Faulty licence plate makers should pay

I recently read that Niagara Regional Police (NRP) are launching an education campaign in June to make drivers aware it is an offence to drive with plates that can’t be read.

This is to be followed in July by a fine of $110 if the same vehicle is stopped a second time. Apparently the plates have a five-year warranty. Who knew?

The problem of faulty plates is not a new one. Faded plates, peeling plates, rusty plates have been seen everywhere for years.

The owners of these plates, in good faith, put down their hard-earned dollars to buy them. In the good old days the plates would be replaced every year. (In Ontario they would be white with blue letters and numbers followed the next year by blue plates with white letters and numbers.) Older plates still last for years with no problems.

In order to cut costs the government went to the present system where a sticker is purchased on expiry and stuck onto the plate. The costs, of course, continue to increase.

In another obvious cost-cutting measure the government adopted a method of manufacture which led to shoddy plates that were ruined in less than two or three years. This is not the fault of the long-suffering owners of these plates. This is not the fault of the NRP. The logical solution is to go to the source of these substandard plates and demand that they pay for replacements. It is not another cash grab inflicted on long-suffering car owners.

I suggest that the NRP start to focus on the numerous drivers seen every day talking or texting on cellphones. How about those who still continue to make turns at intersections while pedestrians with the right of way are still in the middle? How about the speed freaks or red-light jumpers? Targeting unreadable licence plates may be a problem. Possibly some of the offenders mentioned above could have that added as a second charge where applicable.

Richard Murri Niagara Falls