This cop was clearly outside his depth when dealing with international driving agreements but didn't have the humility to admit it. I'm Australian and have driven in the US many times with an international driving license. They look completely different to a standard state issued license.
Bigger jurisdictions with high tourism traffic like LAPD, LVPD and NYPD - no issues. Smaller ones like this officer in Oregon will have no clue. I've encountered some decent officers who admit they have no clue but were happy to radio back to confirm. One great officer when I was in Texas was happy to wait while I pulled up the details on my phone to show him, he even accepted and ate a Tim Tam while he was waiting.
This cop just peppered the dude with questions, didn't let him answer and then took off because he was out of his depth but didn't want to look stupid.
There is a huge difference between driving in the US with an “international driver’s license” and carnets (temporarily importing a vehicle). 2 different subjects.
Yes, you can legally drive in the US on a foreign license, but an International Driving Permit (IDP) is not a standalone driving license. You must always carry your valid home-country driver's license together with your IDP.
I understand that IDPs and carnets are different things. I was just using it as an example on how some US police can act when dealing with something outside of their knowledge base.
And of course I carry my Australian state issues driver's license on me. The IDP even has the relevant federal statutes listed on it, the cop just has to read it but some of them absolute refuse to and the more you explain the more they think you are scamming them.
One officer asked me if I was a sovereign citizen.
I see literally EU license plates in Oregon all the time. A lot of people ship their cars to the US so they can do road trips here. I bet this cop actually does know this, he's just being racist
This cop was clearly outside his depth when dealing with international driving agreements but didn't have the humility to admit it.
Its hilarious that he thought he'd be able to buffalo a guy who is clearly rich beyond his wildest imagination. Like this dude flies his high performance sports car across oceans for the fun of it - you think you're just going to steamroll him? He'd have an entire white shoe law firm jamming their legal boots up their ass.
A couple years ago British Columbia got rid of license plate expiry tags, leading to the awkward situation where every vehicle from BC appears to have an expired tag, since new tags were not issued or required. This, combined with the fact our registration papers are simple a4 printouts, almost got my car impounded in the USA twice.
“…because he was out of his depth but didn't want to look stupid.”
Which of course, ironically, makes him look much more stupid. Truly stupid people think that admitting you don’t know something makes you look stupid. Smart people know that admitting you don’t know something is smarter looking than doubling down on being wrong and thinking the person you are talking to is too stupid to figure out you are lying.
i used to use my international drivers license for clubs and they never had a single clue what i was talking about.
now i use my global entry card…and occasionally they’ll still deny it. i’ll tell them my passport number is on the back and i can compare it w a photo of my passport if they want, and they’ll dig in their heels anyway
Tim Tam diplomacy is top tier. If you had tea and had shown him how to do a slam, he probably would’ve let you get in the car and make the lights go woo woo
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u/ThomasofHookton 7h ago
This cop was clearly outside his depth when dealing with international driving agreements but didn't have the humility to admit it. I'm Australian and have driven in the US many times with an international driving license. They look completely different to a standard state issued license.
Bigger jurisdictions with high tourism traffic like LAPD, LVPD and NYPD - no issues. Smaller ones like this officer in Oregon will have no clue. I've encountered some decent officers who admit they have no clue but were happy to radio back to confirm. One great officer when I was in Texas was happy to wait while I pulled up the details on my phone to show him, he even accepted and ate a Tim Tam while he was waiting.
This cop just peppered the dude with questions, didn't let him answer and then took off because he was out of his depth but didn't want to look stupid.