Defaced, obstructed, and fraudulent license plates are plaguing New York City’s streets, posing a serious challenge to law enforcement and regulatory agencies. License plates that are scratched out, obscured by tinted or reflective license plate covers, or altogether fake make detecting and penalizing ghost cars nearly impossible. As the City and State increasingly rely on cameras for the enforcement of speed, tolls, curb management, and more, the proliferation of fraudulent and defaced plates severely compromises the enforcement of traffic laws and collection of tolls.
Each month, more than 5% of vehicles passing through speed cameras, red light cameras, and toll stations operated by the NYC Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority are unreadable. Over 100k license plate images passing through DOT-operated cameras alone are unreadable every month. In total, there are hundreds of millions of dollars in tickets, fines, and tolls from enforcement cameras that go unpaid for such things as speeding, running red lights, and evading tolls every year.
This trend is growing and threatens New Yorkers’ safety. We must ensure that every vehicle has a readable and valid license plate.
