A friend of mine just had gotten a ticket for blocking her rear license plate with her bike rack. Does anyone know the legality of rear mounted bike racks. She lives in New Jersey. Thank you

It is illegal in NJ to block any part of the license plate, front or rear. That includes numbers, letters, the name of the State, any PART of the license plate.

The rear-mounted bike rack is not illegal. Obscuring any plate info from the Police (or anyone else) is illegal.

It is not that the rear bike rack itself is legal or illegal, It is the fact there are specific laws about the license plate, The plate must be visible for a certain distance, and be able to be seen also at night ( have to have a light)

If you put anything over it, even some of the license plate covers, if the plate is not visible, that would include info needed to ID, current up to date sticker showing it is registered, and the number and/or any other ID information, then you are breaking that law.

The bike rack is fully legal as long as you are not blocking the license plate from view.

The issue is not the bike rack. The issue is blocking the license plate. If the rack is positioned in such a way as to make it difficult to read the plate that is a violation:

The law requires a license plate "be clearly legible from a distance of 50 feet to the rear" (New Jersey Statutes - Title 39 Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulation - 39:3-48 Visibility - New Jersey Attorney Resources - New Jersey Laws (http://law.onecle.com/new-jersey/39-motor-vehicles-and-traffic-regulation/3-48.html)).