Damned Laws
Some laws, probably most laws, make sense and most people in their right minds would support them. One law that really peeves me is the “Front Plate” law. It peeves me right now in particular, because I just got a parking ticket that lists my violation as “FAILURE TO DISPLAY PLATES”. Normally I don’t get ticketed just for lack of a front plate. Usually I get a normal parking ticket, and the front plate violation is tacked on. Not that, that happens often either. Normally the Parking Enforcement isn’t quite so bored either.
The front plate law bothers me because it doesn’t seem like it really benefits/protects the people. I believe the main reason for the continued existence of the front plate law in some municipalities (another indicator of a possibly questionable law, only some areas have such a law) is the use of traffic cams. Traffic cams are a large source of revenue for these cities. The “protection” these cameras offer the community is questionable. Maybe all the money they make allows the city to fix up those potholes and hire more police officers. Right. I’m guessing very few politicians will admit to this line: “Requiring front plates makes us more money from traffic cameras.” Well, my car looks better without the front plate (lame reason for the law’s existence, lame reason for my front plate’s lack of existence, they cancel each other out), so I’ll just pay my Front Plate Tax.
Another question comes up. How often can they cite me for the violation? Usually you can take the limit of t as is approaches the extremes to figure it out. As t approaches infinity, the situation becomes “I’ll never get a ticket again because this is just one long continuous violation”. Um.. no.. I wish. On the other hand, as t approaches 0, the situation becomes “Officer Friendly driving around in circles giving me a ticket every time he says my car without a front plate.” Which doesn’t really work either. Oh well, I assume I have some sort of immunity for today at least (I couldn’t have fixed the problem even if I wanted to. I saw the ticket this morning. And I’d need the dealer to drill out the mounts, etc.). The ticket is sitting on my dash in view of everybody that passes by. If I get another ticket, I’m going to call up their complaint line. Grrr.
May 6th, 2003 at 9:33 am
I don’t think that the limit approaches infinity or zero. I believe that it is an averaged constant. For example, if you fail to show your plate, then you will receive, on average, one ticket per month. And this is variable considering the entire life of the car, because we don’t know how long that you will have your car for (you can guess, but your car may get stolen or in an accident, or whatever).
I agree with the absurdity of that law. Consider Corvettes: there is no place to put a front license plate. Yet, those cars are sold, and driven, just about everywhere.
May 14th, 2003 at 2:22 pm
Why is not allowed.. test