How one inventor wants to fight traffic cameras with a flash back

In many American cities, traffic cameras of some variety have become a way of life, giving cash-strapped local governments a fountain of new money while leaving many motorists fuming. In Washington, D.C., red-light and speed cameras brought in $85 million in 2011; one camera alone generated $11.6 million while recording more than 112,000 tickets. Now an Ohio inventor says he's created a device to legally fight back -- although those on the other side of the law may disagree.

Red-light cameras operate in 24 states across the country, while 13 states use speed cameras to tag motorists. Safety advocates have long backed the technologies; statistics show that speeding drivers trigger a majority of all auto accidents, and red-light running has been linked to thousands of accidents as well. But while many cameras were set up as safety measures, the additional revenue -- up to $500 a ticket in some jurisdictions -- has spurred a backlash; in all, 12 states have barred speed cameras and nine states have outlawed red-light camera tickets, with dozens of cities debating the question.

Speed and red-light cameras work in part because all states make it illegal to obscure your license plate -- and there's no magic spray that keeps the plates hidden from cameras but visible all other times. Jonathan Dandrow, an Ohio tinkerer, decided to research ways to make photos taken by the cameras useless, but otherwise leave the plate visible. After two years of work in his garage, Dandrow came up with noPhoto, a license plate frame that conceals two powerful xenon light units and electronics that trigger them only when they sense a flash from the traffic camera.