I flaunt(ed) the law and the law won…

If you grew up in the rural west or central United States in the 1960s, you probably listened to Oklahoma City radio station KOMA at night. It was the only source many of us early Boomers had for current rock and roll music.

I thought of the station last week as a result of a humorous incident involving a traffic stop which netted me warnings for three alleged violations of New Mexico traffic and motor vehicle codes. And also let me state clearly that I my following blog does not intend to discount the efforts of our dedicated law enforcement officers.

At some point during the 1960s, KOMA led a campaign to nudge the Oklahoma Legislature to repeal an outdated law which prohibited the installation and use of commercial radios in private vehicles. The law was apparently implemented when automobile manufacturers began installing new-fangled radios in cars. Lawmakers in Oklahoma feared that drivers would become distracted while driving if they tuned into and listened to a radio station.

While listening to my favorite rock and roll tunes during the 1960s in the evenings on the 50,000 watt AM station, I remember hearing the pleas by that radio station to repeal the outdated and seldom enforced law. The campaign was a success and the law was repealed. Now, ironically, legislators are now urging car makers to NOT eliminate AM radios from automobiles. And I suspect that the lawmakers who crafted the anti-radio law would be rolling over in their graves if they knew about cell phones, texting and electronic touch screens in today’s cars.

In my opinion, one of the three citations for my alleged driving infractions could clearly be the focus of a repeal or at least a clarifying amendment.

Here’s the story. I was pulled over by a Sheriff’s Deputy for allegedly pulling out in front of his official vehicle from a convenience store. He said I was driving too slowly and failed to yield to traffic. I think he was going way too fast. The fact that he only gave me a warning for failure to yield makes me think he was not paying attention or knew he was going too fast, but that’s not the point of this story.

The point is that he also wrote me a citation for having a license plate frame surrounding my New Mexico license plate. The frame promotes the University of Nebraska Huskers. I’ve had it on my truck for years since my Nebraska born farm girl wife loves the Huskers and follows them diligently. I’m a fan of Husker football too and am proud to display the frame.

The officer cited me for violating New Mexico traffic statute 66-3-18 (you can look it up online) that says license plates “shall be maintained free from foreign material.” Okay, what about almost every car dealership that puts a license plate frame on your new vehicle promoting their business? How about dog lovers who display those cute black and white license plate frames with puppy dog tracks around the edges? How about one that says “Baby on Board?” How about frames that proclaim owners of the vehicles are alumni of other colleges and schools? What about a simple decorative black, chrome or chain-link license plate frames?

All illegal, according to the deputy who stopped me.

And what about the auto parts stores in New Mexico that have an entire rack of license plate frames for sale? Are they going to be charged for selling illegal materials?

And I wonder if the words saying license plates should be “maintained free from foreign material” were really meant to be interpreted that way? What if you just had mud or bird poop (clearly foreign material) accidentally splattered on your license plates and couldn’t wash it off before you got stopped by the sheriff? And is something surrounding a license plate the same as something on the plate?

Now here’s the rub. When the deputy was writing my citation for an illegal license plate frame, I noticed that there was a University of Alabama baseball cap perched on the top of the dashboard of his official sheriff’s unit.

I decided to see if there was a state law prohibiting obstruction of vision out of a vehicle and I found this — New Mexico Statute 66-7-357 — you can look it up online.

“No person shall drive a vehicle when it so loaded… as to obstruct the view of the driver to the front or sides of the vehicle…”

I interpret that to mean the Alabama cap was “loaded” onto the dashboard of the police vehicle and resulted in a condition which could “obstruct the view of the driver.” A clear danger to driving, don’t you think? What about the proverbial “plastic Jesus” on the dash, a set of rosary beads, a graduation tassel or a handicapped parking tag hanging from the rear-view mirror? Those can “obstruct the view” but I doubt anyone is ever cited for that.

Or digging even deeper into that dark world of conspiracy theories, was the officer so enraged that I was supporting a football program other than the University of Alabama Crimson Tide that he felt compelled to give me a citation on a questionable statute? Okay, that’s really a stretch.

But wait — there’s more. I also received a citation for — wait for it — failing to sign my car registration form, which was properly up to date and placed in my truck’s glove compartment at the time of the stop. You can check on that law online as well — New Mexico Statute 66-3-13.

What is interesting is that I was stopped at a routine DWI checkpoint earlier this year (no I was not arrested for DWI) and the officer who did that stop looked at my registration and license plate and did not cite me for having “foreign material” on my license plate and did not cite me for failing to sign my registration form.

At the end of my stop last week, I signed my registration form in the presence of the deputy while I also signed the THREE citations he gave me. I am not planning to remove the license plate frames on any of my three vehicles.