Amanda Hernández | Stateline.org (TNS)
State and local legislators in Tennessee and Pennsylvania are cracking down on the use of “license plate flippers,” devices that allow drivers to obscure or conceal their license plates at the press of a button.
License plate flippers are commonly used for aesthetic purposes at auto shows, where they allow drivers to switch between custom or decorative plates. But across the country, thousands of drivers also flip or cover their license plates to evade detection — whether by law enforcement, toll systems or automated speed cameras.
Texas and Washington explicitly banned the devices in 2013. Nonetheless, it’s generally illegal across the United States to alter or obstruct a license plate, no matter the method.
In Tennessee, a law that went into effect in July bans the purchase, sale, possession of and manufacture of plate flippers. Lawmakers said they worried about drivers trying to evade law enforcement.
“We don’t have any toll roads today, but we do have criminals today,” Tennessee state Republican Rep. Greg Martin, who sponsored the legislation in the House, said in an interview. “This [measure] is to make sure that everyone is playing on the same playing field.”
Under the new law, anyone who purchases a license plate flipper could face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $500. Those caught manufacturing or selling these devices could face up to 11 months and 29 days in jail, along with a fine of up to $2,500.
The Pennsylvania House passed, with bipartisan support, legislation that would ban license plate flippers and impose a $2,000 penalty on those caught using or selling them. The bill now goes to the Senate.
“With speed cams and red-light cams becoming more and more prevalent around, there are technologies that are coming out for people to evade safety on the roads,” Pennsylvania state Democratic Rep. Pat Gallagher, the bill’s lead sponsor in the House, said in an interview.
Cities take action
Some cities also are looking to crack down on these devices.
In April, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, a Democrat, signed a bill into law banning the purchase, installation, possession of and sale of “manual, electric, or mechanical” license plate flippers, with violations punishable by a $2,000 fine.
“Tag flipping belongs in a James Bond movie, not on our city streets,” Philadelphia Councilmember Mike Driscoll, a Democrat, said in an interview with Stateline. “It’s not just a problem in the city of Philadelphia; this sense of entitlement and lawlessness is going on all over the country.
“Every municipality has got to take these things seriously,” Driscoll said.
In March, New York state and city officials launched a multi-agency task force dedicated to identifying and removing so-called “ghost cars” — vehicles that are untraceable by traffic cameras and toll readers due to their forged or altered license plates — from New York City streets.
In 2022, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, reached an agreement with Amazon to help search for and restrict the sale of smokescreen and tinted license plate covers to customers with a New York state address. This collaboration followed the passage of a city law earlier that year prohibiting the sale of products designed to conceal or obscure vehicle license plates to New York City residents.
Criminal activity and toll revenue
Recent discussions around license plate flippers have largely focused on their role in criminal activity and the loss of revenue from tolls and traffic tickets.
Obstructing license plates is a common violation, with some drivers using plate flippers, duct tape or bogus paper tags to avoid detection. In some cases, the obstruction may be unintentional, such as when bike racks partially block the plate.
Chad Bruckner, a retired police detective who is now the president of the private investigation firm Intercounty Investigations & Solutions, said that while he supports legislation banning tag flippers, it’s important to balance protecting citizens’ rights with providing law enforcement the tools needed to promote public safety.
“If you can’t identify a vehicle, you don’t have the legal tooth or authority to execute a stop or something,” Bruckner said in an interview. “There’s just no law and order. That’s not safe for people.”
License plate flippers are widely accessible online, with devices available for as little as $50 and as much as a few hundred dollars, though most typically sell for around $200.
Other devices, such as license plate covers that obscure letters and numbers from certain angles, are already illegal in most states. These covers, whether clear or tinted, can affect visibility for traffic and tolling cameras.
MTA TBTA conducts a license plate enforcement operation with NYPD, NYSP, and MTA Police on the Queens side of the Queens Midtown Tunnel on Monday, Mar 25, 2024. (Marc A. Hermann/Metropolitan Transportation Authority/TNS)
Most tolling agencies aren’t significantly affected by these violations financially because the majority of drivers comply with the law. But MTA Bridges and Tunnels in New York City, one of the busiest toll agencies in the United States, reported a loss of more than $21 million in 2023 due to obstructed plates, a more than 140% increase from 2020, according to Aaron Donovan, the agency’s deputy communications director.
The agency projects a slightly lower revenue loss of nearly $19 million for 2024, thanks to the new task force dedicated to cracking down on untraceable vehicles. The task force has seized over 2,100 vehicles and made more than 450 arrests since mid-March. Those arrests often reveal that evaders are involved in other criminal activities, such as possessing illegal firearms or driving stolen vehicles, according to MTA Bridges and Tunnels President Catherine Sheridan.
“This is a larger regional issue where these same people who are avoiding tolls are also not paying parking tickets. They’re violating school cameras, speed cameras,” Sheridan said in an interview. “We’re also finding that these folks are committing other crimes in our region.”
The losses represent less than 1% of the agency’s total toll revenue, but they’re still significant, she said, because they reduce the agency’s ability to subsidize mass transit in New York City, which in turn affects residents who rely on public transportation.
“Every dollar we don’t collect is $1 off of that subsidy,” Sheridan said. “This is about everyone paying their fair share.”
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages several bridges and tunnels connecting the two states and is part of the multi-agency task force dedicated to cracking down on untraceable vehicles, lost about $40 million in toll revenue from obscured and missing plates in 2022, according to Lenis Valens, a public information officer with the agency.
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In that same year, the agency issued more than 2,300 summonses for obstructed, missing and fictitious license plates, and recovered more than $21 million in past-due tolls and fees. In 2023, the agency recovered over $25 million from toll evaders. During the first six months of 2024, it issued 4,836 summonses for toll-related violations, with the majority — 3,940, or 81% — for obstructed, missing or fictitious license plates.
On the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a major toll highway that connects western and eastern Pennsylvania, at least 3 in 10,000 people intentionally obstructed their license plates between April 2023 and March 2024, press secretary Marissa Orbanek wrote in an email.
“While the percentage of intentional plate obstruction on the turnpike is very, very small, we are grateful for any additional support and legislation that helps us address toll evasion,” Orbanek said. “It’s really a priority to ensure a fair and equitable toll road system.”
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