License Plate Spray – Method or Madness?

Photo enforcement has one message for reckless drivers: you can run, but you can’t hide. No matter how quickly you race past a sensor, your BRITISH COLUMBIA FAKE DRIVERS LICENCE plate will be photographed and you’d eventually be on the receiving end of a $100 fine. Enterprising drivers, however, have latched onto a clever solution. Their retort to the challenge photo enforcement has issued? Catch me if you can.

License Plate Spray: Ancestor Before license plate sprays, there were license plate covers. License plate covers deflect light from cameras, making plates unreadable. Manufacturers claim this light deflection mechanism makes it impossible to make out license plates from the side and the top. Because license plate covers come cheaply, many bought them. It was not long before authorities caught on. Some states quickly banned the use of license plate covers.

License Plate Spray: How Does It Work? License plate spray came after the license plate cover. Like its ancestor, it also relies on the reflective property of a license plate’s lettering. Photo radars utilize a strong flash to photograph cars’ license plates as these vehicles speed by. License plate sprays flash this light back to the camera. The result is a picture made unreadable by over-exposure.

Its effectiveness is still under debate. Some claim it works; others say it doesn’t. It’s unclear which side is telling the truth. What is clear as daylight, however, is the fact that license plate sprays are selling faster than law enforcers could blink.

It may be responsible for negative behavior modification. Some believe license plate sprays will cause drivers to be cocky. Because they no longer fear legal consequences of their actions, they would exceed the speed limit and run over red lights whenever they feel like doing so.

It’s illegal. Most states do not expressly prohibit the use of license plate spray. What they prohibit is obstructing license plates from human view. Manufacturers of license plate sprays argue that spraying license plates with a high-gloss finish is not illegal because the writing on the plates would still be visible to the human eye. It is only a photo radar camera that cannot see them. To spray or not to spray? That is the question. No matter how we answer it, though, one thing is clear. The human race has made so many technological advancements anything is possible – even foiling wireless eyes.