kiwi_outdoors
Well-known member
Our 1992 Miata got ticketed in Berkeley for not having a front plate.
Front license plates - do we really need 'em?
- Thread starter NorCalAthlete
- Start date
900ss
Well-known member
Vegan of course silly; we're in California!:teeth
I used to do business in SF regularly and had some favorite parking spots, one being Justin Herman Plaza.
Guaranteed ticket if you were out of line. I even had one that was a complete fabrication, cause, I was parking there pretty regularly and apparently annoyed the enforcer...
Went to a hearing and everything. Yeah, revenue generation mechanism. I charged my employer. Told my boss the sitch. I just hate fraud. Seriously, some city employee makes up shit? Grrrr.....
Not to rant further, but I had a SJ cop make up a bunch of shit and actually tell it to the judge in court. Er, fraud and perjury? I did bring that to the DA’s office but did not go further. I had really good documentation. He, hmm, Bowles?, was to be talked to.
Such an appalling incident it will live with me forever. Rant over.
Last edited:
Shaggy
Zoinks!!!!
Front license plate laws were on the books well before anyone even thought of the idea of a license plate reader.
Johndicezx9
Rolls with it...
Still better than a LEO knee to your neck, so there's that...
Last edited:
RRR70
Attack Helicopter
I know. I was thinking more about toll booth.
GAJ
Well-known member
Maybe I'll just get a black plate which will come with the new stickers as it seems replacing existing rear plate involves fees anyway.
Archimedes
Fire Watcher
Cops don't pull over for front plate violations. It's an add on ticket only.
Archimedes
Fire Watcher
I've never run a front plate on any of my cars for the past 26 years in California and I have received zero tickets for it.
I did get rear ended by a hit and run drunk driver once when I was sitting at a light and his front plate wound up in my backseat, which made it easy to find him when he ran.
I did get rear ended by a hit and run drunk driver once when I was sitting at a light and his front plate wound up in my backseat, which made it easy to find him when he ran.
SFSV650
The Slowest Sprotbike™
I’ve been pulled over for a missing plate.
They don't?
I do a lot of field training. New cops in training do it a lot, because they often have a hard time finding other violations, and that one's easy. Plenty of arrests are made resulting from simple no front plate stops.
Nice! :laughing
gixxerjeff
Dogs best friend
Absolutely incorrect. There you go again spewing opinion as fact.
They can and do use it to have a conversation with a driver when they have little else. None the less, it happens. The same goes for the 3rd brake lamp. You may not get pulled over for it at 2:00 in the afternoon but they sure as hell will talk to you about it at 2:00 in the morning....if only to smell your breath.
At that point the DUI is an "add on ticket only" by your logic.
Randy B
Well-known member
I know that Illinois State Police do.
This was many moons ago in the summer of 1987. I was driving north in I-39 and the trooper traveling south swung around to pull me over for no front plate. Didn't even write me a warning for it, she just talked to me for a few minutes and let me go on my way.
Bay Arean
Well-known member
I guess we all know this as motocyclists, but I am amazed at all the expired year tags out there. As well as the ones that don't have the full year number. Instead of 2020 there is a little round picture of a state (?) seal followed by last two digits. I don't know where those come from but they don't look legit.
I was behind a work pickup of some contractor last week. The guys license plate was hanging by a piece of wire down vertically and turned inside out. No front plate. I kept waiting for it to fall off. That was a spectacular breach...how big of a failed drunken contractor do you have to be to miss that?
As for topic, I have a weird take. 10 or more years ago, I spent almost a year fighting a FasTrak ticket because a truck I rented had its FRONT license plate stolen from a lot and used to cross Richmond Bridge. So I guess I could say that front plates, despite lacking tags are an invitation to mischief. Maybe we should have only one. Plus, the stickers themselves are kind of a relic with all the plate scanning going on anyway.
I was behind a work pickup of some contractor last week. The guys license plate was hanging by a piece of wire down vertically and turned inside out. No front plate. I kept waiting for it to fall off. That was a spectacular breach...how big of a failed drunken contractor do you have to be to miss that?
As for topic, I have a weird take. 10 or more years ago, I spent almost a year fighting a FasTrak ticket because a truck I rented had its FRONT license plate stolen from a lot and used to cross Richmond Bridge. So I guess I could say that front plates, despite lacking tags are an invitation to mischief. Maybe we should have only one. Plus, the stickers themselves are kind of a relic with all the plate scanning going on anyway.
Last edited:
ScorpioVI
كافر ლ(ಠ&
Ran my red Mustang for 3 years in CA without a front plate, never once got pulled over/ticketed for that although pulled over several times for other reasons.
About 3 years into running my Tacoma without a front plate and haven't yet been pulled over on it for any reason. Oddly cops love to come chat me up when I'm parked someplace but usually just to ask questions about the mods on my truck.
About 3 years into running my Tacoma without a front plate and haven't yet been pulled over on it for any reason. Oddly cops love to come chat me up when I'm parked someplace but usually just to ask questions about the mods on my truck.
RRR70
Attack Helicopter
Never had front plate on Jeep Wrangler. Bought a plate beaker that mounts under winch fairlead. Never put it on and never an issue. Had plenty of cops, mostly motors, stop by at the Wall when I was there for a smoke. Never a single one of them said anything except “Nice rig!”