Is the number plate visible or legal ?

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
Ianwhitwell
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Joined: 13 May 2020, 10:31pm

Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by Ianwhitwell »

I find it interesting driving around how often I see people with bikes on the back of their car with the number plate and lights obscured. I must admit driving behind them in the daylight with poor visibility can make brake and turn indicators very difficult to see. Obscuring the number plate issue matters less to me as another driver, but is clearly illegal. However, the fact that so many people do it and that its enforcement is such a low priority means it seems its really up to the individual to decide whether it matters to them from a personal perspective and in terms of its potential impact on other road users.
Personally, I use a Thule towball carrier with a light board connected to my towball electrics. I do this even though the lights on my car are very high up and can be seen well even when I have the bikes on the back. I guess i'm a belts and braces guy.
djnotts
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Location: Nottingham

Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by djnotts »

Quite a few expensive "sports cars" round here run with no front number plates, seemingly untroubled by the law. Any front mounted cycle carriers?
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Hellhound
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Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by Hellhound »

The youngsters with their customised Audis and VWs have a tendency to have an all black front end with the numberplate wedged between the windscreen and dashboard.The young fella next door says that a plate spoils the clean lines of his VW Golf.I'm sure it has nothing to do with avoiding detection.
Percy
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Joined: 29 Mar 2021, 8:21pm

Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by Percy »

fastpedaller wrote: 17 May 2021, 2:00pm Things may be different in USA. I only have a UK perspective on this...... During daytime, as well as brake lights there are the direction indicators to be considered, and maybe a car driver car see the lights, but could a truck driver from higher up vantage? Trailers in UK have to include lighting, and it's ok for the trailer to obscure the vehicle light (only if the trailer light work of course). Wiring of trailer or lighting board - fairly straightforward if an older vehicle, but a modern one with LED lighting will have CANBUS (my understanding) so very difficult unless you understand electronics. Whatever you have, it also needs to have a visual or audible indication that the lighting board or trailer lights are working.
Cops are cops, whichever country they're in. If a cop is in a bad mood, and he sees something to stop you for, such as speeding or not using a turn signal, he'll probably nail you for obscuring the lights.

Trailers, here, also must have lights and a number plate of their own (not the same as the car) because trailers must be registered.

I've been in the USA for nearly 43 years and never been stopped by a cop when I'm towing a trailer or when I have a bike on a carrier. But I have read about cops stopping drivers for having a number plate light out. Then they can search the car for illegal stuff. I had to put my work van through the state test and they failed it for having one of the two number plate lights out. Picky, picky!

There is another way to carry a bike without obscuring the lights, and that's on a roof rack made for the job. Getting the bike up there is another matter.
Last edited by Percy on 26 May 2021, 1:07am, edited 1 time in total.
If I knew how to ride a bike, safely, I'd do it every time.
rmurphy195
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Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by rmurphy195 »

The number plate is obscured by the pedal and, I think, by some of the straps. The rear lamps are also partly obscured so no. not legal, nor safe. Might improve matters by removing the wheels.

I have been on the motorway at 1 in the morning on the way to Stranraer for the early ferry, with my bikes on the back, and seen one or two cars set up like yours. Couldn't see the indicators on one ( not until I was level as I was overtaking), the other was at the side of the road with a police car behind it, probably having a nice chat!
Brompton, Condor Heritage, creaky joints and thinning white (formerly grey) hair
""You know you're getting old when it's easier to ride a bike than to get on and off it" - quote from observant jogger !
thirdcrank
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Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by thirdcrank »

The OP queried the legality of their arrangement and soon announced they would go for a legal option.

Since then we've had various posts about the likelihood of enforcement and the matrimonial status of the parents of the occasional police officer who might take action: ACAB.
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mjr
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Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by mjr »

thirdcrank wrote: 28 May 2021, 7:27am ACAB.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/18734 ... -say-acab/ "The acronym, which has become synonymous with calls to end police violence, is not aimed at any one cop but rather is a criticism of the institution of policing itself. It’s not to say that every cop is a bad cop, but rather that every cop is complicit in upholding an unjust system that disproportionately targets some of the most vulnerable in our society."
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thirdcrank
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Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by thirdcrank »

If only.

Apart from anything else, I alluded to it on here because of the "they can't touch you for it, they shouldn't touch you for it, but if they do touch you for it they must have other problems" lines taken by some.

PS - If somebody has ACAB tattooed across their knuckles, I doubt they are part of some political movement.
===========================================================
PPS

This is what I'm banging on about when I refer to policing by social media

North Yorkshire Police find nine people in uninsured car

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-englan ... e-57261144

Why does this happen? IMO, people think they can get away with it. The clue here is that the car was uninsured so - assuming the plates were not obscured - it should have been picked up by ANPR. The report doesn't mention where the car had been driven from so perhaps it was just round the corner
rogerzilla
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Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by rogerzilla »

I went to college with a guy who'd been in a Morris Ital with 8 other people:

One in each of the front seats
Two in the boot
Four sitting across the back bench seat
One lying crosswise on their laps

The last one was a stroke of genius. Don't try this yourself, kids.
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Percy wrote: 25 May 2021, 9:05pm
fastpedaller wrote: 17 May 2021, 2:00pm Things may be different in USA. I only have a UK perspective on this...... During daytime, as well as brake lights there are the direction indicators to be considered, and maybe a car driver car see the lights, but could a truck driver from higher up vantage? Trailers in UK have to include lighting, and it's ok for the trailer to obscure the vehicle light (only if the trailer light work of course). Wiring of trailer or lighting board - fairly straightforward if an older vehicle, but a modern one with LED lighting will have CANBUS (my understanding) so very difficult unless you understand electronics. Whatever you have, it also needs to have a visual or audible indication that the lighting board or trailer lights are working.
Cops are cops, whichever country they're in. If a cop is in a bad mood, and he sees something to stop you for, such as speeding or not using a turn signal, he'll probably nail you for obscuring the lights.

Trailers, here, also must have lights and a number plate of their own (not the same as the car) because trailers must be registered.

I've been in the USA for nearly 43 years and never been stopped by a cop when I'm towing a trailer or when I have a bike on a carrier. But I have read about cops stopping drivers for having a number plate light out. Then they can search the car for illegal stuff. I had to put my work van through the state test and they failed it for having one of the two number plate lights out. Picky, picky!

There is another way to carry a bike without obscuring the lights, and that's on a roof rack made for the job. Getting the bike up there is another matter.
That's a fail in the UK too.
Percy
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Joined: 29 Mar 2021, 8:21pm

Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by Percy »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 28 May 2021, 1:37pm
That's a fail in the UK too.
What, carrying a bike on a roof rack specifically made for the job?
If I knew how to ride a bike, safely, I'd do it every time.
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Mick F
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Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by Mick F »

rogerzilla wrote: 28 May 2021, 1:25pm I went to college with a guy who'd been in a Morris Ital with 8 other people:

One in each of the front seats
Two in the boot
Four sitting across the back bench seat
One lying crosswise on their laps

The last one was a stroke of genius. Don't try this yourself, kids.
They used to have competitions to see how many people you could get in a Mini.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Mick F
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Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by Mick F »

Mick F. Cornwall
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Is the number plate visible or legal ?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Percy wrote: 28 May 2021, 2:23pm
Bmblbzzz wrote: 28 May 2021, 1:37pm
That's a fail in the UK too.
What, carrying a bike on a roof rack specifically made for the job?
No, the bit I bolded. "I had to put my work van through the state test and they failed it for having one of the two number plate lights out."
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