DC Fines Covering a License Tag $500, Clear Covers Included

District tag-display law sits in Chapter 4 of Title 18 DCMR, and three subsections of § 422 do the work on covers, frames and films.

Section 422.5 is the condition rule. Identification tags must be maintained free from foreign materials and in a clearly legible condition, and the subsection then defines foreign materials to include any non-transparent material placed on or over the tag, any expired or unauthorized decal or sticker, and any markings or attachments of any kind, other than what § 422.6 permits. Read alone, that definition would seem to leave room for a clear cover, since it reaches only non-transparent material.

Section 422.8 closes that door. It says no person shall operate a vehicle where the identification tag's identifying numbers or letters are covered with glass, plastic, or any other type of material or substance. Glass is the first item on the list, and glass is transparent, so the drafter plainly was not distinguishing clear covers from tinted ones. Section 422.8 is the narrower and stricter of the two provisions and it governs the cover question: a clear acrylic shield sold as protection against road salt is still plastic placed over the identifying numbers. Section 422.9 then attaches its own penalty, a fine of five hundred dollars.

Section 422.6 handles the third case, the frame or badge rather than the cover. No sign or emblem more than twenty-four square inches in area may be attached to any license tag bracket, and no sign or emblem may be located so as to obstruct from view any part of the identification tags. A dealer surround that hides the jurisdiction name or clips the top of a character is an obstruction under this subsection even though nothing lies across the numerals.

Two further parts of § 422 shape how the rules apply. Section 422.4 requires owner's identification tags to be securely fastened at all times in a horizontal position so they cannot swing, at a height of not less than twelve inches from the ground measured from the bottom of the tags, in a place and position to be clearly visible. Section 422.1 requires two current tags on most District-registered vehicles, one front and one rear, while § 422.2 gives autocycles, motor-driven cycles, motorcycles, trailers and dealer or manufacturer-tagged vehicles a single rear tag.

Drivers registered elsewhere should not assume they are outside this. Section 422.3 lets a non-resident's vehicle display the tags issued by its home jurisdiction according to that jurisdiction's requirements, but only provided the tags are displayed in accordance with §§ 422.4, 422.5, 422.6 and 422.8. The anti-cover rule is one of the four expressly carried over, so a Maryland or Virginia plate wearing a smoked cover is exposed the moment the car is driven in the District.

One related equipment duty is easy to overlook. Section 705.4 requires either a tail lamp or a separate lamp constructed and placed to illuminate the rear registration plate with a white light and render it clearly legible from fifty feet to the rear. A cover that dims the plate can therefore create a lighting violation as well as a covering violation.

The District splits tag offences between two fine schedules, and the gap between them is the point. 00. 00. So an oversized dealer frame is a $50 problem and a cover over the numerals is a $500 one. C. 04(b)(1) makes a violation of the registration subchapter or of the regulations promulgated under it punishable on conviction by a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment of not more than 30 days, or both, prosecuted in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on information filed by the Attorney General. C. 02.