Texas Still Struggles With Fake License Plates After Eliminating Paper Temp Tags

Last 12 months, Texas banned temporary paper tags in an effort to thwart counterfeit license plates. Unfortunately that effort has proven lower than successful, as counterfeiters have simply began making fake metal plates as an alternative, reports Fox 7 Austin. Apparently, it’s just as easy to print a sticker as an alternative of a bit of paper, then apply it to a bit of sheet metal, and even the back of a stolen license plate. Who knew?

The Texas Auto Dealer’s Association did. Over a 12 months ago, while the paper tag ban was still into consideration, it even testified before the Texas House of Representatives that this may occur. From CBS Texas:

Our concern is that we’re just switching from a fraudulent temp tag to a fradulent metal tag.
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A metal tag might be counterfeited very easily with wraps, etc. So I’m very concerned that we’ve not increased the notice for the general public, the protection for law enforcement, or that we have actually gone forward. In reality, we could have gone backward.

While dealers may sometimes complain about change, it seems they were right on this case. Any paper temp tag looks a bit of misplaced and warrants a bit of additional attention, even when only to confirm it’s legitimate. A traffic stop is not even required to do that. Now that paper tags are gone, the brand new fakes appear to be every other license plate on the road, mixing into traffic even higher than they used to. All of law enforcement’s discuss eliminating paper temp tags to enhance public safety as an alternative lulls the general public right into a false sense of security, making people more prone to trust that the metal plates on the cars they buy are real, which will not be at all times the case.

The part nobody has mentioned is just how easy it’s to fake such a straightforward black-and-white design. You do not even need a color printer to duplicate a contemporary Texas license plate. It’s probably easier for a license plate scanner to read, but other states don’t appear to have any trouble, while offering nice, colourful designs which are much harder to duplicate.

If only Texas had stuck with its previous design, which had a brief run from 2009 to 2011, until the present design replaced it. It had many of the same design elements, and the plate number was the identical easy-to-read font. It also had color, and what I believe was an awesome design for Texas. Its unique shades, gradients, and the complex mountain design at the underside could be far more difficult to repeat than today’s easy black-and-white design. Not not possible, however it’s much easier to identify a fake when its colours look just a bit of bit off, especially for police who examine countless license plates on daily basis and know what they’re purported to appear to be.

One solution to avoid a potentially counterfeit plate is to order one in all greater than 500 specialty plates Texas offers. You possibly can get anything from sports teams to cheeseburgers. There’s even a Porsche Club of America plate available. I spent the past week in Texas, and it saddened me to see so many boring black-and-white plates when so many interesting, colourful decisions can be found. The additional $90 a 12 months for a splash of color probably has rather a lot to do with it.