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Thu 22 Jul, 2004 06:35 pm
Edit: Moderator: Moved from Politics to North America
I went to renew my inspection sticker today, and everything passed except for one thing. My car still had the plastic lisence frame put on by the dealer. Turns out, if that frame covers the part of your plate with the patriotic MA phrase "The Spirit of America", you can get pulled over!! I just had the guy break it off, but I think it's a rather silly law. The guy said since 9/11, it's now the law, at least in MA. Gee, I feel safer already!
I just think it's pretty dumb, especially since few people know about it.
I agree. Very stupid law!
Yeah, over in the third world state of Florida, they have the same law. Recently, someone in my area got a ticket over it, and there was a big flap in the newspapers.
I got my new license plate last week, so when I put it on, I removed the frame (and the advertising for the dealer that sold me the car).
I never realized it, but in order to remove the plate, you have to have a wrench. When I lived in NY, all you needed was a screw driver. I suppose that the powers that be figure that the plates would be tougher to steal that way!
I'm betting that's your auto manufacturer, Phoenix--you can use a simple screw driver for the plates on my jeep.
It was the first I'd heard of it too, Fishin, which is what annoyed me perhaps the most.
besides the fact that I think it's kind of silly.
I just asked the guy to break mine off, since it's been on there since I bought the car almost 4 years ago and the screws were all rusty. So that's fine; a broken, ugly frame, so long as "The Spirit of America" is there for all to see.
On my Korean car...
I don't mind, really. I just think it's silly.
Although I
would have minded if I was denied a sticker and had to pay the $29 anyway, which is the station's perogative. It has happened to me before, at a Shell station. They denied it because I had a tail light out. I asked them to just replace it, but they said 'Nope". My options were to buy the bulb, pay them to install it, or do it myself (haha, me?) and then have them inspect it again five minutes later for another $29! (To which I gave back their Nope) I have never used a Shell station since. (BTW, Fishin, the one on Route 27 by Theo's pizza)
Wow, that's really pathetic. What reason did the legislators give for this law, if any, Suzy?
Hi drom,
that's my biggest complaint; nobody even knew about it! Who knows what the reasons are? An enforced patriotic display, I guess. I don't have a real problem with having every millimeter of my plate exposed, it just would have been nice to have been informed about it when it took effect, which must have been sometime in the past year, as it wasn't an issue getting my sticker last year.
It's just a little bizarre!
Suzy
Suzy, I found the following Texas law and I assume it is similar to other State's laws.
I think maybe the reason you were hassled is that your dealer's plate obscured your state's name on the plate and the motto has nothing to do with it. Protecting the visibility of the name of the state in which the license was issued makes sense. The problem arose because your state apprently combined its name into a motto. ---BBB
License Plate Visibility
SB 439 - This bill makes it illegal to add reflective material, lights, emblems, anything that changes the color of the license plate, or makes it difficult to read the lettering of the license plate. Check to make sure your license plate frame does not obscure any portion of the state name or license plate number.
The Texas law is SB 439.
License Plate Lighting
Under SB 439, Transportation Code ยง502.409 has been amended (effective 09/01/03) to prohibit attaching or displaying on a motor vehicle a number plate or registration insignia:
1. letters, numbers, or other identification marks that because of blurring or reflective matter are not plainly visible at all times during daylight, or
2. "an attached illuminated device or sticker, decal, emblem, or other insignia that is not authorized by law and that interferes with the readability of the letters or numbers on the plate or the name of the state in which the vehicle is registered" [/u]
No, I believe the state name is at the top of the plate, and readily visible, as were all the numbers and letters. The only part covered, and only partially so, were the words at the bottom "The Spirit of America", and the guy told me specifically that those words have to show according to the law!
But thanks for looking it up!
In Kansas they have that license plate law also, the frame can't cover ANY of the words or numbers on the plate. A friend of mine got pulled over because of that law. He'd been driving okay, but because of the plate violation they tested him for DUI, and he failed. So he wound up spending a few days in the slammer, going to mandatory driving classes, and having his license temporarily suspended- he wouldn't have been caught except for the d*** obscured license plate.
Kansas also has another silly (IMHO) law. If you have a customized license plate number or slogan, you must have both front and back license plates. But if you just have the automatically-issued license number, you only need a back license plate.
Shouldn't it be the same regardless?
I once got pulled over for not having both plates on!
Suzy
I tried to find the statute regarding license plate visibility, but couldn't easily identify it for MA.
What I did read leads me to believe the reason every word on a license plate must be visible is for photo radar purposes. This probably was initiated under the Patriot Act.
BBB
Interesting findings..
The
MA RMV Website has this in the Q&A Section:
Quote:I was told my vehicle failed because the dealer license plate frame obstructs the logo "The Spirit of America" or "Massachusetts."
Regulations require that all letters, numbers, stickers, and symbols must be clearly visible on the number plate. A number plate frame that obstructs any part of the plate is illegal, and you could be fined for having an obstructed plate.
But the
actual law doesn't say that.
Quote:The said number plates shall be kept clean with the numbers legible and shall not be obscured in any manner by the installation of any device obscuring said numbers, and during the period when the vehicle or trailer is required to display lights the rear register number shall be illuminated so as to be plainly visible at a distance of sixty feet. No number plates other than such as are procured from the registrar or such as may be authorized by him for temporary use, except as provided in section three, shall be displayed on any motor vehicle or trailer so operated; provided, that a motor vehicle or trailer which by reason of its interstate operation is registered in this commonwealth and elsewhere may display the register number plates of this and any other state or country in which it is registered, if, while being operated on the ways of this commonwealth, the number plates furnished by the registrar, or temporary number plates authorized by him as hereinafter provided, are displayed as required hereby.
The law itself hasn't changed so there must be some lower level regulation put in place by the RMV.
I was just speaking with somebody at work who lives in Rhode Island, and she said it's the same there now.
And theirs doesn't even say anything patriotic!
Thanks Fishin! I meant to check the RMV site but forgot. I was too busy today trying to get a free rental of a dunk tank for an event!
Thanks, Taylor Rental of Natick!
First I've heard of it.
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