# What's hanging from your rear-view mirror ?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 16, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416 "2011-12-16T15:34:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416/41 "2011-12-17T04:44:13Z")
Community college parking permit (that is, when I was in community college.) Technically illegal, I think, because here (and probably just about everywhere) you can’t have ANYTHING hanging there when you drive. So you’re supposed to take it down when you drive. But I doubt that very many people did take it down. A parking pass does NOT obstruct vision in any way, unless you are worried about colliding with flying saucers. But the laws don’t make such fine distinctions. People leave their parking permits hanging on mirrors all the time. I’ve never heard of anyone getting ticketed for it. Does anyone have stories of someone getting a ticket? ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416/42 "2011-12-17T11:16:12Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Community college parking permit (that is, when I was in community college.) > > Technically illegal, I think, because here (and probably just about everywhere) you can’t have ANYTHING hanging there when you drive. So you’re supposed to take it down when you drive. > > But I doubt that very many people did take it down. A parking pass does NOT obstruct vision in any way, unless you are worried about colliding with flying saucers. But the laws don’t make such fine distinctions. > > People leave their parking permits hanging on mirrors all the time. I’ve never heard of anyone getting ticketed for it. > > Does anyone have stories of someone getting a ticket? I see news stories of people pulled over for “obstructed vision” in some of the more upscale towns around here fairly regularly, and subsequently arrested for other violations. So I suspect “obstructed vision” can be a handy excuse for officers to pull someone over for other, more nebulous reasons. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416/43 "2011-12-17T11:20:47Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > I see news stories of people pulled over for “obstructed vision” in some of the more upscale towns around here fairly regularly, and subsequently arrested for other violations. So I suspect “obstructed vision” can be a handy excuse for officers to pull someone over for other, more nebulous reasons. Like this one: > **[Grand Blanc Township police ticket woman for possession of marijuana](https://www.mlive.com/grandblanc/2011/02/grand_blanc_township_police_ti.html)** > > A 38-year-old Flint woman received a citation for possession of marijuana after police stopped her vehicle for vision obstruction, according to police reports. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416/44 "2011-12-17T11:24:17Z")
A 3" long pink and orange plastic jelly flip-flop that used to smell like something. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416/45 "2011-12-17T12:29:26Z")
I have never, in 41 years of driving, hung anything from my rear-view mirror. The only thing I have ever seen hanging from one that made me think, “Cool!” was the [lowered ute](http://www.google.com.au/search?q=lowered+ute&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=v3E&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnsfd&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=UIrsTv2uI4KUiQe-gI3jBA&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CB4Q_AUoAQ&biw=1532&bih=967) I once followed that had a nice shiny pair of handcuffs hanging from the mirror. ---
**Author:** ![ASanders](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asanders/32/3367_2.png) [@ASanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASanders)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416/46 "2011-12-17T12:45:38Z")
In my car: A little wooden dolphin necklace on a leather thong. Nothing in my husband’s car. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416/47 "2011-12-17T18:27:27Z")
About two years’ worth of paper parking permits. Every month they give us a new one for the parking lot at work, and I hang it in front of the last one and think that one of these days I need to take all the old ones off and throw them out… ---
**Author:** ![\_mostly\_Harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/9d8465/32.png) [@\_mostly\_Harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_mostly_Harmless)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416/48 "2011-12-17T20:40:57Z")
I used to have a shark tooth that a friend got in Fiji but now I just have The Shattered Pieces Of My Former Life strung on dental floss interspersed between popcorn. -j/k (except for the shark tooth thing) ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416/49 "2011-12-17T20:50:13Z")
Nothing. It’s dangerous. When your brain is used to something moving in your peripheral vision, it tunes out ALL movement in your peripheral vision. So, you could miss a pedestrian walking into your path. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416/50 "2011-12-17T20:58:48Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Nothing on mine - I find such decorations distracting when I drive. Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416/51 "2011-12-17T21:10:06Z")
A foam block of cheese from Wisconsin (where I was born/Packers fan A “wacky quacker” from the ducks from a fun trip to Cinci with some work friends ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416/52 "2011-12-17T22:15:27Z")
Some mardi gras beads and a Handicap thingy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror/606416.md?page=2)