Car Fans Rejoice as Ohio Decides to Drop Front License Plate Requirement

Ohio residents now no longer need to have a front license plate displayed on their vehicles. While car fanatics would probably like to lay the claim that they had something to do with the legislation change, the change seems to be for other reasons. However, hot rods in Ohio will look much better without that cumbersome front license plate hanging off of the front of the vehicle. We’ve actually noticed that in many states that require front plates, people just don’t run them sometimes. (We definitely don’t recommend this solution)

The change seems to be propelled forward by the promise of saving a little bit of money. In the long run, the change actually stands to put a decent amount of capital back in the pocket of the state of Ohio. The changes are said to save them about $1.4 million annually. Meanwhile, drivers will save a little bit of money but not really all that much. In their pockets, they will receive $1.25 more for every registration that they pay for.

Meanwhile, commercial tractor-trailers will still need to display a front plate.

So what’s the deal? Are front license plates not really all that helpful?

It doesn’t seem like there’s very much push back against the ditching of the plate. However, one law-enforcement representative seemed to be apprehensive to change. He cited the idea that sometimes, witnesses are only able to obtain a front plate off of a vehicle involved in a crime. He also talks a little bit about how traffic scanners can be used to recover stolen vehicles. Sometimes, there may be a situation where these scanners would only be able to pick up a front plate.

According to the News 5 Cleveland report, no states that have switched to a single plate have had discussions of going back to two.