The proliferation of unreadable “ghost plates” could be costing New York City up to $200 million annually in lost revenue, according to Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.
In a new report released Monday, Levine says license plates on some 100,000 cars passing city traffic cameras each month are unreadable, and 5% of all cars passing cameras and tolling stations in the city can’t be processed — fleecing the city of substantial revenue from tolls and tickets issued by cameras, and allowing reckless drivers to wreak havoc on Big Apple streets.
Moreover, the number of plates that are unreadable for any reason — whether missing entirely, defaced, fraudulent, or covered up by items like leaves, visors, or “James Bond-style” gadgets — is growing every month, says Levine.
“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,” reads the document, which was first reported on by the New York Post. “This trend is growing and threatens New Yorkers’ safety. We must ensure that every vehicle has a readable and valid license plate.”
Officials have recognized the trend and responded with more than 30 “joint enforcement operations” aimed at blitzing mischievous drivers unsuspectingly as they’re crossing toll bridges and tunnels with fake plates. Through these, the NYPD, MTA, and Port Authority have impounded 1,800 vehicles, issued 15,000 summonses, and arrested 400 people.
But these actions haven’t been enough to deter would-be scofflaws, says Levine.
The Manhattan borough president — reportedly mulling a run for City Comptroller — says fines for obstructed or fraudulent plates should be bumped up to $150 minimum and should count towards points on a driver’s license. He also recommends New York license plates be equipped with radio transponders that could allow defaced plates to be readable by cameras, as well as equipping traffic enforcement and tolling cameras with AI tech that can decipher “unreadable” plates.
Also on his wishlist is aggressive enforcement against the sale of fake plates or covers, and to give cops better training and tools to identify and ticket ghost cars.
As documented by Streetsblog’s Gersh Kuntzman and others, however, many of those defacing their plates are government employees, working for agencies like the NYPD, FDNY, or the court system and utilizing a dashboard placard to get away with their hijinks.
