A joint city and state task force has been making headway in its crackdown on toll evaders and drivers who use fake or obstructed license plates, officials said Tuesday.
The task force, which focuses on so-called “ghost plates” and “persistent” toll violators, has impounded 1,540 vehicles, arrested 339 people and issued 12,007 summonses since it launched in March, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a news release.
Drivers stopped at area bridges and tunnels during the 25 enforcement operations the task force has carried out owed nearly $13 million in unpaid tolls and fees, MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said at a news briefing.
The MTA says it loses about $50 million to toll evaders each year.
“Listen up, here’s another warning: If you have a ghost plate or some kind of covering on your license plate, please take it off,” Lieber said. “You’re going to be stopped by one of these great agencies, by an MTA Bridge and Tunnel officer, by the NYPD, by the Sheriff, by the State Police, one of us is going to get you, so we’re all partnering up. Please don’t do it.”
During an operation carried out on the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge on Monday, officers with the task force impounded 55 vehicles, arrested 13 people and issued 433 summonses, according to the release.
“Scofflaws had amassed more than $480,000 in unpaid tolls, fees and judgments,” the release said.
Last week, on July 2, officers carrying out an operation on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge seized 67 vehicles, arrested seven drivers and issued 527 summonses, the release said, adding that those drivers “had amassed approximately $537,429 in unpaid tolls, fees and judgments.”
And during another operation on June 24, officers impounded 79 vehicles, arrested 25 drivers and issued 686 summonses at the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, the Williamsburg Bridge, the Lincoln Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, Goethals Bridge, Bayonne Bridge and the Outerbridge Crossing, the release said.
Those drivers owed more than $128,000 in unpaid tolls, fees and judgments, the release added.
Besides arrests and summonses for counterfeit plates and suspended licenses and registrations, officials said the operations uncovered other crimes.
“We also arrested 39 drivers for having open warrants for failing to appear in court for various offenses,” NYPD Chief of Transportation Philip Rivera said at the briefing. “On March 21, Port Authority Police conducted a felony car stop for a ghost plate and recovered a firearm. On April 29 at the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, one vehicle was seized that owed over 143,000 dollars in judgments.”
And Rivera said the tragedy on July 4 at Corlears Hook Park on the Lower East Side, when a driver plowed into a holiday gathering, killing three people and injuring several others, underscored the importance of these interdictions.
“The driver, besides being drunk, was using a ghost plate on his car to avoid parking summonses, red light enforcement cameras and bridge tolls,” Rivera said.
In addition to cracking down on crime, Lieber said the task force is also saving taxpayers money.
“It’s not right when drivers, many of whom are tooling around in Rolls Royce, a Bugatti, a Mercedes, a Land Rover, whatever, are stiffing New Yorkers,” he said. “That’s the bottom line here. This is about fairness and making sure that New Yorkers don’t get stuck with the bill.”
The MTA says it collects 98% of the owed tolls from the drivers whose cars they impound. And in September, the agency will have a new tool thanks to changes in the law made in the state budget process: instead of having to ask the DMV to suspend the registrations of persistent toll evaders, they can get a civil judgment against the drivers and impound the cars.