Ridiculous Batheaston camera necklaced

[Mon Ami Mate]

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I'm happy to admit that I believe there is merit in some cameras. In built-up suburban areas or near dangerous junctions.

However, this camera is probably the most ridiculous I have come across. Hidden behind a bridge halfway along the newly constructed, dead straight, dual carriageway Batheaston bypass, where there are no junctions for a mile in each direction. This stretch of road has been given an arbitrary 50mph limit. A mile up the road the bypass ends and becomes a twisty single-lane A road with a failing surface - and the limit goes up to NSL. I don't advocate destroying cameras, I advocate destroying petty local Governments. If ever a camera had it coming though, it was this one. Rust in pieces...

MOTORIST GETS REVENGE


15:00 - 27 February 2003



A speed camera on the edge of Bath has been destroyed after it was set alight amid a national surge in anticamera violence. The box, on the Batheaston bypass, did not have a camera inside when it was attacked.

However the casing was so badly damaged it had to be removed and may not be replaced.

Tyres had been placed on top of it and set alight - a form of vandalism dubbed necklacing.

The cost of a replacement would be £7,000 and speed camera chiefs are now examining the casualty figures for the stretch of road to see if there is still a need for one at the site.

As a temporary measure, a mobile team will be monitoring the site instead.

And motorists have been warned the chances of being caught by a mobile unit is higher than by a fixed camera.

The Avon and Somerset Safety Camera Partnership has condemned the attack - which happened on Tuesday - as mindless.

Dick Bowen, the partnership's project manager, said: "They are there for a reason.

It's not as if people don't know they are there.

"The whole project is to slow people down and reduce casualties.

"Bearing in mind what has happened we will review it in line with the casualty statistics.

"If it doesn't warrant a replacement, we will look at mobile enforcement."

He said there were occasional displays of ill-feeling towards the speed camera scheme by irate motorists.

It is the first attack of its kind in the Bath area.

A safety camera box in Somerset was necklaced a year ago and a driver was given a hefty fine at court after being caught trying to pull a camera out of the ground in Weston-superMare.

Police are making inquires into the incident.

Although the Government believes most motorists are in favour, resentment has reached new heights in recent weeks with a spate of attacks on cameras across the country.

In Northamptonshire, one camera was blown up with a home-made bomb.