Steve B.

Seems the Iowa court of appeals just ruled that use of a a trailer hitch, as well as a fixed item such as a bicycle rack, does not violate Iowa state law about obstructions of a license plate. Further that the law as written referred to dirt and grime and such, at least thats how I understand the law.

This might mean that getting a ticket for having a hitch mounted bike rack might no longer be allowed, as legal precedence has been established at least in one state.

https://news.yahoo.com/trailer-hitch...151858769.html

I-Like-To-Bike

Is getting a ticket for having a hitch mounted (or any other mount) bike rack a common thing anywhere in the U.S.? I never heard about anyone ever getting a ticket for that.

Steve B.

I'd never heard that either, apparently some moron of an Iowa cop gave a guy a ticket for the ball interfering with his view of the license plate. Really puzzling as the ball on the bumper is a pretty common item on trucks, thus I have to wonder if the cop did a stop to fish for something else, didn't find anything and wrote this ticket. The vehicle owner contested and won. It's not uncommon to hear about tickets for rear hitch bike racks interfering with the view of the license plate with a resulting ticket. Somewhere on YT there's a video of a young kid got a ticket for having a tree scent thing on his mirror, cop gave him a ticket for obstructed view out the windshield. Cops can on occasion just be real idiots some times, is my opinion.

Troul 

can't legally profile. Should a law exist that enables the law enforcer to leverage a traffic stop, they are not crossing any lines using the law to make a ligament stop. Should the cop happen to find other things in the process, then it just so happen to be perfect timing? ............. dot dot dot

livedarklions

So I read enough of the opinion to get what's going on here, and he's not appealing the ticket. It was a motion to suppress all of the evidence the cop was able to get after he stopped the driver. He pulled him over for the trailer hitch, but when he asked for the driver's license, the driver admitted that he was driving while barred. The Iowa SC decided that since the ball hitch didn't violate the statute, the stop was illegal, and the state couldn't use the evidence of driving while barred at trial, which was the much more serious charge brought as a result of the stop.

The vehicle was borrowed, btw, so if the cop had run the plate, he would not have known it was being driven by a habitual offender,

livedarklions

It would only be precedent in Iowa. Other states may or may not have the same wording, and even if they do, it's not uncommon for different states to interpret the same words differently.

nomadmax 

If you get a ticket for a bike rack obscuring your license plate, it isn't the bike rack, it's YOU. if you don't get that, it will always be you.

indyfabz

There was a thread once upon a time where someone did get a ticket for obstructing their plate. May have been in Mass. Been so long I cannot remember.

Iride01 

Regardless, I just wish they'd ticket those leaving the long drawbars on their vehicles when they are not being used. I can't count the number of times I've bumped my shin against them when walking around in parking lots and sent a variety of cuss words into the air.

mr_bill

Of course you haven't.

And no matter how common it is, how much proof that it is common, it won't be common enough for you, it won't be proof enough for you.

Trying not to get this punted to P&R, but yes, Virginia, there are police officers who harrass certain people. (Which is why I'm against helmet laws.)

Saddest thing I ever heard was a Supreme Court Justice talking to a thirteen year old, and answering their question with the observation, "Both you and I know that we have to wait for the walk light."

-mr. bill

I-Like-To-Bike

And of course you did not even attempt to answer the question, let alone provide any proof of anything, nor indicate that you know or care just how common it is to have tickets issued to anybody to include "certain people" for bike rack obscured license plates, but are ready instead to initiate some personal snark, as well as unrelated P&R/social justice ranting about "harassment of certain people" in the absence of any proof that anybody has been harassed or hassled about bike rack obscured license plates.

livedarklions

The question wouldn't really be whether a ticket was issued, it's whether the hitch is used as a pretext to stop the driver then see if there's probable cause for a vehicle search or arrest. Some states (Michigan and Florida among them) allow the stop for this Obstructed license plate purpose.

Your rant about BF posters is perfectly uncalled for in this thread, no one has posted anything that assumes this is being used systematically this way. The problem here is your assumption in the absence of evidence either way that it does not. If you have any idea about how hard it is methodologically to prove contextual stops in any given category, you'd understand how silly this is. Obviously, the more "technicalities" an officer has for stopping a vehicle, the greater the opportunity for nearly undetectable selective "enforcement".

Good to know that the Iowa Supreme Court is dominated by social justice warriors. I'm a bit surprised by that, but it's your state, so I guess you'd know.

Bald Paul

Well, they can. (pg 71 - License Plates) They can also be ticketed for hanging anything from the rear view mirror. (pg. 67 - Distracting Objects)
Massachusetts Driver's Manual

indyfabz

Here you go. It was in NYC:

https://www.bikeforums.net/northeast...g-license.html

There is at least one other old thread on the subject where someone else mentions getting a fine for obscuring a license plate with a rack.

burnthesheep

While I completely agree with the ridiculous nature of this kind of ticket, they DO sell products for bike racks and other things like hitches for this exact issue. Just to play Devil's advocate.

It's just that nobody really uses them.

This took me 30 seconds to find on Google for a Yakima. I know they sell racks in Europe with plate holders and rear brake lights integrated out of the box:

https://www.rei.com/product/190865/y...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

rydabent

The beef about license plates is states like mine that has front plates. No one backs away from the police at 90MPH

FredMau

It's illegal here in Georgia too. And I've seen it posted on some sites that they DO pull you over for it in this state. HOWEVER, I've lived in Georgia since 2013, In Oregon 12 years prior to that, and Florida for 20 years prior to that, and I've never been pulled over in ANY of these places for this,

One solution is to move the license plate. However, Georgia law requires the plate to be lighted at night so you can't just stick it in the rear window or whatever. Thule make a lighted license plate frame for their bike racks, about $49 from REI.

https://www.thule.com/en-us/bike-rac...older-_-903760

Moe Zhoost

Once or twice a week, I intentionally and completely block my truck's plate from view and have never been challenged. Apparently towing something negates any enforcement interest in the legality of the towing vehicle.

The way I read the NC Statute on plates, it seems that a bike rack could (maybe) result in a citation for covering letters/numbers, though I have never heard of this happening. I do know that many citations are issued for plastic plate covers because some scofflaws install these specifically to avoid identification on toll roads as well as compliance camera areas. Perhaps a bike rack could confound an id in those cases as well.

Bald Paul

Aren't trailers required to have their own plates in NC? I would imagine if the trailer blocked the vehicle plate, the trailer plate could still identify the driver.

FredMau

Well, if you're towing a trailer or other vehicle, won't that have a license plate of it's own visible from the rear?

As an aside, It's amazing what they're doing with license plate reader technology. I drive from Georgia to Indiana once or twice a year, and go across the toll bridge on I-65 between Louisville KY and Jeffersonville IN. There are no toll booths. I could buy a transponder, but not really "worth it" for one or two trips a year. I just drive across the bridge at normal speed, it reads my license plate and several weeks later I get a bill in the mail. It's $2/trip extra for not having a transponder but still cheaper than getting a transponder.

My understanding is that most if not all cop cars around here also have on-board license plate readers that are scanning license plates as they're driving down the road, looking for wants/warrants/suspensions against the owner. I've also heard they drive through hotel parking lots at night doing the same, especially at some of the seedier hotels where offenders tend to hang out.

Steve B.

Really ?. The cop isn't giving YOU a ticket because you're being YOU, I mean how does he write that on the ticket ?, what infraction is that ?. He's giving you a ticket because he feels the bike rack is obscuring the plate. A often as not, the obscured plate is simply an excuse to conduct a fishing expedition for something else. Cops do that all the time.

Steve B.

This kind of infraction is mentioned here on BF every so often. Not enough it seems for the assorted manufactures to offer license plate mounting brackets on their hitch racks. Not sure how convenient that would be as the racks are usually easily removable and it would be a PITA to be moving the plate. One answer is for the state DMV to offer a third plate to be mounted on a hitch rack. I don't think they do that currently. I suspect this issue of hitch racks obscuring plates will start to rear it's ugly head as the proliferation of car mounted plate readers becomes more heavily used and they realize a hitch prevents a plate from being read.

mr_bill

I guess THULE isn't an assorted manufacturer?

-mr. bill

FredMau

This is something I've been wondering about. How about a well-made and legible photocopy of the real tag in the bike rack frame? Or, possibly better, you can buy "novelty" plates from any number on online stores that look EXACTLY like your states real plate.

A close reading of the Georgia statutes indicates that this MIGHT, possibly, technically be within the letter of the law, by the skin of it's teeth.Okay, so if a person attaches one of these "novelty" plates to the bike rack, and there's CLEARLY no "intent to conceal or misrepresent", is it "legal"? I'm thinking that as long as the 'novelty' plate is merely an 'auxiliary' to the genuine plate that is properly mounted to the rear of the vehicle, this just MIGHT be legal by the skin of it's teeth. BUT I don't believe this has ever been tested in court, and I don't necessarily want to be the first person to test it.

For example: https://www.amazon.com/SignsAndTagsO.../dp/B07N8K2B38

FredMau

It *MIGHT* work. If there's no clear precedent in your own state, Attorneys do sometimes cite other state's rulings as "guidance". The court may find this to be "persuasive" even if not "binding".

Avvo.com (2013): Is it permissible to cite case law from another state outside of the jurisdiction of a case?