UK, AU, PA Speed Traps Attacked

Last week, in south Essex, UK, speed camera protesters set a “scamera” alight with a gasoline-soaked tire. The fire destroyed the £40k ($60k) device on Long Road– despite the camera’s proximity to the Canvey Fire Station (whose inhabitants eventually managed to put out the blaze). According to the Echo newspaper, the incendiary incident follows a prior arson attack on a speed camera on the A127 in Southend. In the past year-and-a-half, eight south Essex speed cameras have been targeted by vandals. Meanwhile, in Queensland, Australia, on November 5, persons or persons unknown spray painted a new laser camera’s lense during testing on the Maroondah Highway in Croydon. Ten days later, three citizens tied a chain to the replacement camera and tore it from the ground.

Last Wednesday. scofflaws in Scott Township, Pennsylvania grabbed speed trap equipment from the side of the road at around 3:45pm. On the same day, Officer Joseph Gillott was using an Enradd speed measuring system on Route 347. After finishing writing a ticket to a motorist, Gillott discovered that one of his Enradd sensors was gone. [Local jurisdictions in Pennsylvania are banned by state law from using radar because lawmakers believe they would only use the devices to generate revenue from passing motorists. To get around the law, these localities use non-radar systems such as Enradd. The device uses infrared sensors placed on both sides of a road to calculate speed from the amount of time a vehicle takes to pass between two points.]

The embarrassed police department has until Monday to find the device before it’s due back at the manufacturer. North Central Safety Traffic had loaned Scott Township the system as a pre-purchase demo.