I Got Caught Without a License Plate (56k Beware)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Keef
  • 84 comments
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M5Power
I see people in pickups driving with just their fog lights constantly. Annoying as hell but I'd be surprised if it's illegal - they're pretty bright.
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I'm not quite sure the law in Kalifornya but, I think it was something like...

Driving with just fog lights is illegal or if not then the law about having your main lights higher than the tires covers it. You can't drive with fogs and high beams on either. I think there's even a law about what kind of lights it is too. I know blue aftermarket lights (ricers have them sometimes) are illegal.
 
The number one reason for front plates in Ohio? It's a reflective surface for their laser speed guns. I've heard that in person from my dad's police friend and my Sheriff cousin last night. After that they mentioned crash witnesses identifying cars. Those are the reasons they came up with. Both of them were completely against the law and have issued warnings but never a ticket for it.
 
Front plates are so cops can easily spot the out-of-towners and/or violators; either one's easy money to them.

If it were was anything other than a monetary benefit to have a plate on the front as well as the rear, then every state would do it.

End of story.
 
I've lived in states that do and do not require front plates.
My only issue with having a front plate is that my wife parks too damn close to the freezer and if yer car has a front plate or a front plate mount everyone that walks by gets a lag gash from the damn thing.

In Kansas if a car has a front plate, it's usually the expired personalized plate from the year before.:lol:
 
In Missouri where plates are required on the front and rear of a vehicle, many people have the plates in the car displayed in the windows.
Why,
because you would not believe the number of people that steal the tax stickers off lisence plates and put them on their own cars to keep from paying the exorbitant rates.
I can tell you when I managed a dialysis clinic in MO, a 25 to 35% of my staff was "ridin' dirty" with an outdated sticker or a stolen one.
 
Pupik
If it were was anything other than a monetary benefit to have a plate on the front as well as the rear, then every state would do it.
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Quite right. When I ordered my 'TOPGEAR' plate, they asked if I wanted one for the front. That received an immediate "NOOO," as I see absolutely no need for it whatsoever. Although I would consider a custom-made Euro plate for the front of the Celica (better yet... A Japanese plate?), I just think a real one would make it look stupid.

Really, any car looks stupid with a plate (American style) on the front. My Aunt's Miata comes to mind here...
 
Here's the law.

4503.21 Display of license plates and validation stickers or temporary license placard or windshield sticker.

(A) No person who is the owner or operator of a motor vehicle shall fail to display in plain view on the front and rear of the motor vehicle the distinctive number and registration mark, including any county identification sticker and any validation sticker issued under sections 4503.19 and 4503.191 of the Revised Code, furnished by the director of public safety, except that a manufacturer of motor vehicles or dealer therein, the holder of an in transit permit, and the owner or operator of a motorcycle, motorized bicycle, manufactured home, mobile home, trailer, or semitrailer shall display on the rear only. A motor vehicle that is issued two license plates shall display the validation sticker only on the rear license plate, except that a commercial tractor that does not receive an apportioned license plate under the international registration plan shall display the validation sticker on the front of the commercial tractor. An apportioned vehicle receiving an apportioned license plate under the international registration plan shall display the license plate only on the front of a commercial tractor and on the rear of all other vehicles. All license plates shall be securely fastened so as not to swing, and shall not be covered by any material that obstructs their visibility.

No person to whom a temporary license placard or windshield sticker has been issued for the use of a motor vehicle under section 4503.182 of the Revised Code, and no operator of that motor vehicle, shall fail to display the temporary license placard in plain view from the rear of the vehicle either in the rear window or on an external rear surface of the motor vehicle, or fail to display the windshield sticker in plain view on the rear window of the motor vehicle. No temporary license placard or windshield sticker shall be covered by any material that obstructs its visibility.

(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor.

Effective Date: 01-01-2004
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MyPlate1.jpg


It's plainly visible. We can argue weather conditions and time of day and position of the sun and view points all day. But we don't need to, because it's bright red white and blue stripes are obvious and I can read the letters.

As for mounting, it's held on by four suction cups. I don't see the sense in arguing if glass is an obstruction seeing as it's exceptionally transparent.

MyPlate13.jpg


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"Because I didn't like the way it looked" were my words.

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Not only did he blatantly neglect a front plate, but he also put his radar detector in the worst possible location. It's in the passenger corner of the windshield, sitting on the dash. He has no idea how antennas work.

MyPlate18.jpg


MyPlate19.jpg

Both those Pontiacs and the C5 have a specific place for a plate. But they didn't even bother putting it in the window.
 
As I remembered it before, the only reason we HAD to have a front license plate is so we could get radared easier... Now that they "count" it doesn't matter. I guess radar is that unreliable...
 
///M-Spec
Keef... don't you know in most states, just driving a Civic alone means 'probable cause'? ;)


M
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:lol:

M5Power
Keef is a poo-face.
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:lol:

Perfect Balance
We are required to have front license plates and it's very enforced, at least around here. A car without a front plate actually stands out to me and I always become curious as to what state it's from.
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Not cool with the enforcement. 👎

Pupik
Front plates are so cops can easily spot the out-of-towners and/or violators; either one's easy money to them.

If it were was anything other than a monetary benefit to have a plate on the front as well as the rear, then every state would do it.

End of story.
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I think this is more of the truth when it comes to states requiring front license plates, though, politicians would never tell any of us this as the truth.

Gil
In Missouri where plates are required on the front and rear of a vehicle, many people have the plates in the car displayed in the windows.
Why,
because you would not believe the number of people that steal the tax stickers off lisence plates and put them on their own cars to keep from paying the exorbitant rates.
I can tell you when I managed a dialysis clinic in MO, a 25 to 35% of my staff was "ridin' dirty" with an outdated sticker or a stolen one.
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One way to somewhat prevent that theft is to use a razor blade, after putting the stickers on the plate, and cut an "X" in the stickers.

YSSMAN
Quite right. When I ordered my 'TOPGEAR' plate, they asked if I wanted one for the front. That received an immediate "NOOO," as I see absolutely no need for it whatsoever. Although I would consider a custom-made Euro plate for the front of the Celica (better yet... A Japanese plate?), I just think a real one would make it look stupid.

Really, any car looks stupid with a plate (American style) on the front. My Aunt's Miata comes to mind here...
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I agree that American plates do not fit cars very well on the front.
 
Hey Keef: You have mounting holes, stop whining and moaning about it. You could also show them all of the pictures you've taken.
 
to the guy from NZ: you pay for your plates every year, and they're assigned to the licence holder, not the car. that's why they're called licence plates, here. we run out of numbers very fast because sometimes, a plate will only be on a vehicle for a MONTH before the car is destroyed, repoed, etc.

I agree you can't destroy a 15 grand bumper for plate holes, but we need to tell foreign manufacturers to make them with a spaced set for fronts NO MATTER WHAT. too bad we can't do what I saw on a british oldie. someone had transfered their front registry numbers and letters to transfers on the hood :P
 
There are a lot of products out there that allow you to attach a plate without drilling holes, pretty much every MINI owner I've seen on the NA Motoring forum that is required to have a front plate uses such a product.

TopHat
Front plates should be ultra-thin, ultra strong magnets/adhesive.
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So people could steal them easily?
 
What if they were ridiculously expensive and time consuming?

I'm not putting a magnet on my car. It destroys paint and causes uneven wear of the paint. Same goes for adhesives. That's why there's no stickers on my car. The Lawsuit thread makes me wonder how much the state wants to buy me a new bumper because their plate screwed it up.
 
The uneven wear of paint shouldn't matter if the plate will always be there. That is unless you move of course. And how could a license plate cause enough damage that a new bumper would be needed.

In my opinion you're being ridiculous, however, I do agree with you about the ticket.
 
Sniffs
I agree you can't destroy a 15 grand bumper for plate holes, but we need to tell foreign manufacturers to make them with a spaced set for fronts NO MATTER WHAT.
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Foreign manufacturers make cars with front registration plate mounts if the car is sold anywhere other than the USA, because front registration plates are compulsory in Europe and Japan (maybe Australia - I'm not sure). An earlier example was an F430:

ferrari_f430_spider_23_03_07.jpg

UK-registered F430, front registration plate as fitted by the dealer...


I don't get what the fuss is. Your law says you must have a front registration plate mounted ON the vehicle. You don't have one - you've got one IN the vehicle, but that's not what the law says. The justification for the law has no bearing on the fact that you're not following it - what's the justification for a rear registration plate and why are you following that one?

You knowingly chose to break the law. You got caught. The end.
 
Famine
because front registration plates are compulsory in Europe and Japan (maybe Australia - I'm not sure).
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Yep Australia too. Very strict about it here and you wont see any cars (Bikes exempt) without them.
 
bikes exempt? huh. we've all seen how the brits did it, the mounted a reg plate on the curve of the front bumper.

Tophat: modern bumpers are plastic and fiberglass. i think the reinforcement metal is too far down. besides, on the first bump, the damn magnets would fly off. you couldn't use that kind of thing in a rural state with even the smoothest dirt road.

Keef: I agree. bumpers are so hypersensitive to the least amount of damage. I was heading into get something when I was rear-ended by a then brand-new Camry while in my 90 Acclaim in a bumper tap. what I got was a tiny scrape. what she got was a destroyed grill and a ripped down bumper, because the camry nosedived right under my rear end. she probably had 3000 bucks worth of damage, including paint. mine was all paint. her Insurance paid me 350 for a respray.

Famine: only a few US states are One-Platers (I can't speak for any Canadian Provinces, but I've never seen less than two on the cars that do come down), not enough to NOT warrent automatic plate-mounting holes on ANY car, US manufacturers included!

I had a freind down in Bristol (now former freind) ask me how to get an American Sized plate with a british registry number. i had to tell him it would have to be custom made and shipped over there.
 
Sniffs
bikes exempt? huh. we've all seen how the brits did it, the mounted a reg plate on the curve of the front bumper.
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Which neatly carved pedestrians in two in a frontal impact. Now illegal.
 
I know that Alabama and Tennessee don't have a law for having a front plate. not sure on the other states. Here you don't have to break the law to get a ticket :)
 
Perfect Balance
We are required to have front license plates and it's very enforced, at least around here. A car without a front plate actually stands out to me and I always become curious as to what state it's from.
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Same deal up in Northern Virginia.

My buddy has been pulled over three times for it. No tickets tho. He always says he was doin body work on the nose, which he was....like 6 months ago, anyway they let him go.

I've always wanted to get rid of my front plate, being the my car look 100x better without the plate.
 
It's perfectly legal to not have a front license plate on the front here in California. My dad didn't have one on his old Accord.
 
Prosthetic
It's perfectly legal to not have a front license plate on the front here in California. My dad didn't have one on his old Accord.
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California is a 2-plate state, bud. The only exception is if you are issued 1 plate instead of 2.
5200. (a) When two license plates are issued by the department for use upon a vehicle, they shall be attached to the vehicle for which they were issued, one in the front and the other in the rear.
(b) When only one license plate is issued for use upon a vehicle, it shall be attached to the rear thereof , unless the license plate is issued for use upon a truck tractor, in which case the license plate shall be displayed in accordance with Section 4850.5.
Amended Sec. 27, Ch. 594, Stats. 2003. Effective January 1, 2004.
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California Vehicle Code

Front License Plate Bracket

11713.17. (a) Following the retail sale or lease of a motor vehicle for which the department issues two license plates, a dealer may not deliver the motor vehicle unless either of the following occurs:

(1) The motor vehicle is equipped with a bracket or other means of securing a front license plate.

(2) The dealer obtains a signed written acknowledgment from the person taking delivery of the motor vehicle acknowledging both of the following:

(A) The person expressly refused installation of a bracket or other means of securing the front license plate.

(B) The person understands that California law requires a license plate to be displayed from and securely fastened to the front of the motor vehicle and that the hardware necessary to securely fasten the front plate is available from the dealer.

(b) A manufacturer or distributor may not sell or distribute in this state a new motor vehicle for which the department issues two license plates, unless that motor vehicle is equipped or provided with a bracket or other means of securing the license plates.
Added Sec. 1, Ch. 365, Stats. 2004. Effective January 1, 2005.
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