Local News in Brief : License Plate Cover Blocked by State Law

A Canadian company’s plan to market a license plate cover that obscures the camera lens view of cars passing an automatic speed detector has been blocked by state law.

Platinum Communications of Vancouver planned to begin selling the $20 covers within two weeks to motorists in Pasadena--where police began using a photo-radar system to ticket speeders June 3--but sales and marketing director Terry Kuehne said the California law is “a definite obstacle.”

The Protek license plate protectors are clear but have a lens that company officials claim was designed to make the plate unreadable from a 22-degree angle, the same angle that the radar beam is aimed at speeding vehicles.

Kuehne said he wants to market the license plate cover in gas stations, auto parts stores and consumer electronics stores in Pasadena, the only city in California and only one of two in the nation that use photo-radar.

California Vehicle Code Section 5201 says, “No covering shall be used on license plates.”

Kuehne said the plate is selling well in Calgary where a photo-radar machine has snapped photos of 7,500 suspected speeders in the past four months.