Some drivers break Washington state law every day just to look good

Every day, drivers break Washington state law and may not even realize it.

The evidence is what’s missing up front.

Washington motorists will often drive their vehicles without a front license plate, which has been illegalsince 1915 and now carries a $136 fine.

The Spokesman-Review recently surveyed cars in downtown Spokane during an afternoon and tallied 93 out of 600, or 15.5%, were without front license plates.

Notable exemptions include motorcycles, mopeds, campers, trailers and semitrailers, and vehicles whose “body construction makes it impossible to display a front plate,” according to Department of Licensing communications manager Christine Anthony.

Collector vehicles are also exempt, since, as Larry Royce, vice president of the Street Tin Car Club points out, they “typically do not have front and rear bumpers like you would see on a modern car.”

Some drivers say there’s no need for front plates.

“If law enforcement wants to identify a license plate number, it’d typically be by following the car,” Royce said. “So I’m not sure I see any justification for a front license plate.”

That may be true in most cases, said Matthew Conde, the government and public affairs director for AAA in Idaho, but “concerns were raised regarding the ability to quickly identify a vehicle … for example in oncoming traffic and be able to still see the license plate.”

Washington approved its first vehicle identification law in March 1905. This law explained that the state would provide certificates to each registered car, and they were to be “numbered consecutively, beginning with one.”

At the time, drivers were required to create their own plates in line with state regulations to be affixed to the rear of their vehicle, have white lights on the front of the vehicle, and, as stated in Section 7 of the 1905 Motor Vehicle Law “have the license or certificate number painted … across the white glass in said lamp.”

Although many people did not have an issue with creating back license plates, quite a few neglected to add the numbers in the front. The Spokane Chronicle reported in 1911 that Chief of Police W.J. Doust said that “the law seems to have been generally disregarded for some time.”

Much like it is today.

By 1913, cities, including Seattle, Everett, and Bellingham, began to call for front license plates so drivers could no longer get away with ignoring the headlight part of the law.

By 1915, the problems with the do-it-yourself system became apparent. There was no way to verify vehicle registration or to check if annual fees had been paid. To fix this, the state Legislature established a law that designated the secretary of state with the responsibility of providing each licensee with two plates, creating the framework for the laws in place today.

This law evolved to include the process of vehicle renewable tabs, vehicle class differentiations, and specialty plates.

Some, like President of the Inland Empire Mustang Club Kim Frank, argue these additions have made the front plates obsolete.

“The date and the registration tag is on the rear plate, and not on the front,” he said.

Even so, 28 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., require front license plates, including Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana, while 22 states do not. Those that don’t are primarily concentrated in the south and the Midwest.

Lawmakers and citizens alike have debated potential pros and cons over having a law requiring front license plates for more than a century.

Front plates benefit law enforcement agencies, as they help officers with vehicle identification for tolls, speeding, hit and runs, traffic cameras, and car crashes, especially when the back plate is obscured.

Detractors say front plate laws increase paperwork and expense for the materials, even though state prison inmates manufacture them.

Most plates in Washington are made at the State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. It’s been that way since 1923. According to information shared by the prison, inmates produce an average of 7,000 vehicle license plates, per day, which includes cutting, forming and laminating the metal.

The primary pushback against the law comes from car owners – especially luxury car owners.

A common complaint is that front license plates are unsightly and hurt the aesthetics of their cars . This is partially why many brands such as Tesla, Lamborghini, Rivian, and Porsche don’t have front brackets for mounting plates, forcing drivers to install them .

Some car manufacturers won’t allow it. Front license plates can interfere with the grill designs, sensors, and aerodynamic shaping of the car, making it difficult to mount them. In these cases drivers can petition the Washington State Patrol for an exemption.

State legislatures have taken notice of these issues, though, and many have passed laws exempting these vehicles, including Idaho. As of July 1 of last year, those without front mounting brackets are not required to display a front plate, saving them the trouble of additional expenses and potential damage to the vehicle.

A few states even allow “License Plate Wraps ,”stickers designed to replace a license plate and conform to the shape of the car. They are popular in California where the company creating them has worked closely with the California DMV and Highway Patrol since 2014 to ensure legal compliance. But many people, including license plate collector Danny Beard, believe this to be a “fairly odd trend.”

Washington requires plates to be made of metal.

For those who are in favor of having only one plate per vehicle, the future may be looking up. Three states including Ohio, Alaska, and Utah have dropped the front plate requirement in the past five years, and not a single state has adopted it in more than 30 years.

For now, though, drivers are still required to display a front license plate. Anthony says anyone who doesn’t can be stopped by law enforcement and face the fine.