Searchable Temporary Vehicle Tags around the Corner

TMPA Legislative Agenda Item - Searchable Temporary Vehicle Tags takes another step forward.

In response to officer safety issues and tremendous fraud that is historically associated with temporary dealer tags, TMPA - in conjunction with the Dallas Police Association, TxDOT, the Texas Police Chiefs Association and other interested groups worked with Senator John Corona (Dallas) to create serialized temporary buyer tags that are immediately searchable by officers after a car is sold and hits the streets.  TxDOT is ready to roll out the system that produces the unique temporary tags for vehicles, which will be searchable through TLETS and DMV in July 2008.

Despite the misleading and uninformed rantings of a union that claims to represent working cops (and was no where to be found in the Capitol when this bill was deliberated), the bill provides significant advances toward ending the booming counterfeit dealer tag industry and significantly increases officer safety.

Each new temporary tag will bear a number that is unique to that vehicle in a font big enough for officers to read at a safe distance.  Officers will be able to search that number and quickly determine the make, model, year, and ownership of the vehicle as well as the date of sale, and the date of tag expiration, before approaching the vehicle occupants!

The tag must be affixed to the vehicle in the place where the normal license plate would go and all the other display laws in the Transportation Code still apply, such as illumination, visibility and cleanliness.

Dealers can choose from several options regarding how to print the tag and if something about the tag renders it illegible or it is displayed improperly, it would be a traffic violation and should be treated just as violations are treated now.

Counterfeiting buyer tags will be greatly reduced because of these innovations and officer safety will therefore increase.

For more history on this legislation, click here: