ew Yorkers have dozens of diabolical ways to cheat the city’s unevenly enforced traffic laws and easy-to-fool license-plate readers: temporary tags from other states, fake plates bought off Amazon, bent plates, letters or numbers painted over with Wite-Out, a sticker that turns an “L” into an “I,” Bond-villain plate flippers.
Even a well-placed leaf can allow cars to slip past tolls or red-light cameras. Many vehicles with defaced or concealed plates have numerous traffic violations and unpaid fines. A homemade parking placard on the dashboard sometimes can be enough to avoid a parking violation — even a low-effort one that reads “Dunkin Donuts employee.”
