Pennsylvania’s New License Plate Is Causing Toll Billing Chaos

• Pennsylvania’s America 250th anniversary license plate features a diagonal slash through the zero, a design choice intended to improve legibility, but automated plate-reading systems are misreading the character as the number eight.
• Drivers are receiving toll bills for travel they did not make, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is urging residents to check statements against their actual travel history.
• The state is not replacing the plate; it is updating license plate recognition software to correctly identify the new zero format.

Pennsylvania’s effort to mark America’s 250th anniversary with a commemorative license plate has produced an unintended consequence for drivers across the state’s toll network.

The new plate features the phrase “Let freedom ring” along the bottom and the Liberty Bell as a background design element. It incorporates a diagonal slash through the number zero, a choice drawn from a recommendation by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators to reduce confusion between the numeral and the letter “O,” a distinction both humans and automated systems have historically struggled to make reliably.

The slash has created a different problem entirely. Plate-reading systems across Pennsylvania’s highway network are misidentifying the zero as the number eight, routing toll charges to drivers whose plates share a sequence with the misread number. Crispin Havener, communications specialist for the Turnpike Commission, explained the scope of the issue to 6 ABC.

“There are some confusions between the number zero and the number eight. This is an issue not only impacting us in the tolling industry, but agencies that use license plate recognition software in other ways,” Havener said.

Drivers with the new plates are being urged to check toll statements when they arrive in the mail and contact the Turnpike Commission directly if a charge does not match their actual travel or their plate number.

Pennsylvania is not pulling the plate from circulation. The design was developed with input from the Pennsylvania State Police and the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and meets the state Department of Transportation’s legibility standards. The state is instead working to update its plate recognition software to correctly read the slashed zero.

Marissa Orbanek, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, told CBS News the fix will come with time.

“It just takes continuous exposure to the plate — so like any technology, it takes time to learn,” Orbanek said.

The state expects the problem to resolve as recognition systems process more examples of the new plate design across the network.