By Richard Diamond/Staff Reports

A speed camera failed to prevent an accident in Italy last week. In Fiera di Primiero on Friday, a speed camera was destroyed after a car careened out of control in the wintry conditions, striking a lamppost and knocking over the automated ticketing machine. The driver was unharmed. In Florence, officials are still wondering who shot the speed camera warning sign on the Viale Etruria. The sign was hit three times, and local police have no suspects.

In Moers, Germany, the speed camera on Rheinberger Strasse failed to prevent an accident on Tuesday. A motorcyclist made an evasive maneuver near the automated ticketing machine and lost control, striking and slightly damaging the photo radar device, according to police accounts. A similar incident took place a day earlier in Bielefeld. A Skoda Fabia was thrown against a speed camera after the automated ticketing machine failed to prevent an accident on Monday, January 16. The 20-year-old Skoda driver was heading out of town on Eckendorfer Strasse when the driver of a Scania big rig truck changed lanes into the Skoda, knocking the small car off the road and into the photo radar device. On Sunday, January 15, vigilantes smashed the windows on the speed camera that had been issuing tickets on the B45.

On the Caribbean island of Martinique, vigilantes resumed the practice of torching speed cameras, taking out five automated ticketing machines in as many days. On Sunday, they used wooden pallets to set fire to the speed camera in Sainte-Luce. Another camera went up in flames in the Four a Chaux quarter of Le Robert on Saturday. The speed camera on the RN1 in Le Lamentin was torched a second time on Friday -- the same device that had also been scorched on Wednesday. On Thursday, the speed camera near Pont de Claifornie in Le Lamentin was completely destroyed by flames. A pair of automated ticketing machines in the Quartier l'Estrade in Le Robert went up in flames on Wednesday, after operating for less than a day.

In Cuperly, France, vigilantes on Thursday knocked over and then burned the mobile speed camera on the RD977. In Aywaille, Belgium, vigilantes blinded the speed camera on the Rue du Chalet with red spraypaint.