Laziness Never Pays

Well, I had a lovely country drive yesterday afternoon. I took my Jeep up into the mountains on the back side of Tucson, via the back way up to Summerhaven from Oracle, and had a lovely time of it.

The return trip in the evening taught me a valuable lesson in the burdens of both forgetfulness and laziness.

On the way through Oro Valley, a place I KNOW never to speed or otherwise have anything wrong with your vehicle, I was pulled over for expired tags on my Jeep.

I haven't updated my tags since moving to Arizona in June, and they expired in the past few weeks. Really, this was on my list of things to do, but time kept getting away from me, and I just didn't get to it. I really meant to, but it kept slipping my mind.

So, as I'm driving through Oro Valley a very polite Officer Sanchez pulls me over and the conversation went something like this:

Officer Sanchez: Good evening. I'm officer Sanchez with the Oro Valley Police Department. Can I see your driver's license, insurance and registration?

Dave: (handing officer requested documents - minus registration which is a sticker on the window of Texas vehicles)

OS: Do you know why I've pulled you over?

Dave: I'm really not sure. I don't think I was speeding or doing anything wrong.

OS: Well, you're driving an out of state vehicle with expired tags.

Dave: Yeah, I guess that's true. I've been meaning to get to it, and just haven't.

OS: Okay, wait here a minute. I'll be right back.

(5 or so minutes pass)

OS: Okay, I'm sorry for the wait Mr. Earney. I wanted to let you off with a warning, but you're driving with expired tags on an out-of-state vehicle and I can't let that go since it's a criminal traffic violation. (Goes into lengthy, very helpful detail about what I need to do to mitigate the damage of a potentially $1100 fine for the violation). And I'll need you to sign this Criminal Complaint. You can choose not to, but if you do that it means transport to the jail.

Dave: I don't have a problem signing it. I'm clearly in the wrong on this for being lazy about updating the tags.

So, I'm on my way. Officer Sanchez gave me a court packet as well as my complaint and I drove off not at all happy about the fruits of my laziness over re-registering my Jeep here in Arizona.

At least it isn't a moving violation and therefore won't have an impact on my insurance.

And last night served as a reassurance to me about another thing. Nothing about Oro Valley has changed. Don't drive there if there is anything wrong with your vehicle, or you like to speed.

UPDATE: 10/13/08 - Every damn public school in the state is on regular schedule today, but for some unknown reason the Motor Vehicle Division is closed for Columbus Day!!!!

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