department of Motor Vehicles."

[straffinrun]

He should've marked them "classified".

[Adans smith]

Morning,I I always held on to mine ,just put them in the storage building.. Never heard of turning them in.

[Rat's voting Chipper-Shredder]

A 2004 Durango with New York plates? Many people in these parts say they have seen such a vehicle on stormy nights illegally parked near the pick-a-part. I believe it is just a story to scare teenage drivers.

[Jerryskids]

Remember New York's the one who figured out traffic tickets go to the owner of the vehicle and, since leased vehicles are technically still owned by the auto company, started sending the tickets to Detroit.

[Cyto]

That's some good thinkin' right there.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Legally change your name, dummy. As usual I have to think of everything.

[Jerryskids]

The department also said, "This is really a job for the DMV. They have to correct the identification connected to the plates."

But the DMV says that's not true, that by law, "the DMV cannot delete information from a motorist's record, including that he or she was the most recent registrant of a vehicle."

DoF - correct the info connected to the plates. DMV - the info connected to the vehicle is correct.

Why no follow-up to point out "plates" and "vehicle" are two different things? The DMV can't add a note to the file indicating the plate number is a disputed number? And why no mention of what vehicle description appears on the traffic tickets? Is it a Dodge Durango? If not, why isn't the plate registered to a Dodge Durango appearing on some other sort of vehicle triggering a stolen/counterfeit plate check? And why does anybody care if a New Yorker gets hosed by the government, aren't New Yorkers inhuman scum always whining for more government hosings anyway?

[UnCivilServant]

And why does anybody care if a New Yorker gets hosed by the government, aren't New Yorkers inhuman scum always whining for more government hosings anyway?

#NotAllNewYorkers

/activist twit

[straffinrun]

You're assuming some type of incentive exists that presses them to be efficient and not screw over the people that are forced to use their services.

[UnCivilServant]

The particular symptom we're seeing is "not my job" syndrome. Where something arises that is not the standard pre-defined business actions. The default reaction is to find a reason, any reason, why it is not that particular person/division/agency's job to handle it. This is because once an attempt is made to handle an issue, it becomes that person/division/agency's job for all like it in the future - even if it turns out there is absolutely no way for them to do anything to correct it. Rather than risk getting caught in the no-win situation themselves, the response is "it's not my job".

[straffinrun]

This is because once an attempt is made to handle an issue, it becomes that person/division/agency's job for all like it in the future

Why I have to be careful about what housework I do. My wife thinks exactly like that.

[Brian]

So, the DMV can't mark destroyed plates as stolen plates?

So, if you're an enterprising person, just hang out at the DMV dumpster and wait for them to "destroy" a plate.

Free parking forever, and you don't get caught.

That's the great thing about government: for certain kinds of people, the rules just don't apply, and it's easier than most think.

[UnCivilServant]

The 'destroyed' plates don't go into the dumpster.

They get sent to the scrapyard. You're looking in the wrong bin.

[Princess Trigger]

So naive. I'm sure a couple of enterprising DMV drones are grabbing a few of the plates to sell to those who would rather not pay the full freight of fees and taxes associated with them.

[Cynical Asshole]

Ding, ding, ding!

Winner winner, chicken dinner!

[Libertarian]

Hey, Hillary apologists. THIS is what real fainting looks like.

http://latino.foxnews.com/lati.....oes-viral/

[SusanM]

Sir Humphrey Appleby: Yes, yes, yes, I do see that there is a real dilemma here. In that, while it has been government policy to regard policy as a responsibility of Ministers and administration as a responsibility of Officials, the questions of administrative policy can cause confusion between the policy of administration and the administration of policy, especially when responsibility for the administration of the policy of administration conflicts, or overlaps with, responsibility for the policy of the administration of policy.

[Shirley Knott]

Ah, dear Sir Humphrey. They don't stop making them like that anymore.

[UnCivilServant]

"Yes, Minster" is a documentary.

[Rich]

Beautiful.

[B.P.]

"He is also angry that his new vehicle, a Chevy Equinox..."

I'd be a little pissed if I were driving that piece of crap around, too.

[Agammamon]

So he wonders why he keeps getting tickets issued to the old license plates.

Duh! Because some DMV employee's relative is using them now.