NC is so silly!

Here's yet another example of why NC is very silly:

My friend at work forgot to pay his car insurance bill last December and was, therefore, uninsured for a period of about 20 days (in December). Apparently, his insurance company informed the City of Durham of this fact sometime in June or July of this year, prompting the city to send him a letter telling him that because he was an uninsured driver for a period of time, they are levying a $50 fine on him, which is due by August 1. Well, Ali didn't open the letter until yesterday, so obviously the deadline had passed. So he called the city to ask what he should do, expecting (like I imagine most people would) them to tell him he owes a late fee as well. Oddly enough, it turns out that the punishment for paying the fine late is you lose your license plates for 30 days. Yes, he is actually supposed to take his license plates off his car and turn them in to the city, then go back 30 days later and retrieve them. I just think this is very odd. He can drive OTHER cars during this time - he's not losing his license... he just can't drive his own...