i got a ticket in front of my house at 4:20 in the morning from a meter maid...how do i find out what the hell a meter maid is doing in front of my house at 4 am checking if my front plate is on or off?

 

in my town, you're not suppose to park your car on the street overnight, it has to be in your driveway. my neighbor across the street gets tickets all the time for leaving his car on the street.

 

it was probably a cop & not a maid. they give stupid tickets too. i used to see them in Queens with a tow truck behind the squad car going down the block checking plates. i made a suction cup front plate for when i park in the city.

 

that sucks? In my city, meters after 9'o clock are free

 

free after 6pm here

 

Sorry, but I don't see the point here, you don't have a front plate, you're supposed to, so you got a ticket for it.

(Disclaimer: I'm all for my local, state, and federal government collecting taxes, fees, penalties, and fines from anyone who deserves it as long as it's not me. Guess that's why I keep my front license plate on.)

Sounds to me like some cop had nothing to do at 4:20 AM and started giving tickets, I guess you'd prefer your local cops to hang out at Dunkin' Donuts instead of doing their job.

 

if you call giving meaningless tickets doing your job.

 

Why is the ticket meaningless?

Local ordinances say front license plates are required.
Front plate mounted = no ticket due to obeying the law.
No front plate mounted = ticket for disobeying the law.

So, again, why is the OP's ticket meaningless?

 

I'm with ticket boy over here. At 4:20 in the morning, he needs to be patrolling the streets looking for crime and things, not getting on someone's nuts for not having a front plate. On the otherhand, I guess its better for him to give you the ticket at 4:20 rather than when you're driving somewhere... Gotta take the crookeds with the straights I guess

 

If the ticket was written at 4:20, are you sure it wasn't for something else...?

 

 

My wife got a ticket simply because she left her new registration on the windshield and she did not get around peeling the old one off (which was stuck really good to the windshield and was there only for one day past expiration). You know what the ticket says ... "confusing registration info". Go figure, traffic cops and/or meter maids must be rocket scientists or brain surgeons!!

 

i mean what is a meter maid doing on a street with no meters giving out tickets at 4:20 am on my street which is a quiet street in san francisco with barely any traffic... i actually want a write a letter making up stuff about how there have been break ins in the early morning hours in my neighborhood and i think its the meter maid checking if doors are open to steal stuff

 

It could be someone trying fill fill their quota, should such a system exist. My brother has gotten a parking ticket for not curbing his wheels, even though he did. Probably not enough I guess.

For your example though, its a legitamite ticket, although I do wonder why they would need to be checking for license plates when they should be looking for other things.

 

The time of the day has nothing to do with breaking the law; if you are supposed to have it then you should have had it, your fault 100%. Additionally, they are not meter maids, although it may not be the most glamorous job out there it’s a job and you should have respect, if it was your job you would have given a ticket too.

 

one time i saw the meter maid writing me a ticket so i went to see why & it was for the front plate. i told her its in the car so she said to take a picture with it on the dash & they will dismiss it. so i left the plate on the dash, took the ticket and went away. when i came back to my car i had another ticket , this time for improper display of front plate. i sent both tickets w/pictures & plead not guilty because the meter maid said to do so. i got a letter back with a reduced fee for only 1 ticket & a bunch of rules like; the plate cant be covered by anything, even glass & it cant be lower than 12" & no higher than 45" & stuff.

 

when I lived in Rockville Center NY, ie L.I., we were always getting tickets, we had 4 cars and parking spaces for 3, odd man out, and had to park on the street, it was a crap shoot who would park on the curb and it you were lucky enough to get a ticket at night. Just a fact of life up there, get used to it.

 

Sounds like it was nothing to do with you parking, and a whole lot to do with you not following the law. Just slap the plate on the front and have a good day. Why is this an issue?

 

Or dont slap the plate on, enjoy the better looking front end, and dont bitch at getting a ticket.

 

the issue is why is parking enforcement driving around my house at 4 am...if it was a cop...id be happy to pay it because they were doing there job in making sure my neighborhood was safe and he happened to see it

 

Sounds like they know they can only catch certain infractions when the cars are parked for the night so they decide to look for them at that time. I'm guessing you complain about traffic enforcement cops setting up speed traps on the raods you travel?

 

In Virginia our license plates have stickers for the month and year indicating when the plates expire. The "month" sticker is supposed to go in the top left corner and the "year" in the top right. For some reason this proves very difficult for some people, who stick them all over the place; I've seen plates where people alternate the "year" stickers on each side, or put them near the center so that the words "month" and "year" on the plate (which are there to tell you where to put the stickers) are visible, or put them on other corners for no apparent reason.

Anyway, it's no big deal for the most part......unless you drive in Washington DC. I know a guy who got a ticket for "improper display of a license plate" because he had the "year" sticker on the left side (where the "month" is supposed to go) and the "month" sticker on the right side (where the "year" is supposed to go). No Virginia cop would ever ticket you for that because it's clear when the plate expires, but in DC they're rapacious. He appealed it and they sat on it forever before denying it, then demanded that he pay double the fine because he didn't pay soon enough (to which he wrote a letter telling them to fuck off; ever since then I believe he's taken the subway into DC!). Good reason never to live in the city if you live around here!

 

x2

 

The ticket is meaningless because front plates are unnecessary and just another revenue generation tactic dreamed up by greedy politicians. Or, even worse, the front plate law is a law for the sake of having rules. We don't have front plates in Georgia, but somehow civilization still goes on.

 

rules are rules no matter how retarded they may seem... Front plates give laser coppers a nice place to aim so they can catch you speeding, and therefore are mandatory in most states...

 

You guys are talking about two different issues. You're right that the front plate is stupid, but unfortunately if it's the law in one's state, then if one leaves off that plate, a ticket may be likely.

I think it's stupid that the speed limit on the Beltway is 55 mph and I routinely ignore it, but I also accept that if I get pulled over and get a ticket, saying "55 is stupid and it should be 70" is not going to be a successful defense.

 

The question is, how do they know the car is in use?

The way it works here in Alberta is that if your car is parked at your house, you can have NO plates anywhere on it, no registration or insurance, as long as the car isn't being driven.

The person shouldn't be able to give you a legitimate ticket because the car was not in use at the time. You could have been repairing your plate mounting bracket in your garage when it was time to go to bed, so you decided to do it tomorrow, you could have walked to the store to buy new bolts to put it on (unlikely at that time, but it could happen)...any number of things!

The point is, unless the car is on a public road with a driver in it, or parked in a public parking lot, they MUST NOT give you a ticket.

 

Me thinks that if the car was parked on private property (garage or driveway) that perhaps you might have a valid argument; however, since the car was parked on a public street, it's an entirely different story.

 

YOUR OPINION is quite different than STATE LAW.

 

This all depends on the state or province. In Virginia, for example, any mobile vehicle must be registered and insured (and thus must have license plates and a registration sticker in those cities and counties that use them). Why do I say "mobile"? Because, as a matter of law, ANY vehicle is presumed to be mobile. That means that if you go down towards the more hillbilly regions around Blacksburg, where they put cars up on cinderblocks in the front yard, the law technically requires that those cars be registered. If they're not, you can theoretically be ticketed. I've never heard of it happening, though.

 

If your state requires a front plate, there is one very good reason to keep it on, when a cop sees your car from the front he won't assume that you are either violating the law by not displaying it or from another state, either of which may increase your chances of being pulled over. (I remember reading a story several years ago where a Texas PD got in trouble for giving a hugely disproportionate number of out of state tickets, and they specifically mentioned that one way they easily targeted out of state vehicles was by looking for those without front license plates.)

 

I personally find the requirement of front plates stupid in any state really.

 

I think we all agree with that, but that opinion plus 60¢ will buy you a Coke out of the vending machine in my office. It won't help defeat a ticket if a state requires a front plate. For that matter, in DC, the law is that all vehicles must have front plates, and the cops have a list of the states that do not issue front plates. If you're from a state that issues front plates and you don't have yours on, you get a ticket. Now THAT'S stupid.

 

It's really simple!
IF you don't want to do the time, don't do the crime!

There are ways to get laws changed, ignoring them generally will not do it. I 'm not a big law and order guy but really, you gotta chose your battles. IF you break the law (stupid or not) be prepared to get caught and punished. If you think its worth it, go for it but don't cry when you get caught.

If your car sits on public streets, cops can inspect it 24/7.

 

When the police are looking for a specific plate number it is easier to see and find and identify if it has a plate on front and rear. Additionally, if there is a hit and run or a person is hit sometimes an eye witness sees the car from the front and can remember some of the plate numbers. I think it is a good idea that plates are on front and back it makes it much more identifiable from front views and rear views. This is why in big cities like NYC its mandatory- specifically for identity purposes. Plates in fron and rear can help solve crimes.

 

I kind of like having a front plate on my car. Not for looks, but as a buffer from the people that keep backing into my car. My plate has about 7 dents and 1 really big scrape now, while the bumper itself just has the imprints from the mount in it. I'd be happy to take the imprints then having a bunch of scrapes, or possbily craks, in my front bumper.

 

I'm confused. If its against the law why would you complain about getting a ticket for it. Was the ticket for no front license plate ? If you want to play...you gotta pay.

 

The point I was trying to make is that front plates in no way affect safety. At 4:20 in the morning, there are probably a few crimes being perpetrated that do affect safety. I agree with the original poster that the cop probably had better things to be doing at that time than giving him a ticket. I guess I was too subtle.

 

does anyone know if it is illegal to not have your front plate on while the car is parked?

 

That probably depends on the particular state or province and on whether it's parked on a public right-of-way or on one's own property (driveway or garage).