Blocking cameras that catch you speeding
Thursday, July 3, 2003
By GREG AVERY, Scripps Howard News Service

Hate the idea of impersonal cameras ticketing you for running a red light or driving 36 mph in a 25 mph zone? The antidote might be in a red aerosol can.

Beat The Camera.com sells a spray to stop camera-generated tickets by making your license plates so reflective it blinds the spying cameras when their flash goes off.

Tests show that "Photo Blocker," a product sold over the Internet by Beat The Camera.com, can help drivers beat traffic-enforcement camera tickets by coating their license plates with a spray.

Capt. John Lamb, a Denver traffic officer, participated in a Denver television station's test of the Phantom Plate product. The test replicated a car driving 30 mph through a 20 mph school zone.
The spray successfully obscured the license plate numbers, and the pictures showed the license plate on the test car to be a glowing white blob, Lamb said.

To the people behind Photo Blocker, the spray represents a small way of fighting back. Scott envisions a day when cameras are everywhere on America's roads and all drivers are treated as criminals to be ticketed when their speedometers creep over the limit.

"I agree with making roads safer, but when it starts costing you money as a regular person, that's different. ... Then it's personal," Scott said.