Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/46/4688.asp

4/27/2015

France, Latvia, Italy, UK: Speed Cameras Under Attack
Various techniques used to disable speed cameras across Europe. Latvian man proves the camera was wrong.

In Lot-et-Garonne, France, vigilantes disabled a speed camera on Tuesday. According to Sud Ouest, the automated ticketing machine on the D933 in Seyches had its lenses spraypainted red and the word "uno" painted on the side. Police have no idea who might be responsible. In Carcassonne, L'Independant reports that over the past few days green spraypaint was used to disable the speed cameras at Place Davilla and Avenue General-Leclerc along with the red light camera on Boulevard Omer-Sarraut.

Black paint was the weapon of choice used against the speed camera on the Via Marsiga in Belluno, Italy on April 19. Police told the Corriere delle Alpi newspaper that they were expecting such attacks to happen given the unpopularity of the devices.

The Daily Mail reports that a speed camera in Birmingham, England has been turned around so that it faces a nearby house instead of the road. The automated ticketing machine on Wellington Road in Handsworth had been deactivated for the past two years.

Officials in Latvia were caught red-faced after they had issued a speed camera ticket to the owner of a truck who had indisputable proof that he had obeyed the speed limit. According to TVNet, the speed camera photographed a truck on March 9 and accused it of traveling at 106 km/h (65 MPH). In accordance with the country's regulations, the truck has inspection certificates confirming the installation of a limiter that prevents the vehicle from exceeding 90 km/h (55 MPH). In addition to this, a GPS tracking system installed on the vehicle documented a speed of 55 km/h (34 MPH) at the time the speed camera photograph was taken.