jaylectricity: I was broke. I was and still am a licensed electrician. For the most part I was trying to stay job-free. But early in my career it was slim-pickings. It was time to get a job.

One small problem. I had let the registration, insurance and state safety inspection sticker on my vehicle lapse. The stickers changed colors every year to make them easier to spot. The year in question was green with the expiring (but possibly still good until later in the year) stickers orange. Mine was blue from more than a year ago. To make matters worse, my license was suspended for not paying a traffic ticket.

Nonetheless, after securing a job I drove my vehicle to jobsites.

On one particular day I left the jobsite to get a bite to eat. On the way back I notice a police car on the side street waiting to pull out. He's on the same side as my inspection sticker. As I pass him I see, out of the corner of my eye, his head swivel to follow me.

I make a right at the next street, gun it a bit to try to get to the next turn. It's too late, I see him turn down the street behind me so I non-chalantly make the next turn. Luckily I'm actually within a block of the jobsite as I let him catch up and pull me over.

My heart was racing a bit as he walks up to my window. I wait for the inevitable. It's a young cop. The worst.

Surprisingly he plays it kind of cool and says, "Hey man...your sticker is BLUE!"

I acknowledge it with a shameful, "I know...sorry."

"What's going on?"

I tell him my plight and explain that I just got a new job and I'm hoping that I can take care of everything with my next paycheck. He asks to see my license. He already knows my registration is expired based on the tag on the license plate. He feels me out a bit more with some benign questions.

He's standing there at my window, leaning a bit on his wrists on the part of the door where the window rolls down and lets out a bit of a sigh. I'm just waiting for the hammer to come down. He stands up straight...looks both ways up and down the street. He starts tapping the edge of my license where his wrists were just resting.
He says, "I want to give you a break, I just need to figure out how."

He takes another look at my license and blurts out, "I don't even know if this license is good!"

I don't say a word. I don't move a muscle. I don't react. I know damn well he could walk back to his car and run my license. I'm amazed he didn't do that first.

Finally he hands me my license and says, "OK, here's what I want you to do. Roll up your windows. Get out of the car and lock your doors. Start walking down the street. While you do that I'm going to get back in my cruiser and drive away. Then, well...I mean, at least wait until I'm around the corner. Then, uh...do whatever you think you should do. Take care of this."

I said, "Yes, sir. Thank you." I did as he said and started walking down the street. He wasn't out of sight for two seconds before I did a military "about-face" went back to my car and drove it back to the jobsite.

To be honest...it was exhilirating.

0z79: My best friend lost his license when he was 17; the judge told him basically that he would never, ever get his license back without about $10,000 in his pocket.

Why yes, he is half-black.

mrmopar5287: Resident Muslim: I don't understand.
10k for a fine? For lawyer's costs to fight this? (To bribe the judge?)

Probably about $10k to get a lawyer to do things.

In my state (Illinois) driver license suspension for administrative stuff are a racket. To apply for a driving permit (allows you to drive for work while a license is suspended) you have to go before a hearing officer at the DMV. It's widely recognized that anyone who goes into a meeting alone to face the hearing officer will be summarily denied, because reasons. You have to go hire a lawyer to do it for you because it's almost as if they respect you more if you have the money to show up with a lawyer. It definitely helps if you hire one of the couple of lawyers that specialize in driver license suspensions. I've only heard anecdotal stories of money changing hands, and it wouldn't surprise me if there is some back room bribery going on.

A former co-worker of mine had a license suspension for DUIs. He was a two-term loser with a second DUI, and he had something like a 5-year suspension that he served. He worked where he could walk to work and also got rides from his spouse. After the suspension was served he still didn't have a license for years afterwards. The reason why is to get the license reinstated you have to show up at a hearing and the hearing officer asks you lots of questions to determine your suitability to drive. They look at his suspension and unlike almost everyone else he didn't go through the driving permit process to get a breathalyzer interlock on his car and get a permit to drive to work. They ask him why and he tells them he didn't need to drive so he just walked, rode a bike, or got rides. They refuse to believe him. Every time he spends the $500 reinstatement hearing fee (about 5-6 times so far) they ask if he drove during his suspension (with the assumption that everyone does). He tells them he didn't drive during his suspension and they summarily dismiss his reinstatement because they refuse to believe him. They want him to admit to something he didn't do, pretty much like parole hearings for prisoners who are innocent. He could probably lawyer up and fight it but that's about $10,000 to get that done...