license plate.. how far away can you read numbers

[chickenwing750]

I am having trouble reading plates. i either have to get really close to vehicle or even worse pull vehilce over and call out plate as I make contact... both suck. I am just courious how far away is normal.

[Monkeybomb]

Sounds like you need glasses my man. I have 20/20 vision and have to be within 3-4 car lengths to get them without my glasses. With my glasses I can see from much farther away depending on conditions such as glare, light kind of plates etc.

[leesrt]

Sometimes 3 car lengths sometimes 1, depends on the plate and the glare.

[mdrdep]

After turning 40 I noticed my eyesight has gone down. I can see about 3 car lenghts clearly now, but then again I started at 20/5 vision and could read plates from 10+ car lengths away. The eye doc used to get p;issed at me when I would read the bottom line of his eyechart, the one that said where the chart was manufactured.

Have your eyes checked though, it does go down with age.

[oneoldcop]

about 2-4 car lengths; what they said about having your eyes checked...

[SgtCHP]

Depending on lighting conditions, between 50 and 100 feet. They are legislateed to be legible from 50 feet away under normal lighting conditions. Reflectorized plates are a little easier.

[PhilipCal]

As I approached forty, I had the same problem. A trip to the eye Doctor, and the glasses he prescribed, solved the problem.

[10-8 Po-po]

Two to Four car lengths. You really should get your eyes checked! Think about it this way. It's a major officer safety issue. You depend on your eyes to locate danger in a situation. I think you are best off getting as close as you can to the car prior to stopping it. This way you can call the tag, vehicle description, and location in before the stop. If you get shot, then dispatch has the tag and vehicle info. At least call your location and vehicle description. Then verify the tag number after the stop. A trooper here in Tennessee was shot and killed in 2007 on a stop. He never called the stop in and was found later in the morning by hunters. The killers were only captured because of his video footage.

[TriangleLE]

I can read the older North Carolina plates with the blue letters from very far away, but the new ones with red letters are much harder to read...especially trying to differentiate between WMNVY.

[beavo451]

I can usually read them about 2 or 3 car lengths back. Then the state changed to a smaller font (to accomodate more cahracters) and black lettering on a dark blue across the top. Also took away all reflectiveness and the characters are no longer raised. Those I need to rear end the car to read.

[chickenwing750]

Thanks for all the replies. Im only 23 and have always had problems with my eyes. Because of the south louisiana heat and humidity, it makes it a lil hard for me to wear glasses. I keep my a/c on all day and I dont think I have to tell you what happens when you get out of a cold car in the south louisiana heat. I think I will talk to my wife about getting contacts

[jswwjw]

christ, that was a car!! lol and do not feel alone.

[Syphon]

for me its 1-3 cars back but Florida has a horrible font so letters and numbers look to much alike. A Q looks like a 0 and a B looks like 8 and S and 5 look to much alike.

I had laser eye surgery and I can read plates pretty well now.

[Narco]

i can actually read them very well. i can read a plate off a car thats doing 70mph that passes me as i sit on the shoulder with no problems. GA's tags are pretty easy to read though with large black letters/numbers on a mostly white background.

[DARE_SUPPORTER]

After turning 40 I noticed my eyesight has gone down. I can see about 3 car lenghts clearly now, but then again I started at 20/5 vision and could read plates from 10+ car lengths away. The eye doc used to get p;issed at me when I would read the bottom line of his eyechart, the one that said where the chart was manufactured.

Have your eyes checked though, it does go down with age.

Same here, just had yearly physical and eyes checked Im at 20/10 I can see plate a great distance off.