On Being 17 Bright and Unable to Read

March 03, 2022 Post a Comment

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A News 2 investigation into maybe flawed Tennessee license plates has the state investigating whether the new plates are invisible to some LPR cameras around the state. And now it's possible that some Tennessee specialty plates already on the roads could exist just as hard for these cameras to see at night.

Tim Holman is an electrical engineer who showtime alerted News 2 to the problem. "I've been working in integrated circuit pattern throughout my career."

The engineer has six security cameras on his front porch, some of which are capable of reading license plates that scroll past. "Whenever I outset spotted this problem on my LPR cameras, I wanted to ostend, with some other camera what I was seeing was real," Holman said.

He showed News two a smaller LPR camera that he says he built himself for around $100. "This piffling camera uses 850 Nanometers infrared light which is what many LPR systems around the land utilize."

On Feb 14, Holman did an experiment using his portable LPR camera. He pointed it at a Tennessee Woman Veteran Plate most his habitation. "This is the commencement one I establish," he says pointing to the obscured prototype on his laptop.

At night, on his camera, the numbers and much of the identifying information washes away in a field of white. "The 'Tennessee' is gone. The woman veteran is gone. Both the background and the letters themselves are reflecting the light almost equally," Holman said.

Tim Holman's LPR Cameras — Tim Holman'south LPR Cameras

Holman already demonstrated a problem with the new plates for News 2. He showed how the Tennessee logo at the top of a new plate has disappeared.

Holman said he made the discovery effectually Feb ii, and that information technology was accidental. There was a serial of car burglaries near his home and he was trying to find license plate info for the constabulary using his photographic camera system. That'due south when he noticed an absence of plates going by his home, "That'due south when I realized the plate I could not come across was one of the new plates."

In previous stories, News 2 has shown examples of the old plate, bright and visible at dark. The new plate, nether some camera systems, is often dark or washed out.

Pointing at the dark plate with no identifiers, Holman referenced the missing Tennessee logo at the top of the plate. "This makes more than of a problem. At night what state does that plate belong to? you cannot tell."

And Holman said the squiggly security thread, barely visible, in the centre of the sometime Tennessee plate is a big mistiness on the new plate. "That thread is there and then police can easily glance at the plate and know if it is counterfeit."

On the new plate, it is fuzzy, complicating the limerick. "It almost seems similar an 50 or an I or a ane and information technology would confuse the camera," Holman said.

Holman added his picayune homemade infrared camera system is just like many LPR systems around the country. The issue is the camera has trouble differentiating betwixt the numbers and messages and the plate's groundwork at night. And adverse weather weather condition tin brand reading the new plates even more than hard.

The Section of Prophylactic said it is investigating the possible flaw in the plate and it continues to produce the plate and issue them to motorists around the state.

As of Monday, the Tennessee Department of Revenue said it has issued more than half a million new plates, the exact total beingness 510,207.

News ii sampled people coming from the Davidson County Clerk'due south Role in Nashville. 1 man said, "It is non safe they need to fix it."

And when informed that the country is however producing the perhaps flawed plate and issuing them to motorists, the human said this, "Information technology's non a good thought. I definitely disagree with that. They need to stop every bit soon as possible. It's going to crusade a lot of trouble, and people could do anything, they are just invisible basically."

A couple who just moved from Illinois and was purchasing their new Tennessee tag had this to say: "Nosotros merely had that conversation. Why are they ordering more till they know it is right. And that nosotros need to accept information technology correct."

Her husband added, "someone didn't do their homework."

Every office is different, but the Davidson County Clerk told News 2, from January one through February fourteen, 2022, the part has issued 41,249 new license plates. Officials say they boilerplate 1,473 plates per day and they currently have 72,000 new plates in stock waiting to ship out.

The Tennessee Adult female Veteran plate was created in 2008 and is one of more than 100 specialty plates offered by the land. There are currently ii,174 Tennessee Woman Veteran plates on the route, according to the state's Department of Revenue.

The department also said that, until recent reports, they weren't aware of any issue related to the readability of Tennessee license plates past LPRs.