Home / Off topic, Opinion / Red Light Camera Protection For You

Red Light Camera Protection For You

Posted by Steve Laser on Jul 17, 2008

closeThis post was published 1 year 4 months 25 days ago. This info might have changed or might have become outdated.

photoblocker_spray

In Chicago and many other big cities red light cameras are set up to capture the license plates of drivers who go through red lights. Fines are often $100 or more and can add up. PhotoBlocker.com has a solution.

According to them, “A majority of red light & speed cameras utilize a strong flash to photograph the license plate on your car. Once sprayed onto your license plate, the PhotoBlockerTM special formula works to create a high gloss that reflects the flash back to the camera. This overexposes the image of your license, rendering the picture unreadable. Ultimately, with PhotoBlockerTM your license becomes invisible to traffic cameras, yet stays completely legible to the naked eye.”

It’s not cheap. I paid $43.99 shipped. I suppose it’s cheaper than paying a fine, however. I’ve been caught once and fear I may have accidentally gone through a red light yesterday. So in that sense maybe it’s not so expensive. I would guess it’s just a gloss polyurethane spray you can buy for $3 at the hardware store, but I’ll try this stuff. According to the website, one can will spray four license plates.

photoblockerPlate

I don’t really know how to test it. Should I spray it then go through some red lights and see what happens? The website has some news stories from various media outlets detailing how well it works. I was impressed with the videos.

photoblockerOnOff

Gatso_nightsm

They also claim the following:

• 500,000 CANS IN 23 COUNTRIES!
• OVER 1 MILLION PLATES PROTECTED!
• OVER 1 BILLION DOLLARS IN FINES AVOIDED!
• REFLECTS traffic camera flash, helping to prevent a costly ticket!
• FAST spray-on formula!
• INVISIBLE to the naked eye!
• EXCLUSIVE formula! Good for up to FOUR plates!
• BEST alternative for when you can’t use an anti-camera license plate cover!
• ONE TIME application is good for life!
• 100% Legal to buy and sell!
• Get a can before you get a ticket!

I guess I’ll see how it works over time. If I don’t get any fines perhaps this will have paid for itself. Either way I’d just like a little peace of mind. I don’t want the city taking food away from my kids. Have anyone else used this product or something similar? I was thinking about getting a license plate clear cover to protect against cameras but they are illegal in Illinois.

Check them out at PhotoBlocker.com

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    • garywaller
      The sprays like this are still questionable as to whether the work or not, but hey it's worth taking a shot. In addition to spray or license cover, one of the simplest ways to keep their greedy, thieving hands out of your pocket is to avoid cameras and speed traps completely if possibe. The simplest ways I found to do this is to use your auto GPS unit and program it with camera and sped trap data you can get at a site like http://www.gpscameradetector.com.
    • Cody
      i think yellow lights should be lengthened alittle longer because where i live they are too short. i was going about 40 and approached a green light and it went to yellow and quickly went to red. it was like just a flash of yellow. i had to slam on the brakes to keep from running it. it just wasnt that light all the street lights aroung where i live are like that.
    • Forget safety cameras, install roundabouts.

      Speaking of ethics, psionandy:

      Six large US cities were fined for shortening the length of yellow lights at intersections(http://www.motorists.org/blog/red-light-cameras/6-cities-that-were-caught-shortening-yellow-light-times-for-profit/) where the cameras were posted. This clearly demonstrates a purely monetary-driven rationale masquerading under the guise of safety.

      @Nagrom: I had no idea you were such a paragon of vehicular driver perfection. ;-) Hopefully you've never ever gotten a ticket. In any case, a number of studies(http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/04/430.asp)over the last 13 years have shown that such red light cameras actually contribute to an INCREASE in injuries and collisions at those intersections rather than an expected decrease. Also, a sizable number of non-jaywalking accidents occur when vehicle drivers make a right or left turn on GREEN and pass through an adjacent crosswalk and strike a pedestrian/bicyclist, thus having nothing to do with running a red light.
    • Nagrom
      The whole idea is stupid. DON'T RUN RED LIGHTS IDIOTS! People like you are the reason we have so many pedestrian, bicycle, and motorcycle deaths. Ignorant, uncaring, and stupid people. I hope the police in your area increase the fines and charges for running red lights to $1000 like it is in other places. People like you should be locked up and your families taken away. Your stupid whine about taking food away from your family is pathetic. Grow up and grow some. Learn to be safe.
    • Steve Laser
      I just emailed PhotoBlocker for a comment on the MythBusters story. Let's see what they come up with.
    • Steve Laser
      This is the link to the MythBusters episode that Diego mentioned: http://www.tv.com/mythbusters/speed-cameras/epi...

      Apparantly I just wasted $44. I'm going to email the company for a comment.
    • The fact that it doesn't work probably saves you from the ethical and legal problems you'd face if it did.
    • Diego Samuilov
      Regardless of what their website claims: didn't Mythbusters (Discovery channel) have proof that this product didn't work?

      MB used a spray on their license plate with a camera, they ended up determining that none of the products in the market would live up to their expectations. They all failed miserably to the tests that they executed.
    • ash
      I know for a fact that toll cameras (and some test cameras) in miami-dade will be able to read your plates still.....
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