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And to think that I have the rear plate on my jeep mounted with 2 screws through holes I drilled through the middle of the plate I guess I have been lucky about it so far.

I've noticed a lot of cars & trucks around Austin without a front plate . . . I spoke to a couple of Austin LEOs about it once, and they said they considered that too petty an offense to bother with, and would be surprised if ANY cop would stop someone just for that.

As far as plates being stolen . . . under the law you can't set a mechanism that might injure someone in TX, but if the plate frame just happened to be really, really sharp . . . maybe it came that way, or perhaps someone was setting a trap for you!

(Is poison ivy sap a "mechanism?")

I've had my front plate stolen 7 different times in 5 years, in California. Twice, my plate was found on a similar, stolen car. I don't even put my front plate on anymore, because I just seem to enable this type of crime.

I'd rather deal with a fixit ticket for lack of a front plate, than enabling someone to steal a car with my stolen plate.

nitrogen wrote:I've had my front plate stolen 7 different times in 5 years, in California. Twice, my plate was found on a similar, stolen car. I don't even put my front plate on anymore, because I just seem to enable this type of crime.

I'd rather deal with a fixit ticket for lack of a front plate, than enabling someone to steal a car with my stolen plate.

If one trys hard enough it is easy to make excuses for breaking the law.

Your front plate does not 'enable" anyone to do anything, except for the cop to delay you, write you a ticket and require a court appearance for you.

txinvestigator wrote:

nitrogen wrote:I've had my front plate stolen 7 different times in 5 years, in California. Twice, my plate was found on a similar, stolen car. I don't even put my front plate on anymore, because I just seem to enable this type of crime.

I'd rather deal with a fixit ticket for lack of a front plate, than enabling someone to steal a car with my stolen plate.

If one trys hard enough it is easy to make excuses for breaking the law.

Your front plate does not 'enable" anyone to do anything, except for the cop to delay you, write you a ticket and require a court appearance for you.

Agreed. If you're worried about it, do what LedJedi did, and spend five bucks for some security screws.

Just bought a car from my wife's father who lives in Oklahoma they don't have front plates in Oklahoma. The car does not have a place holder for a front plate do I have to install one?

txinvestigator wrote:

nitrogen wrote:I've had my front plate stolen 7 different times in 5 years, in California. Twice, my plate was found on a similar, stolen car. I don't even put my front plate on anymore, because I just seem to enable this type of crime.

I'd rather deal with a fixit ticket for lack of a front plate, than enabling someone to steal a car with my stolen plate.

If one trys hard enough it is easy to make excuses for breaking the law.

Your front plate does not 'enable" anyone to do anything, except for the cop to delay you, write you a ticket and require a court appearance for you.

At one point I reinforced the plate carrier with steel cabling. The theives just took a knife to my bumper, costing $1000 to replace, which insurance refused to cover because the front plate cover was a "modification" to the original design.

I realize it's against the law, and as I said above, I'll deal with the consequences if it comes to that.
(EDITED: I'm more adult than others.)

I didn't have one on the front of my truck and I have been pulled over for it. The DPS trooper just gave me a warning. Years later I got pulled over for speeding and it wasn't there again. I figured two times I was lucky so I put it on this time. Unfortunatley I had a big grill guard so I had to mount it behind the thing. Well you guessed it one they came out with that law that says every part of it must be visisible and not covered etc; I got pulled over again leaving San Angelo on Christmas Day by once again DPS. Once again I got a warning. Now I have it displayed on the front of my vehicle with nothing in the way.

nitrogen wrote:
...At one point I reinforced the plate carrier with steel cabling. The theives just took a knife to my bumper, costing $1000 to replace....

Dang....They *really* wanted that plate. Wow. Did they not take the back plate as well?

Xander wrote:

nitrogen wrote:
...At one point I reinforced the plate carrier with steel cabling. The theives just took a knife to my bumper, costing $1000 to replace....

Dang....They *really* wanted that plate. Wow. Did they not take the back plate as well?

Back plate of that car had screws that bolted right into the trunk. I had them bolted in with allen bolts.

I used to live in an area where lots of cars were stolen and vandalized. My car was hacked apart at one point to get the HID Headlamps out, broken into countless times, had someone attempt to steal my wheels, so I'm hyper-sensitive to the issue.

nitrogen wrote: I used to live in an area where lots of cars were stolen and vandalized. My car was hacked apart at one point to get the HID Headlamps out, broken into countless times, had someone attempt to steal my wheels, so I'm hyper-sensitive to the issue.

Yeah, I can understand that. Having my car broken into *once* effected me enough for me to permanently change my behaviour. I can only imagine what repeated incidents would be like.

-Xander

Greg - your three DPS stops for no front plate are just PC so they can look for other things. No LEO that I know will write a "no front plate" ticket unless the driver acts like a real jerk, or it's in conjunction with several other violations being written. DPS looks for speeding tickets or PC to hunt for drugs. There are plenty of both to keep them busy.

CHL/LEO wrote:Greg - your three DPS stops for no front plate are just PC so they can look for other things. No LEO that I know will write a "no front plate" ticket unless the driver acts like a real jerk, or it's in conjunction with several other violations being written. DPS looks for speeding tickets or PC to hunt for drugs. There are plenty of both to keep them busy.

Tell me about it. I've used it myself to make some traffice stops That and no rear license plate light are always good ones.

nitrogen wrote: I'd rather deal with a fixit ticket for lack of a front plate, than enabling someone to steal a car with my stolen plate.

Texas doesn't have "fixit tickets" you either get a warning or a ticket. That's not to say a kind judge might not throw it out if you get it fixed, but there is not guarantee...

Texas doesn't have "fixit tickets"

Registration and inspection stickers are about the only ones, and they don't cost you any points as they are regulatory tickets v. moving violations.