Tt proposed post jun 7, 2017

http://toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/tt.pl/article/209366/10Feb2017/Current_location_of_handheld_radar_guns

"You rarely hear of anyone getting fined for no front plate."

But as an Ohio resident, your chances of getting pulled over by the Ohio Highway State Patrol increase. At least that was my personal experience when I had a car long ago that I thought looked "cooler" without the front license plate.

I got pulled over multiple times, all by the state patrol, but I never got ticketed. I kept the front plate under the front passenger seat, and I used the excuse that I had not made time to attach it.

Eventually, I got tired of that aggravation and attached the plate. Or I matured a little and redefined the word "cool." Probably the former.

For one of the times when I got pulled over, I was traveling on a hilly, windy two-lane road in eastern Ohio, during the daytime when I came upon a patrol car that was stopped at a red light in a small town. He must have viewed my lack of a front plate in his rear view mirror because after we started moving, he pulled off the side of the road, and then he pulled in behind me and lit me up. But he gave me no ticket. I drove a Honda Civic, which I don't think is a vehicle that officers profile for nefarious actions.

Drive specific types of SUVs on specific roads at specific times of the night or early morning, and patrol may profile the vehicles. This happened to a hospital worker friend who got called into work in the middle of the night, and she changed lanes on a local highway without using a blinker. Different vehicle or different time of the day, the patrol officer probably would have ignored her.

Not having a front plate gives law enforcement a reason to pull over a driver even if the officer has no intention of issuing a ticket for the lack of a front plate.