4/22/2019
France, Germany, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia: Speed Cameras SabotagedSpeed cameras throughout Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East were smashed, burned and spraypainted last week.
French vigilantes used yellow spraypaint on Thursday to blind one speed camera on the RN2 in Laon and a pair of cameras on the RD1044 in Festieux. That same day, others used a pile of trash to fuel a fire at the foot of the speed camera on the Rue General Leclerc in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. On Tuesday, the speed camera on the RD137 in Chateauneuf was torched along with a camera on the RD176 in Miniac-Morvan. Around the same time, the speed camera on the RD999 in Montgaillard was destroyed by fire. Likewise, the speed camera in Biscarrosse was destroyed by a burning tire on April 15. In Morsbach, the camera on the A320 was covered with brown and green spraypaint.
In Milan, Italy, on Thursday, vigilantes in the Olcella neighborhood smashed the speed camera on the Via Dei Mille. On April 15, a newly installed speed camera on the Via Ravona in San Fermo was knocked over and left in the grass on the side of the road. The automated ticketing machine had just been repaired following a similar attack. In Montesilvano, a man ripped the speed camera on the Corso Umberto out of the ground and tossed it into a nearby garden.
In Leipzig, Germany, vigilantes on April 15 grabbed the Traffipax Traffiphot-S brand speed camera on Travniker Strasse. According to Leipziger Volkszeitung, police have no idea who might be responsible.
In Kyrgyzstan, vigilantes last week shot a speed camera that had been issuing automated citations on the road between Bishkek and Torugart. In Jizan, Saudi Arabia, a twenty-eight-year-old man stopped at a mobile speed camera trap in Abu Arish and proceeded to smash the automated ticketing machine. Police used photos of a car to track down a suspect.