11/11/2012
Belgium, Italy, Poland: Speed Cameras Bashed, SmashedSpeed camera vigilantes increase activity in Belgium while cameras are smashed and bashed in Poland and Italy.
Last week vigilantes whacked a pair of automated ticketing machine with a sledgehammer in Lonato, Italy. Giornale di Brescia reported the devices were located just before the entrance to the San Zeno tunnel. The cameras are out of commission, and police have no idea who might be responsible.
Between January and April, a total of 70 speed cameras have been knocked out of commission in Flanders, Belgium thanks to vigilantes. Gazet Van Antwerpen reports this represents a significant increase over last year's total of 54. The most popular method of destruction is ramming, accounting for 39 of 124 incidents between 2011 and 2012. Some 21 have been pried open with a crowbar, 18 have been spraypainted, 11 have been set on fire, and 3 have been shot.
A speed camera in Jeziorki, Poland failed to prevent an accident on Wednesday that flattened the automated ticketing machine, according to TVN 24. At around 10pm, a 25-year-old drunk driver in a Peugeot slammed into the camera pole, ripping it out of the ground. Police found the uninjured woman's blood alcohol level was .13.