EDMONTON -- RCMP say more and more Alberta drivers are using tinted license plate covers – though few go to the same creative lengths as one woman who now faces potentially $5,000 in fines.
Mounties say the driver was using a tinted license plate cover – commonly used to obscure a plate from photo radar – to also obscure the fact her plate was printed off at home.
RCMP originally pulled over the 44-year-old woman near Leduc on March 3 because of the cover.
But when the officer ran the plate, they discovered it didn't even exist.
"The officer spoke to the driver who admitted to not having registration or insurance and that the plate was actually a piece of paper, with a made up number, printed on paper at home and placed onto a vanity plate 'I (Heart) My Car' and hidden behind the tinted cover," Const. Chantelle Kelley told CTV News.
According to Kelly, Mounties are seeing the tinted covers – illegal under Section 71(1) of the Operator Licensing and Vehicle Control Regulation – "more and more frequently." She didn't have specific statistics.
"However, it is rare for someone to be using them to hide a fake license plate," Kelly said.
"Although RCMP we have seen three of these files in the last two months."
The March 3 driver, from Edmonton, faces $2,000 in fines and another potential minimum fine of $3,000 if convicted in court for having no insurance.
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