You can’t count on a spray to keep you out of trouble with Davenport’s new red light cameras. A spray-on product called “Photoblocker” claims it reflects a camera’s flash and will keep your license plate from being photographed. Maybe so, but it won’t help in Davenport, according to police Lieutenant Mike Venema. Venema says Davenport uses a near-infrared flash, not a visible flash, so the flash isn’t affected by that kind of spray. He says people who buy this product would be “throwing their money away.” Last fall, Davenport became the first city in Iowa to start using cameras at five dangerous intersections. They snap photos of cars and their license plates when red lights are ignored. The plates are traced and vehicle owners are sent a “notice of violation” in the mail, along with a 65-dollar fine. As for the spray, Venema says the 30-dollar product is no good in Davenport.Venema says the red light cameras are in place for safety reasons and the best way to avoid a ticket is to actually stop. Each of the five intersections has had at least six red-light-running crashes each year for the past several years. A state D-O-T study found in a three-year period, red light violation crashes in Davenport resulted in one death, 583 injuries and more than 11-million dollars in property damage.
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