🚀 go-pugleaf

 
A couple of points about the DC ticket debate (from personal experience)
 
1.) FRONT PLATES and other state-specific issues like expired VA county
stickers or SC annual inspection certificates have been discussed in
alt.law.enforcement and the general consensus among the law enforcement
officers who responded was that it is NOT permissible for one
jurisdiction like DC to cite MD cars missing their front plates or SC
cars with invalid windshield annual inspection stickers.  Nonetheless,
I have been in a DC Traffic Adjudication hearing about a ticket given
to a MD car with only the year decal on the back plate (the month decal had
been lost).  The examiner disallowed the appeal, stating that the State
of MD had given the driver instructions on how to display the month and
year sticker, but that the driver had not followed them.  I can't
comment on the legal merits of the examiner's ruling, but suffice it to
say that you won't win by contesting the missing front plate ticket
or any other state-specific violation in DC.
 
2.)  Only the following infractions can hold up renewal of MD license
plates a) parking tickets issued by any local or state governmental
jurisdiction within the state of Maryland b) moving violations issued
officers in Maryland or anywhere else in the country with reciprocity
(i.e. we'll hold your guys if you hold ours).  DC parking
tickets will not hold up Maryland renewals.  License plates with more
than 2 outstanding tickets end up on DC's boot list -- if you are driving
a car with non DC tags, getting a boot is the only way DC can make you pay.      make you pay.
DC parking enforcement can tie into nation databases of registration info.
to find the names and addresses of registered vehicle owners for cars with
unpaid tickets.  This is how they send out notices that you have unpaid
fines -- they have no sympathy if you say you never got the ticket or
if you say you never got the overdue notice because you moved and didn't
change the address at which your vehicle was registered.  Incidently,
DC generally only boots Monday through Friday during the day, so if you
have out of state plates, many unpaid tickets, and can stay off of DC
streets during those times, you're probably not going to get caught.
 
Finally, a word of advice about protesting tickets in DC: get to 65 K st.
NE at least 30 minutes before the building opens; there will already
be a line.  Even if you are in on of the first batches of 8 to go into
a hearing room, you can still count on spending most of the morning.
All of which prompts the question, is your entire morning worth
$20 or even $50?  If you're well enough educated and well enough
equipped to be reading the Internet, the answer is probably no.