City Council unanimously passed a bill last week banning the sale or distribution of products designed to hide license plates to avoid tolls and traffic cameras.
The bill will prohibit the sale of any materials or substances meant to conceal or obscure license plates to distort recorded or photographic evidence. First-time violators will face a $300 fine, and fines will be at least $500 for subsequent violations.
Councilman Robert Holden, who introduced the bill, said he has seen these devices on vehicles throughout the city and it has become “more brazen than ever.”
“These products have no purpose but to be installed to intentionally violate the law by obscuring a vehicle’s license plate so that the scofflaw driver can commit crimes, ranging anywhere from reckless driving to much more serious ones, with impunity,” Holden said. “Those who sell these products know their only use and must be deterred from trading in them or face a penalty. This bill will give law enforcement the means to make our streets a little safer.”
The New York Post previously reported NYPD cops using these kinds of illegal covers to trick tolls and traffic cameras on their personal cars. This year, the Post also reported on an MTA worker who covered his license plate with a cloudy, semi-clear plastic and was found to have owed over $100,000 in tolls and fines.
