Comptroller Lander’s Audit Finds Speed Cameras Reduce Speeding & Crashes, But Illegally Obscured License Plates Cheat NYC Out of $100 Million/Yr

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released an audit of the NYC Department of Transportation’s speed camera program, which found that speed cameras effectively reduce speeding and crashes – but also that drivers are increasingly using illegally obscured, temporary, or ghost license plates to avoid fines, cheating the City out of more than $100 million each year and growing. 

“Speed cameras reduce speeding, prevent crashes, and save lives,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “Unfortunately, a small but rapidly growing number of drivers are illegally obscuring their license plates in order to speed without getting caught. These scofflaws are putting their neighbors’ lives and safety at risk – and cheating the City out of $100 million a year.”    

The Department of Transportation (DOT) speed camera program, run through prime contractor Verra, issues $50 notices of liability (NOL), otherwise known as 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 State Legislature program initially authorized as a pilot in 2013, limited in time and number. As of August 2022, the Legislature authorized the City to operate speed cameras in 750 school speed ones, 24 hours a day. 

The data reviewed by the Comptroller’s office show positive outcomes from the speed camera program. The average daily NOLs for each fixed speeding camera site decreased from 123 NOLs in Calendar Year 2014 to fewer than 10 in 2022, indicating that cameras may have helped to change behavior and reduce speeding. In addition, even though the overall number of crashes in New York City with casualty or injuries due to unsafe speed or aggressive 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. Other studies of New York City and other cities found similar results. 

The audit found that DOT generally had adequate controls over the speed camera program and accurately issued NOLs 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.  

Less positively, the audit uncovered a dramatically growing problems with speed camera violations that were not processed as a result of a missing/temporary plate, sometimes referred to as a “ghost plate”, or an obscured license plate. 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 strengthened penalties against drivers who obscured license plates, raising fines (from $65 to $250), allowing police to confiscate the plates, and prohibiting the sale of items that conceal, distort, or obscure license plates, the Comptroller argued that stronger enforcement is needed to effectively crack down on missing and fraudulent license plates. Lander urges 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.   

Lander acknowledged his own history of receiving speed camera violations over the years. “This is an issue that I have fallen short on myself, so I know firsthand how important it is to educate the public and get this system right, and for all of us to practice responsible driving.” A NYPD detail drives Lander when on duty as comptroller, but Lander drives his own car on personal business. 

The auditors made eight recommendations for how DOT can strengthen the programmatic and fiscal effectiveness of the speed camera program. DOT agreed with all of the audit’s recommendations.  

View the audit here. View the Comptroller’s Audit Recommendations Tracker here. 

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