Sooo, I've been driving around the Austin area and I've come to notice that some cars have omitted the front license plate, (primarily BMW's...why...i dont know?) So I called the TX DPS and they were all like "It's illegal" and one answer was even "Well the cop had probably other things to do and just didn't notice that the car was without a license plate." (Yes seriously, he said this and i was like WTF) can anyone clear me up on this?
Thanks

 

I live in Texas as well and I have yet to hear of an issue. A friend of mine got pulled over in a small town South of San Antonio for not having a front plate.
I think it depends on the size of the city and how anal the cops are in your city. Here in Laredo, about 15% of the cars don't have front plates, the cops don't care about the plates or tint, so there are tons of vehicles with 5% or more all the way around. I had 5% on my 4x4 Ranger for about a year and never had a cop pull me over for my tint. They didn't even say anything when I got pulled over at 4:30am on my way to work for doing 52 in a 45.
It all depends on the city you live in. I would think that Austin PD has better things to do unless you catch a cop in a bad mood on a slow day.

 

Texas law currently requires you to have two license plates, front and rear. It's section: 502.404. OPERATION OF VEHICLE WITHOUT LICENSE PLATE OR
REGISTRATION INSIGNIA

There is a bill in the Texas legislature to no longer require a front license plate (basically to save the state some money), but I don't think it has become law.

Texas DID repeal the law last SEP that made any license plate frame that "obscured" the plate, inc luding the word "TEXAS" an offense.

Also, isn't the Texas license plate bigger than those from every other state?

-To note:

About 20 states have single license plate (rear) laws, including every state that borders Texas.

- If you have a single plate from a state that allows it, you cannot be ticketed in a dual plate state.

- I think police support the two plate requirement for a few reasons:
-- helps catch violaters on speed and red light cameras and toll cameras
-- helps them identify a vehicle faster
-- gives them a legal reason to pull over an otherwise "suspicious" vehicle

In California, police are testing a license plate recognition system that bolts to the cruiser. It can scan 500 plates an hour from moving and parked cars, run them through a database, and trigger an alert if a vehicle has been reported stolen.

Ok, more than you want to know about license plates, but suffice to say, the government has a strong interest in maintaing front license plate laws.

 

This topic is not TSX specific, it applies to any car. Please repost it in the Off Topic area.

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