A new audit of the NYC Department of Transportation’s (DOT) speed camera program found that speed cameras effectively reduce speeding and crashes, but cheaters trying to evade tickets are on the rise.
The data reviewed by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander discovered that drivers are increasingly using illegally obscured, temporary, or ghost license plates to avoid fines. These plates are cheating the city out of more than $100 million each year.
“Speed cameras reduce speeding, prevent crashes, and save lives,” said Lander. “Unfortunately, a small but rapidly growing number of drivers are illegally obscuring their license plates in order to speed without getting caught."
The speed camera program, run through prime contractor Verra, issues $50 speeding tickets when a driver is caught driving more than 10 miles an hour above the speed limit by a speed camera located within one-quarter mile of a school.
The data reviewed by the comptroller’s office show positive outcomes from the speed camera program. The average daily tickets for each fixed speeding camera site decreased from 123 in 2014 to fewer than 10 in 2022, indicating that cameras may have changed behavior and reduced speeding. In addition, even though the overall number of crashes with casualty or injuries due to unsafe driving trended upward from 2019 to 2023, only eight of the 45 sampled crashes occurred in locations near a speed camera, suggesting that cameras reduce crashes within their vicinity.
The audit found that DOT generally had adequate controls over the speed camera program and accurately issued tickets for speeding violations. Auditors found that DOT placed cameras widely throughout city neighborhoods, using crash data to identify high-risk locations, as required by state law.
The audit uncovered growing problems with obscured license plates, sometimes referred to as a ghost plates The camera system rejected an alarming 1,076,182 incidents (22%) of all captured incidents because of ghost plates (748,468; 15.3%) or covered plates (327,714; 6.7%) between January and June 2023.
The use of ghost plates grew over 5000% since 2019. The potential lost revenue from the violations for the first six months was $54 million – suggesting that the city is losing over $100 million as a result of ghost plates.
While recent laws raised fines for ghost plates to $250 from $65, allowed the police to confiscate the plates, and prohibited the sale of items that conceal, distort, or obscure license plates, the comptroller argued that even stronger enforcement is needed. Lander urged the following steps:
- The city, in partnership with MTA Bridges and Tunnels, should step up enforcement at tolled bridges and sites associated with high numbers of complaints about “ghost cars” to seize vehicles using fraudulent plates and recoup unpaid fines.
- The City Council should pass Intro 978 to increase fines for using and selling fraudulent plates and introduce legislation allowing citizens to report vehicles using obscured or fraudulent plates in exchange for a portion of the fine paid.
- The State Legislature should pass legislation allowing regulators to investigate and shut down car dealerships suspected of issuing fraudulent temporary plates and suspend the licenses of drivers who use them to evade fines and tolls.
