Recently, a video appeared on social networks recording the scene of a car driver being stopped for inspection by a task force of Road Traffic Police Team No. 9 (Traffic Police Department, Hanoi City Police) because the license plate behind it was covered in mud. During the working process, the driver said that the license plate was covered up due to objective factors and did not accept signing the penalty record.
On January 27, at the police station, the male driver came to work and confessed that on January 23, he drove a car to Thanh Hoa to solve work. Due to rain, dirty roads, mud and soil clinging to it covered all the letters and numbers on the rear license plate. When he got home, the driver realized that the license plate was covered, but because he was busy with work, he had not taken the car to wash.
On January 26, when continuing to drive the vehicle to participate in traffic, the driver was stopped by the traffic police force for inspection. After being clearly explained the provisions of the law, this person became aware of the violation and agreed to comply with the penalty decision according to regulations.
The actual record of reporters shows that when detected violating the violation of covering the license plate, many drivers often give different reasons to justify and ask to ignore the violation. For example, Mr. Mai Van Huynh - a motorbike taxi driver, when the task force of Road Traffic Police Team No. 6 (Traffic Police Department, Hanoi City Police) made a record of violation, presented that he stopped his car for drinking water near My Dinh bus station and did not know who had put up a cover to remove the license plate.
Or the case of Mr. Nguyen Van Chinh (student), when the task force of Road Traffic Police Team No. 3 discovered that the motorbike license plate was hidden by a mask, explained that before that, his family borrowed the motorbike and did not pay attention when it was taken back. However, according to regulations, these cases are all strictly handled.
According to the Traffic Police Department (Ministry of Public Security), during traffic participation, there are cases where license plates are obscured by letters and numbers due to objective factors such as muddy roads, mud or dirt clinging to them. With situations that occur objectively and force majeurely, drivers will not be penalized for the act of "driving a vehicle with a license plate with unclear letters and numbers".
For vehicles moving continuously on long distances, even when traveling on highways, after encountering objective conditions that obscure license plates, vehicle operators are not required to stop immediately if there is no safe stopping and parking location. In these cases, the traffic police force will not impose fines.
However, when the journey ends or there is a safe stop or parking spot, drivers need to clean the license plate immediately. In case the driver of the vehicle leaves the dirty license plate for a long time, or knows that the license plate is obscured but still continues to participate in traffic, the traffic police force will proceed with handling according to regulations.
When a vehicle is stopped for inspection, if the driver believes that they are in a force majeure situation, they can explain to the functional forces. Traffic police will apply professional measures such as extracting surveillance camera systems, dashcams and related data sources to verify before issuing a decision to sanction administrative violations.
