In Defense of Front License Plates

Here’s what puzzles me: in Europe, license plate recognition is everywhere – parking lots, toll roads, even tiny villages where sheep outnumber people. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., our ALPR (Automatic License Plate Recognition) systems are among the most advanced anywhere, but the lack of front plates in many states makes their work unnecessarily harder.

On a recent hiking trip to Iceland, I parked at a waterfall trailhead. The setup was as bare-bones as it gets:

• a wobbly pole with a simple camera,
•  a sign with a QR code,
•  and the expectation you’ll pay on your phone.

And it worked flawlessly. Why? Because Iceland, like most of Europe, has standardized, retroreflective plates that practically glow at night. Even a bargain webcam can read them.
Meanwhile in the U.S., we have hundreds of plate designs. Florida alone offers more than 200 – sunsets, cartoon animals, college logos, you name it. Many aren’t even reflective. For ALPR vendors, that means super-smart cameras, endless retraining, re-optimizing, and data collection just to keep up. The machine learning is rocket science. The plates? Not so much.

Europe keeps it simple: front and rear plates are required, period. Germany, France, Iceland – you name it.
Well… almost. Monaco is one of the few exceptions. But that’s Monaco: no tolls, valet parking everywhere, and more supercars per capita than anywhere else. If your front bumper is worth more than my house, maybe you get a pass.
But here in the U.S., we’re not dealing with fleets of Bugattis. We’re talking about millions of everyday sedans, pickups, and semis that toll systems and parking garages need to identify. Without front plates, our high-tech recognition systems are working with one hand tied behind their back.

Parking garages highlight the problem. To read a rear plate, a camera needs distance before the gate. Cameras can read plates from five feet away, but a 15-foot Honda CR-V means you need to position the camera 20 feet back. Add a Ford F-150 with a trailer, or worse, a 65-foot semi, and you suddenly need 70–80 feet of clear lane. Many garages simply don’t have that kind of space.

Sure, there are workarounds: post-capture recording, dynamic updates, and other clever software tricks. But let’s be honest – front plates make life so much easier. With them, you can mount a camera right at the gate – or even inside the gate bollard. No wiring puzzles, no geometry gymnastics, and no rear plates hidden behind bike racks or muddy cargo.

Toll roads are even more dependent on ALPR. In many places, plates are already the main means for collecting tolls, saving tens of millions by cutting down on distribution and management of RFID transponders. Practically every toll gantry in the U.S. is already equipped with cameras to capture both front and rear plates.

And drivers – especially commercial fleets – can get creative in avoiding tolls. A transponder might be “forgotten” in a glovebox or wrapped in aluminum foil. A rear plate might be conveniently scratched, bent, framed or hidden by cargo.

But a front plate closes the loophole. Two angles, double confirmation, fewer excuses. If the two reads don’t match, the transaction gets flagged and reviewed.

That’s why it’s puzzling to see Utah recently do away with the front plate requirement, citing a savings of $3.50 in plate printing and distribution. Let’s be honest: that’s less than the toll on a single bridge. One missed payment and the state’s already in the red. Meanwhile, our neighbor Pennsylvania is considering adding front plates – arguably the smarter move.

Front plates aren’t just about tolls and parking. They make daily life easier, too. At Philadelphia airport, I’ve stood in a sea of black Toyotas, trying to figure out which one is my Uber. With no front plate, I end up walking the length of the pickup lane, scanning rears like a detective. With front plates, the problem vanishes in two seconds.

The U.S. builds some of the most advanced vehicle recognition systems anywhere. Our algorithms juggle hundreds of plate designs, non-reflective backgrounds, and every lighting condition imaginable.

But all that brilliance can’t solve the simplest problem: in many states, there’s no front plate to read.

So here’s my plea: let’s not complicate life just to save $3.50. Front plates don’t just help vendors. They make tolling fairer, parking easier, enforcement smarter, and even ride-hailing less confusing.

They don’t just help the machines. They help people. And that’s something worth defending.