Drivers are increasingly defacing their plates or using fake plates

[Laconian]

https://slate.com/business/2023/04/fake-license-plates-traffic-cameras-policing-yglesias.html

[AutobahnSHO]

Good article, but just another symptom of a weird moment in our history?

[r0tor]

Seems like policing should be done by police and not by camera

[Eye of the Tiger]

Seems like policing should be done by police and not by camera

All of the police departments are severely underfunded.

[r0tor]

All of the police departments are severely underfunded.

Or spent a massive amount of money on traffic cameras systems and data mining systems

[veeman]

My wife has gotten a handful of traffic violation tickets in Brooklyn on her daily commute.  Good reminder to stick a well placed leaf on a corner of the license plate. A tiny dab of glue should do the trick. 

[GoCougs]

I have to imagine that getting caught doing this is a serious offense, such as theft (nonpayment of tolls) or identity fraud. All in all, I don't blame WtP for getting fed up with traffic enforcement. WtP see ever worsening driving that matters, yet, WtP get tickets for 72 in a 60 or whatever whilst the legit bad driving goes unpunished 99.99999% of the time.

My solution has been, and will continue to be, just driving however TF I want and letting traffic attorneys handle any citations received. Since I started doing this ~15 years ago, it's has worked fantastically for me (4-0 in defeating citations = ~$0.50/day to drive however TF I want to drive).

[Eye of the Tiger]

I have to imagine that getting caught doing this is a serious offense, such as theft (nonpayment of tolls) or identity fraud. All in all, I don't blame WtP for getting fed up with traffic enforcement. WtP see ever worsening driving that matters, yet, WtP get tickets for 72 in a 60 or whatever whilst the legit bad driving goes unpunished 99.99999% of the time.

My solution has been, and will continue to be, just driving however TF I want and letting traffic attorneys handle any citations received. Since I started doing this ~15 years ago, it's has worked fantastically for me (4-0 in defeating citations = ~$0.50/day to drive however TF I want to drive).

$400 for an attorney is well worth not going to court and having a clean record. I still need to find an attorney to handle the bullshit ticket I got on federal property. Can't find one. All my leads are dead ends.

[AutobahnSHO]

I have to imagine that getting caught doing this is a serious offense, such as theft (nonpayment of tolls) or identity fraud.

But it's not.

[Laconian]

Got this off my dashcam. This Infowarrior has an insanely tinted license plate cover and the plate ID itself is something like "BB8B8B8". The side window was festooned with the usual sociopathic stickers you'd expect on an truck like this.

How come this stuff flies? Seems like an easy ticket.

[MrH]

They're sovereign citizens.  They're immune to laws.

[SJ_GTI]

If I change my user name to:

;SJ_GTI>

I am no longer subject to the rules of CarSPIN and you are not allowed to moderate my posts.

[Morris Minor]

To enhance surveillance state enforcement goodness it might be feasible to encrypt the VIN & make that available to transponder readers or via RFID. The license plate could be, or at least include, a derived hash of that, & so be tied to the VIN. Any fakery would cause a mismatch and precipitate roadside summary justice.

[r0tor]

To enhance surveillance state enforcement goodness it might be feasible to encrypt the VIN & make that available to transponder readers or via RFID. The license plate could be, or at least include, a derived hash of that, & so be tied to the VIN. Any fakery would cause a mismatch and precipitate roadside summary justice.

Or we just go back to the good old days where cops pulled people over based off of behavior and then ran the plates... Instead of an automated system scanning everyone's plates and logging/flagging them or automatically sending you a speeding ticket

[giant_mtb]

To enhance surveillance state enforcement goodness it might be feasible to encrypt the VIN & make that available to transponder readers or via RFID. The license plate could be, or at least include, a derived hash of that, & so be tied to the VIN. Any fakery would cause a mismatch and precipitate roadside summary justice.

...running a plate already gives the VIN, make, and model.  If a cop needs help deciding whether this Subaru with a plate registered to an F150 needs to be pulled over and checked out, they should seek other employment.

[Morris Minor]

...running a plate already gives the VIN, make, and model.  If a cop needs help deciding whether this Subaru with a plate registered to an F150 needs to be pulled over and checked out, they should seek other employment.

No, the cop needs help instantly identifying whether the Subaru's plate is a fake duplicate of the Subaru the bad guy copied the plate number from in the grocery store parking lot.

[CaminoRacer]

If I change my user name to:

;SJ_GTI>

I am no longer subject to the rules of CarSPIN and you are not allowed to moderate my posts.

[CaminoRacer]

Utah legislature told the Utah DMV to offer black plates a few years ago, but there were questions about reflectivity and some conflicting laws with that. They finally cleared that up this year and are offering them now, but the past few years you'd see a black Utah plate every once in a while. Apparently there's a website to make custom plates and people would just copy their real plate number and get a fake black one. Looks cool, but with the risk that a cop will pull you over and either impound the fake plate or, worse case, impound your whole car. I waited until now to get real ones and not risk it.