PHOENIX - Speeders beware. That Radar Busters film that blocks traffic-enforcement cameras from reading your license plate could get you busted.
On a 17-4 vote, the state Senate has agreed to make it illegal to put anything on a license plate that obscures the letters and numbers from being read at any angle. The language, offered by Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix, specifies that it applies not just to the ability of passing police officers to read the plates but also that of radar cameras.
The target is products intended to obscure license plates, like the ones marketed by a company known as Radar Busters, which sells what it calls a "photo blur license plate shield."
"The photo blur is simple yet effective in hiding your license plate numbers from any angle," the Radar Busters Web site promises. "Perfectly readable from straight on. Particularly effective for red light cameras," it says.
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If there's any doubt to whom it's being marketed, the Web site has a demonstration using an Arizona license plate.
"With everything that's happening in this state, from Amber Alerts to police officers having to swerve to see the license plate, it is about safety and it is about following the law," Cheuvront said.
Sen. Linda Gray, R-Glendale, said more than photo radar is at issue.
The Department of Public Safety and some police departments have photo scanners on the bumpers of their vehicles which "read" the license plates of passing vehicles, and compare the plates to a list of stolen vehicles.
That technology, Gray said, has made it easier for police to find stolen cars. "If you want to keep our theft down, we should outlaw covering the plate up," she said.
Sen. Rebecca Rios, D-Apache Junction, said there's "no valid reason" anyone would buy or install one of these items "unless they're trying to skirt the law."
The bill needs a final Senate vote before going to the House.
