Most Common TLC Violations: Top 15 Codes at OATH

In short: The single most common TLC charge is 80-13(a)(2), a non-hazardous moving traffic violation. It was the first charge on 53,599 taxi/FHV summonses dated 2021–2025, about one in six. Close behind are stop sign and red light summonses, then a group of owner rules for for-hire vehicles, such as missed inspections. The 15 codes below cover about 73% of all summonses in that window.

The ranking comes from the OATH Hearings Division Case Status dataset on NYC Open Data. Each code's meaning comes from the TLC rule books or the NYC Administrative Code, linked in the sources.

The top 15 at a glance

What each code means

A few patterns are worth knowing:

• Ten of the 15 are aimed at the driver. They come from chapter 80, TLC's driver rules. Five of those are traffic rules under 80-13, which add a TLC penalty on top of the normal traffic law.
• Owner rules are a big share. Codes starting with 59A apply to for-hire vehicle owners, and 58 to medallion taxi owners. If you own and drive your own car, these summonses come to you as the owner. See TLC vehicle owner summons statistics.
• Codes starting with 19- are city law, not TLC rules. They come from Title 19 of the NYC Administrative Code and cover licensing and unlicensed activity. See unlicensed activity summons statistics.

The number one code over time

Rule 80-13(a)(2) covers moving violations that are not on the hazardous list in 80-13(a)(3). The first violation brings a fine only. A second within 15 months adds 1 TLC point. A third adds a point and a suspension that is deferred for 60 days and avoided if you finish a Vision Zero and Accessibility Remedial course in that time (chapter 80). Port Authority Police wrote 11,971 of these summonses in 2021–2025, about a fifth of the total, so this code is also a major airport-area charge.

Stop signs: a spike, then a fall

Stop sign summonses jumped to 11,656 in 2021 and 10,933 in 2022, then fell back to about 4,400 by 2025. The data can't say why. It may reflect where and how enforcement was focused in those years. It does not show that drivers ran more stop signs. Each one carries 3 TLC points, which count toward the Persistent Violator Program.

Phone summonses have dropped sharply

Rule 80-14(g)(1) summonses peaked at 7,848 in 2017 and have been under 1,000 a year since 2022. Again, fewer summonses means less enforcement under this code. It is not proof of less phone use. The rule still allows phone use only while the vehicle is lawfully standing or parked, and a finding brings a suspension unless you complete a distracted-driving course within 60 days. More in our cell phone rule guide.

The top owner code: missed FHV inspections

Under 59A-26(a), a for-hire vehicle owner faces a $100 fine and a suspension of the vehicle license until the vehicle passes inspection (chapter 59). Appearance is required. If you drive a car you also own, keep an eye on inspection dates; our TLC vehicle inspection guide explains the schedule.

What this data can and cannot tell you

It can tell you which codes TLC and the Port Authority Police use most, and how each code's use has changed year by year.

It cannot tell you:

• How often each charge is dismissed or what fine was imposed. Those fields are blank for taxi rows.
• Your personal risk. Counts reflect where inspectors and police focus, as well as what drivers do.
• Every charge on a summons. We rank by the first charge only. Later charge columns mostly repeat the first.
• The meaning of older codes. Codes such as 1-11A or 2-21B come from older numbering systems. We don't guess what they mean.

Codes also change. TLC moved driver rules from chapters 54 and 55 into chapter 80 around 2016, which is why the chapter 80 codes start then. See TLC summonses by year for that history.