On 3/21/2017 10:49 AM, wrote:

I was pulled over by a cop and given a mechanical ticket (out of date tag). How did he pick me out of the lot of San Mateo Bridge traffic? I was the only one driving the speed limit and attentive. This says an awful lot about the attentiveness of the average driver.

I don't mean to disagree with the reason the cop paid attention to you.
But I'll raise another possibility.

As I understand it, many (perhaps most?) cop cars these days have
equipment that reads the license plate and tells the cop if there is a
problem associated with it. The problems can be anything from expired
plate to warrant for arrest and beyond. Maybe you were in a database
that the cop's computer accessed.

The scary thing about this relatively new development is that last I
heard, in some states the results of "plate reading" systems are public
record. That means a potential burglar can demand to see every time
your plate has been detected and where; and from that, perhaps learn
when your house is guaranteed to be empty. Or an ex-spouse can track a
former spouse's car and use the data for stalking or other nefarious
purposes. It really does smack of "big brother" or worse.

--
- Frank Krygowski