A few states and cities are cracking down on the devices, which obscure or conceal license plates.|
Stateline By Amanda Hernandez
September 5, 2024
State and local legislators in Tennessee and Pennsylvania are cracking down on the use of “license plate flippers,” devices that allow drivers to obscure or conceal their license plates at the press of a button.
License plate flippers are commonly used for aesthetic purposes at auto shows, where they allow drivers to switch between custom or decorative plates. But across the country, thousands of drivers also flip or cover their license plates to evade detection — whether by law enforcement, toll systems or automated speed cameras.
Texas and Washington explicitly banned the devices in 2013. Nonetheless, it’s generally illegal across the United States to alter or obstruct a license plate, no matter the method.
In Tennessee, a law that went into effect in July bans the purchase, sale, possession of and manufacture of plate flippers. Lawmakers said they worried about drivers trying to evade law enforcement.
“We don’t have any toll roads today, but we do have criminals today,” Tennessee state Republican Rep. Greg Martin, who sponsored the legislation in the House, said in an interview. “This [measure] is to make sure that everyone is playing on the same playing field.”
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