3/8/2009

Vigilantes Destroy Speed Cameras in France, Italy, UK
Two French speed cameras disabled, two Italian camera smashed and one UK camera is knocked over.

Speed cameras throughout Europe have been damaged and destroyed over the past two weeks. In Vienne, France, vigilantes shot out or smashed the glass lenses of a speed camera in the village of Cisse on Route 347 last week. The seriously damaged automated ticketing machine currently sits at the side of the road wrapped in black plastic awaiting repair or replacement that could take up to three weeks. A second camera on the Couronneries was blinded with black paint on Monday. Vigilantes have also recently hit a pair of cameras at Poitiers and Beaumont, according to la Nouvelle Republique.

In Florence, Italy, a sledgehammer was the likely cause of destruction for a speed camera on the Florence-Pisa-Leghorn expressway. Vigilantes wrapped the device with plastic to prevent shrapnel from flying into the roadway before proceeding to smash open the metal casing of the device. None of the sensitive electronics inside survived the subsequent pounding. A similar attack also recently destroyed a camera in Pisa, according to 055 News.

In Surrey, UK vigilantes pulled down a speed camera on Upper Halliford Road in Shepperton on March 26.

"Most people feel like doing that at some time or another, but don't have the guts to go through with it," local resident Margo Dijkman told the Surrey Herald newspaper.

The average number of accidents on the road increased 37 percent after the speed camera was installed.