Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
UK: Yobs burn Speed cameras round the Country risking lives
Share:
by Beaulieu | August 18, 2009 at 05:32 am
413 views | 20 Recommendations | 13 comments
Speeding motorists annoyed at being fined and incurring penalty points and risking disqualification, have been actively burning speed cameras and wasting police time.
"Angry motorists appear to have taken their revenge after two speed cameras were torched in the space of just over a week.
Police are investigating after the GATSO machine was set alight in the early hours of Saturday at Ringwood Road, Verwood.
A member of staff at the nearby Verwood Surplus Stores said: “Someone probably got caught during the day and thought they’d come back at night. We don’t get a lot of trouble around here. It was a surprise to see it down when we went out in the morning.”
The previous weekend, the camera at Horton Road, near Three Legged Cross, was set on fire at around 3.35am on Saturday.
Mike Jackson, crew manager at Verwood Fire Station said: “To have two in one week is very uncommon for this area.
“It almost makes you wonder if it’s an organised thing to get rid of speed cameras".
And below is a protest group for motorists against Speed Cameras and it is worrying that they 'don't want to brake' and begs you to ask, should such a site be banned?
"Welcome to the online home of Captain Gatso, Campaigns Director of Motorists Against Detection, for news about speed cameras (and SPECS, ANPR etc), speeding tickets, motoring issues, cars, politics and the Fuel Protest.
The purpose of this website is to represent an unheard band of motorists and bikers fed up with this continuing proliferation of speed cameras, specs cameras, bus lane, parking, ANPR and congestion cameras. We are sick and tired of driving to our speedos and braking in the vicinity of a speed camera as opposed to driving and braking as to what we can see!
We are fed up with lining the pockets of this Government, police forces and councils who are using speed cameras as a stealth tax revenue raising scheme".
We are not criminals, just drivers going about our daily business and we are essentially law abiding citizens".
Websites such as www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.ht highlight many vandalised speed cameras in the country, it is not just Dorset that is affected.
To me this is criminal.
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Most Recommended Stories in Strange
Recommendations (20)
Jordan Yerman
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
158
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
mudricky
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Spydermonkey
huntsville, Alabama, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (13)
at 05:43 on August 18th, 2009
thisisdorset.net/news/tidnews/4548899.Angry_Dorset_motorists_torch_speed_cameras...
The Coding is not working for this link, despite HTML been taken off. May have to sort out later!
at 07:37 on August 18th, 2009
To report suspicious actively, Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111 anonymously.
Watch out Citizen Journalists are Watching:-)
at 07:40 on August 18th, 2009
You can see the Captain Gatso website on captaingatso.net - and he also runs a blog 'captaingatso.blogspot.com' which interestingly says 'Donate to Captain Gatso's Blog, and 'Help our 'Work'.
What are your views on this, for the motorist or against? Have you experienced this in your country, have you got a burned camera near you?
Anyone know what the max punishment for arson is?
at 08:11 on August 18th, 2009
Score one for motorists!
at 08:36 on August 18th, 2009
In my part of the States, we don't use cameras for speed detection, but they are used for monitoring intersections with lights. It will record people who run the light & tells the signal when a car (or bike) is at the intersection (machine vision applications).
The trap that is used in the US that I hate, is an unmarked car, or farm equipment going down the road with someone shooting radar from it, and more crusers down the road to pull you over. I think that can be entrapment myself.
at 01:21 on August 19th, 2009
Thanks for your comments Spydermonkey, interesting to know what they have there
. I like the idea of mobile speed patrols too, both marked and unmarked but they are often in urban area not in country roads where there are also accidents and speeding. There are never enough of them for the amount if speeding motorists.
Personally motorists should keep to the speed limits, and look out for other people like cyclists who are also on the road, who have to put up with their 100mph speeding. If they read their Highway Code, the Government wouldn't have to pay so much for the cameras in the first place. They seem to be unaware that anyone else uses the road but them.
As a cyclist, having vehicles going at that speed and not leaving any space for you, is very dangerous but no one has discussed speed and vulnerable users using it. Often there no off-road cycle paths for us to use so we have to use them with speeding drivers.
I also like the idea of cars being fitted with a black box and perhaps motorists can't tamper with it so much.
Maybe with the criminal activity a) the taxes with go up with providing a much tougher system. Perhaps they have done us cyclists a favour.
at 10:44 on August 20th, 2009
In the US, a cyclist has the right to the whole lane (in theory) and must be treated as any other vehicle on the road. In practice it only works that way if there are several cyclists together. (I don't ride on the road unless I'm with a group or for a short stretch to the next trail)
BUT, in many major US cities there are bike lanes & bike paths ect. to get around on. And even though our bus system in Huntsville is almost a joke (runs from 6am-6pm on VERY limited routes) most all of the buses have bike racks on the front of them.
My personal ideal would be for "recommended speeds" , if you have an accident and are over that speed, the the fault should probably shift to you, making you responsible for paying for any & all damages.
But the biggest problem we currently have on our roads are the IDIOTS that talk on a phone & drive too fast.
as an example, a few weeks ago, a lady killed a cyclist when she was trying to answer her cell phone. No charges filled. I would think that she should be forced to compensate the family of her victim.
I'll get down of the box now :)
at 08:53 on August 18th, 2009
Trust me: the UK has become a total cesspit of crime and feckless, violent youth. They have an attitude here that kids can just do what they like and so they have a loser mentality (they call them NEETS - not in employment, education, or training). Total losers.
at 01:29 on August 19th, 2009
Yes, in the UK, it has become a cesspit of crime, and many people on these Speedcamera sites appear to condone vandalism or dangerous speeds.
If they are unhappy with it, they should behave like civilised people, not yobs and why should the Government be 'bullied' by criminals who smash these?
I would like to hear whether anyone was caught.
at 09:06 on August 18th, 2009
The UK is a cess pit, and speed cameras are a joke, especially when they put the behind trees and bushes.
at 10:28 on August 18th, 2009
Really yobs or just angry motorists taking the law into their own hands? Not the same thing.
at 01:35 on August 19th, 2009
Angry motorists who cause criminal damage= yobs.
Motorists who speed past cyclists, horse riders and also cause accident= yobs
When I used to be a motorist, I absolutely hated speed cameras as well but I'd rather that than be involved in an accident of my own making. It's the motorists themselves, with their poor driving skills, who are to blame for speed cameras in the first place.
Motorists should drive safer and be less selfish towards other users. They have absolutely no idea that other people have to use it as I keep stating.
at 17:55 on August 18th, 2009
interesting