By Bob Katzen

The Senate referred to the Committee on Transportation a bill that would require only a rear license plate be issued for every motor vehicle. Current law requires both a front and back plate.

The bill was filed by Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) at the request of a constituent, Rich Carlson of Gloucester, under a state law that allows citizens to request their local legislator file a bill on the constituent’s behalf. These bills are known as “By Request” bills and do not necessarily have the support of the legislator who filed it for the constituent. Tarr did not respond to several requests by Beacon Hill Roll Call asking him if he supports or opposes the proposal.

“Massachusetts should return to a single rear license plate because modern enforcement tools already rely on rear plate scanning and nearby jurisdictions like Connecticut, Rhode Island and most Canadian provinces operate safely with one plate,” said Carlson. “In Massachusetts, the second plate adds cost and environmental impact, with Massachusetts spending over $3 million annually on aluminum plates that require energy intensive production and create unnecessary waste. A single plate also avoids vehicle design conflicts since most modern cars aren’t built to accommodate front plates without drilling or brackets.

Massachusetts has successfully used a one-plate system before, and with 22 states now requiring only one plate, the arguments for keeping two plates no longer match current technology or regional practice.”
Carlson continued, “Opposition to this bill, primarily from police organizations, is based on outdated assumptions about front plate visibility, even though modern enforcement tools overwhelmingly scan rear plates, which are illuminated, unobstructed and consistently readable. Front plates are frequently blocked by grills or bumper geometry and are nearly useless at high closing speeds, so keeping them adds cost and complexity without improving identification. Studies have shown no advantage in law enforcement of states with two plates vs. states with one plate.”
Registrar of Motor Vehicles chief Colleen Ogilvie did not respond to several requests by Beacon Hill Roll Call asking her if she supports or opposes the proposal.

Opponents say that vehicles that have both front and rear license plates are more easily identifiable and improve vehicle identification which increases public safety. They argue that the two-plate system has worked well for many years and should not be changed.