That implies that there's no explicit penalty for driving without displaying ANY plates, then. I wonder if the forum consensus has any objection to that.

 

I agree with post #20 and 21. They are required but if you are found guilty the court can not fine you. I'm sure this will be remedied in the next legislative session.

I was an officer for 13 years and used this statute for P.C. on traffic stops I wanted to make. Never needed to write a citation for just the "no front plate", I always was able to find more, usually drugs, weapons and warrrants.

I don't run a plate on my Vette or my wife's Infiniti. I understand the consequences if I get pulled over and I accept them.

 

Keep the status quo, never question why. You sound like typical cattle.

Front license plates have nothing to do with safety and everything to do with profit generation.

 

Yeah I see that now from the other posts.

I still think it's a dumb law though. Because every state should jump all over a chance to save 50% on license plate costs.

That's many millions of dollars saved every year in Texas.

 

lym

 

Ok, here's a little enlightenment for all you "don't they have anything better to do" guys. This goes for front plate, stop and frisk and other items police use to "bother" you. It is NOT always about the front plate, it's about a reason, any reason to make sure you are not breaking the law... He pulls you over for the front plate, and then checks for warrants, any smell of weed, any guns in plain sight, drunk drivers, or whatever else is illegal that he can get criminals for!!!! IF YOU DON'T LIKE BEING PULLED OVER, TAKE THE TINT OFF OR PUT THE PLATE ON, OR IN THE CASE OF STOP AND FRISK, PULL YOUR PANTS UP, STOP ACTING LIKE A THUG!!!! Remember the son of sam??? He got caught because some SMART cop gave him a parking summons at the time and near the place of a murder and the detectives investigated and caught him. Many "bad" people are arrested because they didn't have a seatbelt on or front plate on, or tint, or brake light out, or my favorite when i was working a tiny little license plate light out..... It may seem minute and a waste of tax payers dollars, but you don't know everything!!! Let them do their job, if you obey the law, even if you get pulled over it won't be a big deal. If you get a ticket pay it and shut up about it.....

 

I know. It's really just a power grab. I've also heard police claim front plates aid in theft recovery. Kind of hard to believe that, but so what if it did?

Who wants their stolen pride & joy returned from the dead?
Not I!


And you know if it's a car like a Corvette, it's likely been through hell. It's also not like Corvette owners, or owners of any decent car are too likely to neglect auto security.

It's the Toyota & Honda crap that get stolen because some idiot left the keys in it. So let them enjoy front plates. Most of them wouldn't care if you hung a 100 plates on it, unless it cost more money.

 

By this it would seem they could stop and ticket motorcycles for no front plate?/


And as far as front plate help with theft recovery, I can see that to a point, if a car is being looked for by plate # and cars are backed into parking with no front plate. But no front plate here in Florida and the cities with high auto theft problems have all passed a no backing into parking law so the rear plate is always visible.

 

Yep, the TX legislature screwed up regarding plates...I wonder if anyone who has been TICKETED was able to get it dismissed when/if the screwup was mentioned to the judge. I'm guessing that most folks (even LEOs) don't know about it though.

Oh, no front plates on my motorcycle...go figure.

 

I agree that it has nothing to do with safety. No cop has ever chased someone from the front lol. It gives them another means to decide if they want to stop you or not. Others have mentioned the money that states would save, which would be huge, considering most are bankrupt, or soon will be.

Good point made on why they don't mandate 2 plates for motorcycles? For those who say shut up and just do it? Would love an explanation??

If folks have been following the long list of Executive orders that have been written lately, you can easily see the progression of egregious authorities that are consistently being granted to law enforncement at all levels. Currently, Law enforcement can come into your house without a warrant, search, disrupt and destroy whatever they wish in the process, and then leave (whether your there or not).... or you can be locked up indefinitely without access to legal counsel. So, my question for those of you will let LEO's treat you any way they wish,... would you just let LEO's run up in your abode and treat you like a chump just because they can?

I guess if you don't wish to fight for your rights, then you don't deserve to have any.

As for me, I've been ticketed twice, but I'll never put on a front plate.

 

The "except as provided by Subsection (b)" clause appears intended to exclude road tractors, motorcycles, trailers, or semitrailers from the two-plate requirement. This statute could have been written much more clearly. Given that, I'm not surprised they screwed up by omitting a penalty for the offense.

 

I find it hard to believe that it's Ok to only require 1 plate in some states, and needing 2 in others. The ones that require 2 plates always use the "it's a safety thing" logic.
Canada is the exact same, some provinces require 1 plate, most require 2 plates. Here's the kicker in my province..... if you pay an extra $50.00at plate registration time (once a year) then you can legally run just a rear plate. The downside is you can only run the vehicle from April to November. It's called a seasonal plate. Most peole that have sports cars do the seasonal plate, because they all put their cars away for the winter months.
If they want to run their cars until December or longer, then they have to get a regular (2) plates for their cars. They can pay for the regular plates by the month.

Basically, it's just a cash grab by the government.

 

This is 100% correct. The Texas penal code still says it's against the law to drives without a front plate that must be mounted to the forward-most part of the vehicle.

The law also left out the most important sentence that before January 2012 - stated that not having both plates is a Class C misdemeanor and a maximum fine of $200.00. This is all well documented.

I am sick of dumbass dealers and dumbass Texans spouting off things that are 100% categorically untrue, it is quite annoying having to explain this stuff over and over due to all of the misinformation.

By the way, this will all change in Jan. 2013 when they have the next scheduled meeting, this will be rectified.

By the way, most city LEO's aren't even aware of this issue in 2012. Most Sheriff Deputies and DPS Troopers are probably aware, since the traffic units use this law as a reason for contact very often.

By the way, requiring a front plate certainly helps the law enforcement community catch more bad guys. I have no problem with this.

Nothing like going to the scene of an offense and being able to see at a quick glance the plates of the vehicles traveling in the opposite direction AWAY from the scene.

 

From my previous post on this issue a couple of weeks ago:

Here is a brief article on the front plate issue :
http://www.tmcec.com/public/files/Fi...s-in-texas.pdf

Here is also the text from the TMCEC Bench Book covering "compliance dismissals" of this offense:

" 7. Operation of Vehicle without License Plate. Sec. 502.404(a), T.C.
This section is to be renumbered to
Sec. 504.943, T.C., effective
January 1, 2012.
 a. A court may dismiss the charge if the
defendant obtains the required license plate
before the defendant’s first court appearance;
and
Sec. 502.404(f) or, beginning
January 1, 2012, Sec. 504.943(d),
T.C.
 b. The defendant must pay an administrative fee
not to exceed $10.
Sec. 502.404(f) or, beginning
January 1, 2012, Sec. 504.943(d),"

For me, I chose the front license plate mount from the Corvette Museum. It mounts down on the front middle air dam. http://store.corvettemuseum.com/detail.aspx?ID=1071

I feel that it complies with the directive given in the current Texas Driver's Handbook,Chapter 2, page 2-2, Required Equipment, which I am supposed to know: "6. LICENSE PLATES—must have one valid plate at the front and one at the
rear of passenger and commercial vehicles..."

This is my attempt to comply with the Texas law ...YMMV

 

Certainly better than no plate at all. Case law from El Paso (or maybe it was San Antonio) states that the front plate must be affixed to the forward-most part of the vehicle.

 

I was told by an Ohio State Trooper in a nonchalant conversation that even though front plates are required in Ohio, they won't usually pursue a missing front plate vehicle unless another infraction is noticed.

So keep your seat belts on and behave!

 

So here's one for all of you. I too didn't have a front plate on my vette (C5) for years. For you "that's the law" bible thumpers, feel free to criticize if you can swear you have never broken a law. Let he without sin and all..

When I shipped the car to England I installed one in an effort to keep my name out of the "Ugly American" list... well that and it's something like a £1000 fine ($1700). As we all know the plate alone looks awful so I ordered the clear cover to at least pay lip service to not ruining the lines of the car. When I shipped it back to the states a few years later and re-registered it in Texas I finally gave in and put the front plate on under the cover... mostly because I'd heard from friends the area I moved to was notorious for Troopers stopping vettes for no front plates. No less than six days later, 200 miles from no where, on a dark, lonely, two-lane west Texas highway I was stopped for not having a front plate by a DPS Trooper. In his defense it was 11:30 at night. When he approached the window and told me why he stopped me my jaw hit the floor. Recognizing I was clearly shocked, he walked to the front of the car, shined his flashlight on the plate, walked back and told me that I was not allowed by current state law to have a perfectly clear, non-distorting cover that didn't cover any of the word "Texas" at the top of the plate (much less half of it) and was viewable at any distance from all angles (there is a law against that). He then issued me a warning for having an obstructed liscence plate and left me dumbstruck in the middle of no where.

What are you going to do?

I find it disturbing that the Dallas County Sherrif's Department said that maintaining the lack of a front license plate as a primary offense(my words not his) was critical because it led to so many other offenses. What are we doing to ourselves...

 

mines behind pass seat

 

What I did was bought the Show-N-Go license plate which has a remote with it that stays in my glove box or near the dash. When ever I see LEO cars around, just press the remote button and my plate comes out from underneath the front bumper. Other than that it stays hiding under the bumper all time...no body cannot even tell that I've a plate in the front. It's awesome ...I highly recommend this to others who are having issues with license plate. But uve to be careful that u show it before the LEO notices.

 

Legislature screwed up during the 2011 session by accidently leaving out the fine or punishment. That's why the DPS Trooper only gave a warning. The Legislature will surely fix their mistake next year. Then DPS will be back on the Warpath writing citations rather than warnings. DPS will stop you for no other reason that NFP. That was what they were doing before those idiots in Austin screwed up the law during the rewrite. There are too many powerful lobbies keeping the Legislature from deleting the mandatory front plate. Sport car clubs have been trying for years now.