BILL NUMBER: S7008

SPONSOR: GOLDEN
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in
relation to the visual inspection of license plates

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To require that motor vehicles with delaminated or severely worn license
plate fail the annual motor vehicle inspection.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of this bill provides for the addition of new paragraph 4 to
subsection c of Vehicle and Traffic Law section 301 making a damaged and
illegible license plate grounds for failure of a vehicle inspection. A
license plate will be deemed to be illegible when at least one of the
license plate's numbers or letters cannot be read because (a) more than
one-third of a number or letter lacks color due to delamination or other
damage, including fading, or (b) the license plate is missing one or
more pieces and such piece or pieces include more than one-third of a
              

number or letter.

Section two of this bill provides that this act shall take effect on the
thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.

 
EXISTING LAW:

Currently, Vehicle and Traffic Law section 301 requires that motor vehi-
cle safety inspections include the inspection of, among other things,
brakes, steering, wheel alignment, lights, including any light that
illuminates a license plate, and seatbelts. If any of these items are
not in proper and safe condition, an inspection certificate cannot be
issued.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Delaminated license plates are difficult to read because the license
plate's colors have peeled away. To determine a license plate number, a
person may be required to read one of more raised characters on the
silver license plate. When there are merely seconds to read the license
plate number, it is extremely important that all of the characters are
legible and easy to read. It is equally difficult to read a severely
damaged license plate. These delaminated and damaged license plates are
a public safety hazard.

Every day, there are many instances where license plate numbers need to
be read quickly. When a motorist encounters and wants to report a
dangerous driver, he or she needs to be able to quickly and accurately
read the driver's vehicle's license plate. Police cannot easily identify
vehicles whose license plates are delaminated or severely damaged, which
is becoming increasingly important due to the expanding use of license
plate readers by local police forces. Red light Cameras cannot read
badly worn license plates, thus decreasing their effectiveness. Worn
license plate are harder to see at night or in inclement weather condi-
tions.

Registrants of motor vehicles with delaminated license plates have no
reason not to replace them because license plates suffering from delami-
nation will be replaced for free when a registrant turns in his or her
old delaminated license plates at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Willful neglect of the condition of one's license plates, when replace-
ments are easy to obtain ought to, for these reasons, constitute failure
of a vehicle inspection.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None to the state

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act will become effective on the thirtieth day after it shall have
become a law.