I write with deep concern and urgency following a troubling and completely avoidable incident in the Catskills — one that should alarm every parent and community member who uses frum car services in the summer.
A camp director informed me that several girls returning from a day off used a well-known, frum car service in the area. During the ride, the driver was pulled over for a routine traffic infraction. That alone is disturbing. But what the police discovered is even more troubling: The vehicle’s registration was expired.
This wasn’t a backroads, off-the-books operation. This was a car dispatched by a business that claims to serve the frum community — and the driver was behind the wheel in a vehicle not legally registered to be on the road.
Many of us deliberately pay more to use heimishe car services over Uber or Lyft. We do it because we want to support fellow Yidden. We do it because we assume there’s a higher standard of care, of responsibility, of basic menschlichkeit.
But now we’re left asking: Do these companies care about our safety — or just our money? If an Uber driver had been caught with an expired registration, we’d be appalled. So why are we tolerating it from our own?
Choosing “frum” shouldn’t come at the cost of basic legal compliance and public safety. If anything, it should mean more accountability — not less.
I’m calling on every parent, counselor, and camper: Before you step into a car service vehicle — ask to see the registration.
Yes, you’re allowed to ask. Yes, you should. And if the driver refuses, resists, or acts insulted — that’s your cue to step out and call another car.
We have checks for kashrus. We have checks for mechitzos. We should have checks for the cars driving our children.
With great respect, I turn to our rabbanim and poskim: When someone is caught driving with an expired registration — placing lives at risk — are we allowed, or even obligated, to report it to authorities? Is this a matter of pikuach nefesh?
We urgently need clear and public guidance from our leaders — so that no one is left wondering what the halachic response should be to obvious, repeated negligence.
To the car services in the Catskills and beyond: This is unacceptable. Do not dispatch drivers who aren’t legally cleared to be on the road. Do not take our trust and turn it into risk. You are transporting neshamos, not packages.
To the tzibbur: Wake up. Speak up. Check before you ride. If something seems off — say something. Don’t assume “frum” means “safe.”
We want to support heimishe businesses. We want to uplift our own. But that doesn’t mean giving a pass to those who violate basic standards of law, safety, and human responsibility. Frumkeit and carelessness cannot coexist.
With deep concern,
Moshe M.
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25 Responses
This is silly. A car service with many cars in it’s fleet might miss a registration renewal. It’s no big deal.
Expired registration??! Seriously? And you want to know if it’s pikuach nefesh?? Whatever your smoking save me some
I agree that the cars should be fully registered, etc. But how do you know that this wasn’t merely an oversight? We are all human. Maybe the employee there missed renewing the registration?
Are you only discovering reality now?
You know how often businesses (and private individuals) forget to to renew their registration (or renew it by mail and the envelope gets lost by USPS)?
Google “Hertz driver pulled over for no valid registration” and see the results.
Then google “Hertz driver arrested” and see the results.
Of all the problems in the Catskills, this is a very minor one.
Seriously???
An expired registration???
Yes everyone, especially car services, should be up to date but what exactly changed because the state put an expiration date on a vehicle registration?
The day after your license expires are the police no longer able to use it to positively ID you? Do you suddenly forget how to drive?
Does a registration expiring 6/30 make a vehicle unroadworthy or unsafe on 7/1?
An expired registration is “Pikuach Nefesh”?
I’m not against what you feel passengers should ask for but an expired registration is one of the most minor of traffic offenses.
In New York a registration expired less than 60 days is a whopping $40 fine. Over 60 days is a $70-$300 fine (both with a $93 surcharge).
If this was the punishment for a hit & run or DUI you’d be rightfully outraged.
But neither New York (of the most draconian & money hungry states) or any normal person I’ve ever met thought an expired registration was a matter of “Pikuach Nefesh”
Major crisis how dare they put someone at such a risk of being in a non registered car . Calling all askonim to make an atzeres tfillah for the safety of our community
The beginning of the article I was like, here we go again. However, the OP doesn’t disappoint with how silly this sounds. Please explain how an expired/invalid registration puts these girls at risk in any way shape or form. The worst that can happen is the car gets towed for invalid registration. This is just ridiculous.
A lack of a paper does not cause a danger to life.
Crisis?
Strong term for this I think. Not everything bothersome is a crisis.
Moshe,
You must be really bored. You have nothing else to concern yourself with? A car with an expired registration does not mean that the driver or the car are unsafe.
If I may share my thoughts on this, I 100% agree that any established car service company should ensure that all of its drivers have proper registration & insurance on their car which btw is strictly enforced by Uber & Lift.
At the same time, I can hear that something like this can happen since by law registration is due for renewal every 24 months, so it’s not unheard for people to miss to renew their registration.
It is still a legal responsibility, but it’s not necessarily dangerous to drive that way, so I wouldn’t consider it to be a בור ברשות הרבים
You were probably pro covid restrictions too, no?
Are you maybe confusing inspection with registration? The last time I paid for my registration no one checked or inspected my car. It’s all about money, money, even when pulled over..
The guy was stopped for not have a Taxi license get you facts straight he was ticketed for having improper registration because it’s not registered as a Taxi as usual overblown story to gain publicity
I’m a doctor, if I worked with an expired license I would lose everything. Run a legit business if you want to serve your community. Service to your community doesn’t mean you can serve them garbage because “ein beyah” …it means go to a higher level my friends. Having valid licenses and registrations is basic.
It’s sad that people flippantly feel free to disregard our laws and make light of them. How is it that when it comes to mitzvos we are not supposed to judge a “light” one compared to a “serious” one but for regulations we can say an expired registration is no big deal because the fine is “minimal?” I think these commenters miss the point of the original poster. If a private driver is lax with their registration, that is their concern. But, if they are driving others for hire it’s a whole different situation. It brings a far higher level of responsibility. The poster correctly says that Uber/Lyft closely enforces all required documents. Why should other providers be allowed to get away with lesser enforcement? It is the obligation of these provider companies to ensure drivers’ compliance with all regulations. Riders should feel that when they get into a for-hire vehicle it has passed all necessary requirements.
Jack Becker
West Orange, NJ
ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם just in 3 weeks coming up in the פרשה
I really hope this is a joke. I’m all for the law and at the same time forgetting to pay your bill has no bearing on anyone’s safety nor does the fact that this happened one time as far as we know make this a crisis. There are enough real crisis to get involved with. This if real, makes light of the real ones.
If you were worried because the driver’s insurance had expired or he didn’t have insurance — then you’d have something to worry about!
J Becker; They are not making light of it. They are just saying it’s not pikuach nefesh. Dina demalchusa dina is not יהרג ואל יעבר.
It does matter
If you routinely dismiss laws you will routinely dismiss safety.
Simple case scenario:
A car service driver who is speeding can get stopped, and without registration get arrested, leaving the girls stranded on the road.
Our unpaid tickets
Or overstayed his visa
Or has an outstanding warrant for not paying child support.
I’m serious.
Irresponsible people will do irresponsible things. With your daughters.
An expired registration ?????? You are making an issue of a tissue.
I guess you mean he didn’t have a drivers license at all.
If that’s the case this is indeed Pikuach Nefesh. Please correct the typo error in the article from “expired registration” to “no drivers license”
@ Jack Becker
The commenters are not saying that all if fine. They all agree that he should of renewed his registration on time. They are however all referring to making an article of it as if he was pulled over driving being drunk. An expired registration shouldn’t but could happen. Had it been an expired drivers license that would indeed deserve high attention but an expired registration despite it being unlawful and shouldn’t of happened but there is a long way to go to call it pikuach nefesh etc. etc.
Just to fix your lie, not the first and not the last one,
There is no Uber and Lyft available typically in catskills and have news for you that Uber and Lyft in catskills is mostly criminals and you don’t need to be licensed, so you get a bunch of crappy drivers with old cars mostly, I have used them during the year, in the summer there is a few hundred frum drivers men and women that are doing thousands of trips each and every day ! And has been like this for the past 50 years
So please stop the hate , don’t judge hundreds of frum drivers , mother’s and father that drive people to put chalah in the table for shabbos , and doing a great job each and every day of the summer and covering thousands of trips
Self hating jew
It’s time time to let women drive. Taking car service with goyim or strange Jewish men is dangerous. It’s one thing if you live in Boro park and gave everything at your fingertips but living in Monsey or areas that you need a car and relying on car services is not halachkily acceptable.