Climate Chang
ALPR
e
CHRISTINA M REVELS and
LEE J NELSON chart the quiet
evolution of the license plate
It is unsurprising the United States Constitution
makes no mention of motor vehicles. The final draft
was sent to the Continental Congress on 17 Septem-
ber, 1787.
Eighty-three years passed before Siegfried Marcus
put the first mobile gasoline engine on a handcart. Six
years afterwards, while working with Gottlieb Daimler
and Wilhelm Maybach, Nikolaus Otto modeled a practi-
cal four-cycle motor. Not until 1879 was Karl Benz
granted a patent for his two-stroke design. Benz did not
develop a four-stroke engine until 1885. That engine
was patented in 1886 and became the power-plant of
choice for the first production automobiles.
Today, many American citizens take operating motor
vehicles and using public roadways for granted. One
can establish that reality purely by observing some
common driving behaviors: lack of signaling one’s
intentions, rolling full-stops, excessive speeding and
red-light running. Everyone would do well to remember
that chauffeuring is a privilege, not a Constitutionally-
granted right. We earn it (by passing written and practi-
cal examinations), we ought to value those achievements;
and, when we fail to respect the attendant responsibili-
ties, law enforcement intervenes.
Vain attempt
While operating an automobile in public, we have come
to expect anonymity. Our vehicles tout license plates
with randomly assigned alphanumerics and other driv-
ers we pass during the course of our travels remain
nameless. Even the significance of a personalized plate
(sometimes termed a “vanity” plate) can be the exclu-
sive province of its bearer.
In compliance with most North American vehicle
registration requirements, a standard 12 x 6 inch (304.8
× 152.4 mm) license plate (a smaller size for motorcy-
cles and mopeds) must be visible to the unaided eye at
a distance (depending on the locality) between 50 and
110 feet (15.2-33.5 m). Thus, one may reason a legally-
mounted plate is in plain sight and displays public infor-
mation. Whether those assumptions can vary depending
upon who or what is doing the looking, continues to be a
topic of fierce debate.
Carrying out their customary duties, police “run”
license plates of vehicles which may, or may not, be
www.thinkinghighways.com Thinking Highways Vol 4 No 1 45
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