Driver with 'PRIVATE' plate in custody after traffic stop on Hwy 26

HILLSBORO, Ore. – Deputies took a driver into custody Wednesday after stopping their pickup on Highway 26, noting that the truck had a “PRIVATE” plate.

The driver was non-compliant with deputies during the traffic stop near 185th Avenue, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said.

The pickup truck had a plate on the back that said “PRIVATE, no driver license or insurance required, not for commerce use – private mode of travel.”

There are several posts and articles that use excerpts from Supreme Court cases to claim that drivers do not need insurance or state-issued licenses (or permits) to drive on public roads -- requirements to operate vehicles in Oregon and Washington.

Below is one such excerpt from Thompson v. Smith, 155 Va. 367 (1930) which in part says people’s driving privileges can’t be revoked, without reason.

"The right of a citizen to travel upon the public highways and to transport his property thereon in the ordinary course of life and business is a common right which he has under his right to enjoy life and liberty, to acquire and possess property, and to pursue happiness and safety. It includes the right in so doing to use the ordinary and usual conveyances of the day. This right is not a mere privilege which a city may permit or prohibit at will.

"The regulation of the exercise of the right to drive a private automobile on the streets of the city may be accomplished in part by the city by granting, refusing, and revoking under rules of general application permits to drive an automobile on its streets; but such permits may not be arbitrarily refused or revoked, or permitted to be held by some and refused to others of like qualifications, under like circumstances and conditions."

The case goes on to say that police and the city can regulate travel “in the interest of public safety and welfare,” and they can exercise that right through driving permits.