Been driving my Raptor since 2013. Never had a any problems regarding the #Front tag - which obviously is not installed. I live in Northern Virginia. End of June, I got pulled over by a Trooper and gave me a ticket for not having the front tag on. Yes - the law in Virginia requires both tags installed: front and back..
BUT - most of the Raptors do not have the front tags on. In addition this is weird: Tesla cars do not have front tags (are they getting special treatment?)
Thoughts...advice...similar experience...outcome ?
There are a lot of keyboard warriors who proudly will proclaim they never run the front tag and have never been stopped in decades of driving. I don’t disbelieve them, but as you now know, it’s a traffic infraction (well, a misdemeanor in VA) in all the mid atlantic / DMV area. As a result, it’s an excuse to initiate a non consensual encounter.
There’s approximately 1% that you will beat this in court. It’s a cop said/you said case, completely. The only way you could defeat it is if the citing trooper doesn’t show up for court. They’re paid to show up for court.
in my both professional and motoring experience, this encounter type is either a quota based or profile based stop. Either the trooper is being looked at for not doing enough - that is, writing too few citations or you got their attention somehow. Could be vehicle type, driving behavior, or, they could have simply looked up at just the right time and they were bored.
I’d confirm with a traffic lawyer that this isn’t what in the insurance industry is called a ‘moving violation’. Don’t ask your insurer. IF it’s not a ‘moving violation’ and doesn’t compromise your insurance rates, then it’s a cost benefit exercise.
if it is a moving violation and / or potentially compromises your insurance rates, you should consider strongly making the commonwealth prove this scurrilous allegation beyond a reasonable doubt. You could plead to a non-moving violation as an option, but it depends on how willing the commonwealths atty. is willing to be realistic.
It’s honestly amazing that this is even a thing. This section of code is a complete, chicken $hit waste of time and taxpayer resources.
