Posted on 01/15/2006 10:36:28 AM PST by presidio9
clear spray that distorts a license plate image — and helps drivers beat tickets for running a red light — is selling like hotcakes, despite a law banning its use. PhotoBlocker is being sold in eight New York-area stores and is getting "more popular every day," according to dealer John Ciampa.
"Usually, I sell at least eight to 10 cans a day," he said. "The seven stores sell two or three a day. Then there's the Internet and the phone."
When sprayed on a license plate, PhotoBlocker reflects the flash of a traffic-light camera, blurring the plate in a photo so it's unreadable. Without a clear picture, a fine can't be mailed to the driver.
Since manufacturer PhantomPlate launched the product in 2001, roughly 500,000 cans have been sold worldwide.
"We're seeing sales really spike — especially in cities where there are more cameras like New York," said spokesman Joe Scott.
That's a "major problem," according to furious Bronx Assemblyman Peter Rivera, who introduced legislation — passed in August — banning the spray's use.
"This enables someone to run a red light and not get caught. It's that simple. It creates a safety hazard," he said.
It may also be a financial problem.
According to the mayor's office, 450,000 red-light summonses were issued in 2003, the most recent year available, Rivera said.
Approximately 31 percent of the fines — usually $50 with a $25 late fee — could not be mailed
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Bloomberg better add this to the list along with 'illegal guns' as items to stop from coming into New York!
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
I think the fine here in CA is closer to $400 for blowing the red lights.
BTTT
The worst greed is governmental greed. Screw 'em.
The good ol American way! Where there is a will, there is a way.
Heaven forbid people should have to obey traffic laws.
There's nothing more guaranteed to make a politico furious than to mess with their revenue stream.
L
However, Texans (as you know) tend to be more direct about it.
Up here in the Dallas area, one of the latest sports was shooting the stupid cameras off their poles. They've taken to putting them in heavily armored boxes now, after a large number of them apparently succumbed to large-caliber rifle fire.
The newest sport is using paintball marker guns to render the little window in the heavily armored boxes opaque. Or, alternately, shooting the little flash pods off their poles, since they're apparently not nearly as heavily armored. I've also seen a large, nondescript diesel pickup truck with no license plates intentionally mow down one of the camera poles.
I'm guessing that my fellow citizens don't like these cameras very much... can't say that I disagree.
Look, I have no patience for libertarians, but I DO have a problem with all the cameras the police are putting up here in NYC. If they can prove somebody is using this product to deliberately break they law, I say "have at it." Otherwise, the only thing outlawing this product will do is encourage somebody else to sell it in an art-supply store under another name.
I remember in DC they got caught shortening the length of yellow lights to trick people into running reds and collecting more fines.
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I see you don't have any ex-wives.
Take a look at a NYS plate from different angles. There are three nearly invisible data stamps stacked in the middle. I think they hold all owner data necessary to track the vehicle at tolls and with those light-cameras. My bet is that the paint blocks the reading of that stamp.
LOL!
We lost a family member to an MVA. And we've had other family members and friends injured by people running stop signs and red lights. The gov't can regulate their little hearts out as far as I'm concerned. Since I happily obey the traffic laws and think other people should, I don't mind a bit. I think it's a pro-life position :)
Fine - but the cameras rarely get a picture of the driver, and you get a ticket and fine assessed, plus a notation on your record without a trial.
I could put fake tags with your number on a car that looks like yours, run every monitored red light in the city, and you'd get a bunch of tickets that you'd have to pay - for offenses you didn't commit. Or you piss off your spouse when you're going through a divorce, and she runs all the lights in town in 'your' car. This has actually been done in at least two cases I can think of. You think that might be a problem? Something about "so much for the right of trial by jury"?
Unfortunately, installation of traffic cams go hand-in-hand with reduced yellow light timing to increase revenue.
When freedoms are outlawed, only outlaws will have freedom.
Government can't be trusted when it comes to money. Not too mention the processing fee that the camera company gets per
a citation.
From my experience, when an intersection becomes problematic vis-a-vis safety, an officer stationed there for a week
usually brings about the desired result. Not to mention reminding people, by his very presence, of the need to
err on the side of safety.
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