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Car Wars: Vigilates Destroying Speed Cameras

by Jordan Yerman | December 23, 2007 at 02:49 pm

1902 views | 8 Recommendations | 6 comments

You can't make this stuff up. Tired of what they see as highway robbery, a shadowy group of British vandals has declared war on speed-trap cameras. It sounded like a joke until they kacked, shot, torched, and blew up over 700 of these cameras.

Motorists Against Detection, the vigilante anti-speed camera group have announced a summer of MADness which will see them target for destruction all speed cameras in the UK. It’s now going to be a period of zero tolerance against all speed cameras, said their campaigns director Capt Gatso.

Not just empty words: here's a gallery of the speed-cam casualties.

They are the black knights of the road; balaclava-wearing highway hitmen out to burn, bomb, decapitate and dismember. But drivers need not fear, for it is speed cameras that this growing band of rebels are after.

Up and down the country, the tools used to keep roads safe are being ripped down, blown up and even shot apart as part of a campaign orchestrated by a gang of web-surfing outlaws. They threaten to become the most popular gang of criminals since Robin Hood and his Merry Men stalked the countryside.

One can imagine, that they have popular opinion on their side; no indication so far if they're affiliated with Angle Grinder Man, who wages a one-man war on wheel-clamps.

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liamssoft

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 15:16 on December 24th, 2007

We have already had a few cases of camera vandalism in Northamptonshire, if they get caught they get hammered with the cost of the equipment, fined and a possible jail sentence.

There is a rumor going around that the speed limit is being reduced to 20mph limit in London, towns and other cities and more cameras are to be installed to police it. The fact that traffic jams allow for only a crawl means its aimed at the very early morning and middle of the night drivers.

As for speeding fines I am ok about it when used to reduce speed but not just as a revenue making machine. I got given several a few times by mobile units working off bridges about 6 years ago, but what I do object too is foreign diplomats being excluded. They should be treated the same.

Capt Gatso's camera destruction will only move the authorities to push through the threatened Pay Per Mile scheme where speed and journey can be monitored through the GPS system and electronics fitted to every vehicle, then there will be no need for cameras.

René

at 15:51 on December 23rd, 2007

Ours in the US are much smaller and usually attached high up on traffic light overhangs. Not so easy to get at.

One view of one type on How stuff works

Zlender

at 01:11 on December 24th, 2007

These cameras are not there only to make money, traffic safety is a big problem and destroying cameras can only make it worse. I cannot understand why some people think they have the right to speed on roads and put everyone else in danger.

Jordan Yerman

at 10:31 on December 24th, 2007

It's also pointless: the UK has at least four million surveillance cameras of different types watching the population at any given time; Gatsos are just one brand of one type of camera. You'd need *a lot* of petrol to firebomb them all!

As for safety, I agree: I just saw a homemade video on Youtube depicting two guys on high-displacement sportbikes whizzing along on B-roads at over 100mph, blowing past cars like they were standing still. That's just silly, endangering not only the riders but anyone they come in contact with.

Symantix (not verified)

at 17:32 on December 3rd, 2008

Perhaps you should read some facts as to whether or not traffic accidents and/or injuries/fatalities have gone down in places where cameras have gone up and then make your statement. If not sir, please do not recite the hyperbole you so effortlessly lend your ear to.

Dave in Ann Arbor (not verified)

at 13:08 on March 28th, 2009

This is a great idea. Big Brother thinks he can do what he wants, spying, robbing, and harrassing the citizenry to his blackened heart's content. I think it is absolutely acceptable and ethical to destroy these obnoxious devices wherever they are found. More power to the so-called vigilantes, who are probably just regular people fed up with being constantly surveilled and fleeced.

This crap is starting to show up here in the States, too, and I hope Americans take a similar approach to simply destroying these things before we end up like the UK. What happened over there? The UK used to be a shining example of liberty, and now it's Orwell's nightmare.

Dave
Ann Arbor, Mich., USA