Obscured License Plates
 

I had a close brush with a motorist on the morning commute. They pulled in front of me from a gas station without slowing down or looking yada yada.., more as part of my new routine than anything else I tried to get close enough to read and memorize the license plate. However this car had one of those tinted covers over the plate and this had a healthy dose of road salt and grime on it making it hard to even decide if there was a plate under it or not.

I have over the last year noticed a marked increase in these plate covers, I suspect, after learning about this on Mythbusters, that they started getting used when the city installed red light cameras. I guess the tint is supposed to help scofflaw motorists to try and beat the system.

Do the police care about these things? Purely from a bicycle, pedestrian safety point of view, I think the main thing preventing many a&&-holes from a hit and run is the knowledge that a bystander could get their license plate number. Why aren't these sorts of obscurments illegal? I'm just thankful that this particular motorist hadn't actually done something I needed his plate number for.

Just wondering what your experiences are..

they are illegal, and I know several people who have been pulled over in Texas for obscured liscence plates. (even know someone who got a ticket because their fram covered too much of the word "texas")

Around here I see lots of cars with the rear plate just thrown up on the rear ledge of the rear window. Lately most cars have had their plates packed in snow and ice. Then there are the cars with no plates or no temporary plates at all. I don't want to get into cop-bashing so I won't comment on where the priorities are locally.

Is it an issue? Yes. What can you do about it? It depends upon how big of a fight you want. What can you do if you have an incident with a car with obscured plates? Hope for the best.

There was a letter about those covers in this morning's local paper. Apparently they're the latest and greatest for people not paying the toll on the new Tacoma Narrows bridge.

I got a warning once for having a tinted license-plate cover, which I had to remove and go to a police station to prove I had or get a ticket. I believe the clear ones are ok (as long as you keep it clean), but tint is no good.

each car should be required to have a giant neon sign on the roof with the license information for all to see clearly.

In NJ any (clear or tinted) covering over the plate is illegal. It is also illegal to have any of the printing on the plate covered. This includes the the words, "NEW JERSEY" amg "GARDEN STATE"


As of March 1 it is now illegal to talk or text on a hand-held phone while driving in NJ.

Well the more of these stop light camera we get, the more obscured the license plates will get. Better get used to it. I just put tinted covers on my wifes cars, after scuffing them up a little first with steel wool. They are visable from behind, but not too visable.

Theres some clear cover that looks solid white in photos when the light from the
camera flash reflects off of it.

In NJ the fine for the covered license plate is almost double the fine for the moving violation. Also the covered plates provide probable cause to stop the car and check for other violations.

The people that commit these nice little equipment violations make it so very easy for the police to do their jobs. Many good arrests begin as motor vehicle stops for equipment violations and if everything else is in order you still walk away with a $165.00 ticket for an obstructed license plate. Oh, by the way in NJ this statute also applies to vehicles registered in other states.

What could you have done with the license number if you had been able to get it clearly? It would be great to be able to do something but is there? I think it would turn into a "your work against his/her" deal wouldn't it?

Oh in this case I wouldn't have done anything. It is just something I do as practice so when I really need it I have the skill to read and memorize the plate number rapidly. Basically it kills the boredom. But the fact that I couldn't even tell if there was a plate on this car got me thinking... Seems like cops should pull these guys over and slap them with a heafty fine something on the order of a red light violation or hit and run fine; as it is basically those sorts of offenses they are trying to get away with.

And this is why the garbage state is such a huge tourist draw. When my partner wanted to expand our buisness there in '99, I said no way, there is no way I will deal with the B.S. in that 'state'. The buisness law is more unfriendly than there motor code. We would have brought about 25 jobs to camden. I wonder how much better life would be there if that state was freed?

Yes it would be nice if something could be done. I know there have been several occasions where I have had to write a plate number down (non biking) and having the ability to quickly memorize would have helped.

I have a feeling this is a rarity, I think in most states these sort of infractions are referred to as "chicken bones."
That is, they are small fines and not worth a stop unless they are doing something else, or it's a week for targeting specific offenses.

How is it an oppressive law? License plates have to be visible and not obstructed by novelty or detection-evasion covers (which don't work).

Why? Tell your wife not to run red lights. Then she won't have to worry about getting tickets. And FYI,Myth Busters did a test of a bunch of things to obscure plates,and none of them worked.

I think myth busters missed the correct combination though, tinted plate together with road salt. Of course being in San Fran I guess we can forgive them for this oversight.

A lot of people here seem to be using some sort of paint remover to cut through the reflective coating on their plates, and in conjunction with some mud, the plates are hardly legible. I imagine these drivers will be ticketed for the illegibility in addition to a speeding ticket/whatever if they get pulled over, but otherwise, I'd be surprised if anything happened. Lots of people have plate covers too.

I have mixed feelings about these; they could allow a person to get away with a hit-and-run, but as far as evading the traffic cameras go, I don't really care about that. Speeding alone, especially the small amounts over the limit (ie: 5mph) can get you a $150 ticket. 5mph over the limit isn't really dangerous on most of the roads where cameras are. I also don't like the fact that private companies are profiting from issuing tickets; just like any business, there is plenty of incentive to maximize profits at any cost, including making yellow lights shorter, etc. Some intersections genuinely seem less safe because the cameras are there; people brake hard at yellows they could safely roll through because they don't want a ticket. A friend of mine was hit by the truck behind him in that very scenario.

The number of seconds a yellow light is on for should be determined by the speed of the road. If your friend was hit by someone who couldn't stop in time when he braked - that second person was tailgating.

There was a case not long ago in Toronto, Canada that a lady got a ticket because her car had the blue tinted licence plate. According to the cops it is obsuring the licence plate so she got a ticket. She bought that at www.canadiantire.ca and I think the case was that why would a store sell it if it was illegal to have.

A vehicle stop for this sort of equipment violation is low on the list, however if an officer is monitoring traffic or patrolling the roadways and this is the only noticeable violation at a given moment, then you take what is given to you, stop the car and see where it leads.

As I said many good arrests start as motor vehicle stops for minor violations.

Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber was identified and arrested as a result of a vehicle stop for an improperly displayed license plate

There is no law against the manufacture, distribution, sale, or possession of the license plate coverings. There is a law that makes it illegal to place them over your license plate if the car is to be operated on the public roadways.

Fixed it for you.

Very good. Thanks

Well, there's the PhotoShield that's an actual cover that partially obsures the tag:
http://www.phantomplate.com/images/p...ieldangles.gif


Then there's the PhotoBlocker Spray which will only work when a Flash-based LPR system is used:
http://www.phantomplate.com/images/xmas_pb_anim.gif

There's quite a few states where you'll get pulled over and ticketed quickly for a license plate cover in parts of NY (PANYNJ crossings) and in NJ (turnpike). LPR Systems work primarily using the 3M IR-sensitive reflective coating on license plates, and the contrast between background and lettering.

I don't think that's true in every state.

I just got back from a trip to NY and spent the last 3 hours of it driving in an ice storm across US 30 in central Ohio. When I got out of the car, safe at home (whew!), I saw that the front of my car was so thick with ice the plate was unreadable. Also explained why my visibility kept getting worse, even though the weather gradually improved towards the end... the fog lights had about 2 inches of ice crammed in the recesses.

I had stopped at a rest stop along the way to clear the ice off the wipers and antenna (that was banging the roof of my car it was so heavy), and cleared off the plate, but it didn't last long.

Point is that I took the time to try and do the right thing, even though it was pouring sleet and freezing rain. This topic reminds me of the idiots that clear off just enough of their windshield to see out the front, and don't bother with the sides, rear, lights, etc. And then proceed to have snow flying off their cars in large chunks.

..and as Mythbusters showed, none of the sprays or anti-flash optical covers do a damn thing. At least, not enough to make much of a difference. The only thing that obscures is if it's dirty, and you can get pulled over for that in many states.

I believe that in many states, having any sort of cover across the license plate is illegal (although obviously there doesn't appear to be any shortage of people doing it). It's the case in NYS, for example: http://nysdmv.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/n...i=&p_topview=1

Handy tip for mass murderers, cult leaders and people smuggling drugs or guns across country: if you do go on the run, don't break traffic laws and give police officers a legitimate reason to stop you. HTH.