TX front license plate law removed (Law still in place - need two plates)

[Autobot]

Originally Posted by ZL1 STEVE

Kudos to "ratrodave" for providing legal precedent that may now be used by others in a court of law, but all indicators point to only temporary relief from lack-of-plate purgatory. It's no secret that the aesthetically pleasing aerodynamic front end views of a vehicle (minus those box-nosed types) are grossed up by a large flat rectangle It's time for a huge push from car enthusiasts and organizations that support them to advocate removal of the front plate requirement from Texas law. The rear plate is what witnesses catch 99% of the time during nefarious situations involving vehicles. If you are staring at a front plate in a bad situation, you've got bigger problems than trying to call in a vehicle identification/plate # to the authorities. I like what this petition says: http://www.petitiononline.com/txplate/petition.html

just signed it

[import_killa]

signed it as well

[jmaynard]

Originally Posted by ratroddave

Case WON There is not a city or state law that reguries you to have a front plate anymore as of the first of Jan. 2012/ The law simple states there must be (A) Plate on the vech to operate on public roads (A) is the key in this. It payed off NO COST ALL WAS TROW OUT. But I do have to pay my attorney o well.

I think That The state of Texas should be worried more about education and are young ones then focus on such a lame law.

Congrats. And I agree. Some laws are just silly, and this is one of them.

[Dave2SSRS]

Just got pulled over today by a state trooper who had nothing better to do. He ran my plate just because. He had no reason to. I asked him "So why did you run my plate to begin with" all he could say is "Why do you think I ran it?" I actually said, "because of the car"... he laughed and told me "I'm not a motor head". I nearly said "exactly" but restrained myself.

He saw a previous warning for no front plate from 2010. I wondered why he gassed it (unsafely) just to get in front of me. He said "Texas is a two plate state"... I told him I had read that something got left off a bill in the January session...blahblah. Of course big bad state trooper was having none of that.

He wrote me a warning... this is the second one. I am sure a ticket is next. Can't wait to fight it in court. Thank you Trooper T. Radford Jr. for making my day that much better. I sincerely hope you got off on pulling me over for a BS reason. He couldn't even tell me why a front license plate was required other than "It's the law". LOL!

I'm sorry for the rant.. I do respect most law enforcement. Just not these aholes that have nothing better to do than screw with us for BS reasons. Absolutely no harm came from me not having a front license plate. These toopers are from my area and know my car... Most are REALLY cool guys... however, I will now be profiled on a daily basis, I expect. The buddy system is always in full effect with law enforcement.

So I say to you Trooper Radford Jr., I hope you enjoy pulling me over today. You should spend more time checking big rigs hauling drugs or "in tow" vehicles heading to Mexico.

Am I off base here? Curious...

[jmaynard]

Well, seeing the post above, all I have to say is thank you State Trooper who did not pull me over when I gunned my Camaro to pass that slow truck coming up the ramp. He had me dead to rights as I was doing over 80 in a 70. I slowed down and he just let me pass by. I guess it's all in how you do it.

[Dave2SSRS]

Originally Posted by jmaynard

Well, seeing the post above, all I have to say is thank you State Trooper who did not pull me over when I gunned my Camaro to pass that slow truck coming up the ramp. He had me dead to rights as I was doing over 80 in a 70. I slowed down and he just let me pass by. I guess it's all in how you do it.

Agreed... most are cool when it comes to stuff like that, what happened to me was just ridiculous.

[GatorUSMC]

Originally Posted by Dave2SSRS

Am I off base here? Curious...

I'm not sure what else you wanted him to explain to you beyond it's a violation of the transportation code. The side of the road is no place to have an argument. You're not going to change each other's mind so if you disagree the place to go is before a neutral party.

I don't have a front plate on my car because I think it's damn ugly. The price I pay is giving them probable cause to pull me over at any time.

He only gave you a warning so I doubt he was that much of an "arse". For the same reason, I doubt he was screwing with you either. Most likely he was fishing. You gave him pc to pull you over, he took a look at what was in plain sight in your car, got a feel for you, saw no reason to ask for consent to search and left. Maybe he was just balancing out his racial profiling stats, who knows.

[Dave2SSRS]

Originally Posted by GatorUSMC

You gave him pc to pull you over, he took a look at what was in plain sight in your car, got a feel for you, saw no reason to ask for consent to search and left. Maybe he was just balancing out his racial profiling stats, who knows.

I see your point as well. Oh well... I've moved on. Being mad about it accomplishes nothing.

[Autobot]

Originally Posted by clg_98ta

So what happened? Did the DA drop the case, or did you actually go to court and get a judgement? If you got a judgement, we need to get a copy and post it here. I would think that that would be enough to get a case dropped in the event one of us gets a ticket.

Oh, and congrats

Yeah a copy would be nice.

[TAG UR IT]

For everyone else reading this, I started to check into the law with some folks down at the court.

I read my new traffic book.

There are several sections pertaining to license plates. The most important part to remember is that it DOES state that you need two plates. It ALSO states the fines for both plates...and having a front plate.

Under specialty plates (front plate) it does NOT have the penalty fee for no front plate. That, to me, made it look like for normal plates you have to have both but for specialty plates, you could get away without having the front one since there was no fine. I asked prosecutors about this and he said he'd have to look it up. When I asked about placement of the front plate, he said case law states it has to be on the furtherst most point of the vehicle. Basically, the front bumper.

So, yes. There IS a law on the books which DOES state you need both AND there is a penalty. FYI...

Originally Posted by Dave2SSRS

Just got pulled over today by a state trooper who had nothing better to do. He ran my plate just because. He had no reason to. I asked him "So why did you run my plate to begin with" all he could say is "Why do you think I ran it?" I actually said, "because of the car"... he laughed and told me "I'm not a motor head". I nearly said "exactly" but restrained myself.

He saw a previous warning for no front plate from 2010. I wondered why he gassed it (unsafely) just to get in front of me. He said "Texas is a two plate state"... I told him I had read that something got left off a bill in the January session...blahblah. Of course big bad state trooper was having none of that.

He wrote me a warning... this is the second one. I am sure a ticket is next. Can't wait to fight it in court. Thank you Trooper T. Radford Jr. for making my day that much better. I sincerely hope you got off on pulling me over for a BS reason. He couldn't even tell me why a front license plate was required other than "It's the law". LOL!

I'm sorry for the rant.. I do respect most law enforcement. Just not these aholes that have nothing better to do than screw with us for BS reasons. Absolutely no harm came from me not having a front license plate. These toopers are from my area and know my car... Most are REALLY cool guys... however, I will now be profiled on a daily basis, I expect. The buddy system is always in full effect with law enforcement.

So I say to you Trooper Radford Jr., I hope you enjoy pulling me over today. You should spend more time checking big rigs hauling drugs or "in tow" vehicles heading to Mexico.

Am I off base here? Curious...

Yes.


First,...

This is not to try to entice an argument. Let me start there.

Second,...

It's not the officers responsibility to explain why laws exist.

It's the officers responsibility to enforce laws put in place by OUR state legislators. If you want to complain about a law, complain about the legislators that came up with the law...not the officers who are doing their job enforcing their laws. It is not supposed to be up to LEO's on what we enforce. We are supposed to be fair across the board. Luckily, officers are granted discretion in writing citations (and in your case, I would say that's a pretty d@mn good thing we are).

However, you ask why the "BS law?" We have two plates for several reasons. The most important reason is to be able to identify the vehicle from either the front or the back. If someone backs in to commit a robbery and they take off the front plate, they aren't going to stop when they take off giving us PC to stop the vehicle. If it's a stolen car on the highway and you are behind me, how am I going to run the car while I'm in front of you (me looking back) if there's no plate? I use front plates all the time and run them all the time.

We don't need a reason to run a plate. NO PC is required to run a plate. How do we randomly find stolen vehicles? We run plates. How do we find people with warrants driving around? We randomly run plates. How do we find suspect vehicles involved in crimes? We randomly run plates. Saying we have to have PC to run a plate is a null and void argument. I'm not sure why people think this.

Again, I'm not trying to start an argument. It's a law. And, believe it or not, while I know it's a law, I don't have a plate either. Whatever. If WE get pulled over and get a ticket, WE have to deal with the consequences. For the record, I've never written a ticket for no front plate. But, I've used the no front plate as PC for a stop many, many times. And, you wouldn't believe some of the stuff we come across over such a "BS law."


And one last note, please be careful of the venting. While venting is okay, we also have site rules which prevent LEO bashing. Officers, as a whole are good people who try to do a good job. I could give you statistics of officers vs other professions on who has more issues, but that would get into politics and that would also spark another debate which wouldn't go well (and we have no politics rules as well to prevent us from going at each other). yes, we all know some officers are on a power trip and are bad. But, 99.99% of them truly care about what they do. You met a nice guy. He gave you a warning. remember, you can be cited....and think if it's worth your time to have to go to court.

Originally Posted by Dave2SSRS

I see your point as well. Oh well... I've moved on. Being mad about it accomplishes nothing.

Very true.

You did get lucky.

We are not out to write everybody. Some officers are....but there's a lot of us looking for the big fish. We are not bad people because we have a job to do. I'm glad it worked out in your case.

[TAG UR IT]

Got some yard work to do...but I'll look in my transportation code and give y'all the TRC's so you can look them up and see what I mean.

[Autobot]

Originally Posted by TAG UR IT

For everyone else reading this, I started to check into the law with some folks down at the court.

I read my new traffic book.

There are several sections pertaining to license plates. The most important part to remember is that it DOES state that you need two plates. It ALSO states the fines for both plates...and having a front plate.

Under specialty plates (front plate) it does NOT have the penalty fee for no front plate. That, to me, made it look like for normal plates you have to have both but for specialty plates, you could get away without having the front one since there was no fine. I asked prosecutors about this and he said he'd have to look it up. When I asked about placement of the front plate, he said case law states it has to be on the furtherst most point of the vehicle. Basically, the front bumper.

So, yes. There IS a law on the books which DOES state you need both AND there is a penalty. FYI...


Yes.


First,...

This is not to try to entice an argument. Let me start there.

Second,...

It's not the officers responsibility to explain why laws exist.

It's the officers responsibility to enforce laws put in place by OUR state legislators. If you want to complain about a law, complain about the legislators that came up with the law...not the officers who are doing their job enforcing their laws. It is not supposed to be up to LEO's on what we enforce. We are supposed to be fair across the board. Luckily, officers are granted discretion in writing citations (and in your case, I would say that's a pretty d@mn good thing we are).

However, you ask why the "BS law?" We have two plates for several reasons. The most important reason is to be able to identify the vehicle from either the front or the back. If someone backs in to commit a robbery and they take off the front plate, they aren't going to stop when they take off giving us PC to stop the vehicle. If it's a stolen car on the highway and you are behind me, how am I going to run the car while I'm in front of you (me looking back) if there's no plate? I use front plates all the time and run them all the time.

We don't need a reason to run a plate. NO PC is required to run a plate. How do we randomly find stolen vehicles? We run plates. How do we find people with warrants driving around? We randomly run plates. How do we find suspect vehicles involved in crimes? We randomly run plates. Saying we have to have PC to run a plate is a null and void argument. I'm not sure why people think this.

Again, I'm not trying to start an argument. It's a law. And, believe it or not, while I know it's a law, I don't have a plate either. Whatever. If WE get pulled over and get a ticket, WE have to deal with the consequences. For the record, I've never written a ticket for no front plate. But, I've used the no front plate as PC for a stop many, many times. And, you wouldn't believe some of the stuff we come across over such a "BS law."


And one last note, please be careful of the venting. While venting is okay, we also have site rules which prevent LEO bashing. Officers, as a whole are good people who try to do a good job. I could give you statistics of officers vs other professions on who has more issues, but that would get into politics and that would also spark another debate which wouldn't go well (and we have no politics rules as well to prevent us from going at each other). yes, we all know some officers are on a power trip and are bad. But, 99.99% of them truly care about what they do. You met a nice guy. He gave you a warning. remember, you can be cited....and think if it's worth your time to have to go to court.


Very true.

You did get lucky.

We are not out to write everybody. Some officers are....but there's a lot of us looking for the big fish. We are not bad people because we have a job to do. I'm glad it worked out in your case.

Thank you Tag your it,
I have personalized 7 character plates, would that qualify as a specialty plate?

[hot_rod]

>>>Under specialty plates (front plate) it does NOT have the penalty fee for no front plate. That, to me, made it look like for normal plates you have to have both but for specialty plates, you could get away without having the front one since there was no fine. I asked prosecutors about this and he said he'd have to look it up.

Tag - is a "specialty plate" and a personalized plate the same thing?

[Autobot]

Originally Posted by wullger

Glad I went with the JacFab option! Now I can just pop that little bracket off and have a clean front bumper again, with no holes.

Nice find, guys!

Yeah I really one one of the bent ones but he has not yet made one that will work with GFX.
I have been emailing him but he cant find anyone local to him that has a Camaro with GFX so he can take the measurements to fabricate one.