Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
High hopes for invention
Inventor hopes to reduce risks
Clear plastic pouch containing driver’s documents adheres to windshield.
A South Florida man has developed a product he hopes will save lives.
It’s a clear plastic pouch that sticks to the inside of car windshields and holds the documents police request during traffic stops: license, registration, insurance card and, if applicable, concealed weapons permit.
Having the documents easily retrievable enables drivers to keep their hands on their steering wheels after being pulled over while telling officers where they can find the requested documents, says Eric Cardenas, founder of the company that developed the product, ID Ready.
Cardenas, an administrative assistant at the University of Miami, said he came up with the idea while thinking about the deadly shooting of Philando Castile by a police officer during a traffic stop in Minnesota on July 6. In a live Facebook stream after the shooting, Castile’s girlfriend said the man was shot while reaching for his wallet to produce his license and registration. The police officer was recorded saying, “I told him not to reach for it.” The shooting remains under investigation.
In an interview, Cardenas said he thinks the traditional rules of the traffic stop, in which an officer walks up to a driver’s window and waits as the driver reaches into his pants or glove box, don’t work anymore. After hearing the news about Castile’s death, “I thought to myself, ‘There’s got to be a better way that allows drivers to comply without reaching for anything.’”
He says he researched whether any state has a law requiring drivers to keep documents accessible by officers but found nothing. He hopes his idea will lead states to enact such a requirement, “not only to protect drivers but the police as well.”
Cardenas and his wife, Jennifer, brainstormed ideas before developing the design that fits a plastic clip for card-sized items inside a larger pouch that can hold other documents, he said. He tested various adhesives’ abilities to withstand direct Florida sunlight before deciding upon a 3M doublesided tape that survived a four-month trial.
He contracted with a company in China to produce the pouches, and he now sells them online at his website IDreadyshop.com. Since launching at the beginning of October, he has sold about 100 pouches, he said.
Although he has the pouch mounted in his car, he hasn’t been able to test it because he hasn’t been pulled over, he said. He recommends drivers keep the documents facing toward the inside of the car to prevent anyone passing by from accessing addresses, driver license numbers or any other sensitive information.