8th June 2009
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, State Capitol Building, Sacramento, Calif. 95814
California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, P.O. box 944025, Sacramento 94244-2550
Director of DWV George Valverde, Department of Motor Vehicles, 2415 1st Avenue mail station F 101 Sacramento, CA 95818
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor@lacity.org
Dear Sirs,
I’m writing to express concern over what I think is a dangerous situation on the streets of Los Angeles. There is an astonishing number of vehicles being operated without license plates. And by that I mean they have no visible temporary plate or piece of paper in the window. I’ve seen many cars with Oakland Raiders plates, as well as DUB Motorsports plates, and often plates with the name of a car club. At night, driving in Hollywood I’ve witnessed groups of four or five black SUVs, driving fast together, none of which have any visible markings.
This reminded me of a story a friend recounted. While he was fueling up his vehicle in Long Beach, a black SUV with tinted glass pulled up next to him, and out jumped two men, one with a semi-automatic handgun and the other with what appeared to be a detective’s badge hanging from a chain around his neck. The two men yelled POLICE! Show me your hands! They shoved him face down against the hood of his car, as he tried to protest that they were making a mistake. The two men removed his wallet from his pocket, ran back into the SUV and drove off. The vehicle had no license plate, so the fellow who got robbed never knew who or what hit him.
It’s always been my understanding that any vehicle operating on the streets or highways of California had to have an identifying, clearly visible license plate. And yet I see numerous vehicles operating without plates. It is disturbingly common. Today I was waiting at a traffic light on Riverside and Figueroa. The car next to me in the turn lane had no license plate. I saw a police car in my rearview mirror, and I wondered if the cop would notice the absence of a plate on the car next to me. The officers drove right by. A visitor to Los Angeles from Canada was sitting next to me in the car, and she was completely astonished that a car with no plate would get a pass like that. And she’s seen it everywhere in L.A.
Driving in Los Angeles can be very stressful. I avoid taking my car on the road as much as I can. But this proliferation of unlicensed vehicles gives me the sense that anyone could crash into my car, and just split. Or worst still, hit me when I’m on my bicycle, and just leave the scene rather than face an infraction. And there’s nothing anyone can do. I cannot afford to carry an uninsured driver policy on my insurance. I don’t think this state of affairs should be continued for one day longer. Police should pull over any car that doesn’t have a license plate, and of those vehicles, any one without insurance or registration should be impounded. If someone’s plate has ostensibly been stolen, then the vehicle owner must report it to police on the day, and acquire a temporary, visible document which identifies the vehicle to others. It’s the same rules we all have to follow. To allow unlicensed vehicles to continue operating in a city like Los Angeles would constitute a complete failure of government to carry out the basic functions of public order and security.
I hope I have expressed my concern in an intelligible way, and the individuals and agencies which deal with vehicle registration and enforcement can work together and get all the undocumented vehicles off the road. We stand to gain from the increase in transit ridership and carpools, as well as from the improvement to air quality and urban congestion.
From a concerned Californian,
Ian Vincent Dow
