On 13 Jan 2005 18:24:18 GMT, Charles A. Sherwood wrote:

Yeah, if you get caught obscuring your license plate, you're gonna
get fined.

Really? I see many many cars with platic covers over the plates that
are intended to hide the plates from IR cameras at tollbooths. Too
many to believe that the police are stopping cars and giving tickets for it.

I deal with the local cops frequently, and asked about those. They
won't pull people over for them, but if they pull someone over for
something else, they cite them for the license plate violation as well.
Much like the seat belt laws here (Wisconsin).

I see some that are so opaque that I can't read the plate when I'm driving
behind them!

Yup.

I also see tons of pickup trucks with a trailer hitch that hides the
plates. Do these guys get tickets too?

I would think that'd be up to the officer and his confidence that the
judge wouldn't tell him to knock it off. A trailer hitch isn't designed
to block a license plate, where Super-Spammer's-Magic-Spray or a cover
is.

And then there are the licence plate holders that hide the top and bottom
of the plate and you can't tell what state the vehicle is from.

Well, my dad got pulled over by an over-zealous barney-fife type cop
because his renewal sticker wasn't visible from behind one of those
frames.

So, I don't believe they ticket for obscuring plates at all!

I suppose it depends. Usually the types who have the cover over the
plates aren't doing only one stupid thing at any given time.