One of the newest countermeasures: A spray-on film that makes plates unreadable to the speed cameras.

And so it goes.

"It's like the arms race," Bill Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations in Washington, D.C., told The Wall Street Journal. "First police came up with radar, then there were radar detectors. Police came out with lasers, then companies came up with laser detectors."

Not all of the devices are high-tech. In fact, some rank very low on the technology scale, but are effective nonetheless.

One product, sold by Radarbusters.com, is called the Super Protector. It is little more than a clear license plate cover that is designed to obscure license numbers when viewed from the sides or above by a camera.

Another tool is a $30 can of spray manufactured by PhantomPlate, Inc. that makes license plates so reflective it causes too much glare when a traffic camera flashes, thereby ruining the image.

Other enemies of these products include lawmakers. Currently a bill to outlaw use of the spray is making its way through the legislative process in New York.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, officials have positioned their red light cameras in such a manner as to reduce glare and thereby capture cleaner images.

Still, designers and manufacturers are working overtime to develop ways for drivers to escape the lengthening arm of the law.

Earlier this year, Beltronics USA introduced a line of radar detectors designed to detect police radar guns that use "POP mode" technology, which can measure vehicular speeds with a quick burst without triggering most other radar detectors.

Few police departments are using that technology, however.

Radar detectors are legal in the U.S. except for Virginia and Washington, D.C. – the areas most heavily concentrated with lawmakers and federal lawmaking apparatuses.

The makers of these products say they aren't trying to aid and abet lawbreakers. Rather, they say they are simply trying to provide tools to otherwise law-abiding people who are being victimized by red light cameras in use mostly to increase revenue for cities and municipalities.

Even if lawmakers end up banning several products, makers say their sales are booming in the interim. PhantomPlate, for instance, says the company has sold over 100,000 bottles in the past year.

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