Purpose of front license plate??

So a few of you might remember me bitching about CT requiring a front license plate, but since i know/see hundreds of ppl without them, i didn't put one on but still fear for getting a ticket for such a stupid thing.

 

SO...can someone please explain what the purpose of having a front plate is? And why a good number of states don't require one, but others do. Is it that they do their job as law enforcement officers better than the states that require a front one??

red light and speed cameras? Often they require front plates for photographic ID in lieu of a live police officer.

red light and speed cameras? Often they require front plates for photographic ID in lieu of a live police officer.

I got a buddy with a EvoIX with no front plate and he got ticketed by a camera... so maybe they take rear plate photos too..

red light and speed cameras? Often they require front plates for photographic ID in lieu of a live police officer.

Also they help bounce radar back to the radar gun, some sleek fiber cars are difficult to trap otherwise.

 

Edit: http://digg.com/d1mmjJ Double Standard lol.

Keeps the inmates busy?

Keeps the inmates busy?

 

There is no reason other than extra visibility for identification and law enforcement.

Also they help bounce radar back to the radar gun, some sleek fiber cars are difficult to trap otherwise.

 

No, not RADAR.

 

Your car, itself, is a much bigger, and much better, target for that.

 

The front plate is not necessary, at all, for RADAR, even on highly-composite body-work vehicles, such as the 'Vette.

 

The state-issued, metallic, front plate, however, is HIGHLY "retro-reflective" of LIDAR (IR-LASER), and yes, it does help, drastically, in LIDAR acquisition.

 

So that they can catch you coming and going!

 

Here in Alberta we only require the rear plate. Municipalities want to see the front plate reinstated as they are reaping in huge amounts of money using photo radar, red light and speed on green cameras. And yet where is a cop or a camera when some ba$tard cuts you off or brakes to below the speed limit at an intersection! Way too "Big Brother" for me.

 

Seriously, the new police motto should be "To Serve and Collect"!

Two plates suck ass I live in VA and ive never mounted my front plate going on whole year since I bought my 2008 legacy i keep mine in the lower corner of the passenger window and if a cops asks ill say oh im waiting on a bracket to mount the plate it got knocked off it is soo stupid of a law and if VA gets that desperate for cash where they institute radar cameras like DC and AZ and CA ill move to Montana where the speed limit is a joke

What if someone hit someone or something and all you or a witness saw was the front plate before they fled the scene? Wouldn't you be grateful that they were required to have one?

 

Yes cars do look better w/o a front plate but it is not the end of the world if you are required to have one mounted. If you really don't like it take it off, just be prepared to pay the fine if/when you get caught.

 

I just wish people would grow up and stop griping about little crap like this.

What if someone hit someone or something and all you or a witness saw was the front plate before they fled the scene? Wouldn't you be grateful that they were required to have one?

 

Yes cars do look better w/o a front plate but it is not the end of the world if you are required to have one mounted. If you really don't like it take it off, just be prepared to pay the fine if/when you get caught.

 

I just wish people would grow up and stop griping about little crap like this.

 

Well excuse me if i don't feel like drilling two holes in my new car.

Knock on wood, I have has no problems with the law running plateless up front. I needed some more flow over my FMIC. BTW I have a CT plate.

You could put it on the side as to not block the FMIC

 

My front plate is all bent in from running into snow banks, and driving down roads so deep with snow it comes over the hood...

What if someone hit someone or something and all you or a witness saw was the front plate before they fled the scene? Wouldn't you be grateful that they were required to have one?

 

Yes cars do look better w/o a front plate but it is not the end of the world if you are required to have one mounted. If you really don't like it take it off, just be prepared to pay the fine if/when you get caught.

 

I just wish people would grow up and stop griping about little crap like this.

 

the OP was really just asking a valid question, why do some states require front plates and some states not require them..

I don't hear much more griping about this than any other controversial subject on these boards..

Well excuse me if i don't feel like drilling two holes in my new car.

 

Swift Motorsports has a nice retractable plate mount you can check out.

 

http://www.swiftmotorsports.com

MA requires two plates, however in my case I am only running one as I have still have a legal single license plate back from the days when MA only required a single plate. As long as I carry it over from new car to new car I can run it legally.

the front plate is used to create wind resistance which pushes the nose of your car down a little for better traction. hehe. and no I'm not being serious

ill move to Montana where the speed limit is a joke

 

Yeahhh...you try that. My 4 tickets say otherwise.

I have both plates so as to not give cops reason to pull me over.

^ +1.

 

That's also why I have both plates, and keep them well-lit (rear) and maintained.

 

Knock on wood, I have has no problems with the law running plateless up front. I needed some more flow over my FMIC. BTW I have a CT plate.

 

^ How such laws are enforced is totally dependent on the prevailing attitudes of enforcers in your specific area.

 

Here in NE-Ohio, there are municipalities which just don't seem to care - but yet others where such laws seem to be target-enforced for Import Sport Compacts, and others where such laws seem to be enforced only on a select basis, based on other criteria (i.e. as PC for other suspicion, which is what many LEOs are trained to do, and is both a valid and, actually, very reasonable tactic).

 

Case-in-point. Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

 

My buddy, an average-Joe kind of Caucasian man, cleanly dressed and shaven, used to drive a late-model Chevy Suburban. No front plate (and no "Truck" plate, either, which would have exempted the vehicle from this law). Vehicle in good repair. He *never* got stopped.

 

If you know me, you'll know that I'm one who does not easily say "that's racially based bias."

 

But in this case?

 

Three young (< 25) year-old African-American/African females in a mid-90s Nissan Sentra 2-door, with legal tint. Seeming a crazy bunch until one realizes that they're all Ph.D. students at the local university.

 

Yep, traveling the same routes, the day that her front tag fell off (due to corrosion of the mounting bolts), she was stopped.

 

Just figure out your local enforcement practices/preferences, and you'll be fine.

 

 

Ridgeracer, on my last DSM, which used a 2Gb Eclipse front end, I actually cut into my front plate, and took a "long oval" out of the bottom, trimmed it with a rubber lip (to make it look good) - in the hopes of getting more air into my FMIC.

 

Technically, such a modification to the state issue front plate is illegal......

 

But in my area, at least, none of the enforcers gave me any problems about it.

I've seen some logo plates in the front when I was in Philly...

I looked online but I cannot find a logo license plate for Subaru. Has anyone seen one?

 

Also, i know this was brought up in a previous thread, but does anyone have any ideas for replacing the front license plate? Or license plate frames?

 

I feel embarrassed... I still have my dealer frame on my car

http://www.1stsubaruparts.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=65&osCsid=4b82a546560a3aacce1fa7776714c940

 

https://www.subarugenuineparts.com/index.php?cPath=70_80

 

 

You can also Google/eBay search for something like "Subaru front plate," and you'll get lots of nifty stuff.

 

I typically make my own.

 

I go to the auto-parts store, and just get the thinnest and lightest one that I can find. I then go home, prep and re-paint it.

What if someone hit someone or something and all you or a witness saw was the front plate before they fled the scene? Wouldn't you be grateful that they were required to have one?

 

Yes cars do look better w/o a front plate but it is not the end of the world if you are required to have one mounted. If you really don't like it take it off, just be prepared to pay the fine if/when you get caught.

 

I just wish people would grow up and stop griping about little crap like this.

Really? Why does it matter so much to you. I was livid when my dealer drilled into my bumper on MY brand new car to attach a front plate. I never ran a front plate on my GTI when I was home. I live out of state so I usually take my front plate off when I'm not in my home state. I can't do that on the Legacy because of my dealer drilling two holes in my damn bumper. Our license plates are damn ugly too. We really need to go the European route with along skinny plate. They fit cars much better.

If it is the law then we should follow it. /

If it is the law then we should follow it. /

Should being the operative word. Have you ever broken the speed limit? Hmm, do I smell hypocrisy? I don't know why, but the attitude is just flowing through me today.