Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/64/6473.asp

5/28/2018

France, Latvia, Russia, Saudi Arabia: Speed Cameras Trashed
Around the world, attacks on over a dozen speed cameras prevented the issuance of automated citations last week.

A man dispatched to work on the speed camera on the road to Achinsk, Russia, found himself the target of an attack by some form of tear gas. According to Prospekt Mira, attacks on the system are on the rise. A speed camera in Abu al-Haql, Saudi Arabia was knocked over and taken out of service on May 15 after it failed to prevent an accident, Al Watan reported. A judge in Vidzeme, Latvia, gave a police officer two years of probation for giving a friend a speed camera so that he could issue bogus tickets, LETA reported.

On Wednesday, the speed camera in Flers, France, was taken out of service with a splash of pink spraypaint across its lens, L'Orne Combattante reported. The same shade of paint was applied Wednesday to the speed camera on the RN88 in Puy-en-Velay, according to Le Progres. Orange was used on the camera on the RD817 in Castetis last week Sunday, La Republique des Pyrenees reported. In Clisson, red spraypaint defeated the speed camera on the RD763, one of the most profitable in the region according to L'Hebdo. Red was also used on the camera on the RN12 at Plouigneau, last week Sunday, Le Telegramme reported. The paint turned purple for the speed camera on the D579 in Ouilly-le-Vicomte last week Sunday, Le Pays d'Auge reported. Yellow was the color used on the often-targeted speed camera on the RN165 in Lorient last Tuesday, according to Le Telegramme.

Despite all of the attacks, automated ticketing machines brought in 1,013,200 euros (US $1.2 billion) in profit for the French government in 2017. The total rose to 1,978,200 euros (US $2.3 billion) when parking tickets were included in the calculation, according to newly released budget documents.