Inspect Your Gadget: P.E.I. motorist fined for coupon inspection sticker
No, you can't just print one at home
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Trying to get one over on the cops rarely ends well, since members of the constabulary are generally well-trained to immediately spot whatever shenanigans one is trying to pull. This time, a motorist on Prince Edward Island was collared for displaying an invalid inspection sticker on their vehicle.
According to a Twitter account belonging to the island’s RCMP unit, officers slapped a driver with a $150 fine after discovering an inspection sticker seemingly made out of coupons good for discounts on a flatscreen television mount. Few details are given as to exactly how this was accomplished — and if the boneheaded driver actually flaunted the coupon instead of an inspection facsimile — but it is safe to say they ended their day with a dent in their bank account.
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Fake inspection stickers don’t seem to be as common as they once were, thanks to eagle-eyed cops and a crackdown on the practice in this area over the last few years. Police often hold surprise roadblocks for the express purpose of checking inspections, looking for wonky fonts or incorrect colouring. Spotting sticker sequence numbers which don’t roughly match what’s currently being issued in the wild is another tip-off that something is awry.
The debate over these types of annual or bi-annual inspections continues to rage in the Maritimes, and they’re one of the only jurisdictions left in the country which requires them. A common argument is that much can change in terms of a car’s mechanical fitness in the one or two years between inspections, not to mention the level of interpretation left open to mechanics who are checking items off the list.
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Your author’s then-new Mazda 6 once failed a Nova Scotia inspection because the attendant didn’t like the look of its wiper blades, for example. Never mind the fact he had just driven past a dangerously rusty GMC Sierra in the shop’s parking lot which bore a sticker valid for six more months. The fact my year-old hatchback was slapped with a ‘REJECTED’ sticker while the crumbling truck carried merrily on its way rankled me to no end. Recent system reforms in the Bluenose province have helped somewhat, but it remains a highly imperfect system.
None of which excuses the use of a fake sticker. Play by the rules, folks.
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