GINO-ESC

In southern cali red light traffic cameras are popping up everywhere, does anyone have experience with the photo-blocker spray advertised in nearly every car magazine?

PaulX608

Why do you wish to run red lights?

C240Style

Also would work on EZ-pass. But actually the camera thing is ridiculous. The second the light turns red if it detects motion it snaps the photo. So if you're going through a light as it's turning yellow and it turns red as you're at the other end of the intersection, it'll snap a shot and you'll get a ticket. I think it's kind of a bs move.

Brunelleschi

Is that photo blocker legal? Is it ethical? Do you think the mods will allow this thread to remain open?

So many questions....

white_w203

just slow down. you could save a life.

ChaRgeC230

ive seen a car with it and i knew he had it because when the sun hit the plate i couldnt even see the numbers..so it worked...

GINO-ESC

ChaRgeC230 thanks for the post, I was starting to wonder if everyone reading this was an attorney or my mother !

Brunelleschi

Well, there are alot of attorneys floating around this board, and while I am not an attorney, beleive it or not, I am actually studying a legal case book as we speak

14cue

Not that i would use it but is it any worst than a radar detector?

Moviela

Is it ethical? Everyone knows you shold not run red lights, but that is a question I'd like to ask the lying, cheating, theiving politicians who install these camera devices. Anyone who thinks they contribute to safety believes in the Easter Bunny too. They are installed for a single purpose. To take gobs of cash from you. A red light ticket will cost you about $ 1,200.00 over three years in California.

The people who install them select the places where they will earn the most revenue, not where the most accidents occur. They spend hours fine tuning the phasing of the signals to increase the amount earned. When they are caught cheating (like making the yellow too short, or charging drivers who entered the intersection legally) and a judge orders restitution, only the folks who fought the ticket get their money back.

What really burns my toast is the total lack of regard for the Constitution. Your right to face the police and cross examine witnesses has been flushed away by a Supreme Court who has deceided police have greater rights than the rest of us. Just how do you cross examine a photo that exists solely to convict you. Convictions shold not be obtained by machines. They can be made to lie by people after your money.

Sprays, flashing frames, and optical lenses over the plate do not work well or at all, and are not legal. Mounting your plate so the top is 45 degrees forward of the bottom of the plate can be effective in hiding the numbers from the cameras mounted high on poles, and is legal.

shorthair

I have seen some reviews about it, and all them said it did nothing.

powa

i donno if this will work, spray clear coat on ur license plate?

i've seen someone's license plate are very reflective, with my HID light, it made me blind from behind

Rick

A little off topic....but there's a point to be made.
I had installed laser defraction license plate covers on each of my vehicles. They also supposedly worked to distort video camera images. I failed NJ inspection on one of my MG's and got a $74 ticket (obstructed license plate) for it in my coupe. The coupe was subsequently searched, and the cop pulled out the floor mats, glove box and console contents, rear seat cushion, spare tire, cover, tools and rear hatch panels. He also confiscated a leatherman tool from my tool kit. He then waited for me to put it all back after threatening to write another ticket for littering.

A friend/lawyer/judge wrote a pretty stern letter to his Chief, but the bottom line is...Rookie cops suck.

I can't say what the laws are in other states, but in NJ, they look for any reason to pull you over. If I have to give advice, I'd say it's not worth it.

mleskovar

You don't have to think whether they contribute to safety, just look at the statistics on the corners where they have been installed. In all cases the number of accidents , injuries, and losses of life were significantly reduced. Same with speed cameras. And yes, they are cash cows. Not only do they bring in hard $ but they also free up police to do more important work. I'm not defending them, just stating the facts. Slow down, pay more attention to lights, and make it safer for all of us. Personally I hate the damn things but what can be bad about increasing safety?

mleskovar

Not true. I've been 'snapped' three times and not one produced a ticket. It looks at the position of the car with relationship to the limit line/crosswalk and they determine if you entered the intersection after the light turned red before issuing a ticket. They have to do that because what if you were just waiting to turn and entered the intersection in line behind a car or two when the light was green? I think they are so effective that it's just a matter of time before all intersections and speed zones have cameras. That will be a sad day.

Brunelleschi

I don't see that happening. It would be career suicide for the politician who proposes it. A certain ammount of automated policing has proven effective, but excessive over-policing by automated means will not be accepted by the masses without a fight. That kind of control over the general public is a way of using new technology to force up back in time prior to the establishment of many of our personal freedoms we take for granted today

nlpamg

more important work? you mean going to krispy kreme more often or writing people up for having 35% tint on their front windows or people going 7miles over the speed limit?

sorry, just a tad bit bitter here...

mleskovar

I hope you're right, but it's already spreading. I don't see any political problems though....it's all done at the local/city level and most people wouldn't even know who voted on the council to install them....if not the whole council! Also, the majority of the people obey the laws and actually like to see the scofflaws being caught. A friend received a ticket in the mail from Australia for speeding in a rental when caught by a camera while vacationing!

sdsilverm3

Yeah or like sitting around the fricking corner for hours trying to nail people who roll stop signs instead of patrolling the f-ing neighborhood at night for vehicle vandalizers. A little bitter here too! My sister's car along with a few others in my neighborhood got hit a few months back and they did jack about it while they magically appear in the mornings around the corner from stop signs.

Rick

Maybe there's a point to be made here.

Drive carefully - Don't run red lights or roll stop signs.

If saving you from a ticket doesn't matter...maybe saving your life will.

Cigalert

Just to add some information to this topic. 2 of my employees have recently recieved red light tickets for not coming to a complete stop before making a right hand turn. $346 each ticket. Check out the bottom picture of the license plate. I don't think changing the texture of the plate would change how that shows in a picture based on that angle.

mleskovar

NO!! They're also snapping photos of incomplete stops!! I wonder what it
takes for the sensors to believe a complete stop was made....like how is the motion sampled or does any movement (<1mph) kick it off? $346 is outrageous, that's like a car pool violation. Does anyone know how this works?

Cigalert

It can't be seen because of the size of the scan but just above each of the smaller pictures to the right it has the speed, current time, how long the light has been red. I was thinking about how I could help my drivers fight with the city for proof that the red light was ran. Based on the fact they show the speed of the vehicle and where the sensors are placed, it's pretty obvious the driver cannot stop before the crosswalk. My other driver recieved a ticket for not coming to a complete stop prior to an intersection much like this one but he got his at 5:12 am. There is not a lot of traffic at 5. I believe the price of the ticket should be greater if the street is busier. Running a red light at 5 am should result in a $100+/- fine.

SeaCoupe

Damn; That royally sucks. What intersection is this at? I was watching the news last week, and they were saying how they were going to install another 30+ traffic cams in LA county. On my route to work, I know where the cams are. And even being SUPER attentive to those intersections, I know that it has happened where I was rolling through on a Yellow.

E

mleskovar

So they didn't stop at all, just slowed down and rolled through it? What was the speed shown as? How long was the light red? How do you know where the sensors are placed? Do you think they are attached to the camera (logical, but I don't know). What do you mean "obvious the driver cannot stop before the crosswalk"? That he could have stopped way before the limit line and then proceeded through it and then was snapped? Sorry about all the questions but if we don't know how the system works/reacts then you can't question it. Does anyone know? So it looks like $346 was for running the light and not for coming to a complete stop. I wonder what separates the two?