Saved from a ticket by an iPhone

Same thing has happen to me. Thank goodness for geico...

Any phone with web access and a pdf viewer can do this.

A somewhat similar story. I live and work in London, UK, but I am from southern Ontario. Back in November, I had flown from London to Montreal to attend a friend's wedding. As the wedding was conveniently located out in the middle of nowhere, I had rented a car.

When I got to the Hertz counter, though, I realised that I had left my driver's licence in Ontario (where I had been visiting two weeks earlier for another wedding). No licence, no rental car, right?

Nope. I called up my mom, asked her to scan the front and back of my licence, and email it to my me.com account. I enabled my data roaming and downloaded the image. I had my rental car five minutes later.

Oh, and the provincial police also accepted the scanned image of my licence when they pulled me over for speeding on Autoroute 40 two days later. If I didn't have the scan, I would have faced a hefty fine (unless I could produce my licence within a specified period).

Love my iPhone.

@16/17

There are many types of insurance that cover the driver. Before I owned a car, I had cars available to me to drive at different times (friends/family out of town or not using it). I had an insurance policy known as "Non-Owned Operator". I was insured in any vehicle I drove. It was of course a little bit more expensive than a normal policy, but it worked for the few months I needed it to save up for my own car.

Similar thing happened to me a few weeks ago. I was pulled over for having expired registration. The officer said "You have two choices. We can impound the car or you can call a tow company and have it towed back to your house, but you can't drive it." I whipped out my iphone, went to the PA DMV web site and renewed my registration right there and showed him the temporary registration they give you to print on the screen. My iPhone paid for itself that day.

California requires "proof of insurance", even though there is a state-wide database that the L.E.O. accesses in addition to seeing your physical proof. It's a fix-it ticket--meaning up to $1,000 if you don't fix it; $10 if you do.

I've used three different insurance agencies (motorcycles and cars), and lately they've all had .pdf documents online for download (or immediate email). They have been bigger agencies (Progressive/GEICO/USAA).

I was stopped once on my bike, and realized I had left my insurance/registration paperwork in my other bag (my previous two motorcycles had been stolen, so I don't like leaving identification papers on them). Since it was a photography trip, I had my MacBook Pro with me. Pulled up the email, showed it to the officer.

"How do I know that's not fake?" Really? So an email that shows who it is from, the header information and whatever else--with an attachment that I would print out is easier to forge than the attachment by itself?

All this to say--it's nice for backup, but it depends on the officer (and the situation). I have a lot of stuff stored now (nursing license, CPR/ACLS cards, Registration/Insurance for vehicles, etc); but I still carry the hard copy as appropriate. If I forget something or lose it, at least I'm not totally SOL.

I did the exact same thing Paul did just before my office Christmas party in December. Saved me the fine, and the officer was impressed.

See this entry on my blog:
http://www.bill.eccles.net/bills_words/2008/12/iphone-saved-me-93-fine-during.html

Granted, it only save me $93 (Connecticut is cheaper than somewhere else?!), but that more than paid my data usage for three monts...

I suppose it's like how we don't have to carry our driving licences with us in the UK (they even tell you not to).

You get 7 days to take it to a police station if asked for it.

I've always wondered the same thing! And Sam, I don't think it would be too bad if the database were voluntary. I would totally sign up.

I am the "Paul" in the story. I am in my late 30s and a father of four. I submitted my story to TUAW and a writer from TUAW called me to ask me questions regarding the validity of the story before it was published. It's been fun to read all the comments about my story. The story is true as told in TUAW. I thought I would chime in to defend some of the skepticism.

I can afford a $200 ticket. But why would I want to pay a $200 fine if I didn't have to?

I was reluctant to share the name of the insurance company. In addition, I asked that TUAW not be specific about the location because I didn't want the officer to be implicated in the event he was breaking policy by accepting the proof of coverage on my phone.

In my state(IL), if you cannot prove insurance coverage then you are issued a ticket for not having insurance. I could either post my driver's license or $200 cash bond. Then I could bring proof to court(two months later) and receive my driver's license or $200 back. I didn't have $200 cash on me and I didn't want to be without my driver's license for two months. Also, I didn't want to take time to go to court to prove my insurance coverage.

My story was to be an interesting account of using an iPhone to get out of jam and not intended to be a viral ad for GIECO. However, if GIECO, Apple or AT&T would like to send me some $ for this unintended plug, then please contact TUAW. They have my email address from when I submitted my story. ;-)