4/17/2023
Speed Cameras Subverted In France, Germany, ItalyMore than ten European speed cameras were removed from service last week by fire, gunfire, paint, stickers and kicks.
By Richard Diamond/Staff Reports
Vigilantes in Giessen, Germany, have been sticker-bombing the mobile speed cameras. Most recently, six stickers were plastered over the lens of the automated ticketing device on Ringallee, blocking its ability to generate citation revenue. In Breisach, a man approached a mobile speed camera trap that had been issuing automated tickets on Josef-Bueb-Strasse on Tuesday. He kicked the camera over, damaging the equipment, before jumping into a waiting car and rushing away. On Monday, April 10, vigilantes in Gronau-Epe smashed the speed camera that had been issuing automated tickets on Landesstrasse 574. In Bad Lauterberg, unknown anti-camera activists swiped the speed limit signs near the speed camera on B247. Police are now upset that they will have to cancel the automated citations that are no longer valid because the legally required signs were missing as of Sunday, April 9.
Vigilantes in Viviers, France, on Saturday torched the pole-mounted "turret" speed camera that had been issuing automated tickets on the RD86. The turret camera on the RN21 in Monbalen also suffered the same fate that day. Red paint blinded the speed camera on the RD928 in Saint-Martin-d'Hardinghem. The radar speed sign in Saint-Coutant-le-Grand was knocked over on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the speed camera on the RN85 in L'Escale was damaged by gunfire.
In Gambolo, Italy, vigilantes on Friday thwarted the automated ticketing ability of the speed camera on the Via Lomellina by twisting the device so that it faced away from the road.