Wednesday, July 16, 2003

FOX TV says, "Photoblocker spray is surprisingly effective"

On Nov 7, 2002 Washington DC’s Fox 5 News did a story on how to defeat red light cameras and photo radar (speed cameras). Fox TV's investigative team in conjunction with Denver, Colorado police department tested Phantomplate’s products. They tested the Photoblocker spray, the Reflector and Photoshield license plate cover.

The verdict is in; ALL our products are effective.

This is what they actually said…

"It is no scam ... several companies these days market products that claim to legally blind those automatic cameras. The question is do they really work? Fox 5’s Michael Gargiulo puts them to the test ... the red light cameras are credited with snapping up an extra $20 million in fines for the city ... spurring some to try inventive ways of beating the system ... products that actually claim to out smart the cameras ... Will they make your tag invisible? ... Denver police department agreed to put them to the test. They examined a total of three products. Did they work? Here is a photo form the test drive. The first plate cover looks like a prism (Photoshield) and it is supposed to distort plate numbers when it viewed form an angle. It fared well. Notice some of the plate numbers are invisible.

The second plate cover, the Reflector has reflective sparkles and it did a better job. The flash reflected off the sparkles so the plate number was way over exposed in the picture.

Now the third product is that Photoblocker spray ... that is surprisingly effective. It puts a high gloss finish on your plate. Which causes a reflection. That makes the plate over exposed and unreadable .... The question is." Is it legal?" ... It is practically impossible for police to spot plates that have been treated with the reflective spray. And in many jurisdiction there is no specific rule that says your tag must be photogenic."

And what does Denver Police department have to say ....

" What we did is we went out to the Denver Police driving track and we set up a simulated a 20 mile an hour speed limit ... These products may increase your odds ..." on avoiding a ticket.

Like the film shot by red-light cameras, photo radar film is sent to a processing center run by Lockheed Martin IMS. Though the weapons manufacturer, whose IMS division was the largest automated enforcement vendor in the nation, sold the division to Affiliated Computer Services for $800 million, if Lockheed's projections hold, ACS will reap $44 million from D.C.-generated tickets by 2004 (the city itself will pull in $117 million). It is at this center that the vendor elves, or "image specialists," not only develop film, but decide which pictures warrant citations. Internal Lockheed documents reveal that their camera's success rate can be as low as 42 percent (other vendors fall as low as 33 percent)--meaning that pictures must be tossed for reasons ranging from "data errors" to "clarity of [license] plate." From there, success rates drop even further. After vendors send out the tickets--which may or may not be subject to police review before being issued, depending on the city--it has been estimated by an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) study that the registered owner of the vehicle--the one ticketed after a vendor matches a plate number to a DMV record--is the actual driver of the car only 72 percent of the time.

posted by Shaun Kenney | 7/16/2003 10:17:00 AM | 0 comments

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