License Plate Location

[SuiteSuccess]

Can’t seem to find a definitive answer so thought would ask the group. My state of Tennessee issues only one license plate that by statute must be on the rear of a Motorhome (my truck registered as MH) .  I assume it has to be readily visible at all times if LEO crawled between 5er and truck. My dilemma:  I would like to build an expanded metal “basket” that I could put in my receiver hitch to toss my chocks and leg blocks in for easy access. It would be lockable. My question since the expanded metal is see through is that sufficient or do I have to remount on the box with a light?

[Steve from SoCal]

I ain't Phil but I betcha the plate has to be clearly visible.

Just put on the outside of the basket

[rynosback]

5 minutes ago, Steve from SoCal said:

I ain't Phil but I betcha the plate has to be clearly visible.

Just put on the outside of the basket

I agree and with a light.

[DesertMiner]

Question.... if you only have one plate and it’s on the rear of the truck how do you use “toll roads”?

[rynosback]

I would assume buy your campers tag when towing or maybe it would be free? But a lot of toll roads use transponders like Easypass.

Edited July 21, 2019 by rynosback

[Steve from SoCal]

Only toll roads I have been on are turnpikes, ill, Ind, Ks.    They have all taken my money gladly with nary a hitch  

[Big5er]

1 hour ago, Steve from SoCal said:

I ain't Phil but I betcha the plate has to be clearly visible.

Just put on the outside of the basket

Edited July 21, 2019 by Big5er

[Big5er]

1 hour ago, rynosback said:

I agree and with a light.

Edited July 21, 2019 by Big5er

[Chad Heiser]

Ditto on the back of the basket with a light.  If you were asking about CA, I could give you the code section that applies.  I don’t know Tennessee codes, but I would be willing to bet they have something similar.

[Lance A Lott]

Rig it up with a magnet so you can move it when you dont use the basket, light and all. All of those bike racks, wheel chair lifts are blocking the plate and in Vermont they realy get a after snow.

[Timon]

I thought all HDTs were required to put their single plate on the front. In fact I thought no HDT only get one plate eve in CA. 

[Star Dreamer]

1 hour ago, Timon said:

I thought all HDTs were required to put their single plate on the front. In fact I thought no HDT only get one plate eve in CA. 

Varies based on your state. In South Carolina it is located on the rear. In Minnesota we had two plates so one on front and one on rear. I believe there is at least one state that requires it located on the front if you are commercial and on the rear of your are not.

Dave

[Nuke-E]

15 hours ago, DesertMiner said:

Question.... if you only have one plate and it’s on the rear of the truck how do you use “toll roads”?

It's certainly possible you don't get charged, especially with unmanned toll roads that use plate-by-mail tolling.  Even something as simple as leaving the tailgate down on a pickup means no read of the tag, and with no toll booths or transponders required, there's no way to assess a toll.

It's kind of like freeway speed cameras in a lot of places--they're often set up to photograph only the rear of the vehicle (mainly so the cameras can be hidden behind things), and a vehicle with front-only tags gets through without a ticket. 

[SuiteSuccess]

4 hours ago, Timon said:

I thought all HDTs were required to put their single plate on the front. In fact I thought no HDT only get one plate eve in CA. 

Tennessee very specific on the rear for Motorhome. 

[rickeieio]

We have two hdt's, one work and one play, both licensed in Ohio.  We have plates front and rear, but the renewal stickers are on just one plate.  On the work truck, that stickered plate must be on the front, so as to be visible when hooked to a trailer.  On the "play truck", with MH designation, the stickered plate must be on the rear.

[Big5er]

6 hours ago, Timon said:

I thought all HDTs were required to put their single plate on the front. In fact I thought no HDT only get one plate eve in CA. 

You are thinking commercial registration and "Apportioned" registration. An HDT registered as a truck or a motorhome puts the license plate in the same place their respective state requires every other truck and motorhome to put it. 

[Big5er]

2 hours ago, Nuke-E said:

It's kind of like freeway speed cameras in a lot of places--they're often set up to photograph only the rear of the vehicle (mainly so the cameras can be hidden behind things), and a vehicle with front-only tags gets through without a ticket. 

The toll roads in Harris County, Texas use a rear of vehicle shot only also. I went through towing the trailer once. They snapped a picture of the trailer and sent me a nasty-gram and a bill plus penalties. I called and said I have an EZtag. They said the trailer plate wasn't linked to the account, so I told them to add it. They can't add a vehicle that doesn't have an EZtag. I said that was dumb, since the tow vehicle has one, and they needed better equipment. In the end, they sent me an EZtag for the trailer. It's in a drawer somewhere so their reader will never see it. But if they miss the one on the truck, at least the trailer is listed on my account now.

The fun was the toll road around Austin, they picked up the truck AND the smart, loaded on the bed, at the same time. They graciously refunded the $6 for 3 toll plazas after they looked at the pictures they snapped as I passed through. 

Edited July 22, 2019 by Big5er

[RickW]

All the tow-truck drivers here in the Dallas area have removed their toll tags.  So what happens is when they pass thru a toll both the reader picks up the car being towed and the toll is then changed to the towed vehicle owner and not the tow truck operator.  The tow truck still has a toll tag assigned but leaves it in the office.  So if the vehicle being towed does not register when passing thru the tolls, the tow truck is charged the tag rate and not the non-tag rate.

[GlennWest]

1 hour ago, Big5er said:

The toll roads in Harris County, Texas use a rear of vehicle shot only also. I went through towing the trailer once. They snapped a picture of the trailer and sent me a nasty-gram and a bill plus penalties. I called and said I have an EZtag. They said the trailer plate wasn't linked to the account, so I told them to add it. They can't add a vehicle that doesn't have an EZtag. I said that was dumb, since the tow vehicle has one, and they needed better equipment. In the end, they sent me an EZtag for the trailer. It's in a drawer somewhere so their reader will never see it. But if they miss the one on the truck, at least the trailer is listed on my account now.

The fun was the toll road around Austin, they picked up the truck AND the smart, loaded on the bed, at the same time. They graciously refunded the $6 for 3 toll plazas after they looked at the pictures they snapped as I passed through. 

That is interesting Phil. Anytime I tow thru Houston, I hit the Sam Houston. Never had a problem

[Big5er]

5 hours ago, GlennWest said:

That is interesting Phil. Anytime I tow thru Houston, I hit the Sam Houston. Never had a problem

It's only happened to me once, Glenn. For some reason the reader missed the the trucks EZtag, so they took a picture of the trailers license plate and sent me the nasty-gram. I wasn't gonna go through the hassle again so I got the trailer added onto the account...with its' own tag. 

[jkoenig24]

In NY, registration (license) plates must be clearly visible and, "shall NOT be covered by glass, plastic or ANY OTHER material". Technically, you can't even put a coat of wax on the plate (there are further requirements as to placement). These days, there are clear, spray on products that supposedly prevent a treated plate from being clearly photographed. I would expect TN and most other states to have similar laws on the books. If I were you, I'd locate the plate OUTSIDE of the box and, have a working light illuminating said plate when driving at night (I know; when hooked up, the trailer blocks the view of the plate. Laws often ignore logic and common sense). Find out exactly what TN laws cover number plates and, have a printed copy in the folder I'm sure you have.  The few extra dollars you spend could help you avoid trouble down the road. 

[Ronbo]

I have radio operator plates so all three vehicles have the exact same plate number. I one eztag and it is tied to the plate nu,very. I can go through the toll plaza with no problems.

[RandyA]

Just to muddy the water....... NORMALLY where does a rear plate go?  Center, right or left side of the rear apron of a HDT.  My son (VA LEO) told me that on our truck with the trailer connected the tag should go on the left side so it could be seen as a LEO pulled around the rear of the truck in the left lane or glanced back in the rear view mirror.  I replied:  "OK, what if I am on a 4 lane road in the outside lane?"  (Note: Old photo, old tags, old bed design shown)

[Imurphy907]

On 7/23/2019 at 2:55 AM, Ronbo said:

I have radio operator plates so all three vehicles have the exact same plate number. I one eztag and it is tied to the plate nu,very. I can go through the toll plaza with no problems.

I have never seen multiple vehicles with the same plate number. That circumvents part of the reason we have plates at all.

[Nuke-E]

13 minutes ago, Imurphy907 said:

I have never seen multiple vehicles with the same plate number. That circumvents part of the reason we have plates at all.

Quite a few states do this, and not just for radio operators. Tennessee regularly issues the same standard plate number for multiple vehicles, though they avoid doing so for multiple vehicles of the same body type (e.g a sedan and pickup get the same number, but two sedans should not).

It frequently exposes the sloppy work of photo enforcement contractors and police officers that review notices before they go in the mail. It doesn't look too credible when you take the stand and read from the citation that the dump truck in the photo did violate the speed limit as shown in the photo when the photo is of a red Corvette.