Roadguy’s mailbag has been a bit neglected of late, so let’s dig in. Alert reader G. has a question about vehicular registration:

Hey Roadguy: A while back I thought I had heard of somewhere in Web-land where people could report vehicles that were registered out-of-state but the drivers/owners spent the overwhelming majority of their living time in MN. Is there such a link to report (hopefully anonymously) such fee avoiders?

Kristine over at the Department of Public Safety has an answer:

Reports such the one your reader … asked about can be made (anonymously, if desired) by phone or mail to the Minnesota State Patrol Vehicle Crimes Task Force (VCTF.) A report should include the license plate number and state of origin. The name of the driver and the street address where the vehicle parks are helpful, but not necessary.

After the VCTF receives the report, the vehicle owner will be given 30 days to correct the situation or provide proof that the vehicle is legally licensed. There are instances in which that could be true — if the owner is a college student residing temporarily in Minnesota, for example, he or she would be allowed to keep a vehicle licensed in another state.

The VCTF can be reached at 1-800-593-5000 or 763-591-4701. Office hours are 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m., but callers may leave messages anytime. Written reports can be sent to: Minnesota State Patrol VCTF, 2055 N. Lilac Drive, Golden Valley MN, 55422.

So, apparently there’s no cyber-method, but G. still has a couple of options for turning in any Florida cars parked in front of her house.

Alert reader Sarah, meanwhile, has a question about changing lanes:

Hi Roadguy! So with all this talk on the blog about driving in the left lane, I have a question: When I am expecting a left exit, such as the ones from 35W South to 62 East, or from 94 East to 280, etiquette-wise, how far ahead of time is it acceptable for me to pull over into the appropriate lane? I don’t want to slow down others, nor do I want to have to dash (or wiggle during rush hour) across three lanes.

Sarah raises a good point; Roadguy is sure his readers will offer some answers.

We close today with a pair of links from the mailbag:

• Alert reader Dob points us to this CBS story about the poor condition of our nation’s roads.
• A couple of Roadguy’s few remaining colleagues sent along this story out of Britain about some crash-inducing roadside art.

Share your thoughts on some or all of the above, and keep those e-mails coming.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2007 at 6:05 am and is filed under Good to know. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.