By Richard Diamond/Staff Reports

A "road safety" van designed to issue automated speed camera tickets in Normandy, France, nearly killed Michel and Nadine Delfour, an elderly couple passing through the area on vacation. On Sunday, May 21, they were driving in a bright red Ford Mustang convertible in Marigny-le-Lozon when the photo radar van departed from the opposite lane of traffic and slammed head-on into the Mustang, which had its cruise control set to the legal speed of 50 MPH. According to the account the couple gave to La Vie Quercynoise newspaper, their car was knocked into a ditch, trapping them, and their dog, a Cairn Terrier. Rescue teams had to cut into the car to rescue the couple, who suffered severe injuries. Both their car and the photo radar van were destroyed by the incident.

Vigilantes in the Hautes-Pyrenees department on Friday torched a pair of speed cameras. One was on the A64 in Lutilhous, and the other in Pinas on the RD817.

Officials Nichelino, Italy, are upset that their freshly installed speed camera network has failed to generate the expected about of citation revenue. Soon after the devices are activated, they end up destroyed or otherwise disabled, such as the device taken out of service most recently on Via Nenni. Likewise, in Citta di Castello the orange "VeloOK" camera that went active earlier this year near San Secondo was knocked over and emptied, as well as the camera on Via Polidori. Another opponent of automated ticketing thwarted the speed camera trap on the Via Marco Polo in Maniago by swiping the legally required photo radar warning sign. Under Italian law, the tickets are not valid unless a sign is visible.

In Taunusstein, Germany, vigilantes on Saturday smashed the lens of the speed camera on Eltviller Strasse. In Uberlingen, a speed camera was destroyed after it failed to prevent an accident on Tuesday. The device was issuing automated tickets on the L200 when a Volvo driver reacted to the camera's presence by slamming on the brakes. The Volvo lost control and careened off the road into the automated ticketing machine. The Volvo was totaled. Another photo radar unit was destroyed on Monday, June 5, after the driver of a city bus in Darmstadt suffered a medical problem and smashed into the ticketing machine at the intersection of Landgraf-Georg-Strasse and Putzerstrasse.