Rear license plates must now be illuminated in Payette

“A motor vehicle or any trailer attached thereto shall have attached to the rear of such vehicle or trailer not less than on light casting white rays of sufficient strength on the rear number plate thereof, so that such number plate may be easily read at a distance of at least fifty feet,” reads the ordinance. “Either a taillight or a separate light shall be so constructed and placed as to illuminate with a white light the rear registration plate.”

The rule will be added as Section 10.28.070 upon publication in the newspaper.

Councilor Bobbie Black raised concern about how to apply this rule to trailers, noting many of them are not fitted with license plate lights and that the plates themselves are smaller than on passenger vehicles. Trailers in Idaho are issued the same size license plates as motorcycles, 7-inch by 4-inch, as opposed to standard 12-by-6 inch passenger vehicle plates.

“I have really watched this last month … you can’t even see them at 50 feet, let alone with a light on them,” said Black. “I’m not convinced on that.”

Councilor Daniel Lopez noted that off-road vehicles, presently permitted on Payette streets, don’t typically have license plate lights fitted as standard equipment either.

“There is a can of worms here,” said Lopez.

Marshall agreed that the smaller plates are hard to see at night. But he also expressed concern over making the ordinance too specific, such as limiting enforcement to only passenger vehicles.

“I think it’s going to be beneficial just to include everything,” he said, noting that the city has seen issues with theft of building materials from construction. “They’re even harder to read from 50 feet if they don’t have a light on them.”

According to Marshall, the rule is intended to facilitate contact by officers with members of the public, which they would otherwise not have been able to make before.

“I think this will be very rarely actually a cited offense; I think it’s going to be used as a tool to make contacts and find out what people are doing, why they’re in specific areas … a crime prevention tool.”

It’s noteworthy that the ordinance has no provision requiring officers to inform people of their right to refuse consent to search or seizure or their right not to tell the police anything about their travels if there is no reasonable articulable suspicion of a crime being committed.

Councilor Mike Kee, a former Ontario police chief, said that when this type of rule was implemented during his service in Ontario, it provided a break in an active case.

“I never wrote a ticket for no license plate light … We did arrest a gentleman who killed a police officer, because he didn’t have a license plate light,” said Kee. “That’s my experience.”

In proposing this ordinance in December, Marshall cited Fruitland City Code 6-1-2, which also requires rear license plate lighting. That law has been in effect since 2014.

Idaho Statute 49-910 only requires that rear license plate lighting fitted to a vehicle be white in color.

Also noteworthy is that a new law in bordering Oregon, which took effect Jan. 1, prohibits police officers from pulling over motorists for minor traffic violations including burnt out tail lights.

Councilor Ray Wickersham moved to approve the ordinance, seconded by Black. The motion carried with a roll call vote of 4-1, with Councilor Kathy Patrick voting against it.

Leslie Thompson contributed to this article.