To begin, In the state of Virginia we have a law that’s been in place since 1906. It requires both a front and rear license plate to be installed on the vehicle. I purchased a new vehicle and found no place was already prepped for this plate. In order to display this it would require me to drill a hole in the bumper of a vehicle I just signed papers on and spent hard earned money to purchase. How is it fair the state is going to have a law in place that requires me to devalue something I bought from day one? 

Secondly, there are costs associated with the manufacturing of these plates. The inmates must be paid for the hours worked on making them and of course the cost of the aluminum. By changing the laws to require only one plate you reduce the cost to the state on this process. 

Additionally, in todays world where we are trying to move toward a more sustainable future and helping recover our environment, we must look at how many of these plates are made yearly and how many are disposed of in our landfills. While it would be great to think they will all be recycled, this is entirely an unobtainable dream at this point. Too many localities have non existent or lack a true program for such projects. Aluminum can take between 200-500 years to full decompose. While one small plate may not seem like much, if you think there are roughly 8.5 million tagged vehicles in the state of Virginia and if everyone traded or sold their cars that’s 17 million aluminum tags to be disposed of in our landfills. 

In closing I’d like to impose a question, what is the real value of the front plate? When researching things to include in this petition I found the most used answer for this is helping to identify stolen vehicles. I for one have usually read when a stolen car is recovered the tags have been switched. If that’s the case the front plate makes absolutely zero difference in the identification process. It’s time to move closer to todays needs and concerns and do away with this nonsense. 

Thank You.