2/12/2012
Texas, France, Poland, UK: Traffic Cameras Burned, RammedSpeed cameras set on fire in England, France, Poland while two red light cameras are knocked down in Texas.
Vigilantes set fire to a speed camera in Bordes, France on Saturday at 3:30am marking the third such attack in three months, according to Sud Ouest. The device on the RD938 was first attacked on December 22 before the device had even issued its first ticket, and then on January 10 it was burned again.
Ouest France reported that officials are so overwhelmed with repairing speed cameras that have been spraypainted or burned that it can take weeks to get a camera up and running again. Officials admitted that no motorists had ever called to complain about a speed camera being out of service.
A vigilante in Pomerania, Poland tried to pry open a speed camera before he poured gasoline on it and set it on fire last week, Express Bydgoski reported. The automated ticketing machine had operated on the road between Bydgoszcz to Lodz. Police have no idea who might be responsible.
In El Paso, Texas a pair of red light cameras at the intersection of Mesa and Resler Street were rammed on Thursday and Friday. According to KFOX-TV, police claim the devices were hit twice in a row as a result of accidents that were not prevented by the red light camera.
Vigilantes burned a speed camera in Cambridgeshire, England in November, and it is still disabled. County officials are still debating whether to spend money on a digital upgrade to the automated ticketing machine on Ditton Lane in Fen Ditton, the Cambridge News reported.