PD Editorial: Temporary license plates will hinder scofflaws

Gov. Jerry Brown this week signed a law that will require newly purchased vehicles to display temporary license plates starting in 2019.

Drivers on California’s streets and highways often spot cars without a state license plate. For visitors to our great state, that might be confusing. Are they secret government cars? Criminals? Why aren’t the police stopping them?

Locals know better. A missing plate almost always means only that it’s a new car. The owner awaits delivery of official plates from the Department of Motor Vehicles. Look carefully and you’ll find a notice of sale in the window or a paper dealer plate.

A small piece of paper that cannot be read from a distance or a far-from-official dealer number fails in several circumstances.

Police officers cannot run a plate to find out if a car has been stolen or the owner has outstanding warrants if all they can see is that paper from a distance. That sort of crucial information can dictate how an officer approaches a stop.

For the public, jotting down the plate number after a hit and run or other crime can lead to an arrest and justice. Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, the San Mateo Democrat who sponsored the legislation, cited the 2013 death of a Southern Californian killed in a hit and run as one of the reasons the issue came to his attention. The car had only a paper dealer plate, which was no help identifying the driver, who was never found.

There’s a financial cost, too. Scofflaws without plates who blow through tollbooths and red light cameras cost the state an estimated $15 million per year. When the cameras can’t see an official plate, there’s no way to send a ticket.

Under the new law, when Californians buy a car, they will receive a temporary plate to hang on the outside, just like drivers in most other states. It will be good for 90 days, in which time they should receive their official license plate from the DMV.

Critics argue that the law will increase the number of people who receive fines for paperwork violations and that for poorer Californians that could start a spiral of debt.

To the first point, yes, punishing violators is the point. If people are driving around without a legal plate, they deserve a fine or at least a warning to fix it.

As for potential debt, it’s true that most people driving around without plates are not wealthy Steve Jobs imitators. The deceased Apple CEO famously exploited the plate loophole.

The fact that the poor cannot easily afford to pay fines could be used to argue against any financial penalty. Singling this one out doesn’t make sense.

Anyone can avoid a ticket by obeying the law. If the plates are late through no fault of the owner, the new law has a provision for an extension. Besides, usually when police ticket someone for an expired plate, the owner can get it canceled by fixing the violation.

Now if only lawmakers could fix the other license plate loophole that allows them, police, judges, local officials and more than 1 million other drivers to keep their names and addresses secret from tollbooth enforcers.