What is the fine for having a sealed license plate? Dirty and unreadable license plates: what is the fine and how to avoid it

In our huge country, the situation with cleanliness on the roads leaves much to be desired. It's no secret that after washing a car gets dirty again very quickly, especially after bad weather.

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However, according to the law, a driver who does not keep state registration plates clean is fined a certain amount. How this happens and whether penalties can be avoided – we’ll look into this article.

Penalty for dirty numbers

Before you find out how much the driver will be punished, you need to decide what constitutes a violation. If the state registration plates are so dirty that it is impossible to see only one symbol from a distance of twenty meters both during the day and in the evening, then the inspector will definitely stop and make a remark.

A traffic police officer can stop the vehicle, warn about a penalty and ask to wipe the signs in place or issue a fine in connection with a violation of Article 12.2.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Russia. The amount of the administrative penalty is 500 rubles.

Brief table of fines

Punishment for driving with dirty signs

There is a second clause in the law, which states that for deliberately hiding state license plates with some object, the fine will be 5,000 rubles. In addition, if convicted again, the motorist may lose his driver's license for up to 3 months.
It is worth noting that even for the dirtiest license plates they cannot deprive you of your license or impose such a large fine. But covered up license plates are equivalent to the complete absence of car registration marks.

If the car is parked and the license plates are covered with a sheet or film, making them difficult to see, then the inspector cannot issue a fine, since the vehicle is not in motion.

Algorithm for paying a fine

In one of the following ways:

• at the scene of the incident;
• by mail;
• by email.

Important!

The first method will be the most acceptable for the driver, since with adequate communication with the inspector, you can get off with one warning.

When the driver agrees that the fine for hiding license plates was issued legally, and he does not intend to appeal it, then he will need to pay it within sixty days. You can do this in any convenient way:

• through a bank branch;
• using a self-service terminal;
• using online services.

The latter method is very popular because it does not require payment of a commission.

Additional Information!

Drivers can pay fines for concealing their vehicle registration number with a 50% discount if they make the payment within the first three weeks of receipt.

If the driver intentionally fails to make a payment, he faces penalties. When the period of voluntary payment comes to an end (2 months), the amount of the fine will double, and the case will go to the bailiffs. They will use different methods of influencing the offender, among them are:

• wage deduction;
• administrative arrest;
• deprivation of driver's license;
• public Works.

What are dirty and unreadable signs?

There are special criteria by which a license plate is considered unreadable.
All rules are spelled out in the Code of Administrative Offenses of Russia as a note. Based on these records, we can conclude:

1. In daylight, at a distance of twenty meters, at least one symbol (no matter a letter or number) on a dirty license plate in front and behind the car should be clearly visible. At night, inspectors check only the rear; they do not have the right to issue a fine for a dirty number in the front.
2. If the signs are not readable by photo and video equipment, but are clearly visible in the evening due to the play of light, the driver will also face punishment in most cases. Still, the main purpose of license plates is to be able to use them to find the car owner. If the camera records a violation, but cannot take into account the registration plate, this is considered an unreadable number.
3. Sometimes numbers and letters can be identified by their convexity, even if the meanings of the symbols themselves are not visible due to dirt. This is still considered a violation, although in certain situations a traffic police officer will most likely force you to wipe the license plate on the spot rather than issue a fine.

To prevent the inspector from taking extreme measures, you need to behave politely with him and not be rude. You can find out about other rules on how to avoid punishment on the spot below.

Ways to hide a sign

There are several ways in which a driver can obscure his vehicle's license plates from the violation camera trailer. Despite the fact that half of these methods in practice bring absolutely no results, many motorists continue to use them.

Old ways

This category includes methods that do not require the car owner to purchase special materials and equipment. For example, in an attempt to hide their license plate number from the sight of a traffic camera, some car owners:

1. They paste scraps of paper onto the signs, thus changing the letters and numbers of the number.
2. Some of the characters on the license plate are cut off, causing the camera to photograph a non-existent license plate.
3. The registration numbers are covered with a large amount of glitter varnish.

Despite the fact that such methods began to be used when the first cameras appeared, they are still relevant today and are very popular among motorists who do not want to install expensive equipment.

Modern methods

With the significant increase in the quality of modern technologies, the number of ways to fraudulently avoid getting a fine for recording traffic violations has also increased.

One of the most common types of such fraud is the purchase of special devices that allow you to raise or lower numbers while driving, or change them.

However, the use of such modern devices does not always bring the desired results. So, for example, if a motorist has a device installed that allows him to hide license plates under the bumper, he must remember that if the security camera is located on top, it will have time to photograph the license plates before they disappear. Accordingly, in most cases such frameworks cannot provide the desired result.

Another modern and quite expensive way to hide numbers from cameras is to cover them with a special plastic plate with the “correct” film applied. In this case, all the symbols printed on the sign will be visible at right angles, but if you try to look at the license plates at an angle, the camera or traffic police officer will not be able to distinguish between numbers and letters.

The third option is to purchase a special lining, which is popularly called “chameleon”. This overlay is a very thin coating on the numbers, into which an electric current is applied, causing it to become opaque.

How should a driver behave when stopped by an inspector?

Firstly, you should not express your own aggression. The human factor in this case plays a big role. Someone can see the sign from 30 meters, while others cannot see it even close up.

It is important to note that if the inspector does not offer as proof the recording of a violation from a photo or video camera, you can take a cloth yourself and wipe everything at once, then there will be no violation.

If an employee makes a remark and tries to write out the amount of a further monetary penalty, you need to remind him of the second paragraph of Article 2.9 of the Administrative Code, that the official has the right to simply make a verbal reprimand to the driver and let him go in peace.

In the case where you initially set yourself up in a friendly manner, such actions should be enough to continue moving without any problems. Otherwise, you need to record a clean number yourself, and an inspector or a traffic police station should be included in the frame.

Attach such photos to the drawn up protocol and write a comment stating that you consider the actions of the authorized person to be unlawful and incorrect.

Try to behave calmly, do not shout, or start a conflict. Traffic cops are people too, if everything is resolved peacefully, there will be no problems. If, nevertheless, the driver acted aggressively, then you should not respond to provocations from an official, who may threaten a more serious fine or deprivation of your license.

The argument that the rooms are covered in dirt is completely baseless. Only if the registration plates are actually covered by another object, such as a thick piece of paper, does this amount to driving without license plates.

Criteria for an unreadable license plate on a car (erased, obscured by something)

The criteria for unreadability are regulated, oddly enough, not in a separate technical document, but directly in the legal document of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, Article 12.2 in the form of a note. So, in the note to this article it says...

A state registration plate is recognized as non-standard if it does not meet the requirements established in accordance with the legislation on technical regulation, and unreadable if at a distance of 20 meters it is not possible to read at least one of the letters or numbers of the rear state registration plate at night, and in daylight hours of at least one of the letters or numbers of the front or rear state registration plate.

Comment: That is, during the day, both of the state signs installed on the car should be readable. But at night, the front sign may not be visible, and the driver will not bear any responsibility for this. At night, traffic police inspectors will only be interested in the rear state registration plate on a car (motorcycle). This is exactly how this interpretation should be understood.

Here I would like to develop the topic of the unreadability of the license plate. This is exactly the moment where the human factor is present, or rather, human abilities and ambitions play a role. Let's say someone is able to see a license plate from 25 meters, but the paint on the number may be erased. And another will say that he cannot determine what is written on the number even from 5 meters away. As a result, dirt, lack of paint and even lack of illumination at night for the rear license plate are all circumstances that indirectly affect the readability of the license plate. They do not contain a single objective parameter that would unambiguously determine an equivalent definition of license plate readability for everyone. This is bad, but there is no way around it... That is why, when a driver is issued a fine under Article 12.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, Part 1, there is often a certain feeling that the fine was issued unauthorized. Let's talk further about the fine that may be imposed for an unreadable state registration plate.

Advice for motorists

To keep your rooms clean as long as possible, you should follow these recommendations:

1. Do not wipe off dirt with a dry cloth, as small particles of sand can erase the paint, and then the symbols will not be visible. In this case, the signs will have to be made again and a state fee will have to be paid for it.
2. Check the cleanliness of license plates before each trip. During the journey, when stops are made, the readability of the sign also needs to be checked.
3. You only need to wipe with water or anti-freeze. If you do this, for example, with a shoe sponge, you can see at the end of a short trip how everything possible has stuck to the number: sand, dust, twigs, leaves, etc.
4. If an official still stops you, and it is not possible to wipe the license plate with a rag, feel free to call a neutral party - witnesses who will have to read the meaning of the registration plate from a distance. Many residents of our country do not like inspectors, so even in the case of really severe pollution they will make every effort to examine the symbols.

Dirty license plates on cars are considered a gross violation, punishable by a fine of 500 rubles.

To avoid it, you need to timely monitor the cleanliness of the state sign, and if the inspector does stop a careless motorist, you need to behave non-aggressively and politely in order to get off with a warning, clean the registration sign on the spot and continue driving.

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How the traffic police reveals intent in concealment

If a car has taped-over license plates or an erased license plate, this is considered an intentional violation, since the driver had to mount and install the concealing mechanisms himself.

Attention! Ignorance of the laws does not exempt you from liability, so you cannot plead your ignorance of installation requirements.

If we are talking about dirty rooms, the weather conditions are assessed. If in the current situation the license plate could become dirty, the violation is considered unintentional. So this is a subjective conclusion.