How to Make Your Number Plate Invisible to Cameras

You probably live in an area with a high amount of traffic cams and have been tagged more times than you’d like to admit. Should you have learned your lesson? Probably. That’s why you may need a make your number plate invisible to cameras. Red light and speed cameras have become an omnipresent threat on the road, leading to countless drivers being ticketed and billions in fines being collected. This rise has led to a surge in driver frustration, leading to a need for effective solutions. Unfortunately, it is illegal to tamper with your number plate, let alone block a toll camera.

How to Make Your Number Plate Invisible to Cameras

There are many ways to block speed cams or toll cameras from capturing your license plate number. However, these cameras are set up to discourage speeding vehicles as well as help with road maintenance. But it is also OK for you to feel frustrated about the fines, especially if you use the same road often. Some of the methods here can be extreme and will land you hefty fines if you get caught though. Also, you want to use a method that aligns more with your state license plate laws to avoid drawing the cops’ attention.

That said, below are ways to make your number plate invisible to cameras:

1. Use PhotoBlocker Anti Traffic Camera Spray

PhotoShield license plate blocker is one innovative product with a transparent plastic license plate cover featuring a thin diffusion lens. This lens specifically obscures your license plate when viewed at an angle by traffic cameras, thereby preventing you from being ticketed. However, it is perfectly legible when viewed straight on from behind.

A significant number of red light and speed cameras use a powerful flash to capture an image of your license plate. When applied to your license plate, PhotoBlocker’s unique formula creates a high-gloss surface that reflects this flash back toward the camera. As a result, the camera captures an overexposed image of your license plate, rendering it unreadable. Despite this, your license plate remains perfectly visible to the human eye.

PhotoBlocker’s features include a reflecting traffic camera flash to prevent tickets, a quick spray-on formula, invisibility to the naked eye, and an exclusive formula. This product is an excellent alternative when an anti-camera license plate cover isn’t an option.

The application is one-time, and one can cover up to four license plates. It’s best to get a can of PhotoBlocker before you get a ticket.

2. Install a License Plate Reflector Cover

Reflector covers work, especially if your state does not consider license plate covers illegal. If traffic cameras can’t read your license plate, you won’t get a ticket. You can get a reflector cover at your local store or online, and they are typically made of high-quality transparent plastic coated with light-reflecting crystals.

It works by overexposing the images captured by photo radar and red light cameras by reflecting the flash back to the camera to blind it.

The light-reflecting particles in the cover act like tiny mirrors, reflecting the flash from a red light or speed camera. This results in an overexposed, unreadable picture, saving you from an expensive ticket.

A reflector cover can still be clear and inconspicuous to the naked eye, with no distortion when viewed at an angle. It’s effective and works. Installation is easy, and it will pay for itself the first time it prevents a ticket.

3. Set Up a License Plate Flipper

A license plate flipper is illegal! In Texas, for example, a person commits an offense if the person with criminal negligence manufactures, sells, offers to sell, or otherwise distributes a license plate flipper. An offense under this subsection is a Class A misdemeanor – Texas Transportation Code – TRANSP § 504.9465. License Plate Flipper;  Offense. As reported by USA Today, an arrested Texas man owed $5,473 in tolls using a license plate flipper to hide his license plate.

A license plate flipper is a device that can switch between two license plates, typically with the press of a button. It rotates or flips one plate down and another one up. The device is often used for legitimate reasons in some places. For example, in some places, drivers are required to display different plates when crossing national or state borders.

Using a license plate flipper to avoid detection by law enforcement, toll booths, or red light and speed cameras is illegal, of course, and will result in fines or other penalties if you get caught.

4. Attach a Bike Rack

Consider attaching a bike rack to your trailer hitch to make your number plate invisible to cameras. You just need a careful adjustment to bring the rack closer to the plate and block the angled view of toll cameras.

If stopped by a police officer, just plead ignorance and perhaps just receive a warning. An occasional obscured plate ticket might be a better trade-off compared to multiple speeding or red light tickets. Before you move to the next method, an Alberta man has been fined $162 for a bike rack covering licence plate.

6. Use infrared LED lights around the plate

Another intriguing way to make your number plate invisible to cameras is to use infrared LED lights around the plate. These lights are invisible to the naked eye but can be seen by cameras. You could verify this using your cell phone camera and remote control. If the remote uses infrared, it can block the camera from your registration plate.

Though infrared plate borders or cases might be hard to find, you can order a batch of IR LEDs and some balancing resistors to make your own. In fact, there are even hats fitted with these LEDs which can be disassembled for parts.

For a more creative solution, consider getting your car wrapped in vinyl displaying hundreds of counterfeit plates, a concept that has been tested before.

While infrared LEDs cannot interfere with radars, they can hamper the ability of cameras to capture legible images of license plate details. However, infrared LEDs are primarily effective when a camera isn’t using a flash. How do these LEDs render your plate invisible? When a photo is taken, the LED reflects back the flash, blinding the camera and resulting in an overexposed, glare-filled photo.

7. Opt for a vanity plate with “NUL NUL”

You could get a vanity plate with “NUL NUL” on it, though this is not recommended. A past attempt resulted in one driver being flooded with thousands of misrouted tickets. If you’re considering creating your own infrared plate frame, keep in mind that you may need a significant amount of power. Six 10W LEDs, three on the top and three on the bottom, should be sufficient.

Meanwhile, a California Man’s plot to avoid tickets with ‘NULL’ Vanity plate nets him $12K in fines! The Drive.

8. Apply Mud to Your License Plate

Applying mud to your license plate can make your number plate invisible to cameras. If stopped by the police, it would be difficult for them to prove that you deliberately used the mud to conceal your license plate.

9. Block Toll Camera with Duct Tape Approach

There’s also the duct tape approach. Some people use small pieces of colored duct tape to alter the characters on their license plate. When the flash from a camera fires, it lights up the license plate, with the camera’s swift settings capturing a frozen image of the plate.

However, due to reflective tape, the camera sensors can experience light bleeding or blurring around the license plate’s alphanumeric characters, rendering them indistinguishable. The resulting image of the license plate appears as an indistinct, white rectangle due to the reflective tape.

10. Make License Plate Invisible with Privacy Screen Protector

Get a phone or laptop privacy screen protector and cut them to fit over one or two characters on your license plate. That could also work. Position the tape sideways so that the privacy screen works horizontally. This works in NYC, especially with speed traps and red light cameras situated high up on poles. However, it may not work as well with toll booth cameras positioned at car level.

11. Use a Clear-Coat High-Gloss Reflective Substance

A clear-coat high-gloss reflective substance is another way to make your number plate invisible to cameras or keep cameras from taking clear photos of your license plate.

For instance, if you take a picture of a road sign, you’ll see the image gets washed out due to the reflection. This is because most road signs use highly reflective gloss paint to maximize light reflection.

If you apply a clear-coat high-gloss reflective substance to your license plate, it prevents cameras with a flash from capturing clear pictures. The first image might be captured perfectly by the camera, but in the second image, the high-gloss reflective substance increases the contrast, causing an overabundance of light on the license plate and obscuring the registration numbers.

Note that using a special coating doesn’t guarantee the invisibility of your license plate. If a simple negative image filter is applied by the camera operator, the license plate registration number can still become legible enough for detection.

12. Grease Up to Hide Your License Plate from Toll Camera

You can also make your license plate invisible to cameras by covering it with dirt or grease. However, driving with a dirty license plate is illegal and you will be ticketed for it if sighted. Law enforcement agencies are increasingly fining drivers with dirty plates.

Some truck drivers have found ways to simulate grease leaks on their vehicles, causing the grease to cover the license plate and make it invisible to cameras. The upside of this approach is that, if caught, you could potentially argue that you had no control over or knowledge of the dirt on your plates. Perhaps, you could go a little off-road to make it clear that you are not to blame.

13. Using Banana on License Plate

You’ve read correctly. A surprisingly simple and inexpensive method to avoid tolls is to take a banana and smear its remnants on your license plate, creating a ‘ghost’ plate. This technique is low-tech and will not cost much, offering another option in your quest to block license plate visibility.

What States Are License Plate Covers Illegal?

Read also: Washington State SR22 Requirements