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Angry Dorset motorists torch speed cameras
8:14am Monday 17th August 2009
comment Comments (58)
By Fiona Pendlebury »
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.
“The damage to the cameras was quite severe. Certainly the lenses and the glass at the front had completely disintegrated.”

Last week the Echo revealed that Bournemouth councillors are to consider the controversial idea of scrapping speed cameras in the town – though any such plan would not affect cameras outside the borough.
A council committee will look at whether the 20 fixed speed cameras in the town do a good job in reducing vehicle speeds and preventing collisions.
And it will also decide whether Bournemouth should follow the example of Swindon and turn off its cameras, ploughing money into other road safety schemes instead.
The 38 fixed cameras across the county are operated by the Dorset Safety Camera Partnership and the two incidents in East Dorset are not the first.
The camera near Cemetery Junction on Wimborne Road in Bournemouth was sprayed over earlier this year and previously the one on Wessex Way approaching the Frizzell roundabout was damaged by fire.
A survey by satellite navigation system company Road Angel found that up to 16 per cent of people support the illegal destruction of speed cameras by ‘vigilante’ gangs.

Cllr Spencer Flower, leader of East Dorset District Council, said he was “shocked” by the damage.
He said: “I couldn’t understand how they managed to burn them both out unless someone put some sort of incendiary device in there.
“There are all sorts of arguments about the benefits of having fixed cameras. I think there’s probably more to be gained in having mobile cameras.
“I shall be interested to see what develops from the Bournemouth initiative. We will look at how the accident record compares before and since we had cameras.”
Speed indicator devices may well be more effective in getting people to abide by the speed limit, he added.

We need more well trained Traffic Police on the roads so they can immediately stop these they are most concerned with.

mobile cameras likewise except you can be caught by one by the time you can see it so I really do not like those.

toltec wrote:mobile cameras likewise except you can be caught by one by the time you can see it so I really do not like those.


Er, aren't you supposed to not be speeding in the first place?

Er, aren't you supposed to not be speeding in the first place?

Er, aren't you supposed to not be speeding in the first place?

Safe Speed demands the removal of ALL Cameras that would result in the removal also of all Camera Partnerships.

I have no problem with TrafPol using some 'speed' equipment that they need to find the speed of any given road user.

We now need better trained traffic police too as some have only known roads with cameras !

There are many things which I am not supposed to do, eating pork crackling for instance, however as with many things taken in moderation there is no harm and much benefit to be gained.

Where the speed limit is lower than 90th percentile for the road in the prevailing conditions prosecution is only a few extra grams of pressure applied to the pedal or a slight dip in the road away. Given the mobile cameras tend to be set up on straights, particularly ones that are good for overtaking, by the time you have checked your speedo to see if you are speeding it is too late. The possibility of mobile cams does slow me down, because trying to spot them absorbs significant observation time and concentration effort so I have to drop speed to ensure observable safety space can be maintained. Not that the drop in speed makes me any safer, all it does is steal the seconds and minutes of my life.

It is obvious that in some areas the speed limit is set unreasonably low and that is what causes people to speed.

Where the speed limit is lower than 90th percentile for the road in the prevailing conditions prosecution is only a few extra grams of pressure applied to the pedal or a slight dip in the road away.

In some areas I think there are traffic lights that are unreasonable to me when I'm cycling, OK for me to pass them on red?

In some areas I think there are traffic lights that are unreasonable to me when I'm cycling, OK for me to pass them on red?

Flynn wrote:It is obvious that in some areas the speed limit is set unreasonably low and that is what causes people to speed.


In some areas I think there are traffic lights that are unreasonable to me when I'm cycling, OK for me to pass them on red?

I think it safe to say that many, possibly even the majority, already do; 99% of those do so safely [jump red lights] and with consideration to other road users.

And this is acceptable?

And this is acceptable?