[mikeash]

What strikes me about this article and your story is that the cost of operating a car safely and legally can be much greater than the bare minimum cost of just operating a car in general. But enforcement of that extra cost is random, leading a lot of people who can't really afford a car (like in your case) to keep operating one anyway, because they really need it.

Seems like the problem needs to be attacked from both ends. First, better enforcement to make it clear that you can't keep driving around without a registration, rather than making it look like a gamble each time. Second, better public transportation so that a car is less of a necessity, to give options to those who can't afford to operate one safely.

As it is, we're putting people in a situation where they need a car to survive, can't afford to operate one safely and legally, and then randomly and capriciously punish them for it.