Was in MN and bud said oh oh, whiskey plate. They are white and the plate id starts with a W. It means there was a DUI, owner of the car I would guess. Any thing like that where you are?
I’m not familiar with the actual lettering designations but the plates are essentially issued for high risk drivers. The police can stop them any time for any purpose without cause. When my boss was going blind, he managed to run his new caddy into the side of the garage and who knows what else. I got it to replace the fender and tail light pieces. I drove i5 down to have the pin stripe painted and the guy mentioned the whiskey plates on it. I had no idea what they were and had just seen them a few times. But yeah, in Minnesota, give them wide birth, and don’t drive them if you don’t have your papers along.
Actually, since 2003 in MN, police cannot pull over a driver with whiskey plates unless they have cause. Although, you would have to imagine that they are more of a target with whiskey plates or, in MN as they are called - “Special Registration Plates”.
As far as i know, we have nothing like that in New Jersey.
We have nothing like that in Ga. that I know of.
I’m not aware of anything like that in Calif. Reminds me of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter story. I suppose if the choice is displaying a “W” plate or not drive at all, the “W” plate would be most folk’s choice. I think here in Calif, if convicted of DUI enough times they revoke your driver’s license entirely, or limit your driving to work and back.
Ohio had an orange plate for dui convictions.
Florida does not have such a thing. They do have what people call Blow and Go… It is a breathelyzer ignition interlock. You blow into it to get to drive. Any alcohol and it won’t start.
Tn does not have special plates either, but we have plenty of Blow and Go’s in vehicles…
I used to know how to bypass a few of them years ago, but don’t remember… They are a PITA if you are the shop working on them… Sometimes the company will give you a code but some will tell you how to bypass it, but they make you pinky swear to ot tell anyone else and you have to put it back of course…
Most are installed in plain sight, we had a high end BMW that paid more (I’m guessing) to have his tucked away inside the glove box so NO sign he had one… We tried jumping the vehicle and everything to start the BMW, finally the customer came back (didn’t answer phone) and was kinda rude (as a lot are) asking why his car was not being worked on yet, we asked him why it didn’t start, he said oh yeah… I said how can you forget to tell someone that, you had to use it to get here… gezzz… lol
I guess there’s no practical way to prevent someone from bypassing this device so they can just start the car normally. I’m presuming the reason most don’t is b/c if they ever get stopped the police will know they are supposed to have it installed, & if it has been bypassed, big trouble for the driver. Likewise, other than that same method, there is no practical way to prevent the dui-convicted driver from just using a different car.
I really know little about them in minnesota, just what a few people have mentioned over the years. I was not thrilled about driving a car, even for a short distance, with those plates though. Some of it I think might have been for people with restrictions on driving for other than work, on a release program,maybe failure to have insurance, etc. I’ll. Maybe look it up sometime.
No, it was a lot to have to bypass out in the parking lot so it could be moved… Not simple and had to know where and what to jump… And they are court ordered, so tampering with them is a no no…
But yeah, jail time if bypassed or drives another vehicle without the device if caught…
I thought they were yellow, with red lettering. I’m also pretty sure they did away with them as well, but not for certain. I heard them called “Party plates”, not whiskey plates, though.
A bit beyond yellow not quite blaze orange but definitely red lettering.
I’m not about to try and read the statute for Minnesota but it appears a 2003 Supreme Court decision made it illegal to stop a car without cause. Upon an order to impound a vehicle, you can turn in the plates from all of your cars and get the special plates starting with w. You can avoid the plates since 2021 by signing up for the immobilizer device. It looks like Ohio and maybe Georgia are the only states along with Minnesota that has the plates.
Now, let this sink in. If someone else is driving your car and gets arrested, all of your own cars can be affected whether you were in the car or not. It’s just best not to drink or let someone else drive your car. Maybe that is why a dui costs $20,000 to fight the charge down to a lesser offense. So crazy uncle harry getscdrunk and drives your car resulting in you having to get the plates or install the straws in all three, four, etc. cars. Gotta believe this will include pot and drugs too now.
Tell your kids no matter, when or where, do not drive. Call you. No questions asked and a hug in the morning.
Or if you pull over to sleep it off, take the keys out of the ignition. Person I know DUI because of that.
Now I’ve heard in Minnesota you can’t even do that because you still have access to your keys. I don’t know if giving them to the bar tender or not would work and they usually close at two. 20 below, freeze in your car or under a tree. I think we are nuts.
Like I said when I was a kid the police would drive you home. Had a neighbor at the bar every night. What is the point? Ruin someone’s life or keep them off the road? Oh yeah, that includes riding your horse, lawn mower, or motorized easy chair. The police impounded his chair and eventually sold it. Duluth case.
Had a customer years ago that was a commercial roofer (owned a few businesses) and almost everyday when work was over he would head down to the local dive bar and get wasted, then he would call a cab and go home, well lets just say he owned a lot of vehicles for work and personal and after running out of vehicles or close to it, he would come down to the shop (very close) at closing time and pay us to drive all his vehicles home… He paid well…