Text 30501, 153 rader
Skriven 2009-03-30 20:10:01 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
     Kommentar till en text av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
Ärende: Plates
==============
Hello Roy,

On Sunday March 29 2009 21:55, you wrote to me:

 MvdV>> Clear enough, two plates it is. So if you have no front plate,
 MvdV>> you are in violation of the law.

 RW> Yes, that's why I can be stopped for not having one.

And apparently you are willing to take that risk.

 RW>>> Of the 50 states and Puerto Rico, only 31 states require two
 RW>>> plates for each vehicle, one for the front and one for the back.
 RW>>> The remaining jurisdictions only require a rear plate.

 MvdV>> So the majority requires two plates.

 RW> Yes, but you must keep in mind that states do not do things because
 RW> other states do them. Each one has it's own legislative body and each
 RW> one of those has it's own agenda.

I unnderstand that. Nevertheless it is of advantage not to have too much
difference. Especially when it comes to trafic. here in Europe things like that
are harmonised. Tarffic sign are now all the same all over Europe.

 RW> i.e. the cost of making duplicate plates may outweigh the benifits of
 RW> having two plates on each car.

I don't buy that. Making two plates only adds the cost of the raw material. One
has to set the machine for the requyired number only once.

 RW>>> The trend, however, may move to one plate only because of the
 RW>>> cost of manufacture.

 MvdV>> Cost? Ow c'mon.. What is the cost of that second plate compared
 MvdV>> to the cost of the car. Peanuts.

 RW> That's what you would think, but that isn't the case.

Of course it is. A set of plates costs EUR 15,-. for the car owner. Production
cost probable EUR 5,-. For a car that costs 10.000+. C'mon...

 RW> It costs more to make those aluminum plates with the bonded plastic
 RW> coating, inking a design on it and then covering it with the relector
 RW> material.

Making two instead of one is just having the machine run one more time.

 MvdV>> Other than that: Most of the rest of the world requires two
 MvdV>> plates. So figure it out...

 RW> They're wasting materials that could be used for something more
 RW> important and productive.

Peanuts. Besides.. the aluminium can be recycled. Nah, i do not buy that cost
argument. The far bigger factor is guys like you who prefer no front plate for
estetic reasons.

 MvdV>> But they do not have patience with people who are waisting their
 MvdV>> time and who do not WANT to obey the law. Which in your case seems
 MvdV>> pretty clear. You know thate law requires two plates, You *have*
 MvdV>> two plates. You just refuse to mount the front plate because you
 MvdV>> find it doesn't look good. IOW you value your taste above the law.
 MvdV>> That would not look good here in court.

 RW> The best part about that is; I'm not alone in that thinking.

How does that help you? The law is the law.

 RW> In May of 2006, a bill was introduced in the Texas legislature that
 RW> said only one plate is required on a vehicle. It even had a date of
 RW> implimentation of Sept of the same year. It didn't pass,

it didn't pass and so the law is that you must have two plates.

 RW>  but that doesn't mean it won't show up again.

But until it does and is passed, two plates is the law.

 MvdV>> The very fact that you are convicted for not carrying a front
 MvdV>> plate is an implicit order to correct the situation is it not?

 RW> Of course, but that doesn't mean it has to be permanant.

Of course it has to be permanent. At least until the law is changed.

 RW> In fact, Chevrolet doesn't provide a front license plate bracket to
 RW> dealers in states that don't require a front plate. In those states
 RW> that do require a front plate, the bracket comes in the trunk and is
 RW> dealer mounted. That's why I can say the car wasn't designed to have a
 RW> front plate, since mounting one seems to be an after-thought.

Brackets? Hmmm.. now that you mention it, I vaguely recall that my father's
Ford Mainline (sixties) had the front plate mounted with brackets.

Today's cars that you see on the road here do not need brackets to mount the
front plate. In fact most cars have a recess in the bumber or the plating for
the front plate. European and Asian cars ARE designed for front plates.

You may have a point when you say American cars are not...

 MvdV>> The law is the law. Two plates you said.

 RW> I choose not to have two plates on my car. A LEO may choose to enforce
 RW> the law or not. I'm not afraid of the consequences if he so chooses.

Well, do not complain here if you face "serious consequences". ...

 MvdV>> Here the state never made the plates. The state just laid down
 MvdV>> the specifications. it always was up to the car owner to obtain
 MvdV>> a plate matching the specifications.

 RW> At one point they must have decided that they should make the plates,
 RW> because everyone else's interpretation probably didn't match what they
 RW> thought they should look like.

How does that jive with a free market economy?

 RW>>> Something else interesting was that Arizona's plates were made
 RW>>> out of copper.

 MvdV>> Why not? Sheet copper is easy to process.

 RW> Arizona happens to have the biggest copper mines in the country.

So they got it it cheap...

 RW> Perhaps the world. It might have been common place for them, but I
 RW> find it strange that they'd do that when steel has always been cheap.
 RW> Today you dare not leave any scrap copper laying around or someone
 RW> will steal it for the scrap money.

Copper theft is a problem here as well. The ligntning rods from old buidings
are an easy target. So are the railways...

 RW> PS - There is a commercial antenna manufacturer in Atlanta, GA that
 RW> uses copper in it's repeater antenna tuning cavities and they supply
 RW> Motorola with those systems. They used to be silver plated copper, but
 RW> these days I think they're silver plated tin. I had 4 of those
 RW> cavities in silver plated copper in my UHF repeater.

I had 6 cavities made of copper in the local 2 metre repeater that I was the
care taker off. They were home made.

Had to polish them every year, until I found someome to silver plate them for
me. Unfortunately he neglected to properly rinse out the electrolyt after the
orocess. It worked fine but after two weeks the trouble started. Has to take
them all apart to remove the green stuff....

Cheers, Michiel

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