Just a heads up to those of us here in Texas. Our fearless leaders in the legislature have once again made it illegal to refrain from putting a license plate on the front of your car. They amended TRC 543.903 to add the penalty that they inexplicably left off during their 2011 "cleanup" of that part of the traffic code.
The change takes effect on 09/01/13.
I never removed my front plate. I was pulled over too many times in all the little towns between Dallas and Lubbock when I was in college. Finally added a super-legit JDM style side mount bracket to the Miata and haven't worried about it since, whether the law changed or not.
Yay...
Before all they could do was give you a warning. I have a customer who had a reflective vinyl sticker made as a copy of his license plate to put on the front bumper of his 2013 GT500 because "I'm not drilling a fu**ing hole in my front bumper". I don't blame him.
Zip ties.
In reply to Conquest351:
I am surprised nobody has ticketed him for making a false plate.....
good ideas for mounting that evil front plate. You can quickly take it off once you leave the state on vacation.
yamaha wrote: In reply to Conquest351: I am surprised nobody has ticketed him for making a false plate.....
It really looks like you just bent the plate up. It's a damn good copy.
I always thought that the front plate was really there so when they use a laser gun for speed enforcement they have a highly reflective target to aim at. Even if they only hit it for a second or so it would bounce enough of the signal back to get a good reading and thus make ticketing easier and more reliable when using the laser guns.
Most Law Enforcement agencies use the car mounted cameras to scan license plates while on patrol. They can scan plates of cars in parking lots around the road and oncoming cars. A friend of mine had his stolen car found this way. It also makes speed/red light cameras more reliable because they have two plates to capture.
Same customer I was talking about just came in and ordered one of those remote operated hidden license plate things he wants us to install. Hahahaha!!
http://www.hidetheplate.com/
In reply to dean1484:
No, the plate is supposed to be on the front for easier identification of the vehicle. The law has nothing to do with laser.
Something most folks don't know is that very few agencies actually have or actually use license plate recognition. There are private companies that pay people by the hour to drive around in public at malls, apartments, and etc with LPR. They then charge private companies and government agencies to check their records for repos and stolen plates or vehicles. Much cheaper than paying cops to drive around 24/7.
In reply to Ojala:
The reason Texas police departments want the front plates is to basically require a flat, reflective surface on the front of every car on the road. They'll say its for ID, but the reality for most is that it helps get better readings from the speed guns.
Lidar CAN "lock on" to a vehicle over 2000 ft away. Some radar/lid at detectors claim to work in excess of 8000 ft. This is because the "beam" is over 3ft across at that point and the lidar is unable to lock on to and identify a single vehicle.
A front plate, depending on the design, can give the lidar a flat reflective surface. This gives the lidar the ability lock onto a target about 200 ft sooner. In reality this doesn't help much because of the distance. A human(you know the cop) has a realistic range of about 800 ft in traffic.
front plates were around long before radar and lidar. Personally, I would love something like pre-EU italy used to do. A large standardised plate in the rear, and a tiny one up front so the police can see your numbers when walking around the car
We always had them in Illinois. Mount and it's one less reason to get pulled over.
Mass has had them for years. I just screw it on and forget about it.
mad_machine wrote: front plates were around long before radar and lidar. Personally, I would love something like pre-EU italy used to do. A large standardised plate in the rear, and a tiny one up front so the police can see your numbers when walking around the car
That's true but according to cop buddies, it's why they fight to keep the plate on.
NY has been 2 plates as long as I can remember, PA is rear only. My car came from PA, so the dealer screwed the plate into the bumper.
And here i thought Texans liked freedom
Paint your plates with anti laser paint, problem solved.
Kenny_McCormic wrote: Paint your plates with anti laser paint, problem solved.
I thought Mythbusters proved that to be a myth?
I have been running without a front plate on the Rover. It came from Pa and I have a mount on order. Also do not have inspection stickers.. so far no cop has put 2+2 together..
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