(The Center Square) – If you have a clear cover over your vehicle’s license plate or anything else covering the letters or numbers on the plate, you’ll need to remove it before the first of the year – or else risk a fine.
It’s already illegal to obscure your license plate from being easily readable, but the Legislature passed House Bill 1963 this year to specifically add plate covers to the law. The law took effect in June, and fines for violations begin on Jan. 1.
“The purpose of license plates is to always have a vehicle that’s identifiable,” bill sponsor Rep. Bill Ramos, D-Issaquah, said during a January House Transportation Committee hearing.
“Some of you have seen these plastic covers and when you see these covers, have you been able to read the license plate?” questioned Ramos. “I haven’t because typically they are tinted or they are cracked, they’re old, they’re faded and change color and get blurry and you can’t read the license plate.”
Ramos said the primary goal of the law is to help law enforcement.
“When they’re pulling someone over, they want to be able to read that license plate and know who they’re pulling over before they approach that vehicle,” he explained.
Toll readers and speed zone cameras also need to be able to read the plate.
“When you go through a toll booth, if it can’t read your plate, you go through free, and other drivers have to pay for it,” Ramos noted. “Or you go through a red-light camera or a school zone speeding, you are not charged for that ticket that other people have to pay for.”
Washington State Patrol Capt. Deion Glover testified in support of the bill.
“Our lidar, our radar detecting system that we use, uses light, and with license plate covers, you’re not actually able to read the plate, so a lot of times, we’re not able to pick up those speeding violations,” Glover said. “We are seeing such an increase in speeding and aggressive driving and these devices [plate covers] do defeat our tools.”
Lidar is an acronym of “light detection and ranging.”
Obscuring or covering your plate is now a primary offense in Washington, meaning an officer can pull you over for the violation and issue a ticket for more than $100.
