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Attacks on speed cameras soar
Saturday 3rd January 2009, 11:30AM GMT.
Attacks on speed cameras by disgruntled motorists have risen dramatically in the West Midlands, figures released to the Express & Star revealed today.
Just two were reported to have been vandalised or set on fire in the region in 2005/06, but that figure rose to nine the following year. In the year from April 2007, 13 were sabotaged. But only one vandal is known to have been identified.
Figures obtained by the Express & Star under the Freedom of Information Act show at least 16 of the 24 reported attacks in the West Midlands have been in the Black Country.
The figures show that cameras on stretches of the main Birmingham Road in the Walsall and West Bromwich policing areas have been targeted. All but three of the attacks listed involved the cameras being set on fire. The attack on the Watling Street East camera in the Bloxwich area was reported simply as “vandalism”.
A camera on the Birmingham Road in West Bromwich was stoned in 2006/7, while a device on The Expressway at West Bromwich was “pulled over by unknown means” last year.
In November of 2008, after the period the figures cover, arsonists set fire to a camera on the Bridgnorth Road heading out of the city at Wightwick.
Insp Paul Farley, of the West Midlands Casualty Reduction Scheme, said a burning tyre had been used to start the fire.
It was the latest in a series of unrelated attacks on speed cameras in the region.
Insp Farley said: “If speed cameras are going to be damaged that is how they usually damage them.
“We have had some damage (to other cameras) recently but this is not specific to Wolverhampton.
“It tends to go in spates. We have introduced several more speed cameras of late which does tend to get an adverse reaction from some motorists.”
Record of incidents
These are the speed cameras which police have records of being attacked between April 2005 and March 2008
Watling Street East, Bloxwich; Newton Road, West Bromwich; Pensnett Road, Dudley; Himley Road, Dudley; Birmingham Road, West Bromwich; Chester Road, Walsall – twice; Birmingham Road, Walsall; Broadway, Walsall; Pedmore Road, Dudley; Hamstead Road, West Bromwich; The Expressway, West Bromwich; Moor Street, Dudley; Stourbridge Road, Dudley; A461, West Bromwich.
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Terrible… Just awful. Teehee
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oh dear such a shame ah ah ah ah
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These cameras will be declared illegal soon so wait. then claim your fine + costs back off the authority who fined you apply to have your points removed and claim compensation for increased insurance costs, loss of earnings if you lost your licence make the thieving camera operators pay that will really hurt them more than risking burning their cameras
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Well maybe someone should be reviewing the use of these cameras?
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These cameras were initially introduced to reduce accidents by speeding in known black-spots. They are now nothing but “cash cows” for local authorities and a nuisance to locals, who know when to slow down. The whole point of these has been removed.
Whatever happened to old-fashioned policing and common sense?
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#3 Jeff
I aree with you,i am convinced that these yellow cash registers will be declared unlawful.I’ve only been done once,and that time i didn’t appeal.I have got off several times since through threatening Scamera partnerships.
I welcome the day when everybody gets their money back and compensation and a grovelling apology from these parasites.
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The police will no doubt regard this as a far more serious crime than if your house was robbed or if you were mugged in the street. I wonder if they are told to get a crime number and claim off their insurance? I doubt it somehow.
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we know when to slow down thats the point. how many obey the rules.
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These things have as much to do with the contribution to road safety as George W Bush does to world peace. Folks have spoken! These cash cow monstrosities need to be gone…local polititians take heed! Your political job may depend on you getting rid of them! People have a vote!
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Not only that Woody, but they have no proven reduction in safety stats and do not detect drunk or drugged drivers.
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If you put a speed camera on a straight stretch of road that has clear visibility on both directions, then what possible use are they? Yet they still keep going up. On small roads with high populations I support them..however I cannot recall one single incident whereby some stupid chav with a loud exhaust was prosecuted for driving like a lunatic around my estate. Oh, and it’s a pity police stations are being shut at night..perhaps extra resources are needed to empty these portable jackpots..
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I have an idea. Put the camera’s in the council officers..spending such vast sums of pubic money hiring private consultants and drumming up politically-correct schemes could quite possible break the bulb in that flash..
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One guy (I’ve forgotten his name) was jailed for a year for attempting to burn a camera. He never got to the point of lighting the tyre. That is how rapid the response was (has anyone reported a burglary lately?). The police had a surveillance camera mounted on the home of a helpful citizen. At the same time a gang who had vandalised private property over a long period causing tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage was given fines varying between 200 and 5 pounds. Anyone who doesn’t get the point can request clarification.
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I have to ask you all one question? Do you slow down when you pass a camera or speed up and take the fine and license points? Yeah i know you all slow down-job done. we live on a main rd that had accident after accident untill they put a speed camera on it. What happened-yep you guessed it a definate reduction in accidents in fact none at the moment for the last 8 years since they put the camera in place. I hear you all moaning about the cash registers that they are, but they only fine you if you speed so most of you must enjoy speeding which is really worrying. What can we do about drunk and drugged drivers claire?
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Driving at speed into other objects causes impact damage. Impact damage can hurt you, break your legs or even kill you.
Some people drive too fast. There aren’t enough police officers to tackle all other crimes, and there are too many cars to be feasible for officers to be expected to monitor speed. Therefore there are speed cameras.
Fines for speeding are not taxes as they are optional. Taxes are not optional. Fines are optional. If you don’t want to pay the fine, don’t break the speed limit.
Are Express and Star readers really this moronic?
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I take your point 15.Robert but, and the big BUT is the siting of some of these camera’s – many are in relevant locations but some seem, to use one of your words, moronic in their postion. One example is Nechell’s Lane. A 30mph camera mounted on the downslope of a small hill after a blind hump. The effect of this is that most motorists unfamilar with the road, involuntarily brake as soon as they go over the crest of the hill and see the camera, regardless of their speed, and in most cases it is probably less then 25mph, which in my opinion increases the risk of impact collisions than the speeding the camera is sited to prevent. If the camera was sited 200 yards further along the road on the level road surface I could understand the logic of slowing the traffic to prevent accidents further up the road where there are side junctions but the current position makes no sense other than the council believing they will raise more revenue by catching people going down a hill at an increased speed. Also the argument used that cameras are sited to reduce speed is ruled irrelevant when cameras that raise no revenue are removed – surely they are the best cameras as no-one is breaking the speed limit?
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thats what you get when you put these cameras in places just to make money,put them outside schools etc,on park lane west tipton there’s two schools and drivers zooooooom passed at 40 to 50 miles an hour the limits 30,but no camera,burn the lot in money grabbing places,so thats a bit less in the police pension fund GOOD.
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Look, it’s simple. DRIVE AT OR BELOW THE LEGAL SPEED FOR THE ROAD. Then all of the above is irrelevant.
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Happens over here a lot in the Paris region for the same reasons.Only one guy went round blowing them up.Now he is missing various limbs.We are reminded here (in the same way the Oldbury toxic fire was widely reported)that your A34 between Talke and Bloxwich has apparently the world speed-camera density record.Councils love them moneywise.I also believe that the UK accident figure (please correct me) has actually gone up. France used to have a figure like Egypt today (6000 dead a year) but now it is well down in the European league.
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Sorry if I sound moronic, Robert and Nick, but why doesn’t every camera display what the speed limit is? More signs would be more effective than more cameras.
What you don’t seem to understand is the concept of policing by consent. By far the majority of people in this country feel (as displayed by this message board)there are far too many cameras in too many dubious locations. If the public wants some of them to be removed, the public servants should reflect the will of the people.
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Agree with you nick there are some stupid people around that defie logical brain power. You don’t get fined if you don’t speed. Who says anything about the police who hide behind motorway signs or in unmarked cars-thats even worse because at least with cameras you know where they are. I can’t beleive how stupid people are to write the comments they have. These cameras arn’t there to make you speed!
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Chris, !4
The cameras have replaced police officers.
In my opinion there is a need to put more traffic police on the roads- they are a deterrent and can stop drunk and drugged drivers.
Cameras are just cash cows which indiscriminately flash anyone- drunk or drugged drivers are far more likely to cause accidents than someone accidentally going over the speed limit by 5mph.
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Sorry claire but you and others are seriously missing the point. Speed cameras do not flash any one indiscriminately. They only flash you if you speed end of conversation! They actually flash twice and if you are flashed twice you have been caught speeding. If they flash once and you slow to the correct speed you can sometimes get away with the first flash as a warning.
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Chris, I think it is you who misses the point.
Cameras do flash indiscriminately because they get you whether drunk or sober. Much better to replace them with actual police who will hopefully suspect a crime is being committed and detain anyone drunk or drugged.
A drunk driver represents far more of a risk than a speeding driver.
The police have lost touch with what they general public want- certainly I think that all cameras are just money making facilities and thats why they won’t be removed.
I am all in favour of more traffic police and more random roadside breath tests.
The speed limits in this country are generally accepted to be too low and not to take account of improved performance of cars etc.
If there really was a problem with a stretch of road and the police didn’t want to make money out of it then they would introduce traffic calming measures.
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Excuse me If a sound “moronic!”. But I believe the debate here is NOT what these cameras are supposed to do…. reduce accidents by cutting speeds and prosecuting those who break the law, we all know that and the majority are law abiding. The debate here is the location of certain cameras which have no impact on reducing accidents, but are placed in areas re: #16, that are designed to attract additional revenue.
I defy anyone to say they have never driven above the speed limit, even by 2 or 3 mph, it’s inevitable! What is needed is common sense by all. Yes, you shouldn’t intentionally break the speed limit, but at the same time a minimal tolerance level should be adopted the authorities. After all, a police person would!
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Cameras are not after drunk or drugged drivers they are only after speeders. The only people who dislike them are people who have been caught by them. Why do we need more police? I say they used to victimise people far more than speed cameras. They need to concentrate on catching real criminals rather than keep getting the wrong people as has happened on lots of occassions over the last number of years. Every year they say drink driving figures are down. The advert say it nicely about the speed you hit a child. At 30 they might survive ,at 40- no chance. Well they might not survive at 30 but they’ve got more chance,and why oh why are we constantly nagging at the drivers of this country. Lets get responsible and slow down at speed cameras they are there for a reason,and i don’t like big brother any more than you.
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Cameras arn’t discriminantly placed by the council contrary to beleif. They are put there based on accident figures that are collected and colated by the police them selves. They are also put there by councils based on residents complaints of accidents and excessive speeds. Sorry but they don’t just stick em their just to make money, and they can only make money if you speed and all cameras have a 5% tolerance they won’t flash you at 33mph.
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Chrisc do you work for the local authority :o) or do your personal opinions know no bounds? and, if I remember my maths correctly 5% of 30 is 1.5, therefore the camera would flash at 31.6 mph and not 33mph!
Lastly this debate is all about perception, not fact, hence why the cameras are attacked by the less informed.
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Chris, Reliance on speed cameras will NEVER be as good as a balanced approach which includes road policing, driver information/education and road engineering -all PROPRTIONATE to the needs of a particular area.
Whilst I disagree with criminal damage, I can understand the frustrations of normally law abiding motorists who get a speeding ticket when; drunk, drugged-up, un-insured or un-licenced drivers creep past the speed camera and car thieves speed up for them! ALL of these drivers did wrong -but only ONE gets punished!!
Road safety is a complex matter and when councils put up what appear to be random speed camera signs such as those on the ring road by Walsall Arboretum/Park, instead of perhaps a warning ‘Children Crossing’ this just confuses the issue…
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chrisc, I have no problems with speed cameras as long as they are justified. And Robert, if you’re implying that E&S readers who are critical of such scehemes, are being moronic then perhaps you need to take your blinkers off; I think you’ll find the condemnation is far more wide-spread. If there was no problem with speed cameras in this country then surely, so many people (from all walks of life), would not have such a problem with them :)
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And whilst we’re talking about cutting crime. I’ve lived here all my life and I see police stations closing at tea-time. It’s disgraceful, considering the *recorded* crime levels associated with each sector. I see endless gangs walking the streets of Sandwell intent on causing harm to others – and not one copper in sight for miles. My point is that despite multiple complaints to the police, the incidents associated with this behaviour continue (arson, rowdy behaviour, intimidation, assault, even rape and murder). Yet it seems the serious nature of many ‘low-level’ crimes is played down in order to milk the figures. In view of this some are seeing the police as nothing more than a political entity, with a central call centre that may as well be in Bombay for all it’s worth. Yet when it comes to picking on motorists..
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Looks like my comment was deleted..never mind. I didn’t find anything offensive or hateful in it, but hey it’s your site. I understand there used to be a popular forum here, as well.
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There’s a really simple solution folks – don’t speed. I can’t believe how stupid some people are – the arrogance of believing that you being allowed to go faster is more important than someone’s life is frankly ridiculous. Stick to the speed limit – try it rather than complain – it’s like spitting the dummy out because someone won’t let you do what you want.
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I’d like to remind ‘Speed Limits Life’ that road safety is a complex issue and needs a holistic approach. Try sticking to 30/40/50/60/70mph on our roads covered in black ice and you will avoid getting flashed by the speed camera -but you might just kill/injure yourself and others in the process -the cameras can’t deal with stupidity …nuff said!!
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As a visitor to the UK over a number of years I observe that there are many more roads where there are no speed signs. It can be very difficut trying to work out what the speed limit actually is.
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Paul-you don’t get a speeding ticket if you don’t speed-simple even for people who are simple to understand. Woody yes is the answer to your question i do work for them and you are right my maths was never very good but take it from me you won’t get a ticket at 33 mph. In a space of 5 years on our main road 6 people lost their lives and one was decapitated not a nice sight for your neighbours to see. We now have a speed camera and no accidents as of yet. If they save one life it’s justified. You get annoyed because you don’t like authority. The same people would moan if police officers regulary pulled motorists up in the same place every day. They would call it police harrasment wouldn’t they?
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Chris, I agree that speed cameras save lives if placed in the right place. I also have no problem with authority as long as it is fair and just.
What I was trying to put across in this debate, was a rounded view on speed cameras, their perception to both the misinformed and informed, hence why they are continually attacked. Hopefully, in a polite manner without the need, noted in some comments, to call people “stupid” or “morons” which makes comments personal without knowing the individual and detracts from the debate.
The bottom line, whether one likes it or not, is that these cameras will continue to be attacked by certain individuals in the short, medium and long term. Albeit to all previous comments on this page.
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Chris,
You talk about “authority” as if local councils are somehow some wise patriarchal bodies whose role is to tell us what to do.
Councils are under the authority of the public, not the other way round. If the majority of the public wanted pink statues of Benny Hill on every traffic island, it would be the council’s role to provide the people with what they want.
If the majority of people are unhappy with the number of speed cameras around, it is local authorities’ responsibility to meet their wishes, not to argue the toss and defy the people who pay their wages.
As for speeding itself, well it is all a sense of proportion and moderation. Nick the boy racers by all means, but I have never heard of anybody being decapitated by somebody driving at 33mph. I’m afraid with some people who consider themselves figures of “authority” seem to have an irrational obsession with issues such as speeding, smoking and obesity. The surest way to turn a good idea into a bad on is to take it too far.
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Chrisc, If you read my posts you will see that I dissagree with excess speed and criminal damage. I think that the difference of our approach is that;
I think that we need to win the hearts and minds of otherwise law abiding motorists -dealing with them in a firm but fair manner. Making the same efforts to to catch other offences and punishing ALL offences propotionately.
Whist your approach seems ‘somewhat authoritarian’ and narrow, ignoring the wider picture and excluding the range of factors that contribute to road deaths and injuries.
I put it to you that a police patrol car can take immidiate steps to stop an erratic driver (and also prevent/stop criminal activity), whilst a speed camera waits a few days then sends a letter (sometimes to some poor person who has had their car stolen or cloned), in that time the driver of a stolen/cloned vehicle could easily have killed someone. The problem is that speed cameras appear to be a cheap solution that raises £££’s.
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Boster- Do you beleive in faries and santa? Because if you believe that your local or even government authority works for you then you must. Since when did the people get what they want from any government-very rare unless of course its speed cameras. You miss the point of decapitateion-the speed wasnt 33 mph it was very exccessive and caused by another car being impatient and over taking the other, The other car was clipped on its rear causing the accident. You all miss the main point-People seem to think cameras are only there to make money- I am only pointing out that if you don’t speed you don’t get fined. I think you say it all- you dont like authoritarian figures and you don’t like authority telling you what to do and- what a cheak when they fine you for speeding as well (Wake up to reality and don’t speed)
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Chris,
I’m trying to work out if you really are as smug and self-important as you seem, or you are just a very clever wind-up merchant.
(1) I have never been fined for speeding, I make every effort not to speed. But I am not so pompous as to claim I have never unintentionally strayed over the speed limit, and there are occasions when it is hard to tell what the speed limit actually is because the incompetents on the local authority do not replace missing signs;
(2)I think you have missed my point about people not being decapitated at 33mph. What I am saying is that people who commit serious speeding offences (such as the one who caused the accident you referred to) should have the book thrown at them, while trivial matters (such as unintentionally doing 33 in a 30 late at night) should be ignored – like they used to be.
(3)When it was only the idiots who got done for speeding, there was a stigma attached to it. By indiscriminately nicking every Tom, Dick or Harry, have taken that away, and people no longer see any shame in being caught speeding.
(4)You are probably right, expecting local authorities to reflect the wishes of the people they represent probably is akin to believing in fairies, but I suggest that is a rather shameful admission from somebody who has come on here to defend their behaviour.
(5)So you consider local councils to be authoritarian figures? I thought they were there to provide public services. Do you really believe that local government gives you superior levels of wisdom which gives you the right to tell people what to do? Your spelling does not back this up.
(6)I certainly don’t condone speeding, but not everybody works in the same low pressure, politically correct, everything-by-the-book environment that the molly-coddled, taxpayer-funded public servants do. Sometimes people are expected to do two hours work in 40 minutes, and that is perhaps why some people are tempted to break speed limits. They are wrong to do this, but we’ll take no lectures from the bloated public servants, who take time off with stress every time the going gets a bit tough.
(7) If you are not really a council employee, and really are a very clever wind-up merchant, you will probably have worked out by this point that you have succeeded. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
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Boster the answer is no i don’t work for them and i am not a wind up merchant. See comment 33 speed limits life it says it all. Yes we all speed on occcassion but a speed camera won’t fine you at 33 mph where as a policeman probably will and that the difference. Who does 33mph unintentionally late at night most poeple do know they are speeding and usually only slow down when they see a speed camera thats usually been placed in an accident black spot-job done a safer zone or at least safer than it was. If councils arn’t authoritarian how come you can be jailed for not paying your council tax? Seems like authority to me! I don’t tell people what to do i leave that to the government because they have the power to do it and if people don,t like it- well thats tuff because thats the way life is. Actually you’ll find more people in the private sector take time off with all kinds of problems , including stress than in the public sector . Finally i’m not defending their behavour i just happen to agree that speed cameras are a good thing if they save a life, and being caught by a camera is totally the fault of the driver and no one else.
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chrisc, I firmly believe that a narrow minded and dogmatic approach begins to irritate and alienate otherwise law abiding citizens. There is a reason why; women got the vote, and the ‘poll tax’ abolished… PUBLIC OPINION!
We live in a democracy and if you care to read the latest causes of serious collisions, speed ranks surprisingly low! So, why put all of your eggs in the speed camera basket? Surley it makes sense to EFFECTIVELY target and punish other issues such as ‘Looked but did not see’ as well !!!
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Ok Instead of using speed cameras ,lets put extra police on all our roads even on street corners to stop speeding and other car crimes as you all say. Don’t worry about the cost in your next council tax increase because someone has to pay for it.I dont mind paying extra for safer roads.
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