No front plate, Live in Texas..Read This!
 

As of Today September 1st 2013. The fine associated with not having a front plate just took affect. Just for clarity it has always been illegal to not have a front plate. The loophole has been that while it was an offensive there was no penalty associated with the offense. As a result most law enforcement agencies did not bother to pull you over for it, because in the end all they could do is tell you to put it back on, with no consequences if you did not comply. As a matter of fact, some agencies have even instructed officers not to use this offense as a primary reason for a traffic stop. That has just changed boys and girls. Failure to display a front plate is now punishable by a $200 fine. making it worth the time and effort of law enforcement to write you a nice fat ticket for non compliance. I still need t read the law in it's entirety to determine if I can get away with just having it ion display in the front window. As far as I can tell there is no definition on mounting and placement. It sucks out of all the cars I have owned, this one looks terrible with a front plate. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

speaking from experience... it has always been a "fine"able offense.. i have racked up multiple tickets in the past. To get out of it, just like with a no ins, go in to the court and show proof you have corrected the problem, ticket is dismissed and pay a $10 filling fee.

The front plate is not a "moving violation" and therefore not a sole reason to pull you over, unless you have no plates, no ins on record, or acting suspicious.

I for one will continue to drive without the plate until I see them pull over ALL plate offenses, like vettes or vehicles with temp tags that are months if not years out of date..... and i see those all the time.

Yeah there has always been a fine associated with it. I have never gotten an actual ticket for it, just warnings. But I have never ran a front plate on any of my cars and never will. If I get a ticket I will just pay it.

I think that loophole existed the past year or two.

I have never given it much thought, I don't get profiled and pulled over for BS unless I am doing something stupid and then I deserve it so I don't complain. But even then they just give me a speeding ticket and never hassle me about the lack of a plate.

There was a loophole in the law. They have since fixed it. Hey it's your choice, run with or without I don't care. I have ran without for years as well and never been hassled about it either, even before the loophole. I don't even have the bracket anymore that holds it. I will most likely still run without it. At least you know.

Grungepup: It can be used as a sole reason to pull you over, it's called probable cause. Most Agencies advised their officers not to use it as a sole purpose for a traffic stop, however that may or may not change. I have several friends who are peace officers, I'm pretty versed in traffic laws. I used to do ride a longs at least once a week when I had way more time on my hands.

Years ago (late 90's) my buddy had a custom Chevy pick up (yeah candy coat and all) and he would get ticketed for it at our local cruise spot all the time. He would just pay the ticket and go on. So I don't see how they could ticket him all those years if the law stated otherwise. And Grungepup has "friends" who are law enforcement too, :lol:. One of my good friends is SAPD and doesn't know jack shit about most traffic laws when we ask him so unless they work traffic they probably won't know these fine details. I know my buddy hates working traffic.

You are right though, the cops can determine whatever they think is probable cause and usually the rule of thumb is actually reasonable suspicion anyway, not necessarily probable cause by definition anyway. Whether it would hold up in court is another thing all together but who is going to go to court for a no plate ticket.

The only thing this change will do is maybe remind officers about this law for the time being and result in more tickets for us since it is being brought up.

http://www.dallasnews.com/investigat...a-200-fine.ece

It was only the past 2 years where there was no fine associated with the offense.

"Which leads to another amazing discovery I made while solving the mystery of the front license plate. (More news coming!) For the past two years, until today, Sept. 1, any motorist in the state of Texas who was stopped for not having a front or rear Texas license plate could not be fined. That’s right. Not be fined.
Legislators in 2011 accidentally removed the punishment portion of the license plate law. (Uh-oh.) The law was on the books, but the fine was inadvertently deleted. (Embarrassing.) That made traffic cops much less likely to make stops for a missing front plate. They could write tickets with no fine. (Where’s the fun in that?)"

Ohhhh. Yeah I guess it has been that long since I have gotten a ticket.

Yes, that was my point about the loophole.

its been in effect longer than 2 years
 

Got a ticket for no plate and a ticket for speeding in late 2005 in my 2005 RX-8
It was a $100 fine

Prior to 2 years ago = fine
2 years ago until Sept 1, 2013 = illegal but no fine
Sept 1, 2013 to now = fine

2005 would be prior to 2 years ago so yea that would make sense

i had a fine when i got a ticket last year for no plate...... When i went to court, I showed a picture of my car with the plate on it and they dismissed the ticket and fine, i had to pay a $10 court filing fee.

I just noticed the other day that the windshield registration sticker on my Civic Si indicates 12/12 when I realized that the new sticker is still sitting in the console from January :rofl:

i live in houston and have yet to get a ticket for not having my license plate upfront been pullovered multiple times before for speeding....sooo so far so good lol

how about this month?

(do you read??!?)

Should have been specific as to when I've been pullovered as for this month only once but they let me off with a warning so as I stated before so far so good and to be specific for you it was for speeding they didn't tell me anything about my license plate