Court Opinion

ID: 9538413
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:36:12.778005+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:57:51.609905
License: Public Domain

*683THORNTON, J.,
concurring.
I concur. Additionally, I would adopt here and now the rationale of the cases cited in the margin,1 and would declare that under the provisions of ORS 482.040(2)(b)2 a police officer may stop a vehicle to check the identity of the driver, the driver’s motor vehicle operator’s license or the motor vehicle registration without the necessity of first establishing a reasonable suspicion before doing so that the driver had committed a crime. See, State v. Johnson, 10 Or App 353, 499 P2d 348, rev den (1972).
I agree with the view expressed in the cited cases that to hold otherwise would in effect prevent the proper enforcement of our traffic laws.
As the United States Supreme Court recently observed in United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 US 543, 561, 96 S Ct 3074, 49 L Ed 2d 1116, 1130 (1976), another automobile stop case:
"* * * [0]ne’s expectation of privacy in an automobile and of freedom in its operation are significantly different from the traditional expectation of privacy and freedom in one’s residence. * * *”
"* * * [T]his practice of stopping automobiles briefly for questioning has a long history evidencing its utility and is accepted by motorists as incident to highway use.” 428 US at 561 n 14.
It follows necessarily from the above that I would overrule our decision in State v. Johnson, Wesson, 26 *684Or App 599, 554 P2d 194 (1976), and any similar previous expressions by this court to the same effect.

 Lipton v. United States, 348 F2d 591 (9th Cir 1965); Patmore v. United States, 290 A2d 573 (DC App 1972); State v. Holmberg, 194 Neb 337, 231 NW2d 672 (1975); Leonard v. State, 496 SW2d 576 (Tex Cr App 1973).

 ORS 482.040(2)(b) provides:
"The licensee shall have such license in his immediate possession at all times when driving a motor vehicle, and shall display it upon the demand of a justice of the peace, a peace officer, or a field deputy or inspector of the division. It is a defense to any charge under this subsection that the person so charged produce in court an operator’s or chauffeur’s license that had been issued to him and was valid at the time of his arrest.”