As I was scouring through various searches on the internet, trying to figure out why Missouri is so adamant about requiring a front license plate on passenger vehicles, I ran across this petition...

http://www.petitiononline.com/MOLPDL/petition.html

I'm not sure how old the site is or even if this petition will go anywhere, but I figure, it can't hurt anything to sign it. Hey, maybe we might actually take a small part in getting that silly law abolished. Wouldn't that be groovy?

 

Glad you found this; I'm sure lots of STLMINI people will sign it.

Luckily I have never had a problem with not having a front plate, but it does happen...

Aaron

 

not only would this be a great thing for aesthic reasons but think of the cost savings for the state. maybe missouri can fix some of the roads with the cash saved by cutting the number of plates necessary in half.

 

I understand Missouri is getting new plates in a year or two. Think of the bridges & roads they could repair with that extra money. I haven't had a front plate on the Miata for several years now & have had no problems but I just know as soon as I take it off the MINI, the local County guy who sits on Kerth waiting to see me cruise by at 40 in a 35 will nab me. The MINI gets a lot more attention out here in South County than the Miata ever does.

Lois

 

I have signed the petition and hope some day it will be accepted.:smile: Still for now I will keep my front plates on, I just don't want the hassle from the cops.

 

i took my front plate off and replaced it with a euro plate a year ago, since then i've gotten two tickets for no front plate. both on manchester road, parked outside the atomic cowboy in maplewood. $5 each. not too bad.

i did get stopped for speeding in the city. the cop was a real jerk but didn't ticket me for no front plate. surprising since the city seems to be so broke.

 

West County seems to be the place they get you for no front plates. Several Miata friends have been tabbed on Manchester & in Chesterfield on Olive. We got stopped in the Miata last summer about 2 blocks from our house, guess the cop never noticed the missing front plate but Gary did get a speeding ticket 42 in a 35

Lois

 

here is my approach, When I have been pulled over for speeding or some other moving violation etc....I always "lose" my proof of insurance. I am very polite, apologetic and coopertive with the oficer. My experince has been that these guys have a hard job and contrary to popular belief are not power thirsty people who like to rain on parades. If you make it easy for them they generally will make it easy on you. They will write you either a warning or for a lesser offence. in the case of insurance where i live if you simply provide proof of insurance at time of ticket then the case is dropped. So, if the penalty for no front plate is only 5 bucks, concider it a bit of a blessing. You probably wont get pulled over for it, but if you do get pulled over it is a slap on the wrist

 

I had a St. Charles County sheriff stop me for speeding, he told me what really got his attention, was NO FRONT PLATE, one of his pet peevs. As he explained, "it is the law". Then he threw the book at me, Speeding(20 over), careless & reckless, no front plate. The lawyer wasn't cheep.
Needless to say, I run a front plate.

 

Yea, my Mom found out the hard way about the St. Charles officers. They pulled her over solely for the reason of not having a front plate and gave her a ticket for it. Unfortunately, she didn't think fast enough to tell the officer that it's a lease and wouldn't the dealership install the plate if that were the law? You know, the ole dumb blonde routine - it's always worth the try, I say.

 

Here's some figures for those wanting that money to go to roads and bridges:

Number of registered non-commercial vehicles in Missouri: roughly 2.6million
(assuming 1 vehicle for every individual over age 16)

Cost to manufacturer a plate: $.84
(http://www.ncsl.org/programs/transpo...n/tranrm_p.htm)

Additional Revenue: $2.2million

Things $2.2million of state money will buy:
168' of the new metrolink extension ($550mil total project cost)
2-3 days of construction at the new ballpark ($646mil total project cost)
3 miles of highway construction ($730k per mile)
1/4 of the Boone's Crossing Bridge ($8mil)
1/9 of the 141 and Big Bend Bridge ($18mil)
1/13 of the 141 and Manchester Bridge ($26mil)
1/11 of the Hwy K and Hwy 40 Bridge ($22mil)
1/7 of the Winghaven and Hwy 40 Bridge ($13.7mil)

Sort of painful, isn't it?

-Laclede

 

I'm a front plate runner. It's just not worth the hassle from the fuzz.

 

Although the additional revenue is a great idea, as Laclede shows more money is needed. Just take the example of the New Mississippi River Bridge.

http://www.newriverbridge.org/index.htm

The company I work for has designed this new signature structure, but now there may be a complete redesign. The political big whigs of St. Louis and Illinois wanted something special, and now they may have to scale back due to the cost, $1 billion dollars (2002 dollars). If our political leaders would be more practical to begin with, us citizens would get more bang for our bucks (taxes).

 

a resurgence in this topic as I got ticketed for $65 in maryland heights the other day.
stinks to mess up the aesthetics of my beautiful little machine, but I can't afford to have the fuzz doing that to me a few more times, and this guy was local to my house, I drive that street every day.
sigh. $50 for a no-holes plate holder it looks like.

I would gladly pay the state $400 now to let me haev a Euro plate and I would put my MO license number on it..you think they'd want the money.

oh well, I wasn't sure I wanted to bother with personalized plates anyway but now it's going to be on front and back, I might as well.

grr..$65 !? same amount as if your plate was expired. that is such a crock.
I'm sure I don't get that ticket if I have a honda. I think The Man just doesn't like my cool little car.

gominigo.com also sells some nice glove box organizers. I think I'll snag one of those while I'm there. I'm really tired of opening the glove box and having things all spill out, then I have to try to stuff them back in there one-handed while concentrating on the road. Sounds like most people that get them love them, so worth the $25

 

I would love to be able to drop the front plate. I hope they change the law.

 

Nothing like reviving an old thread. And for a really good cause.

I would love to not have to run a front plate(and I will admit I often don't), and would happily sign a petition to get rid of them. However, my experience with petitions hasn't been positive, and internet petitions are basically useless. See here.

Also, it costs the state $0.84 to make the plate, but how much does it cost you to buy that plate? A lot more than $0.84, and that is the money the state will be losing(as opposed to 'saving' $0.84), in addition to the income from people replacing lost front plates after they get a ticket.

Requiring front plates is just too easy of a source of revenue for the state to give up.

 

Oh, I don't think there's a chance in hell they'll ever change this..too easy for cops to argue 'hey the extra plate lets me ID people'. It's still a tax stamp on the front of my car though. And arguing we like the aesthetics of our car without it is worthless to most car owners who dont' care.

I just replied to the old thread as I had the same issue today. I really wish it as $10 or so, then I'd not worry about it. Fine, fine me some more, I like my car without the plate.

 

here in california they really get you for not having a front plate. and my understanding for this law is that it's for the speeding and traffic light cameras, so if you ran a red light or something some cameras might be positioned to snap a shot of you from the front, hence they need you to hang the tag up front to get you. i hate it, too, and i've gotten so many tickets for it. even the parking meter maids are allowed to write you tickets for that here, makes me want to egg their cars every time i see them

 

what are the particulars regarding your ticket? were you pulled over or did they get you while you were parked? where in maryland heights?

 

I would agree with previous posts indicating that West County is really serious about having a front license plate. We got pulled over by the Schnucks on Manchester in Ellisville. He was a nice guy and let us go without a ticket... probably because he could tell the car was brand new and we said that we didn't have a chance to (or the heart to) drill into the frame yet. Then we remembered this thread that had a no-hole license plate frame... here is the link... http://www.gominigo.com/18545.html I think it looks really sharp... and if you move out of MO then you can just unscrew it without any permanent damage to the car.

 

ya, I have the noholes plate now, but I still don't like having to put one on there. This was on mckelvey by dorsett, right by the school there which by the way is a common speed trap. I got pulled over while driving...I made the mistake of dropping off my son at school after passing the apparently bored officer, and then coming back past him 20 minutes later.

Since I live in MH I didn't think I'd have a chance to fight them and at $65 a pop, it didn't seem worth it to fight city hall.
/boo hiss.

 

Well, Maplewood just decided to get **** about this, or bored. Had the Cooper in Maplewood for over 5 years now, and park it in front of the house EVERY night and all weekend. Last night I parked the wife's car around back and the Cooper sat by it's lonesome in front. Came out to find a ticket on it this morning.

The part that jerks my chain is that I have not had a plate on the car for five years and I sit 2 blocks from the police station. The police pass this car 10-20 times a day, and someone now gets a wild hair to write a ticket on this?!?

 

I WASN'T RUNNING A FRONT PLATE FOR ABOUT 4 MONTHS BEFORE THE CHIEF OF POLICE IN MY SMALL TOWN PULLED ME OVER FOR NOT RUNNING ONE, WELL I WENT HOME AND PUT IT ON. AT ONE OF THE HAPPY HOURS, I THINK GROMIT TOLD ME ABOUT THIS WEB SITE FOR EURO PLATES, AFTER I PUT THE EURO PLATE ON, NO PROBLEMS (KNOCK ON WOOD) WE EVEN HAVE THE COPS SPEED TRAPING ON MAIN STREET ALL THE TIME.

 

Glad I live in Kansas (no front plate required)

What's interesting tho, if you buy a personalized plate, you get a front plate as well! Mine's on the wall at home.........

 

Sounds to me that funds are getting on the low side in Maplewood - maybe they want a new squad car????

I got the same treatment here in my small town in reference to tinted windows - have had tinted windows in my cars since 1984 but one day while driving my MINI (with the windows down) I got stopped and ticketed for illegal window tint.
MsBrit