Nice. Each state should have a very easy photo submission site for these type of bitches. I’m guessing it’s not a popular idea because many state employees are probably guilty.
The vast majority are police personal vehicles and police family member’s vehicles
Citation?
They’re trying to avoid one, yes.
Apparently it’s true:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/17/nyregion/license-plate-vigilantes.html
Presumably, what was happening was that NYC cops and city employees just didn’t get tickets, but then with the automated cameras, the computer didn’t know that it was supposed to give free passes to cops, and so they started bending their plates so they could keep their above-the-law status. Which is what prevents them from getting in trouble for having a defaced plate.
Fuck the NYPD, in other words
The guy who popularized this advocacy tactic is Adam White, a semi-celebrity bike lawyer who was formerly one half of Vaccaro & White, the law firm that sponsored a lot of NYC biking events. I remember the sweet justice when NYPD tried to arrest him a few years ago for vandalism and he essentially took them to the cleaners in court.
Speaking of, I still don’t know why Vaccaro & White split up, though as far as I understand it was not on good terms.
NYPD are the biggest offenders when it comes to NY license plate obstruction.
Of course… # ACAB
My first thought was “that might not be a bad idea the way things are going, just so the feds don’t know where I am going at all times.” My second thought is that I’m genuinely a little bit surprised that Flock cameras don’t auto-flag this stuff and send a notification for the person to be pulled over.
If you defaced your plate into another plate that was also in the DB, then maybe you’d be fine, at least for a while.
Flock’s cameras actually do detect that kind of thing. Quoting from this article:
“Instantly searchable data, including plate numbers or missing/covered plates, as well as vehicle make, model, color, alterations, and other unique identifying information.”
The problem is that randomly deploying cops to given areas to track down cars that are already long gone because their plates are obscured isn’t terribly effective or worthwhile. It’s more often used as part of a wider investigation, where someone stopped later could also be identified for having previously covered their plates, and fined accordingly on top of the fine for, say, speeding.
Cars bring out the worst in people.
bruh. who is he serving with this?
Other tax payers and public services. No one should evade paying their tolls.
is that what they are trying to avoid?
They’re trying to avoid any sort of automated license plate reader. Toll, red light cameras, flock cameras, police scanners, scanners for paid parking, they might be criminals, stolen the vehicle, etc.
Probably both tolls and camera tickets, yeah.
People who get hit, hit and run victims, anyone else who needs the number plate if the car is witnessed being related to any other crimes (murders, shootings, dangerous driving, illegal dumping, anything).
License plates aren’t just about fines and fees, sometimes they come up in much more serious contexts.
Partial plate matches and fuzzy matches exist for this reason, I don’t think this would protect you if you were genuinely doing serious crime. I looked into the guy a little more, he’s standing up against corruption of the NYPD which is a pretty important defense of the social contract (and apparently he’s gotten cited and threatened for it, because the NYPD doesn’t feel like it should have to follow the law.)
The vast majority are police personal vehicles and police family member’s vehicles
The people who would otherwise get maimed for life or brutally killed by these drivers who’ve never learned due to all the fines they’ve been evading.
The pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers in NYC who don’t get traffic calming infrastructure because these dangerous drivers aren’t getting added to the stats on the corridors where they commit their crimes.
