5/10/2009
Tennessee Protests Speed Cameras, UK Burns and Poland Grabs ThemStudents protest speed cameras in Tennessee, while cameras burn in Lancashire, UK and are grabbed in Poland.
Drivers around the world chose different methods of expressing displeasure with photo enforcement this week. Students from East Tennessee State University gathered yesterday to protest speed cameras and red light cameras in the town of Jonesborough. The group Students of American Liberty organized the all-day rally at the town hall to gather signatures for a petition asking the mayor and aldermen to remove the automated ticketing machines operated by Redflex, an Australian company.
"We are going to send an strong and clear message to the Town of Jonesborough that we do not want these scameras in our town," Joanna Simmons explained on the group's Facebook page.
Vigilantes in Lancashire, England took a more direct approach. A speed camera on Woodplumpton Road in Preston was burned at 3am this morning, according to the Lancashire Evening Post. The gasoline-filled tire attack succeeded in completely destroying the device.
Officials in Poland insist that speed cameras prevent accidents, but a brand new automated ticketing machine in Bialystok was not even able to protect itself from collision (see photo). A car rammed the speed camera at 9am yesterday preventing it from issuing any tickets, TVN24 reported. A more deliberate attack took place on May 2 as someone busted open a speed camera in Bobolice and grabbed the film, Dziennik reported. Local police claim that they caught the man responsible, identified only as a thirty-four-year-old named Piotr W. The damage was estimated at 17,000 Zlotych (US $5200).