Bring back those front licence plates

Back before licence plates were souvenirs, name tags and displays of scenic photography, they served a more prosaic purpose they were used to allow authorities to identify motor vehicles.

Yes, there was a time when these plates were affixed fore and aft on your motorized conveyance. It was useful. Lets say someone roared through a crosswalk and scared the life out of a couple of pedestrians. Witnesses could write down the number and tell the police that licence plate 12 345 is a menace. If the cops wanted, they could go to 12 345s house and tell him to smarten up. If the offence was serious enough, licence plate 12 345 could find himself in court where a judge would tell him to smarten up.

Mind you, those were simpler times.

Nowadays, many licence plates are much more creative, but only half as easy to spot. Sure, Island drivers can use their licence plates to announce LEFSUK or BUFGUY to the world, but they can only do it on the rear bumper.

Thats a shame, and not just because we miss the wit of our friends and neighbours. Its a shame because it makes it that much harder for witnesses and authorities to identify a car thats being operated dangerously.

Morell school bus driver Leonard Kelly made just that point this week when he said hes getting frustrated by the number of cars that pass his bus while its flashing lights are indicating that children are boarding. Kelly said a front licence plate would let him get a conclusive identification of the vehicle used to put childrens lives in danger.

Sounds good to us. Its never made sense that the only identity marking on most cars and trucks is visible only as they pull away.

With the growing concern about road safety and the possible implementation of enforcement technologies like photo radar, it becomes all the more important for everyone on the road to be easily identified.