Summonses Were Issued For Dreaded License Plate: NJ Bill

HI INDIA NEWS DESK
NEW JERSEY- Jersey drivers who screw on a license plate frame to display their love for their favorite team or preferred pet, or those who got one put on by a car dealer seeking free advertising, are one step closer to being spared a summons if the frame partly covers the words “New Jersey” or “Garden State.”

The state Assembly’s version of a bill that prevents drivers from getting a ticket for an obscured license plate took a major step when the transportation committee unanimously voted 11-0 Thursday to release the bill for a future vote by the full Assembly, if it’s posted by the speaker.

According to the state judiciary, 501,699 summonses were issued in the five years between 2017 and 2021 for license plate violations. The most summonses were written in 2019, with 127,680 issued.

One of the major problems with the current law is many drivers are unaware it’s even a violation, Deputy Assembly Speaker Paul D. Moriarty, D- Gloucester, said in an interview.

“I talked to drivers who’ve been stopped through the years and are told they were stopped because of illegal license plate frames,” Moriarty said. “In almost every instance people have no Idea it’s a law. They’re not aware they’re doing anything wrong.”

That situation can be even more painful when the driver didn’t put on the license plate frame, but a car dealer did, he said.

Moriarty co-sponsored the bill with Assemblyman Ronald Dancer, R-Ocean, and Assemblywoman Shama A. Haider, D-Bergen.

“As long as pertinent letters and numbers are recognizable on a plate, a person should be free from unwarranted interactions with police,” said Dancer, the bill’s primary sponsor.

But police officers, both current and retired, who wrote to NJ Advance Media after an article about the legislation contend it could take away a tool officers use to give a “break” to a motorist they stopped for a more serious violation who has a clean record.

The “break” is issuing a summonses such as for a license plate frame to admonish them, but spare them from points and hefty fines.

“Under that scenario, nothing says they couldn’t cite this (license plate frame offense) if wanted to give someone a break,” Moriarty said. “They also can issue a warning.”

The legislation also doesn’t prohibit police from stopping a car if the plate is really obscured, he said. However, he noted New Jersey plates are easily identifiable by both color and an outline of the state between the letters and numbers, even without the wording.

“This is a reasonable cleanup to a law that’s been out there far too long and allowed some motorists to be unreasonably cited,” Moriarty said.