http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2004/07/11/news/news22.asp
'Number
plate spray' a big no-no'
THE
GOVERNMENT has slammed a product that purports
to help drivers beat speed cameras by hiding
their number plates.
The
spray, which has been sold in the US for about
two years, appears to reflect the flashes of
speed cameras so that it obscures the car registration
in the photograph - but the plates can still
be seen with the naked eye.
"It's
like taking a picture of a mirror," said
Dave Elsworth, a Cape Town-based software engineer,
who began selling the spray paint through the
Internet about five months ago.
Until
now he has only marketed it in Cape Town through
flyers and word of mouth.
But
Wendy Watson, general manager of Land Transport
Regulation at the Transport Department said
the authorities regarded the spray paint as
"totally illegal".
She
said traffic officers would dish out fines for
obstruction of justice to anyone found using
it.
Elsworth
said he was told the spray was not illegal because
of a loophole in the law. He would stop selling
it if it was made illegal, he said.
"The
law doesn't say that your car has to be photogenic,"
he said.
The
law states that no physical obstructions should
be placed on registration plates and that the
numbers should not be altered, Elsworth said,
but not that you must ensure that speed cameras
can take pictures of your plates.
But
Watson said the very fact that it made car registrations
un readable meant it was unlawful.
-
Gill Moodie
