Traffic police caught 741 drivers with covered, hidden, or changed car plates during a 10-day operation ending Sept. 6, the traffic police bureau said.

Six groups of traffic policemen patrolled major roads to nab drivers who were tampering with their car plates to evade traffic cameras, said Feng Xinyi, a senior official with the traffic police bureau.

In one case, police found a car plate partly covered by a towel. When interrogated by police, the driver claimed that he was drying the towel on the plate and had forgotten to take it off.

Drivers used many tricks to ensure their numbers were not seen by cameras. Some claimed that their plates had been stolen, while others covered the numbers with dirt. A few even put a layer of transparent film on the plate so that the pictures taken by traffic cameras would be blurred, according to the traffic police bureau.

A popular trick among car owners was to remove one of their plates so that their chances of being caught by cameras were reduced by half. Most truck owners, however, covered plate numbers with dirt, according to the traffic police bureau.

Drivers who remove plates or intentionally hide plate numbers will be deducted six points and fined 200 yuan (US$26), said Feng.

(Shenzhen Daily September 12, 2007)