MA - Front Plate "Crackdown" ???

http://www.mass.gov/doi/Legal_Hearings/211_134.PDF
Did find this list that shows all Minor Traffic violations including the inspection sticker one But did not find anything about no front plate. Maybe they use that failure to register properly for it. or maybe it is that "exhibit another license" not sure if that means plate or your actual drivers license. What I did find funny is they list "Attempting A Speed Record" As only a minor traffic violation

 

OH YA BABY !!! Only a minor vio !!.... Ya see judge, I was 'attempting a speed record' for my Ferrari and it says here that it's only a minor violation, it is clearly written; here lemme show ya....

 

I spent most of the day searching for the front bracket, I'm going for screws now........

I'm tired of chatting with Officer Friendly about it!

If your State gives you two, you need to mount two.

Strangely here, it is some sort of STATE level offense, and the local judges WILL NOT dismiss until a full trial with prosecuter present...It's a high stakes game by then.

I was watching closely the other day in Traffic Court.

 

Once I have both installed, I'll go for the speed record.........

 

i went for an inspection the othe day in NJ i didnt even know you had to have the front plate on, nobody said a word passed fine!
i have been pulled over and told to put the front plate on.
but then i have been past a ton of cop car's and not even a second look, just dont get it. problem is its just tough to put it on looks crap.

 

I will not put my front plate on. I have been driving my past couple of cars without one and no problem yet. Have even been pulled over twice for other reasons. Both time Cop walked around my car but said nothing about no front plate. Maybe it helps that I keep my 100's Club Membership card in view on the dash. This State is so strange when it comes to enforcement of anything. A couple of years ago I could not get a sticker on my truck till I removed the license plate frame that partially cover that "Spirit of America" logo on the bottom. Then the next year same station said nothing about it.

 

Hi Scott,

What is the 100s Club?

Curious....

- Jon

 

Is a club that most states have that give money to the family of Police and Fire in case of death or injury. They give you a nice big membership card that most people throw up on the dash and I know it saved me a few tickets over the years
MASSACHUSETTS
Club name: The Hundred Club of Mass. Inc.
President: Mr. Norman Knight
Club address: Ms. Peggy O'Connor
Executive Secretary
17 Gloucester St.
Boston, MA 02115
Club phone:
Club fax:
e-mail:
Year formed: 1959
Benefit summary: $5,000 lump sum for Line of Duty death; $2,500 for non-LOD death;
$100 US bonds to children at Christmas; two weeks summer camp (up to 15); $1,500 for books per school year

 

Thanks for the info

- Jon

 

I can confirm that "no front plate" *IS* a moving violation in MA and will get you 2 points on your insurance. I got pulled over a couple of years back for speeding and the jackass cop wrote me up for no front plate as well.

I have heard many reasons for it, but I used to do contract work for the state government, and my business partner was the former registrar who was in office when Dukakis was the gov. This guy was the registrar when the swith to the red plates (requiring one front and back) was made. He swears the reason behind it is because Kitty Dukakis was driving in Boston, was hit by a guy who had turned wrongly onto a 1-way street, and the guy backed up, and booked it down a sidestreet. Tall tale, but he swears its the truth.

Regarding green plates, you can't get them anymore - but if you have one you only need it on the back. Some folks keep them because if you register a new car, you can "transfer" your registration and keep your green plate. but if the plate is lost or damaged, they will ALWAYS re-issue a red plate, never a green one. The thinking is there will be less and less of them every year and eventually they will be gone.

FWIW, if you actually read the law on front plates, it does state something like "except when otherwise allowed by the registrar, all vehicles will display two plates". I have heard of a mythical form (some old guy at the Beverly Registry even told me the form number) that, if filled out and stamped by someone with the authority, allows you to not have a front plate. I asked a few cops and they all told me they'd never seen anyone have such a beast. I asked a few connections in the registry and they said the registrar had the power to make exceptions but didn't do it as a matter of course. Maybe if you were the gov's son you could get it

As an aside, I have found that if you keep the plate in the car - either under the seat or (better yet) on the dash, you will likely NOT get a ticket. If you do get one, only the most hardassed of judges would not let it slide if you made an honest effort to have it in the car.

And lastly, don't try the "there is no place to mount it" - it doesnt work - ever. And don't EVER try the "there is a bracket but I ordered it from the dealer and it didn't come in - here is the receipt". That doesnt' work either and every cop I know has heard it a million times - its like wearing a hat that says "please give me the ticket, I'm trying to BS you!".

 

I called the MA registry today and sat on hold for 35 minutes until I finally got a person. I "axed" the woman a question (that's how she said it) about this. She said there are NO EXCEPTIONS to the front plate rule. You MUST have two plates. No exeptions, no forms you can fill out, no exemptions for antiques or really cool cars that look much better without the front plate. She got very indignant when I told her that adding a mounting bracket would "harm the collector value of the car" and told me in that case I shouldn't drive it at all. So there ya have it for MA anyway.

Birdman

 

Texas has mounted a similar enforcement effort..it can now be the only probable cause for a traffic stop and check out....


I've developed a system of stainless steel straps that clamp thru the lowest grill blade. Works pretty good and can still be removed on those days you want to be "beautiful".

Don't expect much sympathy from the "But it's a Ferrari" line of defense....LOL!

I have a '94 Firebird that evaded the problem for years, but it has holes in it now!!!

 

NOT THAT I'M ADVOCATING THIS, MIND YOU (!!!)...

But let's say that you go ahead and order a vanity plate from the MA Registry. Something like, oh, say, "670 GXP" (it's key that the 3rd number be a zero).

Then you go to a site like, oh, I don't know, http://www.customlicenseplates.com/ and order a duplicate plate, but you ask them to use the OLD, MA GREEN PLATE STYLE.

Then you put your registration sticker on the green plate, and screw it onto your car.

Voila.

vty,

--Dennis

 

Sure beats my plan of borrowing some green nail polish from wife, And is third number always a 0 on the green plate?

 

i'm pretty sure the first two characters have to be alpha not numeric. at least the first one can't be numeric.

deviant idea though. keep it up and you just might get disbarred

doody.

 

The old green plates all had the format "### XXX" -- three digits, then three alpha characters. I had several green plates, all in that format. And if you keep your eyes open while on the road, you'll see that they're all in this format.

After the switch to red/white/blue, they ran out of plates using ### XXX, so they transitioned to #### XX, and now they're using ##X X##.

vty,

--Dennis

 

great idea, love to do it myself, until a cop runs my plate and it comes up as a R (red) and not G (green) plate. Even parking tickets have a box for R or G, maybe because they are planning to issue identical numbers on new red plates someday.

That 3rd number zero is news to me.

 

Hey, I never said it was perfect!

Seriously, do you really think that a cop who's pulled you over is actually going to notice a discrepancy between the color of your plate and the color it's supposed to be? And surely you can fast-talk your way around that, right?

As for the third digit being a zero, it's for renewal purposes. The third (last) digit is the month your registration expires; the year is the one printed on the sticker in the corner. One should have a zero because it makes your registration expire in October. All vanity plates expire in either October, November or December, I forget which. So this may not be perfect, but it'd be close enough....
____

Doh! Just went to look up that info online. Found out that "All vanity plates must begin with two letters." Dang. May still be worth a try - just order a Green plate with your current registration, and see if the cop hassles you....

vty,

--Dennis

 

Don't know about the Kitty Ducacas story, but back about that time, the Boston globe ran a 'expose' story with 3 photos of pairs of cars side by side in residential garages with the same plates on both! Claimed it only took them a couple of hours driving around to get the pix.

Caused a tad of a flap, & a sudden rash of enforcements of the law. (Guess which car owners got visited 1st)!

So I do buy the 'it's on another car' hypothesis.