4/3/2023
Australia, France, Germany, UK Speed Cameras Rendered UselessMore than a dozen speed cameras were taken out in Australia, France, Germany and England last week.
By Richard Diamond/Staff Reports
A photo radar van in New South Wales, Australia, crashed into a ditch while trying to set up a speed trap. The light blue Hyundai Santa Fe SUV bore the message "Speed cameras save lives" as the car tilted at an angle with its front tire in the air. The images were posted Thursday to the Speed Cameras NSW and Road Revenue Facbook Group. In Victoria, an unidentified man wearing a hoodie slashed the tires of the photo radar van that had been issuing automated tickets on Major Road in Fawkner on Wednesday.
In Hemsbach, Germany, vigilantes on Saturday used a can of black spraypaint to sabotage the speed camera that had been issuing automated citations on Tilsiter Strasse. Police in Friedrichshafen remain baffled at the large number of speed cameras that have been taken out of service quickly and cheaply with the application of paint. Officials have no idea who might be responsible. In Ludwigshafen, the speed camera on Bergstrasse was thwarted after its lenses were covered in paint on Thursday. Also on Thursday, unknown vigilantes smashed the mobile speed camera on Bietigheimer Strasse in Tamm. Vigilantes blinded the mobile speed camera in Hanau with gray paint on Sunday, March 26. On the day before, the mobile speed camera on Schnatweg in Gutersloh suffered far more serious damage with police estimating the repair bill to be in the "five-digit range."
The speed camera in Calvisson, France, lasted a mere 24 hours before it was set on fire Thursday. Around the same time, the speed camera on Avenue du General-de-Gaulle in Saint-Quentin was blinded with red spraypaint. In Moneteau that day, the pole-mounted "turret" speed camera on the RD606 was cut down with an angle grinder. In Airion, the speed camera on the RD916 was covered with fluorescent yellow paint on Wednesday. On Tuesday, black paint was used to sabotage the photo radar device on the RN31 in Compiegne. The vigilantes responsible tagged the camera with "49.3," referring to the controversial pension reform plan implemente by the Macron administration. Also on Tuesday, red spraypaint was used to blinded the speed camera on the RD927 near Allonne. A pair of speed cameras on the RD1001 in Buigny-Saint-Maclou and Vron were smeared with yellow paint on Monday, March 27. Around the same time on the Caribbean island of Martinique, a turret speed camera on the RN5 in Ducos was destroyed by fire, bringing the total to twelve cameras destroyed on the island since the beginning of the year.
In Widnes, England, vigilantes on Tuesday set fire to the speed camera on the A562 Speke Road.