Quote: Originally Posted by Tazminia
stephenjc, were you ever able to determine for sure if we
needed the front plates in Illinois? I never got around to checking but would love to not have to. While I was working I suppose I would have had a little bit of 'professional courtesy' but now that I'm a retired 'Joe Taxpayer' they may not be as forgiving.
( I wonder if they would let me off with just a warning the first time?) hehehe
That's funny. I actually thought about asking you - figuring you as a firefighter may have some police officer freinds who may tell you what their attitude is about this kind of thing. As far as need - I am not sure what you are asking. It is the law here in the Land of Lincoln that we have front plates. In the 7 weeks or so I have had mine with no front plate I know there have been at least a couple times where I have been in a position where an officer could easily see that I had no front plate and none have chased me down and pulled me over yet. As best as i can tell from some comments I have read and now from the experience of not being pulled over is that most officers seem to not care but if you are pulled over for speeding or some other offense they will give to a citation for the no front plate thing too.
When i picked up my MINI in January I went to the area of my dealer where the cars that are in for service are kept - just so I could see how many have plates in front and how many don't. I observed that like 2 out of three do not have front plates. So that says something and was probably the biggest factor in me deciding not to install the plate.
My girlfreind thinks I am silly for not putting the plate on as she thinks the presence of a front plate has no negative impact on the car's appearance whatsoever. I find myself thinking she is probably right and i can't seem to get any input from anyone on why they think it is so important to the appearance of the car. For now i am leaving it off and like you, if I am pulled over for this by an officer in my imediate area I will probably get the professional courtesy of no ticket or if I do get a ticket by a local officer i can probably weasel my way out of it in court.
