Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/37/3785.asp

5/6/2012

Maryland, France, Latvia, Saudi Arabia, UK: Speed Cameras Under Fire
Around the world, speed cameras are protested, spraypainted, burned and smashed.

Fifty drivers of speed camera vans in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia went on strike Saturday against the private company that runs the automated ticketing program, according to Dar Al Hayat. Redflex Traffic Systems has had the contract to issue tickets in Riyadh since 2002, but the locals believe the Australian firm has been forcing them to work under dangerous conditions for minimal wages. Employee Saad Hamoud complained that three bullets struck his "Saher" vehicle, but when management asked him about the incident, they only were interested in the extent of the damage to the radar equipment, not how he was affected. Saher employees went on a five-day strike in November over the company's failure to protect them from angry motorists.

Vigilantes burned a speed camera in Somerset, UK at around 11:30pm on Wednesday, the Western Daily Press reported. The automated ticketing machine had isued tickets on the A429 at Fossebridge near the Hare and Hound pub.

In Saint-Brandan, France, vigilantes used green spraypaint to disable a speed camera on Saturday, according to Ouest France.

In Riga, Latvia on Monday a man walked up to a speed camera on the Riga-Sigulda highway and smashed it, Diena reported. Police have no suspects.

The Baltimore Sun revealed that vigilantes have attacked speed cameras five times in Baltimore County, Maryland in the past two years. The most recent incident involved a speed camera burned on April 20. On October 8, a Dodge truck was used to rip a speed camera out of the ground. Two cameras were spraypainted. Last May, the lens of the automated ticketing machine on the 9800 block of Greenside Drive was shattered. Between 2000 and 2003 two cameras were shot, one with a small caliber handgun and another with a high-power rifle.