Can You Foil The Photo Cop?

Getting a speeding ticket is easier than ever these days. Thanks to photo radar, you can get nabbed without ever seeing a cop. If you believe the ads, you can buy products that will let you beat this new technology.

Our resident skeptic, CBS Consumer Correspondent Herb Weisbaum tested those products. Do they work, or will they wind up in Herb's Trash?

Different places have different names for it like "photo cop," or "speed camera." But the concept is the same: park an automated radar gun and camera by the roadside. When a speeder goes by, the camera takes a picture. The cops get the license plate number off the photo, and simply mail you a ticket.

A number of companies claim you can beat the system with products designed to make your license plate invisible to the camera. We decided to put them to the test.

Scottsdale, Ariz., is one of a growing number of cities using automated radar and camera systems to crack down on speeders.

"It's kind of like entrapment. I don't like it," said one driver.

Scottsdale is also home to photo radar manufacturer American Traffic Systems.

So, we decided it would be the perfect place to test products that claim they can protect drivers from the photo cops.

We set up a real-life demonstration. American Traffic Systems provided a technician and a Scottsdale police speed camera rig.

To make it a fair test, we brought along a selection of state license plates with both light and dark backgrounds and letters.

The first type tested was plastic plate covers. We purchased two different brands of these covers, which promise protection through optical distortion.

Viewed head-on, the plate is easily readable. At an angle, the numbers disappear.

To the human eye, it appears to work. But can it fool the speed camera?

We also purchased a widely advertised spray-on product called Photo Fog. It claims to make the plate so reflective that the strobe light's flash will blind the camera. We gave our plates several coats of Photo Fog, following the manufacturer's directions.

Then, I hit the road.

I drove by the speed camera again and again and again. While the camera flashed away, I made multiple passes, using plates from seven different states.

So did we beat the camera? To find out, we took the film back to American Traffic Systems, where Adam Tuton ran through the pictures for us.

At first glance it looks like those plate covers worked.

"But if we do a reversal, you can clearly see BKJ7559," said Tuton.

By simply tweaking the viewer, Tuton could read every covered plate. In some cases, the license plate cover actually improved the picture.

"This is another one that actually enhances it...so it makes it easier to read," said Tuton.

The bottom line is that both plate covers failed miserably.

But what about the Photo Fog spray? Could it blind the camera with reflected flash?

Looking at the print from the camera, some plates are completely washed out.

On the viewer, it's a different story. On every pass, with every plate, the numbers come through.

We did not block a single shot with the products we used? "Not one," said Tuton.

Those results don't surprise Adam's brother, company president Jim Tuton, who has tested similar products before.

"Anybody who thinks that they can put this on their car and have some sort of license to speed is in for trouble because it's a false sense of security. They don't work," said Jim Tuton.

The best way to beat the robot radar is to drive the legal speed limit. With more and more places using robot cameras for speeders, red light runners and tollbooth cheaters, you can expect to see even more ads pitching this stuff. But as our tests show, if you buy these reflective sprays or these plate covers, you're just wasting your money which is why these things are going in Herb's Trash.

According to the experts we spoke to, there are only two things you can do to block a photo cop--paint over or tape over the license plate, or take it off altogether. Of course, do either of those things and you're breaking the law.

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