matthopp

For those Texans out there, we now have a new state law that requires the license plate to be fully exposed (both front and back). You cannot have license plate frame or any other obstruction that covers ANY part of the license plate (ie dealer frames, college frames, etc). The police have the right to pull you over and it is punishable by up to a $200 fine.

I do not mind removing the frames which obscure the license plate, but I do have a Ranch Hand grill guard in which the lower bar covers the top half of my front license plate. I personally do not want an officer to be given an easy chance to pull me over in the middle of the night because of an obscured license plate. I know I am not the only one in Texas with this sort of problem so I am looking for ideas on what others have done with this. I am trying to avoid mounting the plate on the grill with bailing wire, but it might come down to that. I know a lot of dealers are upset with the new law.

Hoss

Heard about this on the news yesterday. Means I'll have to take my Aggie bracket off... :'( It covers up the word Texas. Guess I'll just have to get myself some of these...

Redleg

Most officers wouldn't write for something like this unless it is well covered, or really questionable. Unless you reaaly want to give them a reason to write, most will leave you with a warning if they stop at all. Reason is, more than half of all crimes are stopped or deturred from the stop and going "beyond the stop". This law should be encouraging to you, so long as your not doing anything you shouldn't be. The more reasons an officer has available to stop a car, the safer your neighborhood will be. Say there's a guy watching a school yard. Officer drives buy and sees the plate obscurred. Stops the car and finds nothing. Later, a kid is missing. He sees the guy somewhere else on the road, but can he stop him this time if the plate was fixed?

matthopp

Hoss, I have been wanting to get one of those for a while--just havent done it yet. I need to get motivated and do it. It seems like the game is still on for tonight---going to the local watching hole for it @ 6.

Hoss

You haven't driven through Plano, Texas have you? :

See above comment.

You mean like.....say, having a collegiate license plate bracket on your vehicle? I see this as a new way for the state to get money.

True...but I'd rather then spend their time watching for the idiots driving down my residential neighborhood street at 50 MPH than driving around looking for license plate bracket violations. :

Huh?? ???

matthopp

jfpointer

Here's an encouraging word on this. Missouri has had a law like this for a long time, but the design of the plates used to be such that you could run just about any type of frame and not be in violation. Then, a few years back, they changed the design of the plates so that if you had any frame thicker than about 3/8 of an inch you were technically in violation because they wanted you to put the renewal stickers out around the edges.

Well, not only was it not too strictly enforced to begin with, but there were sufficient complaints that eventually they changed the mandated sticker location back to the center of the plate, redesigned the stickers to be small enough to fit there, and eureka! thicker frames were legal again. Now if we could just get rid of the mandatory front plate... ;D

Hoss

We don't have stickers on our plates. They go on the lower left corner of the windshield. Apparently they don't want us covering up the name of the state the plate was issued in....which almost all of the brackets I've seen do that.

bulabula

[quote author=Redleg link=board=10;threadid=19804;start=0#msg186326 date=1063898975]
The more reasons an officer has available to stop a car, the safer your neighborhood will be.[/quote]Redleg, not sure I buy that thought. There are many laws that are already on the books that aren't enforced. We don't need more laws, we need the ones have enforced. And I'm not pointing fingers in any particular direction.

Redleg

Believe it or not Hoss, some people CAN do more than one thing at a time. The law is just one more tool to use. Also, maybe I was a little vague in the analogy. A guy in a prked car is watching a school yard. Officer sees him sitting there and checks him. Finds nothing out of the ordinary and releases him. Later in the day a child is missing. Officer sees a car on the road like the one that was parked by the school yard earlier. He want's to check the car for any evidence of the missing child. Stopping the car for a plate violation is an extra "tool" to get into that car. Maybe not a lot of kidnappers in Plano, but this would apply to robbers, drug dealers, etc.... verstehen Sie? I don't think a couple plate violators are gonna make or break the Texas budget. If a small town does abuse the system, they probably passed local ordinances anyway, that would allow them to write the ticket under their law and keep the money for themselves. The State would never see it.

jfpointer

[quote author=Hoss link=board=10;threadid=19804;start=0#msg186356 date=1063902203]
We don't have stickers on our plates. The go on the lower left corner of the windshield. Apparently they don't want us covering up the name of the state the plate was issued in....which almost all of the brackets I've seen do that.
[/quote]

License renewal stickers go on the windshield? That's where our safety inspection stickers go.

But anyway, the moral of my story was that if enough people complain, maybe they'll change the design of the plate such that you can use frames again.

Shovelhead

Washington DC just started the "year" sticker inside the windshield on the driver's lower corner a few years ago, after many folks were stealing the stickers off of people's cars.

Redleg

You guys are looking at it the wrong way. An officer is out looking for people that look like they might be up to something. THEN he looks for reasons to stop the vehicle. Is the driver the registered owner? Does he live in the area? Is he a valid driver? Is the car insured? Does he have warrants? Did he pay child support? Ya want laws enforced, this is how you catch the guys.

Scenario #1 Officer can you tell the court why you arrested my client?
Yes sir, the witness said a black car, and he was in a black car.

Scenario #2 Officer can you tell the court why you arrested my client?
Yes sir, his registration was partially covered, in violation of Texas law. I stopped the vehicle and approached the driver. While talking to the driver I could see a blue duffle bag in the back seat. This was consistant with a broadcast put out earlier on a child abduction, where a vehicle matching your clients, was spotted in the area. The child was described having a blue duffle bag.... etc, etc.

I know the world isn't perfect, some officers may be overzealous, but without stops like this, there would be just a little more criminal activity.

TXBobcat

In Texas the inspection sticker and renewal tag both go on the lower left corner of the windshield, one above the other.

I have a full replacement ranchhand bumper on my truck. When I put it on, I did not put the license plate on at all. I was pulled over by a Texas state trooper and told I needed to display both plates, front and rear. He let me go with a warning. I debated about how to mount it, and ended up welding two pieces of 2" x 2" flat 3/16" plates to the top of the 4 1/2" pipe. I then put a hole in each bracket and bolted license plate to it. The plate is in full view, not obstructed by anything, and it doesn't block radiator either.

Hoss

[quote author=Redleg link=board=10;threadid=19804;start=0#msg186375 date=1063903611]
Believe it or not Hoss, some people CAN do more than one thing at a time.[/quote]

What does that have to do with license plates in Texas?? ???

I understand what you're saying...I just disagree. I see this as just another way for cities/counties/states/whoever is getting it to make money. Like the other fella said....we don't need MORE laws...they just need to enforce the ones we already have.