MY TURN: 'Got front license plates?'

Idaho and Washington vehicle codes require that a front license plate be displayed, to the exclusion of very, very few vehicles. These exclusions do not extend to electric cars, foreign cars, high-dollar trucks or "beaters." 

As a matter of fact, motor vehicle codes make those choosing not to display a front license plate subject to arrest and a substantial fine.

“So what’s the big deal?” 

Well, look for yourself.

Probably 25% of vehicles you share the road with choose not to comply with front license display, and the numbers are growing continually. It's sort of a "monkey see, monkey do" thing because there seems to be no active enforcement.

“Why can others not comply when I do?” 

It almost appears that there is a special class of motorists we share the road with who are above the law while the rest of us are not. Let’s hope that is not the case. If it is, we could change to an electric car, foreign car, high-dollar truck or "beater" also, I guess.

“So, why isn’t this law enforced?” 

Law enforcement agencies may choose the ways in which they will enforce a particular law but they are sworn to enforce the laws of the state. They cannot simply ignore or refuse to enforce a particular law.

Almost a year ago, this was brought to the attention of state Sen. Doug Okuniewicz and he was amazed after confirming the number of front plate violations out there. He promptly checked with a couple of the agencies and was told by one, "We’re working on it." The other said, "We issue warnings and put them in a database." 

So, how’s that going? Neither approach seems to be getting any traction as the problem has increased exponentially over the last year. The senator commented to me that if the departments were not going to enforce the front license law perhaps the Legislature should again bring the law to the floor for review and discuss striking it down. That's a really bad idea!

I speak from the position of a Washington State trooper who actively enforced the license plate display laws for 30 years and can endlessly expound on why this particular law protects us all, as well as our property. I guess my real question for you is, “What’s going on here?”

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Joe Walterscheidt is a Hayden resident.