So I was on my way home and I got pulled over by police for not having my front license plate on my car.

I mean $93.00 that seems a little ridicilous. I know I am guilty for not having it but I mean $93.00. That's 3 tanks of gas for me I can't afford that. Espically with the way everything costs now a days. I wasnt a danger to anyone....I fixed it right away and I learned my lesson. Should I pay the fine or plead not guilty and try to get the fine reduced?

 

I would take a picture to prove that you dealt with it right away.. and take it with you.

 

I don't think you can plead "ignorance".

I think you have to choose between innocent and guilty.

 

One day one, i was pulled over twice. I had the plate on me, just was going to order the no holes mounts. But after two warning in one day, i put it on when got home.

 

OK

 

I would not plead ignorance. That may annoy the prosecutor.

 

Plead what you want, but you knew a front plate was a requirement in your state. You chose to not have it displayed. Kevin, are you comfortable lying?

My best guess is the judge & prosecutor will take a dim view of your proclaimed ignorance. Me thinks they may well teach you a lesson you won't forget.

As you know there are 2 ways to deal with this problem:

1- You mail the ticket in with your $93 check & move on, wiser for the experience.

2- You'll pay the $93 fine & you will pay the court costs $$ too. You'll also get a talking to by the judge about being ignorant.

Good luck.

 

 

if you do go to court make sure anything you take with you is notorized or they wont accept it.

 

I think there are too many variables here.

Are you sure there is a prosecutor assigned to the case? Here in Oregon, all minor moving violations are prosecuted without attorneys. If you plead not guilty, they set up a hearing where you and the officer come and explain your sides and the judge makes a decision.

For any equipment violations, letting your tags lapse, etc., here they do take it into account if you have taken care of the problem.

I think you should call the court and ask what the procedures are. It's possible they might still find you guilty but will reduce the fine you end up paying.

Pleading ignorance would seem laughable. You've been driving how many years, you received two license plates but for some reason you thought only one was necessary and the other was a spare? How silly does that sound?

And when you find out the judge is a NAM member and has printouts of all of your posts talking about flaunting the law, he or she might just lock you up for a few years. But at least you could claim low miles when you go to sell off your car.

Shouldn't you have found out the fine BEFORE you decided to go without the front plate and then make up your mind whether it was worth it or not to take the chance?

Good luck to you.

 

If there were no holes in the bumper I think you are innocent.

 

I know here in our local municipalities in Alabama the actual fine part of a ticket is not very much, it's the court costs that make up the majority. So say a speeding ticket is $225, the actual speeding fine may only be $50 with $175 in court costs. So if I went to court & the judge dropped the speeding fine by 50% I would still owe court costs so essentially wasting a day in court would only save me $25 & the ticket would still cost me $200. I dunno if it's the same in your state but it's something you might want to look into before wasting your time

 

It seems to me that pleading ignorance, when you weren't, is perjury. I doubt the court would believe you. Didn't you have to tell your dealer not to drill your bumper? IMO, you'd be taking a big risk by lying in court.

Does CT use traffic light cameras to catch people running red lights? That would explain why they are so strict about front plates. The cameras often rely on the front plate to identify you.

My understanding is that in California it is a fix-it offense. No fine, you just have the hassle of proving that you fixed it.

 

Just out of curiosity.. there was another thread where a person was speeding in their mini.. and people told that person to plead innocent.. even though they were speeding by their own admission.. so what is the difference here?

 

OK, time to put mine on! I've read enough similar posts and have come to the conclusion that the front plate looks acceptable on the R56 anyway. I only left it off due to peer pressure. Besides, the boys in blue need a target for their laser.

 

About a year in jail, I reckon.

Pleading "not guilty," is a standard procedure to allow your case to be heard by a judge.

"Pleading ignorance" is testimony under oath to the judge saying you didn't know there was a requirement to have license plates on the front of your car. If caught lying, the penalty for perjury is much stiffer than that for the plate violation.

 

Could you provide more details, or perhaps a link to the thread you're talking about?

Perhaps the poster in the other thread *was* speeding, but didn't agree with how fast the police said he was going? That would be a valid reason to contest a ticket, even if you admit you were speeding.

Or maybe posters on the thread you're talking about were recommending perjury - I don't know.

 

These seemingly meanless laws are in place as a revenue generator. If you've ever been to municipal court, their goal is to collect. Period. It's a big game between prosecutors, defense lawyers and the judges. They each feed off of each other, realizing their financial need of the other two in the equation. You however are the victim of this "monkey in the middle" game that they play.

You cannot win this one, IMHO. They will collect their fine plus the court cost. They are relentless and have all of the power. Tis life!

Depending on when you started driving your car, you might claim that you were in the process of getting the plate affixed? I don't know what your wait time is there, but here in Tx, it can be up to 3 weeks with temporary plates, until the permanants come in. You could claim that you were waiting for the bracket but as someone said, can you deal with a lie? Especially in a court of law?

I'd get one of those European license plates, double edge tape your current plate until the Euro comes in and lick your wounds. Life is too short, and you'll recover from the fine. My .02

 

Funny how there are always people who believe that. Yes, judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers sit around all day plotting how to raise more cash. Last time I checked, it's the state legislature that sets traffic laws.

There seems like a logical reason to require front plates. And if you don't want to get hooked into the revenue generation system that you feel is at work, then follow the law.

 

Actually he was right, he simply got the players in the game wrong. Plate tickets are nothing but revenue generators. So are the red light cameras that they want you to have the plate to be identified with for. Out here in California, on fix-it tickets, you even have to pay a fine to have your fine dismissed. If anyone thinks for a second that red light cameras are about promoting safety I have a funny little story.

At the intersection a couple of blocks from my house, a red light camera was placed. It was there for about 3 months and was then removed. I live in an area where just about everyone drives like proverbial grandmas, and when I asked my friend on the city council about the camera, he said that the company that put the camera there took it out because it wasn't generating enough...gasp...revenue.

Sorry to hear about your fine, $93 bucks is not fun to have stolen from you. I would go with one of the above poster's advice and use some auto grade 3M to stick it to your bumper until you get tow hook mount.

 

yep, it's your legislature that is sitting around all day plotting on how to raise cash! (i'm laughing but it's true)

 

No no traffic camera's here yet. I just never understood the use of a front plate but I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons too! But hey the way I look at it is I am happy to be living in the USA and follow these ruls etc than be living elsewhere where you dont have as much freedom

TRUE Joshk, I mean 93 bucks for not having on a front plate, yeah follow the law but why so steep...I fixed it and its on atlease have a fix it ticket, what happens if a rear lamp is out? I would assume they would give you some sort of time to fix it. GRRRRRRRRR Ohh well I vented.

I'm not flaunting the law

 

Kevin, make a simple calculation:
How valuable is your free time to you ? The time you will need to go to court, maybe taking a vacation day or at least several hours...
In the end, you will still need to mount the plate.
I know, it sucks. But save yourself the hassle, admit that you tried it and lost, pay the ticket and move on. And mount the plate ! You already know about ways to mount it without drilling additional holes, plus it can be mounted low enough that you still see your EU plate.

 

I did mount it at 8am this morning with double sided sticky tape. Hold's very well. :P The funny thing is on my way to work it was funny how I noticed all the cars without front plates on. I'm like ok you need to be pulle dover, you too. Ha

 

That is the lesson I learned too. The police and courts are in business to produce revenue, and they are going to get it from you whether you are guilty or innocent.

I wasted 2 days of my life trying to fight a very questionable speeding ticket and learned my lesson that I just have to pay it and move on. Thankfully it would require a zillion tickets or an actual accident in this state to ever actually affect my driving privledges or insurance premiums.

But if you've never tried to fight the gub-men, I suggest devoting a day or two of your life. You'll learn a lot and it will help you nurture that little seed of hatred for authority.