District of Columbia

Camera tickets capture only license plates, not drivers, and they can only be used to boot and tow cars when they go unpaid. D.C. police said they are not responsible for that booting and towing, nor do they have the capacity to do that; the Department of Public Works does. For D.C. drivers, unpaid tickets can keep someone from registering a vehicle but not from renewing a driver’s license.

Fake tags are a real problem
TRANSPORTATION Opinion By Tom Lee (Guest Contributor) March 16, 2023


A dubious tag seen on a vehicle on a DC-area street. Photograph taken from a passenger seat by Caitlin Rogger.

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And recent years have provided a new signal that such a driver is near: the fake temporary tag. All of a sudden, it seemed, paper tags were everywhere. Often they were on credible-seeming vehicles – ones that looked new, or at least newly washed. But sometimes the expiration date had passed. And as the months wore on, they started showing up on increasingly implausible beaters.


Image by Matt Ficke used with permission.

These days it’s obvious: fake tags are part of the scofflaw trinity, along with defaced plates and opaque plate covers.

The reason this trend started is equally obvious: automated traffic enforcement, or ATE. The city’s speed cameras annually collect more than $100 million in fines from area drivers. And that’s just DC’s cameras! Compared to the era that preceded them, these systems have made enforcement of traffic laws shockingly consistent. Although it’s common to hear grumbling that traffic cameras are just a cash grab by local government, the evidence for ATE’s positive effect on safety is strong. Even AAA – a reliably brash proponent of motorists’ most chauvinistic impulses – has grudgingly admitted as much.

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Dear PoPville

“fake temporary tags?”

By Prince Of Petworth
Published January 12, 2023 at 2:35PM
Updated January 13, 2023 at 2:55PM



“ Dear PoPville,

In case anyone was wondering who’s behind the fake temporary tags? From Pennsylvania Avenue SE (westbound before the Sousa Bridge).

If “DL” is “driver’s license”, seems like a blatant advertisement for crime…”

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Car

“anyone else noticed over the past year the amount of vehicles with temp tags?”

By Prince Of Petworth
Published October 3, 2022 at 1:05PM



“Dear PoPville,

Has anyone else noticed over the past year the amount of vehicles with temp tags has gone way up and the vast majority seem to be from states that are not very close. Saw a Montana today!

The other interesting part is these cars are usually not new or in good shape at all. Most have significant damage to the vehicle. Dents on the side, etc. Not trying to judge what someone can afford but it just seems odd how widespread it is. Is this some sort of parking or camera ticket evasion thing?”