Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/36/3613.asp

10/16/2011
France, Germany, Italy, UAE, UK: Speed Cameras Burn, Blocked, Broken
Vigilantes destroy and disable speed cameras throughout the world in the past few weeks.

Italy smeared speed cameraVigilantes in Bournemouth, England disabled a pair of speed cameras, the Bournemouth Echo reported. At Monday before 4am the automated ticketing machine on the A338 Wessex Way was set on fire with a burning tire. Later in the week, a beer can and a fistful of leaves were used to blind the camera on Wimborne Road. Local officials rushed to clear the debris so that the device could once again issue tickets. Police have no idea who might be responsible.

In the United Arab Emirates on October 9, vigilantes opened fire on three speed cameras in Umm al-Quwain. The northern emirate has a total of 33 fixed cameras and 4 photo radar vans. According to The National, the devices on Al Ittihad Road were damaged by the gunfire.

Between Wednesday, October 5, and Sunday, October 9, a set of four speed cameras were set on fire in Hautes-Alpes, France. The devices were about twelve miles apart from one another along the RN94 in Reotier, Embrun, Saint-Clement sur Durance and La Rochette. All four devices were destroyed by burning tires, Le Dauphine reported.

In Forli, Italy on Thursday, vigilantes smeared material on a speed camera rendering it incapable of issuing citations. The same device in Villa Rovere had been attacked just days earlier, Il Resto del Carlino reported.

Police in Oberhausen, Germany reported that a speed camera failed to prevent an accident that destroyed it on Wednesday at midnight. A 42-year-old drunk driver plowed into the automated ticketing machine at the Konrad-Adenauer-Allee.