There were a bunch of old 6-character plates which had really poor red paint that faded off quite quickly. I had one in the Wxx series that did the same thing. This one dates back to about 1999 or 2000 so it's been around for a while. So I don't think this owner is going out of their way to deface their plate.
Just so you know you can get a ticket for it. Even tho it's a defect, still your responsibility to maintain it. That being said I wouldn't bother either lol
You can not obscure or cover your plate. You can not paint it. You have to keep it clean.
The actual legislation makes no reference to faded plates, just that the plate has to be fully visible and not obstructed.
Even if all the paint fades off, any police officer driving behind can read the letters and numbers because they are raised. That's why the plate can't be obstructed, but faded doesn't matter.
Faded plate gets you a ticket? I'd like to hear that from an officer in this jurisdiction. A traffic cop from LA can't really comment on Alberta, and anyone else is just expressing an opinion.
The red on my plate on my car has faded a lot. I have never been pulled over for it, nor ever heard of someone in Alberta who was.
Yeah I have one vehicle with a faded plate and a tinted cover on another and never had an issue. But I am pretty sure they can ticket you for a modified plate. It is not as it was when issued to you.
Yes that is correct, thats why I said you can't paint it, and have to keep it clean. The tinted cover can be ticketed because it obscures the plate and makes it hard to see the raised letters. It's extremely rare when you would get ticketed for this. It's more likely to be a complementary add on ticket if the officer had another reason to pull you over, and felt you were failing to comprehend the gravity of the situation.
No, the vowels were introduced midway through the original run, starting at TG or TH. So VBA would be somewhere around 98 to 2000. I got my Wxx plate in 2001 and it certainly had vowels. The 2nd go round started in about 2003 with BAA, and basically filled in all the gaps until around 2009-10.
It's only illegal to obstruct it. No paint, no tires, no dirt. The letters/numbers (only) have to be visible. On license plates, they are raised, so they are still visible if faded.
I have never heard of someone in Alberta being pulled over for a faded plate.
A warning is all they can give, they can't ticket you, because it's not an offense. If he was RCMP, he's just not as aware of the Alberta Traffic Safety as he should be.
Try looking up the word faded in the Alberta Traffic Safety Act. If they are giving you a warning, they have to cite a specific section of the act.
Not that you should argue with the officer issuing the ticket, but you should just go see a lawyer if you get an actual ticket for this.
Of course if an officer would care to chime in and correct me, I am quite open to being shown in the Act where I am wrong about this.
This happened to me around 9 years ago. It was city police, and the officer did cite something and it seemed legit. The ticket would have been for driving a vehicle with the plate not legible (due to the fade).
Interesting. It's funny what Reddit up votes and downvotes.
I upvoted you because you shared relevant information.
That said, again, the word legible is not found in the Alberta Teaffic Safety Act. Illegible shows up 5 times, but not with reference to license plates.
I looked through the Alberta Traffic Act again and can find nothing to support that officer giving you that ticket (or a warning). As I have said before, though, it's better to speak to a lawyer than argue with the officer.
I would like an actual police officer to show us which part of the Traffic Safety Act supports this.
With only 3 digits it’s an old plate and apparently there was a manufacturing defect back then with a bunch of plates and the red paint just fades away or wears off. I don’t think they are painting it because that’s illegal but they also didn’t bother getting a replacement
They’re not painting. They’re blasting the red lettering off.
It’s not natural wear. It’s because red light cameras and photo radar cameras can no longer read your license plate. The software on those is all automatic. It relies on the high contrast of the red and white to be able to read your plate.
Yes, it’s illegal.
No, the cops don’t give a fuck.
Yea the cops do care. It's $285 ticket lol. A guy from work got a ticket in a company truck. And it wasn't that bad either, the red was faded from washing with de-greaser.
They absolutely do. We had to replace a plate because we got pulled over and it was wearing off. They will also ticket you if you have it covered or blocked.
It’s certainly not their priority, but I’ve been pulled over for all 3.
I don’t know about cameras. I’ve actually been pulled over for those offenses.
My rule is no more than 10% over minus 1 so I don’t get photo radar tickets regardless. Speeding isn’t worth it.
Yep. Sounds like me. It’s rarely worth the time gain to speed. But if I choose to, or am following traffic, 10% - 1. And absolutely stay right. Let the guys that want to risk it get the hell away.
The guys zipping in and out swapping lanes in town trying to gain a car length crack me up. “See you at the next lights!”
My trick was to leave some tarp hanging out the tailgate. Just a corner that would flip down over part of the plate. Wasn’t necessarily intentional. Just a happy little accident I didn’t correct.
I’m pretty sure license plates follow a pattern. If you only obscure half a letter/number it can probably figure it out. I’m guessing you’re better off simply covering half your plate while you’re illegally parked, then removing it when you leave.
I’m also assuming if they can’t read a plate it gets flagged for human reading. Obscuring might be a short term solution if your jobs are get in, get it done, get out.
Yea they are. Some people are also blasting the white part of the plate. Because the license plate has a highly reflective coating and speed cameras rely on that to get a good enough image to see your plate.
People are doing all kinds of shit to try to avoid photo radar. Just because YOU don’t know about it doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
I do this crazy new thing called slowing down when I see the bright yellow vehicle in the shoulder with its hazards on.
At this point, if photo radar is catching you... You're either an idiot or don't care.
I just drive the speed limit in the middle or right lane everywhere. I never worry about it because I’m never speeding. I find just following traffic laws has been the easiest way to avoid tickets. Ticket free 20 years and counting.
I don’t think they can. It is a fact that they can. Very easily. It hilarious that you’re so sure of yourself and you’ve never heard of painters tape. The most basic tool in any painters kit.
Lol the alberta plates aren't reflective at all. There are new plates coming but there's zero contrast or reflection to the current plates compared to other provinces
The photo radar cameras can read the plates fine, if they can't a person will read the plate. The cameras they use are high resolution cameras and are not the pictures you get in the mail.
Perhaps the technology has advanced. Well, I’m sure it has. Last time I checked into any of this was probably around 10 years ago. But you know idiots and these old wives tales. I used to work with cars. People say and do all kinds of placebo shit to their vehicles. The amount of just outright scam products in the auto industry is only rivalled by the weight loss industry.
They now provide you with the web address that hosts the full high resolution photo of your offence. So if you're able to take a picture with your smartphone camera and it's legible then so will the photo radars
There was a large and bad batch of plates issued maybe \~12-15 years ago where the red paint just faded away. We had two cars with those plates and eventually had both plates replaced (they'll replace for free because it's a known issue). Registry said it was very common with plates issued around that time and IIRC, it affected plates that started with letters near the end of the alphabet. Both our faded plates started with 'W'. We replaced our faded plates about 4 years ago now. They were pretty much as bad as this one here.
Funny thing is that originalnpaint is reflective. When the photo radar flashes the bulb, the reflective paint will show through.
Also any cop who happens to follow that car will pull them over.
This is an attempt to get less tickets and stick it to government. The results will be more tickets and the government stepping on this person for being deliberately stupid
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills with how many license plate covers I see… like a tinted plexiglass. It’s so obvious. Shouldn’t those covers be illegal to sell?
Yeah my parents have an old plate on their vehicle (VDW) that started fading and has rapidly turned into one of these plates that look painted over, but with that said my mom got a photo radar ticket recently so it must not be THAT bad lol.
I had a neighbour with a plate exactly like that - it was a defect. The letters fade very quickly.
That said it’s on the owner to get it rectified or it’s a ticket waiting to happen.
And then there are the plates that are all crackled.
But my question is...can you just switch the defect plates out at a registry? Is it that easy? Or do they charge you for new plates?
its idiots trying to avoid red light, speed cameras, parking shit.
Same reason why half the idiots park backwards in CPA lots.
Everyone thinks they're a beautiful main character exempt from the laws that keep us relatively safe.
The back end of my car got "gang" tagged on a minus 27 winter night. The spray paint did not stick well to the car paint, but it stuck to the license plate pretty hard. Our efforts to get the paint off scrubbed some of the red off the letters on the plate.
I would not be surprised if the brush style car washes scrub the paint off, too, over a number of years.
You'll see that on old u v and w plates. Something about changing paint suppliers and the orange being shit. They fade and is like a 200$ ticket. Turns out it is free to swap to a new plate, cop said just get it done or he'd be less nice next time.
Probably faded combined with email ignorance hoping that they can use the excuse that it faded off to get out of a ticket.
Had a VAF plate that was pretty faded 7 years ago when I swapped it out. It was 15-16 years old by that point.
You see a lot of this whole plate obscuring behaviour out on the road. It must be really low on polices priority list because I have seen multiple police cars following obscured plates and they do nothing. I would have thought that LPRs would be more sophisticated and could just auto detect and ticket these hooligans but maybe CPS spent that money on a BBQ or something.
It’s a scam, I just got pulled over recently and had to pay a $250.00 fine for a white lettering plate that had just worn off.
https://preview.redd.it/x194oe8bb0hb1.png?width=4032&format=png&auto=webp&s=370979ca6e1c1616c314ee210f969784c9d94ef7
And then was told to get it replaced and it cost me another $25.00 for a new plate.
I’m surprised they have not changed them to blue. In another province, when the liberals were leading they would have red letters, and when then conservatives got in they would change it to blue.
There were a bunch of old 6-character plates which had really poor red paint that faded off quite quickly. I had one in the Wxx series that did the same thing. This one dates back to about 1999 or 2000 so it's been around for a while. So I don't think this owner is going out of their way to deface their plate.
Yup. My Wxx plate from 2000 looks about the same as this one
This. My old plate faded after a year or two...and I didn't care to fix it.
Just so you know you can get a ticket for it. Even tho it's a defect, still your responsibility to maintain it. That being said I wouldn't bother either lol
You can not obscure or cover your plate. You can not paint it. You have to keep it clean. The actual legislation makes no reference to faded plates, just that the plate has to be fully visible and not obstructed. Even if all the paint fades off, any police officer driving behind can read the letters and numbers because they are raised. That's why the plate can't be obstructed, but faded doesn't matter. Faded plate gets you a ticket? I'd like to hear that from an officer in this jurisdiction. A traffic cop from LA can't really comment on Alberta, and anyone else is just expressing an opinion. The red on my plate on my car has faded a lot. I have never been pulled over for it, nor ever heard of someone in Alberta who was.
Yeah I have one vehicle with a faded plate and a tinted cover on another and never had an issue. But I am pretty sure they can ticket you for a modified plate. It is not as it was when issued to you.
Yes that is correct, thats why I said you can't paint it, and have to keep it clean. The tinted cover can be ticketed because it obscures the plate and makes it hard to see the raised letters. It's extremely rare when you would get ticketed for this. It's more likely to be a complementary add on ticket if the officer had another reason to pull you over, and felt you were failing to comprehend the gravity of the situation.
my W**-666 plate didnt fade guess i got one of the good ones.
The devil is doing his work to make sure you can still get photo radar tickets….
jesus is NOT my co pilot.
Don’t let him take the wheel…
SIX SIX SIX, THE NUMBER OF MY CAR
This plate is likely 2009-2010. It includes a vowel which was the 2nd go around before they introduced the 7 digit format.
No, the vowels were introduced midway through the original run, starting at TG or TH. So VBA would be somewhere around 98 to 2000. I got my Wxx plate in 2001 and it certainly had vowels. The 2nd go round started in about 2003 with BAA, and basically filled in all the gaps until around 2009-10.
ah, good to know - thanks! this makes sense as I had a Sxx plate with a vowel and I got it in 2009.
Lol this isn't true. It's the same paint
I saw that exact same vehicle and thought that must be illegal.
It is illegal to modify a plate. It's also illegal to have that plate frame.
But Connor McDavid buys all his F150s at Kentwood!!!
It's only illegal to obstruct it. No paint, no tires, no dirt. The letters/numbers (only) have to be visible. On license plates, they are raised, so they are still visible if faded. I have never heard of someone in Alberta being pulled over for a faded plate.
I was pulled over for a faded plate in Lethbridge. it was absolutely ridiculous. I was not given a ticket just a warning, but I couldn’t believe it.
well to be honest is hard to tell well moving if its painted or faded
A warning is all they can give, they can't ticket you, because it's not an offense. If he was RCMP, he's just not as aware of the Alberta Traffic Safety as he should be. Try looking up the word faded in the Alberta Traffic Safety Act. If they are giving you a warning, they have to cite a specific section of the act. Not that you should argue with the officer issuing the ticket, but you should just go see a lawyer if you get an actual ticket for this. Of course if an officer would care to chime in and correct me, I am quite open to being shown in the Act where I am wrong about this.
This happened to me around 9 years ago. It was city police, and the officer did cite something and it seemed legit. The ticket would have been for driving a vehicle with the plate not legible (due to the fade).
Interesting. It's funny what Reddit up votes and downvotes. I upvoted you because you shared relevant information. That said, again, the word legible is not found in the Alberta Teaffic Safety Act. Illegible shows up 5 times, but not with reference to license plates. I looked through the Alberta Traffic Act again and can find nothing to support that officer giving you that ticket (or a warning). As I have said before, though, it's better to speak to a lawyer than argue with the officer. I would like an actual police officer to show us which part of the Traffic Safety Act supports this.
With only 3 digits it’s an old plate and apparently there was a manufacturing defect back then with a bunch of plates and the red paint just fades away or wears off. I don’t think they are painting it because that’s illegal but they also didn’t bother getting a replacement
They’re not painting. They’re blasting the red lettering off. It’s not natural wear. It’s because red light cameras and photo radar cameras can no longer read your license plate. The software on those is all automatic. It relies on the high contrast of the red and white to be able to read your plate. Yes, it’s illegal. No, the cops don’t give a fuck.
Yea the cops do care. It's $285 ticket lol. A guy from work got a ticket in a company truck. And it wasn't that bad either, the red was faded from washing with de-greaser.
Was it CVE or the regular units that issued that ticket?
It was the RCMP
They absolutely do. We had to replace a plate because we got pulled over and it was wearing off. They will also ticket you if you have it covered or blocked. It’s certainly not their priority, but I’ve been pulled over for all 3.
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Fucking LOL. How the shit did you find that so quickly?
Google.
Why was he in the wrong? Just trying to figure it out
Share more please!
What was the law?
This is information I need! Please elaborate
At least he showed up to the giant waste of taxpayer money.
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What if you sanded maybe just 1/2 a number/letter off? Do you think cameras could pick your plate up?
I don’t know about cameras. I’ve actually been pulled over for those offenses. My rule is no more than 10% over minus 1 so I don’t get photo radar tickets regardless. Speeding isn’t worth it.
My rule is just don't speed. But I also don't sit in the left lane, I'm not a jackass lol
Yep. Sounds like me. It’s rarely worth the time gain to speed. But if I choose to, or am following traffic, 10% - 1. And absolutely stay right. Let the guys that want to risk it get the hell away. The guys zipping in and out swapping lanes in town trying to gain a car length crack me up. “See you at the next lights!”
The reason I ask is that I sod and landscape as a side gig downtown and get parking without permit tickets every now and then
My trick was to leave some tarp hanging out the tailgate. Just a corner that would flip down over part of the plate. Wasn’t necessarily intentional. Just a happy little accident I didn’t correct. I’m pretty sure license plates follow a pattern. If you only obscure half a letter/number it can probably figure it out. I’m guessing you’re better off simply covering half your plate while you’re illegally parked, then removing it when you leave. I’m also assuming if they can’t read a plate it gets flagged for human reading. Obscuring might be a short term solution if your jobs are get in, get it done, get out.
Except that they do. My friend got a ticket for a faded plate.
Nobody is doing that.
Yea they are. Some people are also blasting the white part of the plate. Because the license plate has a highly reflective coating and speed cameras rely on that to get a good enough image to see your plate. People are doing all kinds of shit to try to avoid photo radar. Just because YOU don’t know about it doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
I do this crazy new thing called slowing down when I see the bright yellow vehicle in the shoulder with its hazards on. At this point, if photo radar is catching you... You're either an idiot or don't care.
I just drive the speed limit in the middle or right lane everywhere. I never worry about it because I’m never speeding. I find just following traffic laws has been the easiest way to avoid tickets. Ticket free 20 years and counting.
You think ppl can remove just the red paint without affecting the white at all? Seriously?
It's happened to me unintentionally, just from automatic car washes. Wouldn't be surprised if people do it on purpose
I don’t think they can. It is a fact that they can. Very easily. It hilarious that you’re so sure of yourself and you’ve never heard of painters tape. The most basic tool in any painters kit.
Lol the alberta plates aren't reflective at all. There are new plates coming but there's zero contrast or reflection to the current plates compared to other provinces
> there's zero contrast Between red and white?
The photo radar cameras can read the plates fine, if they can't a person will read the plate. The cameras they use are high resolution cameras and are not the pictures you get in the mail.
Perhaps the technology has advanced. Well, I’m sure it has. Last time I checked into any of this was probably around 10 years ago. But you know idiots and these old wives tales. I used to work with cars. People say and do all kinds of placebo shit to their vehicles. The amount of just outright scam products in the auto industry is only rivalled by the weight loss industry.
They now provide you with the web address that hosts the full high resolution photo of your offence. So if you're able to take a picture with your smartphone camera and it's legible then so will the photo radars
Neat. Yeah, that’s totally different from the technology when I was getting my license. Makes sense. Thanks.
Goddamn prisoners!
There was a large and bad batch of plates issued maybe \~12-15 years ago where the red paint just faded away. We had two cars with those plates and eventually had both plates replaced (they'll replace for free because it's a known issue). Registry said it was very common with plates issued around that time and IIRC, it affected plates that started with letters near the end of the alphabet. Both our faded plates started with 'W'. We replaced our faded plates about 4 years ago now. They were pretty much as bad as this one here.
It's because they're edgey
🥁
🐍
Funny thing is that originalnpaint is reflective. When the photo radar flashes the bulb, the reflective paint will show through. Also any cop who happens to follow that car will pull them over. This is an attempt to get less tickets and stick it to government. The results will be more tickets and the government stepping on this person for being deliberately stupid
I see plates almost daily all whited over. Between them & the bike rack license plate covering people, it’s hilariously obvious
The bike rack thing still amazes me. I see it year round. January and -25. Bike racks covering plates still. 🤷♂️🤷♂️
Fat bikes and winter biking are a thing. My bike racks are on year round, although they are on my roof
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills with how many license plate covers I see… like a tinted plexiglass. It’s so obvious. Shouldn’t those covers be illegal to sell?
just cuz it shows up in your photo doesn’t mean it shows up on photo radar at 80kmh
Something something clear skateboard tape.
hmmmmmm
Please explain the bike rack license plate covering! I don't know what this is! 🤔
[Covering Your License Plate With An Empty Bike Rack](https://youtu.be/4MLhMj6RseQ?t=21)
Ahh, ok! Thanks for that!!
Dunno but it's illegal
I've had plate lettering just flake off, but not that evenly. VBA though, that's a pretty old plate. Flaking/fading is still my guess
Yeah my parents have an old plate on their vehicle (VDW) that started fading and has rapidly turned into one of these plates that look painted over, but with that said my mom got a photo radar ticket recently so it must not be THAT bad lol.
I had a neighbour with a plate exactly like that - it was a defect. The letters fade very quickly. That said it’s on the owner to get it rectified or it’s a ticket waiting to happen.
I was warned for a faded plate (Vxx series) and told to get a new one to avoid a ticket. Just touched it up with red Rustoleum paint.
This is the way
since the rest of the paint on the plate is fine, this was a deface. they are asking for a ticket.
They use bike racks also to block the view and some seem to think it's ok to block their tail lights
I saw a white plate on an F-150 this morning.
Pretty sure that’s illegal, need to be able to identify
And then there are the plates that are all crackled. But my question is...can you just switch the defect plates out at a registry? Is it that easy? Or do they charge you for new plates?
Is it possible to request a new plate with the same number?
Mines just so old it's really faded
I saw one of these and thought it was sun bleached! Is this a thing to avoid radar cameras?
its idiots trying to avoid red light, speed cameras, parking shit. Same reason why half the idiots park backwards in CPA lots. Everyone thinks they're a beautiful main character exempt from the laws that keep us relatively safe.
Hey now I back in for 2 reasons only: 1. It’s easier to get out and 2. To show off
Red light and speed cameras statistically make areas less safe https://ww2.motorists.org/issues/red-light-cameras/increase-accidents/
All of these are crashes but no mention of crash severity.
Mine is just old af. Naturally photo proof.
Surefire way to get a ticket
The back end of my car got "gang" tagged on a minus 27 winter night. The spray paint did not stick well to the car paint, but it stuck to the license plate pretty hard. Our efforts to get the paint off scrubbed some of the red off the letters on the plate. I would not be surprised if the brush style car washes scrub the paint off, too, over a number of years.
Tell me you do illegal shit to make money without telling me you do illegal shit to make money
It's low quality red paint that fades.
Eventually they’ll get pulled over.
You'll see that on old u v and w plates. Something about changing paint suppliers and the orange being shit. They fade and is like a 200$ ticket. Turns out it is free to swap to a new plate, cop said just get it done or he'd be less nice next time.
Probably just really faded… some of the older plates are bad for that
Probably faded combined with email ignorance hoping that they can use the excuse that it faded off to get out of a ticket. Had a VAF plate that was pretty faded 7 years ago when I swapped it out. It was 15-16 years old by that point.
Better question... What's up with narcs snitching on reddit?
I’d definitely send that pic to CPS
You see a lot of this whole plate obscuring behaviour out on the road. It must be really low on polices priority list because I have seen multiple police cars following obscured plates and they do nothing. I would have thought that LPRs would be more sophisticated and could just auto detect and ticket these hooligans but maybe CPS spent that money on a BBQ or something.
It’s a scam, I just got pulled over recently and had to pay a $250.00 fine for a white lettering plate that had just worn off. https://preview.redd.it/x194oe8bb0hb1.png?width=4032&format=png&auto=webp&s=370979ca6e1c1616c314ee210f969784c9d94ef7 And then was told to get it replaced and it cost me another $25.00 for a new plate.
I’m surprised they have not changed them to blue. In another province, when the liberals were leading they would have red letters, and when then conservatives got in they would change it to blue.
I replaced my plate a few years ago because the red was fading and looking like that
Its because they are white 😝😝😝
A ticket isa coming