Colorado changed its plate rules after automated readers repeatedly confused O and 0. The mistakes have reportedly led to wrong tickets, toll bills, and even traffic stops. The question may be why enforcement systems acted on uncertain reads in the first place. Getting a speeding ticket for a town you’ve never visited is frustrating. Getting one for a car you don’t even own raises a much bigger question, like why did the system think it was your vehicle in the first place? That’s what Coloradans are trying to sort out as officials say they’re fixing the issue by changing plates. Of course, it’s also worth asking if it’s the cameras that deserve the criticism since they’re the tech that created the issue in the first place. State officials acknowledge that automated license plate readers have struggled to distinguish between the letter “O” and the number “0” on some plates. The problem has reportedly resulted in mistaken speeding tickets, toll charges, parking citations, and multiple traffic stops involving innocent drivers. How the officers involved in those stops struggled to read the plates for themselves is up for debate as well. A Letter, A Number, And A Lot Of Wrong Tickets At first glance, this sounds like a license plate design story. Colorado switched to a four-letter, two-number format in 2018, placing letters and numbers on the same side of the plate and creating situations where an O and a zero could appear in similar positions. More: AI Cameras Fined Empty Seats For Not Wearing Seatbelts But the people aren’t the problem here. Outside of those officers who pulled over the wrong cars, humans generally don’t seem to be the ones having trouble. According to a 9NEWS investigation, the confusion largely stems from automated plate-reading systems used by municipalities, toll operators, parking enforcement companies, and law enforcement agencies. In one recent case, a driver received a photo-radar citation from a town more than two hours away despite driving a completely different vehicle than the one pictured. Once again, the apparent reason was a plate-reading error involving a single character. Colorado Fixed The Plates, Not The Cameras To fix the issue, Colorado officials didn’t work to fix the cameras. Instead, they stopped issuing plates with the letter O in the fourth position. If you happen to have an older plate with an O in that space, that doesn’t help much. To its credit, the DMV also tweaked the plate font to better separate the O from the zero and says it works with agencies to calibrate their readers. Colorado’s response effectively acknowledges that the technology has limitations. Yet rather than forcing every plate-reading system to improve, the state adjusted how some future plates are issued. For drivers who have spent years disputing toll bills or tickets tied to misread plates, that may feel like treating the symptom rather than the cause. Opening Credit: Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles
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