Steve Eimers, a road-safety advocate known online as "The Guardrail Guy," expanded his advocacy this year to raise concerns about automatic licence plate readers (ALPRs), arguing that many are installed too close to guardrails or on road signs in ways that could make crashes more dangerous. His videos went viral, but rather than focusing on his crashworthiness argument, many viewers instead seized on the cameras as symbols of mass surveillance, with some urging him to destroy them or offering vandalism tips. Shortly after Flock, the leading ALPR manufacturer, praised Eimers and announced a nationwide audit of its installations, two cameras he had featured in his posts were found badly damaged, and he has since paused his ALPR advocacy altogether.

Eimers reported the damage to police in Tennessee, where authorities in Maryville and Blount County said they had arrested Adam Heimerman, a congressional candidate, and charged him with felony vandalism for shooting four ALPR cameras between 14 and 22 July. Eimers said the level of hostility around this campaign was unlike anything he had experienced during his years of guardrail safety work, and that he felt "shell-shocked" on discovering the damaged cameras, prompting his decision to halt the ALPR posts rather than "feed the trolls."