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Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025

Is covering up license plates to avoid traffic cameras illegal in Colorado?

Por Jaijongkit, The Colorado Sun
yes

Colorado drivers can be ticketed if they are caught behind the wheel of a vehicle that has been modified to avoid detection by red-light cameras and other license-plate readers. Affixing a tinted screen or cover to a license plate, or changing its color, is a class B traffic infraction punishable by a $100 fine. 

License-plate readers use high-speed, high-resolution cameras to record the license plates of passing cars. Colorado law enforcement agencies use the cameras to identify stolen vehicles, track hit-and-run drivers and find vehicles associated with crimes. 

Denver has dozens of license-plate readers installed across the city, along with red-light cameras at four intersections: 6th and Kalamath, 6th and Lincoln, 8th and Speer, and 36th and Quebec. Drivers caught on camera breaking the law at those locations face fines ranging from $40 to $80, depending on the violation. 

As of 2022, red-light cameras were in use in at least nine Colorado cities.

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