Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Yellow Vests Knock Out 60 Percent of All Speed Cameras In France (bbc.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the damage-control dept.

Thelasko shares a report from the BBC: Members of the "yellow vests" protest movement have vandalized almost 60% of France's entire speed camera network, the interior minister has said. Christophe Castaner said the willful damage was a threat to road safety and put lives in danger. The protest movement began over fuel tax increases, and saw motorists block roads and motorway toll booths. Some protesters feel speed cameras are solely a revenue-generating measure which takes money from the poor. The BBC's Hugh Schofield, in Paris, said evidence of the vandalism is visible to anyone driving around France, with radar cameras covered in paint or black tape to stop them working.

20 of 417 comments (clear)

  1. Glorious by Quakeulf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now knock out those who run the banks.

    1. Re:Glorious by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The French need to decide what kind of country they want to be. Issues like these should be resolved democratically, not through vandalism. Yet France has a long history of caving in to violent demonstrators, which has made street demonstrations more and more popular, and made any sort of sensible economic reforms impossible.

      The latest polls show that a majority of the French support the vandals and rioters.

      It doesn't have to be that way. They should look at Italy as a country that manages to be economically dysfunctional without political violence. France could do the same.

    2. Re:Glorious by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They were counterproductive because they weren't violent enough. Clearly, the American Revolution was violent enough to be productive. :)

    3. Re: Glorious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm 57 years old, black, and grew up in Baltimore.

      You have no god damn idea what you're talking about.

      The violence frightened good people out of our communities, and left us with a mostly desolate wasteland for years. My mom had to walk 8 blocks to get to a pharmacy. My parents eventually left because there wasn't a future for us there.

      Dr. King did so much for us that violence never could. He proved that misguided folks like you never actually solve anything. You're giving credit to violence for things that only non violence can accomplish. Safety and security, love, compassion, discovery and innovation don't happen during one of your riots. Nothing but destruction and fear happens.

  2. Speed cameras = dishonest taxation by sinij · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Speed cameras are a dishonest and regressive way to tax the population. Don't let local politicians sell you on BS that it is for traffic calming and safety.

    1. Re:Speed cameras = dishonest taxation by religionofpeas · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Of all kinds of taxation, I'd prefer the speed cameras, because I can avoid paying by sticking to the posted speed limit.

    2. Re:Speed cameras = dishonest taxation by lgw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Except for the ones that malfunction. Funny how often that happens. Funny how in the US you have no right to challenge the payment in court if you think the device is broken.

      Far better to have a lottery, if you want a tax you can avoid paying. At least there somebody wins.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    3. Re:Speed cameras = dishonest taxation by religionofpeas · · Score: 4, Informative

      You live in a fucked up place if a contractor can levy random fines without legal recourse.

    4. Re:Speed cameras = dishonest taxation by Pascoea · · Score: 3, Insightful

      [outside perspective here, I live in the US] The autobahn is a limited access freeway system designed specifically for high speed with strictly enforced laws that are implemented to avoid crashes (no riding in the left lane, for instance)

      Most of the crashes I've witnessed or read about on our road system involve someone doing something stupid at an intersection, like turning left in front of someone (personally experienced that one), running a red light, pulling out in front of someone, improper lane changes, crashing into light poles, things like that. Most of those things aren't a problem on a limited access freeway system. I would guess that the vast majority of the freeway crashes we see here are the result of people not paying attention. It amazes me how I STILL see people texting, doing their makeup, reading, or one of 100 other stupid things while driving.

    5. Re:Speed cameras = dishonest taxation by kilfarsnar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is illegal to drive over the speed limit. If yu break these laws you can be fined. Speed cameras are an automated method of fining people for breaking the law. If you don't want to pay the fine then don't break the law.

      Simple solutions for simple minds. The speed limit on most highways is too low. Modern cars a requite capable; they handle and stop very well. The fact is, traffic flow in my area is regularly at about 80 MPH on the highway, even though the limit is 65. When ~75% of people see no problem with breaking the law, it's not the people who are wrong, it's the law.

      --
      "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
    6. Re:Speed cameras = dishonest taxation by Pascoea · · Score: 4, Informative

      I know how fast I can drive safely. If I'm in error, charge me when I do so.

      Did you really just make the "I should be allowed to drive as fast as I deem safe until I cause an incident." argument?

      That's all speed limits are. People who think they know better.

      Are you under the impression that speed limits are just made up at random? Or are you actually aware that there are scientific methods, formulas, and guidelines used by engineers to determine what the proper speed for a particular stretch of road should be?

    7. Re:Speed cameras = dishonest taxation by Pascoea · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's why stretches of highway will go from 65mph to 35 when going through a small town in places like central LA.

      You mean it isn't safe for highway traffic to flow as fast in a populated area? Holy shit, stop the presses, this must be some kind of conspiracy! Literally every highway (and I'm not talking about limited access freeways) I have ever been on lowers speed limits when you enter a city vs rural. Every single one.

      This is not a revenue thing, this is a safety thing. The fact that these speed change zones are prime locations for speed cameras (or police officers) is completely logical. On ever road, prior to speed limit changes there are signs that say "speed limit XX ahead" with plenty of time for you to slow down before you get there. I've been busted before when I've missed a speed change, so I understand people's frustrations, but you know what happened next time I drove past that area? I slowed the fuck down when I was supposed to.

    8. Re:Speed cameras = dishonest taxation by dryeo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Here in BC, a couple of years ago the government increased the speed limit on some highways, from 100-110 to 130 km/h IIRC. This year they decreased over half back down due to the increase in number of accidents. These were mostly limited access highways.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
  3. Re:speed cameras are a revenue source by religionofpeas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Along with that, most are placed in areas where lower income people are. More than likely because they don't have the money or power to fight against it.

    Really ? How much money does it cost to drive slower ?

  4. Hit them in the pocket by Laxator2 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Such a large-scale action is not done without some central organization.
    Obviously the union leaders know how much money the bosses pocked from the revenue generated by this cameras.
    By cutting this revenue the bosses are much more likely to listen to their demands.

    Also, it is a case of "You keep our pay low, we can lower your pay"

    1. Re:Hit them in the pocket by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Such a large-scale action is not done without some central organization.

      You'd be surprised how like minded people will copy good ideas from each other. Central organisation would be proven if it all happened at once. The yellow vests however have been best described as copycats at every stage of their protest.

      Oooh look 10 people in Paris occupied a toll booth! A day later you hear about gilets jaunes occupying toll booths over the country. It's very much a monkey see monkey do kind of a movement.

  5. Re:speed cameras are a revenue source by dfghjk · · Score: 4, Informative

    Depends on what the speed limits are. You like to pretend that's not part of the equation but it's essential to this form of taxation.

    Also, it simply doesn't work this way except for sociopaths like you. People drive at speeds reasonable for prevailing conditions and drivers are consistent in their perception of safe speeds. When speed limits are reasonable, compliance is high. When limits become sufficiently low, drivers tend to ignore them. Governments exploit this when they set limits. They want an adequate supply of speeders so they deliberately set limits too low. If they aren't getting enough, they lower limits. Happens everywhere in the US.

    Understanding this, it's clear to see that the cost of this is actually high. People waste time, safety is actually worse and expensive infrastructure is underutilized.

  6. Re:And as a result drivers are speeding up by dfghjk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "30% more french drivers are breaking the law and putting others life in danger"

    If you set the limit to 0 then 100% of drivers will break the law, yet that doesn't put "others life in danger". This is nothing but rhetoric.

    The percentage of drivers speeding is an indicator of the reasonableness of the limits, not of the behavior of the drivers. This has been known since at least the 70's, likely much longer.

  7. Re:Speed cameras by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You mean like this study which says they reduce accidents and fatalities? http://www.lse.ac.uk/News/Late...

    Or maybe the one that specifically looked at Arizona and found no difference in number of collisions (though didn't look at injuries) and certainly didn't find a negative impact? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

    Maybe you want a wide spread study of some 550 speed cameras which showed a reduction in accidents and fatalities and at the same time directly looked at the very speed cameras that the Daily Mail and some other worthless rags claimed (incorrectly) increased accidents? https://www.theguardian.com/uk...

    Or this one from America that said also accidents are reduced and overall driver behaviour in the area improves: https://www.dailysignal.com/20...

    I would give you result number 5 from my Google search but it's the same study as result number 2 and I don't want to waste your time.

  8. Re:Bout time by Z00L00K · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Vive la France" is the correct writing.

    Overall this shows that there's a threshold on how high pressure the politicians can put on the population. They often tend to forget that they actually are placed there to serve the citizens, not being the masters.

    --
    If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.