12/2/2019
France, Germany, Italy: Speed Cameras SlammedGerman and Italian speed cameras destroyed after failing to prevent accidents. Vigilantes destroyed 17,886 devices in France since 2018.
A pair of German speed cameras were damaged last week after the devices failed to prevent accidents. On Wednesday, a big rig truck either intentionally or unintentionally clipped a Volkswagen speed camera van that was parked on the side of the road in Hamm on Wednesday. According to Nordhein-Westfalen police, 250 euros (US $275) in damage was done to the van's side mirrors. On Tuesday, the automated ticketing machine on the B516 in Soest was pulverized by a BMW that lost control and slammed into the TraffiTower 2 speed camera.
In Gazzola, Italy, a truck lost control on November 23 and crashed into the speed camera that failed to prevent the accident. The automated ticketing machine was ripped out of the ground and left at the side of the road.
In France, the government finally released official figures showing 17,886 photo radar devices were attacked over the past twenty months, as noted by the experts at Radars-Auto.com. In 2017, only 4097 automated ticketing machines were knocked out of service nationwide. That number soared to 10,317 in 2018, with another 7569 attacked during the first eight months of 2019. The figures reflect the massive upswing in anti-camera activity during the Yellow Vest protest movement that began in November 2018.
French vigilantes are keeping up the pressure on the administration of President Emmanuel Macron. On Tuesday, the newly installed turret speed camera on the D612 near Sete was destroyed by fire. A trio of speed cameras were torched on the Basque Coast last week. Burning tires first scorched the device in Cinq-Canton on November 23. Then on Tuesday, the devices in Anglet and Bidart went up in flames. In Cametours, orange spraypaint was used to blind the speed camera. On November 24, burning tires took out the turret speed camera on the RD5 in Cire-d'Aunis. On November 23, fire consumed the speed cameras on the RD619 in Vallant-Saint-Georges and on the D373 in Mesgrigny.