Teen Driver Decals From Company Hired By N.J., Didn’t Stick

The Chicago-based company awarded a $644,000 state contract to produce “Kyleigh’s Law” decals produced vehicle inspection stickers in New York last year that wouldn’t stick, according to published reports. SecureMark Decal, the lone bidder for Kyleigh’s Law decal production, agreed to provide 1.4 million replacement stickers at no cost to correct the problem but New York decided against signing another contract with the company, the New York Times reported last October. Up to 2.5 million of 13.5 million inspection stickers produced by SecureMark Decal and distributed to motorists in 2009 failed to stick, the Times reported.

Amid a public uproar, New York Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner David J. Swarts issued a statement last May waiving the fee for replacement inspection and registration stickers and advising police to “use their discretion” upon encountering loose or taped stickers.

Phone calls to SecureMark Decal were not returned Monday.

It was not clear whether New Jersey officials knew about the defective stickers in New York prior to awarding the contract. An email to the state treasury department was not immediately returned.

State Motor Vehicle Commission spokesman Michael Horan said on Monday that the misstep was not necessarily relevant to the company’s decal bid.

“This is apples and oranges,” Horan said, noting that the Kyleigh’s Law decals will be designed to be detachable and that “performance provisions” were written into the contract.

Under Kyleigh’s Law, new drivers — mostly teenagers — subject to restrictions under the Graduated Driver License law will be required to affix decals to the upper left of their front and rear license plates or face a $100 fine.

Motorists will pay $4 for a pair of decals, Horan said.

SecureMark Decal will begin shipping approximately 500,000 reflective red, detachable decals — measuring one inch by one and one-half inch — to MVC offices by early April, Horan said.

Up to 1.25 million motorists are expected to purchase the decals within the first year of the law taking effect, Horan said.

Last Friday, a Superior Court judge in Morristown dismissed a Rockaway attorney’s bid to overturn Kyleigh’s Law and rejected a separate motion to delay it from taking effect on May 1. The attorney, Gregg Trautmann, filed suit on behalf of his teenage son and nephew and is appealing the judge’s dismissal.

Kyleigh’s Law is named in memory of Kyleigh D’Alessio, a 16-year-old West Morris Central High School student killed in a 2006 crash in Washington Township in which another teen was driving. APP