A Tough to Enforce Law

Someone writes a Letter to the Editor complaining about License Plate laws not being enforced:

It appears from observing the large number of vehicles without a front license plate in Ada County that it is no longer necessary to display a front license plate in Idaho. Oh, it is still on the books and every vehicle owner is given two plates to be displayed, but law enforcement won’t stop you. I have even called the Ada County Sheriff’s Office about this common violation and was told that it wasn’t a high priority and that “we have other things to do.”

Hmmm, a lot of potential income on tickets is being lost because officers won’t enforce an obvious violation of the law. You can keep driving those one-plate vehicles. You won’t be stopped.

As some of the commenters at Unequivocal Notion have pointed out the police indeed do have better things to do.

I also think the letter writer is missing a key point. Police officers approach cars from behind usually and spotting a front license plate violation can be a challenge. True, they may spot it in a car beside them, in which case all they have to do is slow down, change lanes, get behind them and flash the lights. This can be a difficult arrangement.

Truth be told, I don’t think we really need the front license plate (yes, I still have mine.) We only need the back license plate because that’s what people see. The front is redundant and police can do better focusing on real criminals.

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