Posted on 03/29/2017 12:28:10 PM PDT by SandRat
PHOENIX — Got one of those plastic covers or films over your license plate?
Be prepared to get out your screwdriver or razor blade to take it off.
Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday signed legislation making it illegal to put any covering or substance on a plate "that obscures from any angle the number, characters, year validating tabs or name of the jurisdiction issuing the plate.'' The measure takes effect 90 days after the end of the session, meaning probably not until sometime in August.
Violators would be subject to civil fines decided by a judge.
The issue has been at the heart of the debate now for more than a decade over the issue of photo radar.
That's because many of these coverings are deliberately designed to keep the plates of offending vehicles from being clearly photographed. And foes of the practice sought to keep the plate coverings legal to defeat the cameras.
Prior efforts by other lawmakers went down to defeat in 2004, 2008 and 2010.
But that issue of photo radar did not arise at the hearings this year. Instead, Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, said what's behind his legislation are concerns that bad guys will get away because police officers and witnesses to crimes won't be able to read the license of the vehicle.
He noted that SB 1073 has the backing of several different organizations of police officers. And Farley said this has nothing to do with whether cameras can catch speeders and those who run red lights.
"The problem is that these things don't just hide the photo radar flashes,'' he said. "They hide low-angle sun as well.''
Farley said that should be obvious to anyone who commutes early or late in the day and tries to read the license plate of the vehicle in front.
"The ones that have these coverings on them, you can't read them at all,'' he said. And that, said Farley, has gotten the attention of police officers and sheriff's deputies.
"If we're going to require license plates at all in order to identify the cars to law enforcement and witnesses at crimes, we should make sure they're not obscured,'' he said. "Otherwise we're giving an unfair advantage to criminals.''
The big surprise to some lawmakers was the need for the bill.
"I thought it was already illegal,'' Sen. Karen Fann, R-Prescott, said during a hearing on the legislation. She wasn't the only one.
"Then why did I get a ticket for it?'' piped up Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix.
Sen. Bob Worsley, R-Mesa, who chairs the Senate Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, responded he was at a loss to explain.
"Some visionary cop gave you a ticket that's not legal yet,'' he quipped.
"It was so embarrassing,'' Brophy McGee responded.
The senator did not recall the specifics of the citation. But there already is a law that motorists "shall maintain each license plate to it is clearly legible.''
That language clearly deals with situations where the plate is not visible from any angle. This new law covers instances where the question of visibility may depend on from where it is being viewed
Urinating on your license plate will block photos too.
Hey! That’s the same color as mine!
Obviously this is about ticket revenues. If it was about catching criminals, it isn’t hard for a criminal to steal plates from another car and put them on his getaway car before the commission of a crime, then remove them when the crime is over.
Or just buy an HP color printer and print out a fake plate using the colors of a real plate. In a flash would anyone notice that it was paper not metal?
I have never been unable to read a tag number under a plastic cover or because of the sun. Made up reason for $$$
Great photo!
(Can’t believe I am asking this) Really?
Then they need to comply. Just like window tint laws, each state has their own rules on what’s legal and if you bring your car there you can get ticketed for being outside regulations.
Best suggestion I ever saw from a FReeper:
If busted by one of these cameras, go to trial and seek the source code of the camera system in discovery. The case will be dropped faster than you can say “copyright infringement”. The manufacturer of the camera would sooner let you walk than give that up.
It’s been illegal in NY for years.
Where's the MAGA!
I can’t believe it either. :)
the camera that got me showed my license plate, and my face (they blurred the face of my son, riding shotgun).
Isn't this the same argument gun grabbers make about guns? When license plate covers are illegal, only criminals will have license plate covers.
I never understood the purpose of those things
__________________________________________
They are like the CB radios and radar detectors from the last century. Folks use them to try and beat the system.
But sometimes the system beats you.
Oh Well.
IOW they don't want anything getting in the way of their totalitarian surveillance-state traffic
* cameras.
* - One of the things that ought to make it really easy to get out of these traffic-camera system tickets is that such a system could easily be rigged to have a quota... which makes the we get a percentage
contracts that the traffic-camera companies normally have really suspicious.
In my state the courts ruled them unconstitutional per se. they violate search and seizure, right of confrontation , 5th amendment. They cannot prove who was driving. Never admit that. How do they convict? Tear up the bill they send. If that is followed with any kind of state action file a motion to dismiss. It will be granted. Its not the machine— its the constitution. Also they will assert they will hurt your credit. Bull crap. You didn’t buy anything. They are attempting to collect a debt you did not incur. That is a fine in most states so that company owes you money!!. Sent them a letter under the Fair credit Billing act that they are in error with their billing. That triggers chaos. They will go away. They are extorting money illegally on contract with some damned government and it is all about money. YOUR MONEY!! IMO
LMAO!! Sometimes I bite in spite of myself! :-)
see reply #19
Same here in California, illegal for years. My wife got a ticket for it once, we have a plastic cover over the plate on her car. Paid the ticket, got it cleared, then I put the cover back on. I'm sure lots of folks do this. I got a ticket for something 400 miles away in L.A., fought it with proof my car wasn't there and got it dismissed (plus my white truck is not a red sedan). Cops probably misread a blurred license plate and foisted the ticket on me. I hate overzealous ticketing.
That stuff works.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.