People are getting surprised this winter.
We're in the midst of what can finally be called a "traditional Michigan winter." This is how winter used to be like in the days before I came along, every year. This hasn't been a real cold winter, or a real snowy one, but it's been extreme, and we've been getting one condition or another more consistently than we have in years.
Figures... winter as we once knew it had to wait until the year I drive a cab to unearth itself. I've been witness to traffic conditions I've not driven through since I was in my 20s. So I'm seeing some real interesting things on the roads.
One I've noticed in increasing abundance is the number of vehicles on the road whose license plates are covered with snow. This month, the State Police has beefed up road enforcement. I wonder how many people were pulled over so far for snow-covered license plates.
People brush off their windshields and all their windows; they brush off the headlights & taillights. Why aren't they cleaning off their plates? The plates show that a vehicle is road-worthy. Without it, the vehicle is as good as stolen to the authorities. Visible plates are as important as working headlights & taillights... even more important from a legal sense.
How this can be missed is unexplainable. Though winter's not been "traditional" around here for over ten years, it's not as if we've not had snow throughout. Brushing down a license plate should be common sense.
There's also an increasing number of cars who have metal borders around their plates, which cover up the plates' state of origin. What is especially perplexing is that some of these borders come from the dealer of purchase. My plate is licensed to Michigan, not some off-brand used car dealer.
There are borders sold that will not cover up important state information. Folks, buy those and save yourselves a ticket.
