Are we there yet? License to nudge
CEBU, Philippines - Almost a year after the so-called date they were supposed to release the new edition license plates (which they didn’t, by the way), we have now begun to see many vehicles sport the new-look plates. As “modern” as these plates appear to be, it is not surprising that many motor vehicle owners would rather violate Joint Administrative Order 2014-01 and install license plate covers than to show these extremely bland and tasteless license plates in all its ugly glory.
I am aware that ranting about the design of these new plates is already moot and academic. Hence, I shall move on and talk about the importance of requiring all motor vehicles to install front and rear license plates. All of us know that most, if not all, four or more-wheeled vehicles are mandated by law to mount front and rear license plates. What I would like to push for would be for trikes, scooters and mopeds be required to do the same thing.
Currently, these two or three-wheeled motor vehicles only mount license plates at the rear of their vehicles. As this has been the norm for most of our lives, we have all come to accept that this is fine and there is no need to challenge the status quo. That is until someone points out the glaring flaws of this age old rule. Let me discuss a couple of scenarios that will clearly illustrate why it would be benefical to all to require these vehicles to have front and rear license plates.
First scenario. Just recently, a friend of mine received a dent on his rear fender courtesy of a moped snaking its way in and out of the ever-traffic lanes of Kapitolyo city. My friend, however, was unable to confront the offender as the nitwit on the moped fled the scene and all my friend could do was jot down the plate number of the offending moped, Plate Number YN-1114. The only way for him to get to identify the offending moped in the future would be if he happens to be tailing the same moped. If the moped were coming from the other direction, he would have no way of knowing it was the offending vehicle since he cannot see the license plate without having to resort to looking back after the said vehicle has already passed him. And by then, it would be a little too late.
Second scenario. How many times have we read or heard in the news that a crime was committed by perpetrators riding in tandem? Sadly, these occur almost as often as corruption in government occurs. Aside from the unregulated and over abundant number of identical looking scooters and mopeds being brought in from abroad, part of the reason these perpetrators get away is because law enforcers are not able to easily identify the vehicle coming their way because of the absence of a front-facing license plate.
I am aware that some of these perpetrators remove their license plates before committing the crime. But on the rare chance that there is a daft one among these perpetrators, it would be a great help to all victims and law enforcers if these scooters and mopeds are required to have front facing plates as well.
With every motor vehicle being required to change to these bland plates by next year, I’m pretty sure it won’t be such a big issue if they implement this as well. Many may find this unnecessary, but I’m sure they’ll change their tune once they also fall victim to these runaway offenders.
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