Pulled over today

I've heard of several of our Mercedes clients get tickets for not having a front plate. I have one on my Mazda truck, so no worries here.

 

i thought Texas just got rid of the law that required a front plate about 3-4 mos ago???

 

Nope. That section was struck from the bill, leaving only the higher registration fees ...

 

Negative - on a re-write of the bill it was excluded. My take is that if you are minding your p's & q's, they have no reason to pay attention to your vehicle. At least that's been the experience here. I've had a couple locals and a DPS officer just wave a friendly hello when they see me in the SLK. A front plate screws up the F1 front appearance of that car as well as the functionality of the air intakes.

Carol

 

They can...and do....right them down here frequently..sometimes hiding in the freeway u turns, checking for them........thrown on the dash doesn;t count anymore...they say.....

Tough call ...it blocks my 308 grills as well.....

 

If pulled over the in Ferrari, you have to use the Italian excuse: "I'm sorry officer, I ordered the front plate bracket when I bought the car, but they are on indefinite backorder."

 

At time, intergalactic backorder?

 

I've been thinking for a while about taking mine off... As soon as I pay some tickets I've got I'll take it out.

 

I have them off both the TR and the 355 I cant find a bracket to mount them Darn! but if ticketd will find a way. I have had a few looks but nothing else so far!

 

I've been pulled over twice in my BMW in almost 3 years & not once have they said anything about my not having a front plate.

 

I have been pulled over for no front plate on one of my mustangs. It's really just an excuse for a cop to pull you over and check you out for warrants, drugs, etc... I have also been pulled over before and the cop has mentioned that I have no front plate and I need to get it put on, it's illegal. Like I said, it's just really an excuse for a cop to check you out. They have to have reason to pull you over so they are not caught "PROFILEING", otherwise they get into alot of trouble for profileing.

 

Stopped in Richardson in my 911 for no front plate. Just got a "did you just buy this car? where is your front plate" and off I went.

1st thing I do when I buy a car is remove the front plate and bracket. It's just not aerodynamically safe.

 

The problem is; many of the cars are not even designed for a front bracket and even if you wanted one it is not going to fit under any set of circumstances. I have queried several dealers about this problem and they just shrug their shoulders and say, "I dunno know what to do." I have never been pulled over for this problem, but I kind of like Jim's answer only perhaps you could enhance the response a little by saying you just bought this Italian car and you are suffering from the Italian disease "lackafunza" and you can't afford the front bracket.

 

I believe for new US vehicles, they have to have a mounting bracket that works. I don't know about old cars (I.e. 328) though.

 

My favorite when I would get pulled over in my 308 was that the car runs very hot (being a high performance car) & it is difficult to keep getting the the cooling air to the radiator & that a front plate would inhibit airflow." This usually resulted in the old "well, it's still illegal not to have one".

Yeah, yeah, yeah (accompanied by slow jerking motion in front of my crotch while rolling my eyes)

I've also said that I just got the car & it didn't come with one from the previous owner, but............."I'm working on getting one officer."

 

"Well hello there officer d ickhead! I see even though the police have done nothing when all of my tires got slashed a few weeks ago and nothing has ever come from my 3 radios that have been stolen from me, you're keeping me and everyone safe by checking that I only have one plate on my car. Well keep up the hard work there sir."

That's what I want to say. But what I do is keep the extra in the trunk and right there where they pulled you over say "Oh I have it in the trunk, I'll put that on right now. Can you help me with it?" They always leave and just give me a warning.

 

Maybe if the cars they drove had front plates, there would have been a 100% greater chance that someone might have seen the perps ripping off your car or someone elses, because they would have twice as many plates for someone to get. Maybe by doing their job and stopping you to 1. enforce the plate law which could aid in identifying a criminal 2. assess whether or not the person in the car is a criminal or criminal activity is afoot with the front plate off so they are less easily identified; a few of those robberies, thefts, etc could be prevented.

It's not about harassing you. It is about checking up on cars they have probable cause to stop and enforcing the law to deter criminal activity or make it harder at least. Its about the "greater good" not about you.

 

When i was staying in the Flower Mound area, my cousin is a poilce officer there and i asked him if it was a requirement to have a front plate..and he said you do have to have one....i was going to bring this up awhile back when i heard about it cause i havents seen many F Cars with them...he says cops when they have a slow day just sit back and look for the smallest things...small things that can cost money...he also said hes stopped a few F Cars around the area...some got pissed off and wanted to call their lawyer...

Still miss my hometown...

John

 

It goes both ways. You can say it's about the greater good and so on but it's not always that way. Have cops helped me in the past, yes. Have they harassed me many times for no reason, yes. Have I been pulled over for speeding, yes. Was I a jerk then, no. I know when I speed or gun it to make it through that hopefull still yellow that am playing with getting a ticket. Should I get caught I am polite and just realize I got caught. But is there cops who suck at their job and abuse they're job, OH HECK YES. I know from experience and from cops I have BSed with at random times.

 

Why do we even need front plates? I mean it sounds like just another reason for a cop to give a ticket. I mean is it like "the people that do not put front plates on criminals? What good does it do a cop to have a front plate? not like they are going to pull us over without getting behind us. Is a cop that might be in front of us going to check in his rearview mirror and check our plate to see if they want to pull us over? besides i am sure that we can save some tax dollars by only having to make 1 plate instead of 2.

just my 2 cents

 

You obviously didn't read my prior post or have an understanding of why that law exists. I may not be a proponent for it or it's enforcement, but I understand why it's there. You should take the time to do the same.

 

There are going to be *******s in any group and occupation. There are ******* cops, ******* Fchatters, ******* doctors, ******* lawyers, ******* laborers, etc. The purpose of the law is not to give an ******* something to do. While I agree that some cops may be *******s and may use this particular law to act like an *******, it's not the purpose of the law and I don't think you should think a cop who pulls you over for it is trying to be a dickhead. If they actually ticket you for it, and you were not being a d*ck to them, and everything else was in line, then I think you'd have an argument.

If you know the law says you must have a front plate and you choose to not put it on (like you choose to speed, choose to try and beat the red light), then you have to accept the consequences, such as the annoyance of being stopped and the cop telling you to "put the plate on ASAP".