Ohio and front license plates

[WillD]

My '91 Miata has never had a front plate. My dad has gotten pulled over a couple of times in it and he used to carry the plate in the trunk with the bracket to say I just need these special screws (or other similar bs)... but that only happened twice in 16 years. Since he gave the car to me a couple years ago I've never had a problem.

My dad asked one of his Police officer friends about not having a front license plate when he bought his Porsche a couple years ago. The consensus was that unless the officer feels like being a dick that they won't pull you over for it unless the car is a real POS.

But at the end of the day if you do get pulled over and the officer decides to douche it up and give you a ticket all you have to do is put it on and get the ticket voided. I'd be shocked if you actually had to pay.

This topic has me debating whether or not I want to take the plate of my MS3

 

[Lewis7789]

Iv'e been pulled over 2x in my Civic with no front plate and 2x in my P5 with no front plate in NEOhio.

Now, bare in mind pretty much every time was after 2am when I was on my way home from a gig with my band and the cops were probably pulling me over for a DUI check (which is funny since I don't drink). But they have always pulled me over for not having a front plate. Thankfully 3 times were warnings but the last one was a ticket so I bought an eBay bracket and it's worked great. Now i don't have to worry about passing a cop and waiting for him to turn around for my lack of a front plate.

 

[MS3_CLARITY]

Got pulled over for no front plate just this last year. The officer let me go with a warning because I had it in the car with me.
I wish it wasn't an issue, I hate front plates.

Heads up when you're rolling through Grandview area, those officers are eagle-eyed and motivated.

 

[knokout5]

hah really! i see those cops on 5th ave eagle-eyeing right by riverside.

 

[Fiji Mazda3]

Got pulled over for no front plate just this last year. The officer let me go with a warning because I had it in the car with me.
I wish it wasn't an issue, I hate front plates.

Heads up when you're rolling through Grandview area, those officers are eagle-eyed and motivated.

Yeah, they have nothing better to do down there. My co-worker moved from there recently because he had been pulled over a bunch of times for "speeding".

 

[THE Phen]

Hit 3 times in the Protege for no front plate. 2 times received speeding tickets, one was on a holiday and they tried to hit me with a seatbelt violation.

Never with the Miata. I think the police either a) think it looks dumb with a front plate too, or b) are afraid of surprise buttsecks from the driver of a miata.

 

[rally2003]

Hit 3 times in the Protege for no front plate. 2 times received speeding tickets, one was on a holiday and they tried to hit me with a seatbelt violation.

Never with the Miata. I think the police either a) think it looks dumb with a front plate too, or b) are afraid of surprise buttsecks from the driver of a miata.

lol, funny s***!

 

[Evan9999]

Hit 3 times in the Protege for no front plate. 2 times received speeding tickets, one was on a holiday and they tried to hit me with a seatbelt violation.

Never with the Miata. I think the police either a) think it looks dumb with a front plate too, or b) are afraid of surprise buttsecks from the driver of a miata.

Were you ever wearing a Pink shirt when you got pulled over in the Miata? If so, that would explain option b)

HAHA jk

 

[WillD]

Hit 3 times in the Protege for no front plate. 2 times received speeding tickets, one was on a holiday and they tried to hit me with a seatbelt violation.

Never with the Miata. I think the police either a) think it looks dumb with a front plate too, or b) are afraid of surprise buttsecks from the driver of a miata.

I'm assuming they failed to hit you with the seatbelt violation? If I assume correctly, how did you manage to get out of that. I figure if the cop wants to he can pretty much write a ticket for whatever.

The Miata bit is funny!

 

[THE Phen]

The cop came up and said "You weren't wearing a seatbelt. I looked down at my chest, saw the belt and said "Umm... yes I was..." He then saw my last name on my license and let me go. That is the one nice thing about being back home. My Grandfather was chief at one point, then my uncle was chief later on at a neighboring police station. The name is rather well known.

 

[WillD]

Got pulled over for not having a front license plate on the Miata last weekend! Was going throw a really small town out in my area. One of the cops thought the car was a Maserati.

I thought she was joking, but she then proceeded to ask me what kind of car it was... After explaining it was a Miata, I was then asked if it went 180...

I wish I was recording the exchange it was quite comical.

 

[Evan9999]

HAHA yaaaa it's a Maserati!!!! Just a brand new model.

Did you get a ticket?

I took my front plate of for Mid-Ohio and I forgot I haven't even put it back on yet. No issues yet, I think I'm just going to leave it off until I get yelled at for it lol

 

[Kiseliok]

I got pulled over a few days ago for 1. no front plate 2. tint too dark 3. no side reflectors on tail lights.
Dude was effin bored I could tell. Gave me a warning. Is he really expecting me to fix all that?!! pffffttt.. It's Christmas Tree, b****!!!

 

[Lewis7789]

Hahahaha! Fez...

 

[Josue6WGN]

I got busted for no front plate about 8-9 years ago, in Cleveland in my GTP. They also got me for loud exhaust too. I don't even remember what the outcome was, think it was just a fine or whatnot...eh.

I thought I read/heard somewhere that Ohio was doing away with the front plate?

 

[THE Phen]

Got pulled over last night in the Miata and got a warning about my speed (45 in a 40).

Let's see... super loud exhaust...
No front plate...
Too dark of tint...

But I get a warning for speed. No complaints. Haha.

 

[Kiseliok]

45 in 40??!! What's the world coming to... Even my daily traffic cam doesn't take a picture until you are doing 45 in 35!

 

[WillD]

HAHA yaaaa it's a Maserati!!!! Just a brand new model.

Did you get a ticket?

I took my front plate of for Mid-Ohio and I forgot I haven't even put it back on yet. No issues yet, I think I'm just going to leave it off until I get yelled at for it lol

Nope, not ticket. I gave them some BS about the bracket being broken and having a new one on order from the dealership etc. etc. They were definitely bored and/or wanted to pull me over to get a closer look at the "Maserati". I could tell they had no intention of giving me a ticket.

I decided to take the front license plate off my Speed3 to see how long it takes to get pulled over in that one.

 

[Evan9999]

Well...my front plate is going back on. I got pulled over for doing 48 in a 35 in Brecksville on my way to work today (I had woken up 10 minutes before so I wasn't exactly awake enough to monitor my speed going down hill haha). He also said he noticed that I didn't have my front plate. I told him that the plate fell off a few days ago, I have it in my trunk and I just need to get new screws that fit so I can put it back on lol. Well, he went back to his car and did the usual BS they do to waste your time. He comes back and says he's not going to give me a ticket for speeding, but he's going to give me a citation for no front plate. He also said that it's not a moving violation, so no points and insurance isn't affected.

I wonder if he would have given me a speeding ticket if I had the front plate? Makes me almost think that he didn't want to give me a speeding ticket, so in order to ticket me for something, he chose the plate? lol Who knows!!

I'm going to see if I can got to the court with the plate on and have them drop the fines for showing that I have a front plate. I wonder how much it will cost.

 

[o0n8]

i'd take no plate over speeding...I don't think I'm gonna put my plate back on untill I come up with something like evan #1