A Florida appeals court judge has called on the state legislature to rethink the state's license plate visibility statute because it can result in “absurd” traffic stops by police officers.
In a special concurring opinion earlier this month, Judge Melanie May of the 4th District Court of Appeal urged state lawmakers to revisit the motor vehicle law. The statute, 316.605(1), states that “all letters, numerals, printing, writing, the registration decal and the alphanumeric designation shall be clear and distinct and free from defacement, mutilation, grease and other obscuring matter, so that they will be plainly visible and legible at all times 100 feet from the rear or front.”
Another section of the motor vehicle code seems to call into question whether most license plate frames are legal as well.
Appeals court judge Melanie May
“A person may not apply or attach a substance, reflective matter, illuminated device, spray, coating, covering or other material onto or around any license plate which interferes with the legibility, angular visibility or detectability of any feature or detail on the license plate or interferes with the ability to record any feature or detail on the license plate,” that section of the law states.
May pointed out that Florida law can allow law enforcement to stop a car if the words “MyFlorida.com” or “Sunshine State” are obscured or not readable from 100 feet away.
“Yet, anyone who has a license plate, and certainly law enforcement, knows that those words are there,” the judge wrote. “... More importantly, there is nothing about those words that helps law enforcement identify the vehicle’s owner.”
May estimated that more than half of vehicles on the road in Florida have license frames on them, so millions of drivers could be in violation of the current law.
“By suggesting that common words that everyone knows exist on the top and bottom of a license provide a basis for a traffic stop when the frame covers part of their lettering leads to an absurd result,” she said. “I believe it is time for the legislature to once again review this statute so that it properly serves the purpose for which it was intended.”
In response to a query from the Florida Record, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman in Tallahassee didn’t indicate that FHP had any particular concern with the license plate visibility statute.
“It is our mission to educate motorists in every interaction to encourage a positive change,” Lt. Derrick Rahming Sr. said in an email. “Providing quality service to motorists is extremely important to all of us here at the Florida Highway Patrol. Fines and penalties are written in Florida statutes, and any change would require a change in legislation. The Florida Highway Patrol supports any law that will make Florida roadways safe.”
May’s opinion, however, indicated courts sometimes have to suppress evidence of crimes committed by drivers if the reason for the initial traffic involved only the inability of an officer to see common words on the plate.