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skyringSaturday night, and I noticed a police car parked illegally on the Manuka taxi rank. Parked in that it was empty and locked. Maybe, I thought, the policemen are responding to some incident, but judging by the way they strolled back to their car a few minutes later with cups of coffee, I think not.
However, the interesting part was the numberplate. I could read the number quite clearly, but when I took this flash photograph, a strange thing happened: it turned into a blank white rectangle.
I took a few more photographs of regular cars that night and each time I was able to read the registration number easily in a flash photograph. I suspect that this police car numberplate has been treated in some way, perhaps sprayed with a high-gloss varnish, in order that so much light is reflected from a flash that the number can't be read.
What would happen if this car triggered a speed camera or a red light camera at night and the flash went off?
My guess is that no infringement report would be generated.
I was able to blow up the number plate region of this photograph and tweak the contrast and brightness. At extreme settings a number was visible. Some characters were only just legible.
The number was YEZ-51H
However, the interesting part was the numberplate. I could read the number quite clearly, but when I took this flash photograph, a strange thing happened: it turned into a blank white rectangle.
I took a few more photographs of regular cars that night and each time I was able to read the registration number easily in a flash photograph. I suspect that this police car numberplate has been treated in some way, perhaps sprayed with a high-gloss varnish, in order that so much light is reflected from a flash that the number can't be read.
What would happen if this car triggered a speed camera or a red light camera at night and the flash went off?
My guess is that no infringement report would be generated.
I was able to blow up the number plate region of this photograph and tweak the contrast and brightness. At extreme settings a number was visible. Some characters were only just legible.
The number was YEZ-51H
