The Texas House Transportation Committee today gave the red light to a proposal to allow cars to travel on Texas roads with only the rear license plate, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
19 states currently only require a single license plate on cars to travel on public roads, but Brian Hawthorne, the Sheriff of Chambers County and a representative of the Texas Sheriffs Association, told lawmakers it would cause problems for his officers.
"Reading license plates through your mirror, when people are sitting at traffic lights, or catching it on a video camera at a convenience store where a crime has been committed, and the only thing you have is that front license plate."
Supporters of the bill said new vehicle technology that includes sensors mounted on the front bumper to facilitate automatic braking or active cruise control, or the new technology that will notify a driver of the pedestrian in his path, are not effective in some cases when the front license plate is installed.
But the committee agreed with Hawthorne, that the front plate is critical for law enforcement, in areas ranging from reading license plates on toll roads to fuel drive-offs.
"If you have any idea how many times gasoline drive offs take place, and its only the front license plate that was captured on video when the person pulled into the fuel bay."