North Dakota License Plate Covers: No Express Ban, but N.D.C.C. 39-04-11 Requires a Clearly Displayed Plate

The governing section is N.D.C.C. 39-04-11, headed "Display of number plates and tabs - Temporary registration permit", in the registration chapter rather than the equipment chapter. North Dakota approached the problem by writing a performance standard, not a list of banned accessories, so nothing turns on whether a product is sold as a frame, a cover, a smoked lens or a photo-blocker.

The section imposes several separate duties on a driver. A vehicle must carry two number plates, one on the front and one on the rear, each securely fastened, bearing the distinctive number conspicuously displayed, horizontally and in an upright position. Number plates for a motorcycle or trailer go on the rear only and may be displayed vertically. Where only one plate is furnished for an apportioned vehicle registered under the international registration plan, a truck tractor or a semitrailer, it goes on the front of the apportioned vehicle or truck tractor and on the rear of the semitrailer. The bottom of each plate must sit at least twelve inches above the level surface on which the vehicle stands, which the statute also gives as 30.48 centimeters. Each plate must be mounted in a visible manner that clearly displays two things: the distinctive number assigned to the vehicle, and the name of the state on the plate. That second element is the one most plate frames actually threaten, because the word "North Dakota" sits across the top of the plate exactly where a dealer surround or a novelty frame lands.

The same sentence structure then adds an ongoing duty: as far as is reasonably possible, the plates must at all times be kept free and clear of mud, ice or snow so as to be clearly visible. That is a maintenance obligation rather than an equipment ban, and in a state where a February plate can pack solid with road spray it does real work. It also shows the drafting choice: the legislature listed the obstructions it cared about, and they are weather and road grime, not aftermarket plastic.

A second duty in the section is often missed. All number plates, markers, or evidence of registration or licensing except for the current year must be removed from the vehicle, so an expired plate left bolted beside a current one is itself a violation. The annual registration tab or sticker must be displayed on each number plate in the area the department designates for it, which means a frame that covers the sticker corner creates a second, independent problem.

The temporary registration permit is treated more strictly and in different words. A permit obtained from the Department of Transportation or a licensed dealer must be displayed on the rear window, the rearmost driver's side window, or in the location of the rear license plate, and the statute says it must be clearly visible and free of any obstructions. "Free of any obstructions" is the express language North Dakota chose not to use for the metal plate, so a tinted cover over a paper permit is squarely prohibited even though the same cover over a plate is judged by whether the number and state name still read clearly.

Section 39-04-12(1) sets the characteristics of the plate itself: metal or other suitable material, the state name in full or abbreviated, the year, the slogan "Peace Garden State" and the distinctive number, of a size clearly distinguishable by law enforcement officers and individuals generally. It requires every plate to be treated with reflectorized material to the department's specification and to be legible for a minimum of one hundred feet to an approaching motorist by day or night with lawful headlight beams and without other illumination. Those duties bind the director rather than the driver, but they explain what an officer is looking for at the roadside, and a cover that kills the reflective return defeats the very property the plate was manufactured to have.

Drivers who want a dark plate have a lawful route that does not involve a cover. Section 39-04-10.18 authorises blackout number plates with a solid black background and white numbers and letters, issued on payment of all other registration fees plus an additional twenty-five dollars per registration period, and available only to the owner of a passenger motor vehicle, a truck whose registered gross weight does not exceed twenty thousand pounds, or a motorcycle.

1-06(2), where no higher figure is listed for it. 1-02 deems a driver cited under sections 39-07-07 and 39-07-08 to be charged with a noncriminal offense, payable to the designated official at or before the hearing time or disposed of by forfeiting bond, with bond by mail due within fourteen days. 1-10(2). A related but distinct offense sits at section 39-04-37(1), which makes it unlawful to operate, or for an owner knowingly to permit anyone to operate, a vehicle that does not have attached and displayed the number plate, plates, temporary registration permit or validation tabs assigned for the current registration period; subsection 1 of that section is also listed as a moving violation.

1-32-01(6) carries a maximum of thirty days' imprisonment, a fine of one thousand five hundred dollars, or both. Displaying a plate or permit knowing it to be fictitious, canceled, revoked, suspended or altered is a separate offense under section 39-04-37(2).