In my wilder days, I had a 10-year Super Bee. It had the looks of a fast car, but there was only a 318 two barrel under the hood. I had long hair.

One of our hobbies was driving up and down main street on Friday and Saturday nights. Up and down. Up and down. Up and down. I probably got stopped every 2-3 months. My paperwork was in order; I didn't beak off to the RCMP. Interaction was friendly. No tickets.

Some of my friends liked showing off how powerful their car was. So they burned some rubber, and if the police officer was around, my friend recieved a stunting ticket.

When we got tired of going up and down, we often found some alcohol. Then it was not a good time to go up and down. Better to keep a low profile. I think the police presence helped keep us from doing more stupid things than we were doing--like going up and down dead drunk. Yes, we would have done that if we knew we would never get caught.

I have no troubles with police stopping people who fail to keep their car properly registered. Often an expired tag can lead to something worse the police need to investigate.

Keep your car's paperwork up to date. Don't beak off if you are stopped by police. This will prevent a lot of problems.

So I disagree with much of your essay. But the last part made a lot of sense. There are people who do bad things and seem impervious to investigation and prosecution. An expired car registration is a small thing.