# In my area, a lot of people are driving around without license plates; anyone know why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 11, 2023, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491 "2023-04-11T05:57:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/21 "2023-04-11T15:52:07Z")
I got pulled over once for having an expired sticker - I’d forgotten to put them on, and had been driving around with them in the glove compartment for three or four months before anyone noticed. The cop watched me attach them, and was satisfied. But that was years ago, back when we still had stickers. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/22 "2023-04-11T15:58:50Z")
Is your area Rhode Island? We have a lot of unregistered, uninsured, and inspected cars in this area so it wouldn’t surprise me if they never bothered to get plates for the car that they’ll simply abandon anyway if they get pulled over . ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/23 "2023-04-11T16:29:29Z")
In the UK, cars get a plate for life, unless some owner pays to change it for a personalised plate. Driving without one, both front and rear and made exactly according to the regulations, is a surefire way to get stopped and fined. Roadside cameras and many cop cars have Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) equipment. They can scan a plate and check insurance, test, and tax remotely. Being caught without insurance gets your car towed and if you don’t pay up to retrieve it in 14 days, crushed. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/24 "2023-04-11T18:15:12Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > I’ve also seen one that looks pretty real, but upon inspection is for the “State of Jefferson,” which is a would-be new state made up of rural Southern Oregon and rural Northern California. The Sovereigns and the State of Jefferson people have a lot of overlap. And [this one](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-sovcit-licence-plate/980398) seems to be an up and comer. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/25 "2023-04-11T18:45:07Z")
Colorado makes it easy. They let you know when you’re about to expire. I then just jump on line and buy a new sticker and they mail it to me. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/26 "2023-04-11T18:53:41Z")
I go to the kiosk in King Soopers. You can always tell how close it is to the end of the month by how long that line is. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/27 "2023-04-11T20:01:45Z")
Since you mentioned being in Iowa, that’s where I am too. I wasn’t going to put this in the OP for obvious reasons, but when I see this, most of the time, the driver is black. Every time I see that, I think that maybe someone is phishing for a lawsuit, among other things. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/28 "2023-04-11T21:46:50Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I wasn’t going to put this in the OP for obvious reasons, but when I see this, most of the time, the driver is black. Every time I see that, I think that maybe someone is phishing for a lawsuit, among other things. What kind of lawsuit? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/29 "2023-04-12T03:27:18Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > > > There are some Sovereign citizen groups that won’t register or license a vehicle. That could be some. > > Including the ultimate “if I say so it will magically become true” guy, Steve Jobs . Jobs was a SovCit? I did not know that. Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/30 "2023-04-12T03:50:33Z")
No, I was referring to the fact that Jobs [drove around without a license plate](https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/steve-jobs-car-apple-ceo-license-plates/story?id=14834608), and making a parallel between Jobs’ [Reality Distortion Field](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_distortion_field) and the SovCit tradition of saying things like “I, HoMER;S1MpsoN;; hereby declare that this court has no power over me because that flag has a gold fringe”. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/31 "2023-04-12T04:03:07Z")
I posted earlier that Jobs was using a perfectly legal loophole. He never owned a car longer than 6 months, which was the grace period California offered before the temp registration expired and plates were required. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/32 "2023-04-12T12:30:35Z")
There are now automatic license plate readers, both fixed and portable. I don’t know how widespread they are, but they don’t cost that much, and are a big revenue generator. If one passes by your car, or you pass by one of them, they can read your plate, look it up for veracity in a few seconds, and either alert a cop or issue a ticket. As these become more common, it would be increasingly unwise to have a car anywhere in a public space without proper documentation. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/33 "2023-04-12T12:35:58Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Some drivers use dark plastic to cover the plates. In both cases a cop can read it but a camera cannot. The people who sell your those covers say that, but it doesn’t make any sense. If the light can get through to a person’s eyes, it can get through to a camera. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/34 "2023-04-12T12:51:59Z")
I think the low contrast obscures for cameras ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/35 "2023-04-12T13:36:10Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The people who sell your those covers say that, but it doesn’t make any sense. If the light can get through to a person’s eyes, it can get through to a camera. There are two ways the covers attempt to fool the camera (spoiler alert: neither is effective). Some covers disrupt light hitting it from an angle so the plate is readable from behind but obscured from the side of the road - which is true at more extreme angles, but the plates are readable at typical angles of traffic cameras. Other covers (or sprays) are highly reflective in an attempt to “blind” the camera with reflection of its flash. Again, it doesn’t work in practice. [Cite](https://radartest.com/red-light-camera-countermeasures-test.asp), [cite](https://mythresults.com/episode73). ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/36 "2023-04-12T15:30:03Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I think this is the main reason you don’t see a steel plate near the rear bumper. And often times the temporary plate can’t be seen because the window is tinted, or the tape has failed and it fell. That and the angle of the rear window and small size of the temporary tag makes it nigh impossible to see even when it’s properly affixed. > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > And where are the police? Off doing more important things than enforcing minor traffic violations. Haha, thanks I needed a good laugh. > [@Musicat](#): > > There are now automatic license plate readers, both fixed and portable. I don’t know how widespread they are, but they don’t cost that much, and are a big revenue generator. If one passes by your car, or you pass by one of them, they can read your plate, look it up for veracity in a few seconds, and either alert a cop or issue a ticket. As these become more common, it would be increasingly unwise to have a car anywhere in a public space without proper documentation. But that’s kind of the whole point of not having plates, defacing the plates you do have, or holding on to those temp tags ([many of which are fraudulent to begin with](https://www.streetsblogprojects.org/ghost-tags-index)). If the plate reader has nothing to read, then they have no way to generate any sort of citation, and the cops don’t care. > [@TroutMan](#): > > There are two ways the covers attempt to fool the camera (spoiler alert: neither is effective). Red light and speed cameras seem to be a bit more sophisticated with flashes and good optics. Are toll cameras as good? Also, a simple tinted plastic cover makes reading a plate much more difficult when speeding away, whether for a person, or a dashcam, especially in questionable lighting conditions. It really doesn’t take much to introduce ambiguity, like is that a G or a 6, a K or an X, and they’re gone. ---
**Author:** ![Frosted\_Glass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frosted_glass/32/3926_2.png) [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/37 "2023-04-12T16:32:10Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I wasn’t going to put this in the OP for obvious reasons, but when I see this, most of the time, the driver is black. Every time I see that, I think that maybe someone is phishing for a lawsuit, among other things. Like @TriPolar, I’m also curious if the OP has an explanation for this one. What kind of lawsuits are you talking about and what does being black have anything to do with it? I’ve only met two black people that would actively pursue confrontation with the police to prove a point and both of those people were far outside the “norm”. The rest of us try our damnedest to avoid unwanted police attention. Back to the OP… Texas has had significant delays at the DMV ever since COVID peaked. It took me several months of camping on the DMV website in the morning to finally get an appointment to change my vehicle over from NY to TX. In the end, I wasn’t even able to get an appointment in my part of the city. Instead, I had to use one of the locations in the outskirts of the county. The associate joked with me a little bit about the 10 month delay but she also explained that they were way overbooked after switching to appointments only. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/38 "2023-04-12T17:36:11Z")
I can assure you that if any of our local police spotted a car with no visible tags of any kind, that car will be pulled over pretty damn quick. Because that’s their job. Other police departments might be too overloaded to actually do their job. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/39 "2023-04-13T21:49:10Z")
In The Old Place, there were too many “Tag applied for.” homemade cardboard tags around. In The New Place, rarely do I see something with no plates at all. But official “temporary” tags abound with some not just a month or two out of date, but sometimes over a year old. Some so degraded that they are mostly unreadable. When we moved here during nearly peak pandemic, it was nothing to go down to the DMV and get new plates (with title transfer) right on the spot. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491/40 "2023-04-14T13:58:43Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I can assure you that if any of our local police spotted a car with no visible tags of any kind, that car will be pulled over pretty damn quick. The offender can just speed away and the dangerous pursuit is called off after a few blocks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-area-a-lot-of-people-are-driving-around-without-license-plates-anyone-know-why/982491.md?page=3)