9/14/2020
Brazil, France, Italy: Photo Radar In RetreatBrazil implements speed camera reform while vigilantes reduce the number of automated ticketing machines in France and Italy.
Vigilantes in Pleslin-Trigavou, France, on Sunday eliminated the threat of receiving an automated ticket on the RN176 by covering the newly installed speed camera's lenses with orange spraypaint. On Friday, the pole-mounted "turret" speed camera on the RD104 in Chabrillan was decapitated. On Tuesday, vigilantes in Proyart blinded the speed camera on the RD1029 with white spraypaint, marking the seventeenth time this particular automated ticketing machine has been knocked out of service.
In Cerveteri, Italy, vigilantes on Wednesday uprooted the "Velo OK" speed camera on the Via Settevene Palo.
In Brazil, the National Traffic Council (Contran) has relented and will no longer allow the use of hidden speed camera on its roads. President Jair M. Bolsonaro, has been fighting the bureaucracy to outlaw the use of speed cameras in the country entirely. The reforms represent a compromise after pro-camera judges blocked his directives banning the devices from federal roads. The new set of rules will take effect in November restricting the locations where automated ticketing machines can be used. For example, speed traps may no longer be set up to exploit transition zones where the speed limit changes. In both fixed and mobile photo radar applications signs will have to be posted and the locations published online.