6/17/2019
Australia, France, Germany, Luxembourg, UK: Photo Radar SmearedNearly a dozen speed cameras across Europe and Australia were taken out of service last week.
A 31-year-old man in South Yorkshire, England, on Tuesday attacked a mobile photo radar van on Chapeltown Road in Chapeltown. According to the Sheffield Star newspaper, the man was angry that the van was set up as a hidden trap with no warning signs. Police have charged him with criminal damage.
In Victoria, Australia, a 21-year-old man smeared ice cream on the back of a photo radar van in Geelong, the Geelong Advertiser reported.
In Wilhelmshaven, Germany, on June 10, an unidentified vigilante pried open the speed camera on Bismarckstrasse and pulled out the electronics. According to local police, the device's cables were severed and the housing ripped out of the ground. A speed camera was found dumped in a nearby lake on Wednesday.
French motorists have not changed their speeds near disabled speed cameras -- contrary to the government's claim that they have been speeding past the charred remains of automated ticketing machines. That was the finding of Auto Plus magazine which on Friday published the results of 2000 spot speed surveys at affected locations. At 80km/h locations, the average speed was 77km/h with a small percentage venturing above the limit, despite the absence of ticketing.
Vigilantes on Saturday disabled the speed camera on the D14 in Penguily. On Wednesday, the speed camera on the RD25 was set ablaze. On Tuesday, the speed camera on the RN13 in Orgeville was destroyed by fire. Black spraypaint disabled the speed camera on the RD1029 near Amiens last week. On June 9, the photo radar device on the Nantes ring road ignited after being doused with gasoline.
In Ettelbruck, Luxembourg, vigilantes used a thick black tape to blind the speed camera on the B7. The device is the most profitable automated ticketing machine in the country.