7/1/2012
Maryland, Austraia, France, Latvia, UK: Speed Cameras AttackedMarbles, spraypaint and fire used to take out speed cameras across the globe.
Police in Howard County, Maryland accused Bruce Lawrence May, 50, of shooting a speed camera van with a slingshot at 5pm on Tuesday. According to a police statement, the automated ticketing machine was parked on Route 144 in Ellicott City when it was hit on the side with two marbles fired from a minivan. Police are throwing the book at May with assault charges because the camera van had a driver inside. In a separate attack on June 13, a speed camera van's back window was broken in Ellicott City. Rocks were also hurled at another camera on US 29 on June 12.
A speed camera failed to save itself from an accident in Dorset, England on June 23. At around 7:30am, a pickup truck hit the automated ticketing machine on Herbert Avenue in Poole, knocking it over and ripping up the pavement. According to the Bournemouth Echo, the truck driver suffered only minor injuries.
In Leicester, England vigilantes used a large pot filled with gasoline to set a speed camera on fire. According to Leicester Mercury the charred remains of the device on King Richards Road were not found until Monday.
Last week Sunday, vigilantes in Latvia used builder's foam to disable a speed camera in Murjani, Apollo reported. The device was also covered with the initials RR in red spraypaint.
On Tuesday at around 6:50pm, vigilantes smashed the windows of a mobile speed camera van in Western Australia. According to Western Australia Today, the device had been issuing tickets on Reid Highway near Northwood Drive in Mirrabooka.
In Marmagne, France vigilantes covered a speed camera on the RD680 with blue paint, Le Journal de Saone-et-Loire reported. About eight holes of varying sizes were also punched into the face of the camera.