Got a chance to show the police my CHL!!

[mr.72]

well I admit that I am blatantly disregarding the front license plate law.

But I can tell you right upfront (not as a defense of my actions, just as a discussion of what's normal), that without exception I believe every single driver is blatantly disregarding at least one traffic law every single time they drive their car. You may not notice them all when you are driving but hit the streets on a bicycle and suddenly you find that:

1. nobody actually stops at stop signs
2. nobody actually stops behind the big fat white line at traffic lights
3. nobody actually stops before making a right turn on red
4. everybody is speeding at least part of the time
5. most people don't use turn signals
6. most people are inattentive during driving, distracted by something ranging from children to their mp3 player or talking on the phone, and often putting on makeup or reading while driving
7. many cars are not kept in good repair and are being driven with expired tags or inspection
8. many drivers are impaired
9. many drivers are illegal aliens
10. many drivers are driving without valid insurance
11. many drivers don't know the meaning of "yield right of way"
...
1004. some people are driving without a front license plate
...

I could go on and on.

Considering the fact that driving without a front license plate causes absolutely no danger to anybody and cannot cause a wreck or any other problem other than making it harder for the police to write a ticket for some other infraction, I would think this is about as minimal of a "peaceful protest" as you can conduct, and thus it is almost never a law which is enforced unless there is some other infraction.

FWIW I have only driven without a front plate on cars that did not come equipped with a front license plate mount, which includes my Miata and a 240Z that I once owned.