A $250 fine? That's all ? I would have thought the individual would be in court on charges of criminal fraud ! I don't get it ... so basically, the State of California is saying "If you commit fraud, all we are going to do is issue you a citation for $250. Have a nice day."

About two months ago, I saw a teenager with a non-hybrid car - I think it was an Acura Integra, lowered, spoilers - and he had a carpool sticker on his bumper (which had obviously been peeled off of another car and reapplied), and although I didn't get a chance to talk to the kid, I would have said "Dude, you better get that sticker off of your car before a cop sees it, or you're going to get rolled!"

Yeah no kidding, I think fines should start at $5000 and go up from there. Since this isn't an ignorance issue, you're intentionally trying to commit fraud.

$5,000 fine and/or 6 months in county jail as well as a point on your driving record. Make people think twice about doing it. Funny thing was I was just discussing this with another Prius owner at the dealership yesterday.

well i guess you would only be fined $250 for having the fake sticker driving around and parking and stuff. but if you actually got pulled over in the carpool lane with the counterfeit or stolen sticker, they could tack on the 380.00 for the carpool violation.
plus any city or county fees too

I saw a newish looking Metallic Grey Prius Touring with the stickers on the 210 westbound east of Pasadena the other night. I didn't think the Touring model was available when California decided to stop selling stickers. I thought his stickers looked kind of thick (like they were printed on thicker material). Just wondering ...

The stickers were still available when the touring editions just came out. Only just.

nah there was still stickers till the first week or so of feb 2007, and there were tourings afaik in november 2006

Putting a law on the books & getting it enforced are two different things. I doubt enforcement of this one will be any better than their current enforcement of the Motor Vehicle Code.

one can hope that more cities will get OCR license plate readers like sacramento has. all you do is drive and when the automated system finds a stolen plate, it alerts the officer, they check 1000 plates an hour now. maybe they can do hybrids too

off topic
---------
what's weird is arizona and few other states have webpages that anyone can do stolen
vehicle checks on, why are only police allowed that information? heh

Where are the OCR license plate readers located...HOV lane, paying tolls, entering Sacremento?
In NYC there are plans to record every license plate entering Manhattan for "security" reasons. The city will probably utilize an OCR reader.

from the shows ive seen that show them off the cameras are located on the top of the police car, on or near the light bar. and it reads license plates automatically as the officer drives, and if it discovers a stolen plate, it tells the officer

it used to be they could only do so many stolen vehicle checks per shift, and now with the automatic system, they are doing thousands.

of course it probably doesn't check hov stickers, but it would be cool, heh

*Could?* It would be criminal if they didn't.

Speaking of stickers: I have a question. I did something I felt was very foolish. I was one of the many who patiently waited in line for their prius. Nearly a year later, I got my prius! Anyhow, I was one of the first to get the HOV stickers. I didn't want to damage the appearance of my baby with those hideous yellow stickers. I put them on magnets Yea, i know..not smart. I heard of a acquantance getting a ticket for improper display of stickers. I think he had 2 or 3 of the 4 displayed. Is this true? Now, can i send my stickers to DMV (Sacramento) and get them replaced...so I can stick them on my car permanately The DMV by my house kept saying they wouldn't issue new ones. Oh boy. I know, not a bright thing to do with the magnets. Now I fear of people taking them, so I rarely have them on. When i am on freeway, I forget to put them on. Defeats the purpose Thank you for your time!

p.s. How long are stickers valid for. I remember receiving letter a while back saying the date was EXTENDED. Is that still the case?

prplrain68...Just about all you need to know here...

The OCR license plate readers in Sacramento are not mounted on freeways, we have no toll roads . . . they are mounted on City of Sacramento Parking Enforcement PRII .

I placed pictures in a thread here about 'working Prii.'
http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-m...res-working-prii-business-government-etc.html

The parking officers love the things. I know there are at least two of them because of two different colors.

For a state that is lacking in tax revenue, enforcing vehicle violations is basically an unlimited source of revenue that could and should be mined.