Dirty plates...

[Toast]

Coming back from a mate's place tonight at about 10pm, heading towards the CBD via the Greenlane East roundabout.

Police breath checkpoint, no worries, haven't had a drink since the weekend.

Nice bunch of blokes, all smiles, just doing their job, and for once I actually agree with how they're doing it.

So, two of them are checking breath-alcohol levels, and a couple are going around wiht something in their hands, presumably checking regos, but I'm not really sure. One walks past me while I'm sitting on my bike, gives me a smile, I give him a nod...all's cool.

However, the dude comes back after walking past me and the dialogue goes something along the lines of:

Constanoon: "That, ah, plate's a bit dirt there mate...might be kinda hard for a speed camera to pick up...?"

Me: "Oh, nah bro, the resolution on those things is great these days, I don't think it will have any trouble. No worries aye..."

Constanoon: "I, ah, think you'd better just pull over here and give it a clean before I give you a ticket."

Me: "Have you got a cloth bro?"

Constanoon: "No."

So, being a good boy with little money in my back pocket, I pulled over and did my best to get the thing back to it's shining white glory. Nice 'n easy to read. Just lovely...

Question is though:

Can a cop give you a ticket for having a dirty plate?

The rest of the bike was dirty, covered in lime 'n stuff from the road works coming up from Welli on Saturday, but it was kinda obvious that someone (previous owner) had sprayed chain wax on it (not as good as the oil stuff) and rubbed dirt from the garden in to it...still...it could have gotten dirty without that intervention too.

[KLOWN]

I'm pretty sure they can, dirt is an obstruction of beiing able to view the plate properly. there is sum rule about being able to see the plate clearly

[scumdog]

Yeah, faced with $200 for an Obscured Licence Plate I'm sure I would have torn off my doris's g-string to clean it too!! (you mean you didn't have a doris? with a G-string? How DID you clean the no. plate??

Effin Oath he can give you an I.O.N. for obscured (dirty) plate.

[Toast]

Yeah, faced with $200 for an Obscured Licence Plate I'm sure I would have torn off my doris's g-string to clean it too!! (you mean you didn't have a doris? with a G-string? How DID you clean the no. plate??

Effin Oath he can give you an I.O.N. for obscured (dirty) plate.

Lemme see...G-strings...Candy, Charlene, Shaznay, Lucile...ah, here it is, Doris'. But no, I didn't use that to clean it, just my glove.

Ok, so they can nail yah for that. I take it that most would be lenient if it was clear that you just never clean the whole bike and the plate was filthy too?

What's an I.O.N., Scumi?

[2much]

Shoulda asked him if he had any spare serviettes (sp) in his donut box that you could use.

[KLOWN]

there is a white 3 series bmw juust up the road from my house and when i was walking up the road to get my fish and chips I noticed that his rear number plate was a bit faded when i got closer I saw that he had painted it white and it looked like it had chopped springs, or at least illeagally low. He must do a few runners.

[scumdog]

Lemme see...G-strings...Candy, Charlene, Shaznay, Lucile...ah, here it is, Doris'. But no, I didn't use that to clean it, just my glove.

Ok, so they can nail yah for that. I take it that most would be lenient if it was clear that you just never clean the whole bike and the plate was filthy too?

What's an I.O.N., Scumi?

Most surprised if you actually got a ticket, mostly it is used as a 'lever' to get you to clean the plate if you look a bit reluctant.
An I.O.N. is and Infringement Offence Notice = a ticket!!

And you used your glove? Sheesh, I wear fingerless gloves, I would have made Chrissy-Bimbo remove her diamante G-string so I could clean the 'plate rather than scuff my fingers!!

[scumdog]

My mate got a ticket like that cause his tow ball obscured his plate a wee bit. It was fitted by a proper company and everthing, he was a mite anoyed to say the least

It's one of those mysteries of life - how can a company sell a product that automatically causes you to break the law even if you are not in the car and it is not moving??

If I was in that situation I'd sue the tow-bar manufacturer, they KNEW it would obscure the plate..

[scumdog]

there is a white 3 series bmw juust up the road from my house and when i was walking up the road to get my fish and chips I noticed that his rear number plate was a bit faded when i got closer I saw that he had painted it white and it looked like it had chopped springs, or at least illeagally low. He must do a few runners.

Nah, he'd fall off the road if he ever did a runner, he's just posing - "yeah, with that white plate the 05 have never caught me yet' (read: I've never ben chased yet).

[Sniper]

Mum got as ticket for having an obsured license plate so it can be done.

Also, this brings me to another question. With all these rice racer "psssst" cars, having the number plate in the dashboard of the car so it can barely seen from outside is illegal right?

[Toast]

Nah, he'd fall off the road if he ever did a runner, he's just posing - "yeah, with that white plate the 05 have never caught me yet' (read: I've never ben chased yet).

Yeah I'd say...it's a laugh watching these dudes who've chopped their rides so low and hard that the occupants would smack their heads on the roof if their seats weren't almost horizontal (ah, now it makes sense, never though of that before)...

One of those things trying to do a runner on roads with any irregularities or camber would be prime time comedy.

[Fishy]

Yeah or having stickers instead of actual number plates you know the ones like ferrari have... Have seen heaps of boyracer shitboxes with stickers as plates lately.

[Fishy]

Shoulda asked him if he had any spare serviettes (sp) in his donut box that you could use.

nice call dude

PS: have a shave you hairy beast!. I saw you across the road at the races on the weekend. Was gonna say hi but you were scary lookin, nah couldn't cross the road till the marshalls opened up and by that time you were gone.

[MisterD]

Constanoon: "That, ah, plate's a bit dirt there mate...might be kinda hard for a speed camera to pick up...?"

Do we have cameras that take a photo of the back of the vehicle here then (or should I just keep my big mouth shut)?

[Flyingpony]

There's a RG150 running around Chch with its left most and right most no. plate letters pushed back and thus slightly wrapped around the side of it's mud guard. Directly from the rear you can read the plate, but from a slight angle, i.e. even less than speed camera angle, not all plate numbers are readable.

Is that legal to do?