I just recently returned from the Magic Kingdom in Anaheim, aka Disneyland.

I noticed that down there, they do not have the "TABS" on the front plate.

How much do we (here in Washington) spend on those front "TABS"?????

Could the elimination of the "TABS" on the front, (of how many vehicles????) here in Washington save us any significant amount of money?????

I do believe they cost something when dol gets them, however, how much do we spend on this particular front "TAB"????

Yo, ho, ho, ho, a pirates life for me..... :)

-- (nondyoak@gte.net), December 07, 1999

Answers

Nondyoak:

Interesting observation about tabs, Nondyoak. Can we take it one step further? I've noticed in Florida that cars there have only ONE license plate, which goes on the back. I'm unclear, but I think I was told that that's all Florida law requires, and that a few other states also only require one plate. In Florida, car owners use the front plate holder to promote their favorite school, political cause, military branch etc. It makes sense to me that if Washington changed the law to require one plate, costs could be saved. I'm in favor of that. Law enforcement might complain, IMO however, because it could reduce the effectiveness of a tool used to identify bad guys.

-- A.C. Johnson (ajohnson@thefuture.net), December 07, 1999.

How much MORE money would be saved if there was no need to design and retool for new styled license plates? Of course if we go there how much LOWER would postage be if we didn't have to pay the freight on newly designed postage stamps and advertising campaigns all the time?

If 'tourism' is an industry in Washington State then why doesn't the 'industry' spend money promoting it instead of having committees and boards and using taxpayer's money to lure unsuspecting tourists here?

Why does the state, county, city, town, burg waste money landscaping the freeways, highways, thoroughfares, streets, roads instead of building and maintaining them?

Why does King county need a new LOGO? Why does King county need to be renamed for Martin Luther King and how much is it going to cost to do the renaming?

Why do streets need to be renamed within this state?

How much money could be used to fix streets if it wasn't being wasted by REMOVING LANES on existing streets and changing them to bicycle lanes or bus lanes?

You can ask all these questions and many more relating to 'how much money would be saved if'. But the answer will always be the same.

They don't want to save ANY money. They just want to twist the thumb screws a little tighter.

-- maddjak (maddjak@hotmail.com), December 07, 1999.

Hey AC, If the front plate is a tool to identify the bad guys then why isn't it printed backwards so the cops can read it in their rear- view mirrors? I shouldn't have said that....now the state will retool ALL the front license plates!!

-- maddjak (maddjak@hotmail.com), December 07, 1999.

Maddjak:

SSHH!!! Be quiet! Now you've given the state an idea on how to employ all those agents tracking down the approximately 100,000 (state estimate) Washingtonians who license their cars in Idaho and Oregon. Now that these otherwise law-abiding car owners have no reason to avoid a formerly abusive MVET and are therefore eliminated as a class of scofflaws requiring law enforcement attention, thanks to I-695 and 58 percent of the voting public, we'll have a lot of state agents sitting around wondering what to do. Don't be surprised if they set up a 600-member joint agency task force to consider license plates in braille.

-- A.C. Johnson (ajohnson@thefuture.net), December 07, 1999.

My understanding is that the reason a front plate is required is to facilitate the use of photo radar (read: tool to write more revenue-generating traffic tickets.)

Ed, can you give us any guidance here?

-- Joe Hylkema (josephhy@wsu.edu), December 08, 1999.

To Josephy... Photo radar has been around about 5 years and front plates have been used in WA ever since Eve plucked the apple off the tree. I think you're a bit off base here.

However, I have to agree with other posters that the state could save inordinate amounts of money by simply doing away with front plates and/or tabs.

-- just a guy (torijosh@yahoo.com), December 08, 1999.

Hey Joe where you goin with that plate on your car?

I think you have mis-interpreted photo-radar. It is the MOST effective new tool in law-enforcement and will probably be the one tool which rids this country of crime completely.

Of course the one thing which is inhibiting it's effectiveness is the governmental push to get all of us out of our cars and into buses and trains!!

How will the citites, counties and states raise any money when they are no longer able to issue traffic citations??

-- maddjak (maddjak@hotmail.com), December 09, 1999.

Joe

The requirement for a front license plate preceeds photo radar, and radar itself. As for why the state requires a front plate, I have no idea.

It is impossible to read it at night as there is no light shining on it as there is the back one. Plus trying to read it through your rear- view mirror while driving is unsafe. However with the different colored month and year tabs, you can tell if the plate is expired (in day light).

The rear plates are hard enough to read as it is now. Try reading a plate while chasing a suspect at 100mph, or during rain or snow storm. Or reading one quickly as you pass it (had to save a baby from chocking to death on a coin, and one idiot would not get out of my way).

My first wife was from Michigan(sp). She drove Vettes and back there they did not require a front plate. So she was kind of ticked about having to put one on out here. Plus she didn't register her car, so I had a friend stop her (had to keep it peaceful at home). If I had to pay the state for my tabs, I figured she should to.

Also having the front plate laying on your dash does not constitute having it securely afixed to the front of the vehicle (this would also include one of the classic uses of baling wire). It's just a good way to get stopped. However I never wrote a ticket for it.

Ed - you can always tell the judge that the person in the photo is a friend of brother that kinda looks like you.

-- Ed (ed_bridges@yahoo.com), December 09, 1999.