Be aware. Watch out for these people and give them a wide berth.

I think I noticed this because it’s January and a new year. Every state has different rules but in South Carolina, the vehicle tag registration decals are a different color each year. For 2024 vehicle registration decals were yellow and the 2025 decals are green. So, I’m thinking as I’m driving January should be the only month where all the cars, excluding the tags being renewed this January, all SC vehicle tags should be green. Yet while traveling around town, I noticed a surprising number of yellow registration tags still out there.

Have you ever noticed something when you focus on one thing, you start seeing it everywhere? At first I thought well maybe this one vehicle tag ahead of me is just a January 2024 registration yet to be updated by the end of the month. In about 15 minutes of driving, I noticed no less than a dozen expired tags. As I looked closer, surprisingly, yes there was a January 2024 sticker or two, but most of these yellow stickers were months old. A couple were from December but many were older, from October, September, and August, at least one as old as June. What the heck?

I started thinking about what this means. Besides the “oops I forgot to put the sticker on my plate” excuse, it may mean the taxes weren’t paid. It’s a sign registration is likely expired. And then it hit me. They may not be insured. In South Carolina vehicles are required to be insured if they are registered and operated on public roads and having an expired vehicle registration sticker is a “primary offense.” This means it’s all law enforcement needs to see to initiate a traffic stop.

When I worked in federal law enforcement, I would always profile a vessel with an observable violation. If I could see a broken law from a distance, it never failed, the boat always had multiple violations of the law once you boarded and inspected the boat and crew. That vehicle driving around on expired tags probably has lapsed or no insurance at a minimum. They very likely have other illegal things going on, and are a menace to those around them.

In the last five years, I’ve known dozens of people hit (sometimes hit-and-run) by people driving with no insurance. Most of the this the other driver has had no insurance and often has been either DUI or “undocumented” or both. It’s never been fun for the victims and sometimes it’s been life-changing.

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