Posted on 08/25/2002 2:36:06 AM PDT by glc1173@aol.com
LONDON - Vigilante motorists, angry because so many speed cameras are being put up on roads all over Britain, are destroying hundreds of the devices each week.
The drivers, operating surreptitiously at night, are spraying black paint over the lens or putting the cameras out of commission with blow lamps or setting them on fire after dousing them with petrol.
Over the past week alone, 30 cameras - each costing £7,000 (S$19,000) to buy and install - have been damaged beyond use on the busy North Circular Road around London.
Police are taking advantage of a new government scheme which allows them to keep part of the fines obtained from motorists caught going over the speed limit by cameras.
The money has to be spent on buying more cameras - and the result is an ever increasing number of flashing, electronic speed traps.
Fines average £80 and drivers are given a number of demerit points, depending on the speed they were travelling at.
If too many points are accumulated, the driver is banned from driving for three months or more.
Motorists' organisations have pinpointed several stretches of straight and level roads where up to five speed cameras have been installed over a distance of 10 km.
There are 325 cameras in central London and hundreds more on suburban roads.
This week, anonymous letters were sent to national newspapers by an organisation calling itself Motorists Against Detection (Mad), claiming responsibility for the acts of vandalism against the cameras.
The growing number of attacks on cameras in recent weeks signalled the start of a British-wide assault on the devices, Mad warned.
Although thousands of cameras have been damaged, police have not received a single message from any passing driver reporting a vandalism. As a result, no one so far has been caught damaging a camera.
But a Department of Transport spokesman said: 'Research has shown that the number of people killed or seriously injured on some dangerous stretches of road has fallen by 47 per cent after the installation of speed cameras.
'There has been an alarming increase in the number of cameras being vandalised and this could lead to deaths on the road, through speeding.'
If you go through Washington, D.C. and are looking, you will see more cameras than you could ever beleive.
Regards,
"Guess what? None of us are in counseling, none of us are in prison, none of us (or our kids) are on anti-depressants or some mind-numbing crap.
"Fast forward 25-30 years to the present and ask yourselves how possible any of what I just described is now. The pussification of American men continues."
This is one of those rare occasions where something is worth repeating. Thanks Looking4Truth.Green pine cones...
But a Department of Transport spokesman said: 'Research has shown that the number of people killed or seriously injured on some dangerous stretches of road has fallen by 47 per cent after the installation of speed cameras.
You see, that's how socialism always tries to get you... One day they'll claim they can make us all 100% safe by keeping us locked in cages all day.
Brits do not like to be watched by a Big Brother?
I'm sure it must be something familiar expressed in the Queen's English, but what exactly is a "blow lamp"?
But I guess you already know that.
I believe that would be a blow torch (handheld). It's odd. They call a flashlight a "torch" even when you take one scuba diving.
This is just another example of using hyperbole to justify intrusions into people's lives. The number of deaths due to speeding would not change regardless of the camera's working condition. The mere presence of the cameras (or of reasonable facsimilies, i.e. - fake cameras) will do the same to reduce speed.
If you want proof, just drive down any interstate and watch the traffic slow as soon as they see a police car parked on the side; drivers slow down even if they are doing the legal limit. I would assume that the same will then be true for camera enforcement - posting large signs that these spies are in use and making them very visible will slow drivers down; one cannot tell at a glance if the box is actually a camera or a fake.
Thaks, I figured it must be a propane torch. Gotta love those old pressurized gasoline blowtorches, though - first cousin to the military flamethrower.
My cousin and I spent a *long* summer back in the '70s, using two of those old contraptions to soften the paint on our grandmother's house. Heat, scrape, heat, scrape, ad infinitum. Amazingly, neither of us wound up in the hospital.
We did discover, though, that the things could produce a three-foot-long flame, for a short period of time. :-)
All of your privicy are belong to us...
"So, I got this ticket in the mail with a picture of me running a red light. They don't pull you over anymore, just send you a picture. So, I sent them back a picture of me mailing a check. They sent me one of the L.A. County jail. So, I sent them one of Johnny Cochrane."
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