Is the number plate visible or legal ?

[smcknighty]

In the US they don’t seem to test much hence the ‘shock’ at failing for a number plate light. I used to travel to Chicago for work and when sitting in traffic you would see cars rotted out beyond belief with massive holes in the sills. Wouldn’t have passed MOT at all here

[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.

They used to have competitions to see how many people you could get in a Mini.

This was just to get to the pub!

I spent much of Christmas Eve 1988 being driven around Basingstoke pubs in the boot of someone's dark blue Austin Maxi. This wasn't so bad as they'd ditched the parcel shelf, so I could sit up and see where we were going. Cue shouts of, "get your head down, there's a police car!"

[mattsccm]

7 in a mini was ok. 3 in the front with the middle sharing both seats. 4 abreast in the rear. Popular if you knew preety girls with short skirts.

[Percy]

In the US they don’t seem to test much hence the ‘shock’ at failing for a number plate light. I used to travel to Chicago for work and when sitting in traffic you would see cars rotted out beyond belief with massive holes in the sills. Wouldn’t have passed MOT at all here

Depends on the state. Delaware is thorough, checking every function out: Head lights, tail lights, turn signals, wipers, horn, tires, brakes and exhaust analysis. I took my motorcycle through the inspection lanes. It failed because he couldn't see the reflectors above the rear wheel. I got off, lifted the saddle bags off and said, "You can see them, now!" He admitted he could and had to pass it. Rotted bodywork will get a fail.

Florida, on the other hand, doesn't do any kind of testing. You can drive a car until it falls apart. If every rotten car was removed from the road, thousands of poor people would have no transportation.

[Bmblbzzz]

Suspension, clutch, seat belts, air bags, seat fixings, condition of windscreen, mirrors, brake lights, reversing lights, fog lights...

[thirdcrank]

IMO, the fundamental point here is that we have a strong interest in reg plates being properly displayed.

The users of motor vehicles are involved in a lot of offences, either "driving offences" or using a vehicle to facilitate offending.

Plates are a link to offenders. Their use to identify suspected offenders, in particular by the requirement imposed on a keeper to identify the driver, has been challenged as a breach of the right to avoid self-incrimination but confirmed as OK by the European Court of Human Rights.

We now have reliable equipment - ANPR - to identify suspected vehicles, detailed regulations for plates, and a much-improved DVLA database, all of which depend on those plates being clearly visible. Suggesting that enforcing this stringently is too trivial to be a police matter is IMO misplaced since it allows the baddies to hide from detection. I'm not saying that they hang a bike of the back of a getaway car to confuse the police, just that the "have you nothing better to do with your time?" line gives them room to hide.

As more riders use cameras to record offending, they have a strong interest in compliant reg plates.