I've been told that there are very stringent rules for automobile registration in Maryland, you have to have some kind of certified test and you have to get two license plates on your car (front and back)?  Does this cost a lot?  Is there anything else I'm forgetting?

I have to get new plates this August when my birthday rolls around, and register my car in this state for the first time instead of Michigan.

On the other hand, I may just try to re-up my plates/regs in Michigan when I go back for a friend's wedding in July and claim my folks address to avoid this hassle if I can do that.

Do you get raped and robbed in Baltimore daily?

That's what makes it worth living there.

And the crabs help too.

First you'll be required to retitle the car in MD, that costs like $35. You have to pass both safety and emissions testing. Inspections cost about $80, plates and registration vary from $45 to $150 depending on the weight and class of the vehicle, and you have to stand in line at MVA for weeks.

Go to the Annapolis branch, it's much better.

By crabs you mean genital crabs? Right?

Yeah, they keep it exciting.

They can really slam you with fines if you don't register in MD, too, if somebody wanted to dick you over and turn you in for not registering.

The inspection stuff sucks, but the safety check is one and done.  You have to get an emissions test every 2 years, but they're typically pretty quick as long as you don't go on a Saturday.

In my neighborhood, you get raped by crazy old women with beehive hairdos. http://www.honfest.net/misshon.html

So then they rape and rob you?

Only if you live in, around, or under old-folks homes

The employees must have fun.

W3rd ...

Seriously, ask Joy, she's all into cars and shit up there ...

i LOVE not owning a car.

carry on

I would love to not own a car.  I'll settle for paying this one off and buying a Honda Rebel or a similar inexpensive motorcycle.

I wouldn't mind owning one if I lived somewhere where you needed one though...

They're such a hassle, though.

Oil changes and new tires and remembering where you parked them and remembering you shouldn't be driving them right now and remembering whether or not you left the keys at the bar or if they might be in the garbage disposal.

I was thinking more of the cost. I live smack in the middle of the greatest public transport system on the planet. What I pay for the location I make up in car costs, and am waaay ahead in the convenience of location. I wouldn't mind having a car if it meant I could live halfway up a mountain for 6 months though

If I lived half way up a mountain, I'd shoot at anyone who suggested that I should leave, ever.

Fucking hell... what a drag.

All that shit just to get a car on the road? Hell, we dont even bother with a yearly roadworthiness test (NSW do, hahahah suckers). Tis simple, is the car currently registered in another state? Sweet, $28 or something and we'll give you a spanking new set of Victoria - The Place To Be plates. Front and back.

I dont get the dont need a front plate thing. Like I dont get brake lights doubling as indicators.

I was thinking more of the cost. I live smack in the middle of the greatest public transport system on the planet. What I pay for the location I make up in car costs, and am waaay ahead in the convenience of location. I wouldn't mind having a car if it meant I could live halfway up a mountain for 6 months though

Actually living in Tokyo and driving would be a breeze... traffic is so light compared to other big cities. But, I'd do exactly the same as you if I lived there... the public transport is second to none.

I dont get the dont need a front plate thing. Like I dont get brake lights doubling as indicators.

The turn ..hang on let me think...yep. The turn right on a red light, is rather cool.

I was thinking more of the cost. I live smack in the middle of the greatest public transport system on the planet. What I pay for the location I make up in car costs, and am waaay ahead in the convenience of location. I wouldn't mind having a car if it meant I could live halfway up a mountain for 6 months though

Actually living in Tokyo and driving would be a breeze... traffic is so light compared to other big cities. But, I'd do exactly the same as you if I lived there... the public transport is second to none.

I thought parking was a huge issue there ? You would use public transport to get to the dam thing... (?)

I dont get the dont need a front plate thing. Like I dont get brake lights doubling as indicators.

The only purpose of a license plate (other than just something you would carry on your person as a license) is so a cop can easily verify your information when he/she pulls you over and as a racket for generating state income.  As cops do not pull vehicles over from the front, there's really no need to have a plate in the front, except to generate more money for the state racket.

yeah, but they do take pictures of the front using speed cameras. I guess speed cameras arent used as widely in the US as here.

Which is a racket for the State of Victoria. 

yeah, but they do take pictures of the front using speed cameras. I guess speed cameras arent used as widely in the US as here.

Which is a racket for the State of Victoria. 

That would explain a need for front plates.

The fact that citizens of a state should have to pay the state for the right to be fined by the state is pretty patently ridiculous.

I still have never gotten past how ridiculous it is that I have to calculate how much money I owe the state and they can garnish my wages/throw me in jail if I fuck it up.

They are pretty lax about requiring the front plate around here. Even though it is the law I see dozens of cars without them every day.

I dont get the dont need a front plate thing. Like I dont get brake lights doubling as indicators.

YES!

The turn ..hang on let me think...yep. The turn right on a red light, is rather cool.

Yes.

I still have never gotten past how ridiculous it is that I have to calculate how much money I owe the state and they can garnish my wages/throw me in jail if I fuck it up.

YES.

yeah, but they do take pictures of the front using speed cameras. I guess speed cameras arent used as widely in the US as here.

Which is a racket for the State of Victoria.  

And Montgomery County, MD, just a few blocks from the UM campus, which just appropriated $4M for 60 additional cameras. The whole thing is a racket since the program is administered and the cameras are maintained by a private contractor, and you cannot dispute a camera ticket for either speeding or running a yellow light. They spend all this money to make an additional $15M per year but they can't pay their teachers shit.

Fuck Maryland.

I've heard tales of undercover motorway cops in England who try to get you to race them and then bust you. Which seems particularly shitty.

Cops will do that here, too.  They'll also tailgate you for miles and if you speed up, they'll pull you over.  They do all sorts of shitty stuff to trick you into violating a traffic law when they're interested in pulling you over.

Maryland is one of the richest states in the country yet still manages to fuck everything up.  They might as well burn our tax dollars.  At least other states have legitimate excuses for their troubles.

What do you mean ticket for running a yellow light?  Running a yellow light isn't illegal.

'Tis if you speed up to catch it.