The Seattle Times had an article today about whether the Sound Transit 3 (ST3) increased vehicle registration fees in the greater Puget Sound region would cause drivers to skip renewing their vehicle registration when due and instead continue to drive on expired tabs. The article points out that while illegal, financially, this could make sense. While the article correctly points out that driving on expired tabs is an infraction, punishable by a fine (and not jail) another thing to consider is that driving with expired tabs would give police the power to pull you over anytime. Police can lawfully stop a vehicle when there is reasonable suspicion that the vehicle is committing an infraction. This legal stop can then turn into a criminal investigation say, for instance, the officer observes an odor of alcohol or marijuana coming from the vehicle.