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Speed camera set on fire

The speed camera on fire beside the A177 in Thorpe Thewles, near Stockton. The speed camera on fire beside the A177 in Thorpe Thewles, near Stockton.

POLICE are investigating after a speed camera was set on fire.

Drivers on the A177 in Thorpe Thewles, near Stockton, called the emergency services at 7.45pm.

A tyre had been placed around the speed camera and set alight.

Passer-by Peter Troy of Sedgefield, said: "It is understandable that motorists feel anger about these things when they get penalty points, but this was blowing in the wind and pretty dangerous.

"I saw the burning tyre brush against one passing car."

The tyre then melted and fell to the ground, setting the verge on fire.

One fire crew from Stockton attended the scene to put out the blaze.

A spokesman for Cleveland Police confirmed they were investigating the incident.

Comments(32)

Dean M says...
11:14pm Thu 26 Feb 09

You're right there Peter Troy of Sedgefield. It is understandable that motorists feel anger about these tax cameras.

Not that I would advocate people taking such drastic action of course......but I do hope they get away with it.

billysaid says...
12:14am Fri 27 Feb 09

hope it becomes a trend !!

msg expat says...
6:50am Fri 27 Feb 09

I'm shocked, saddened and disappointed. It's a sad indictment of the times we live in. Why anybody would want to call the emergency services....

verysafedriver says...
6:57am Fri 27 Feb 09

typical response below by a bunch of arrogany fools! these "tax" cameras would raise precisely 0 if nuggets who are too busy/stupid/blind to check their speedos once in a while weren't endangering our roads!

Billabong says...
10:20am Fri 27 Feb 09

It's an open stretch of dual carriageway where you don't need 1 let alone 2 speed cameras. The only reason its an accident blackspot is because of the arrogant impatient twits, who can't judge speed and distance, or won't wait, coming out of the side roads who are in a hurry to get their kids to school or to tescos. Put a roundabout in! One mile down the road you have schools, hospitals, shops and housing estates and not a sign of a speed camera!! Strange that.

Dean M says...
1:49pm Fri 27 Feb 09

Typical response from an allegedly verysafedriver.

I'd like to keep checking my speedo but I prefer to keep my eyes on the road....better to drive safely...

big arnie says...
4:37pm Fri 27 Feb 09

Fantastic, I wonder if it was just general vandalism for the hell of it or a bit of Max and Paddy-style retribution for getting caught?

"Oh bugger it, may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb - Beryl, go into the boot and fetch me spare tyre and can of fuel..."

verysafedriver says...
6:37pm Fri 27 Feb 09

So when you learned to drive Dean M you were taught never to check your speedo?? No?? that is if you have a licence??If it possible for you, try and actually understand why the cameras are there and try not to just use the "tax collection" excuse, try and be a little original eh?

verysafedriver says...
6:39pm Fri 27 Feb 09

I'm really glad you prefer to drive safely so can I assume you too stick to the speed limits, or are they there just for others and not "idiots" like you?

TimeBandit says...
1:17pm Sat 28 Feb 09

Verysafedriver, are you familiar with this particular stretch of road?. Billabong is spot on in advocating that a roundabout should have been installed, it is something I myself have advocated but guess what, no "luverly lucca" from a roundabout.
When travelling along this route towards Sedgefield the road becomes single carriageway (national speed limit for this type of road 60mph) but there the limit drops to 50mph, there are no sidewalks and therefore next to no pedestrians ever present, there is a crossroads but that is also rarely used,a sharpe corner and then there is Thorpe Larches, small industrial units and a few houses where the speed limit remains at 50mph!, anyone with half a brain would assume that the limit would drop there but it does'nt. Mobile speed cameras frequent this stretch of road but nowhere near the houses or the corner nor the crossroads but along the straight stretch where vehicles coming off the dual carriageway are probaly doing 51mph (a speedo can have up to 10% error indication and still be legal!)or have accelerated slightly in anticipation of the dual carriageway, (cash cow cameras again!).
If you had bothered to read Dean M's comment properly you would have noticed that he does check his speedo but not obsessivley, prefering (as a good driver should) to keep his eyes on the road and his surroundings.

shoggoth says...
3:59pm Sat 28 Feb 09

You're all forgetting that this camera will have to be replaced. Can you guess who'll be paying for it?

If you speed past one of these cameras, expect to pay the stupid-tax. While you are paying the stupid-tax I don't have to. Don't want to pay? Take notice of the clearly displayed speed limits and stay below them. Not hard is it.

verysafedriver says...
10:17am Sun 1 Mar 09

well timebandit, thats where I have been going wrong? I never realised that text-deepchecking my speedo occasionally (read the highway code) was "obsessive" or that I can only really keep to the limits on roads that I use regularly haha. Bottom line you muppet is speed cameras ONLY CAPTURE PEOPLE WHO SPEED!! We need more of them to catch people like you who think not being in control of your vehicle and adhering to the Traffic Laws is acceptable! Next excuse is.....

verysafedriver says...
1:21pm Sun 1 Mar 09

I agree Nick about the rules, hence the need for Speed Cameras as some people DONT APPLY COMMON SENSE TO THE DRIVING OF A CAR do they?? such as ignorance of the limits etc etc...and round and round we go haha

So lets recap... what exactly is wrong with speed cameras??? ah yes they catch people who break the speed limit hhmmm fancy that.

TimeBandit says...
8:31pm Sun 1 Mar 09

Verysafedriver,are you incapable of understanding what people have written?, nowhere in my comment did I state that I regularly break the speed limit but then you did'nt read DeanM's comments either. What I actually was criticising was the placement of speed cameras, never near schools, old peoples' homes or areas of high pedestrian activity because the vast majority of motorists are careful when driving alongside these places so no possibility of raising excessive revenue there!.I actually commented on this particular section of road because it is one I am familiar with and, in my opinion, a roundabout would better serve all users, (drivers automatically slow when approaching a roundabout)and that if the modern day Dick Turpins Whoops sorry, speed camera partnership brigade, decide to place a mobile camera along this road then there are more worthwhile places than where they invariable place it.
As regards your foolish comment about my not being in control of my vehicle, how do you know this?. Throughout Spring, Summer and early Autumn I dispense with the car and ride a motorcycle, I have NEVER crashed nor fallen off in 20 odd years of riding, and have taken it up to 150mph (on a trackday) I might'nt be Valentino Rossi but I think I do have some riding ability. If I wished to avoid a speed camera then all I have to do is "pull a wheelie"(which I do'nt do on public roads!) and it cannot see my numberplate, instead I prefer to use roads which do'nt have fixed cameras, ie County Durham where the enlightened constabulary, if they catch you just one or two mph over the limit let it go, similarly in Northamptonshire, however Cleveland prosicute for fractions of mph over, so how about some consistency and apply the standards set by Durham nationally and then perhapes there would'nt such hostility towards speed cameras as then they would only be catching extreme offenders.
Please read my comments carefully and if you wish counter them with reasoned statements please do so but do'nt accuse me of writing stuff that I clearly have'nt and try to refrain from using insults it does you no credit, and suggests you feel your arguement perhapes is'nt too strong.

verysafedriver says...
9:46am Mon 2 Mar 09

Speed Cameras catch speeding drivers END OFF!

Dean M says...
3:51pm Mon 2 Mar 09

Time Bandit is absolutely right. Speed camera's tend to be placed in areas where speeds slightly in excess of the limit will cause no harm to anyone but it is easy to catch people and raise maximum revenue. This frustrates people and can leads to actions such as in this article - which increasingly get support from ordinary people.

If it was really about 'speed kills' then put them in front of schools, hospitals and other built-up areas where speed is more likely to kill.

And if we are constantly going to get nicked for a couple of miles or so over the limit then this will lead to having to constantly check the speedo - instead of watching the road.

verysafedriver says...
4:40pm Mon 2 Mar 09

who gets nicked for a couple of miles over the limit??Nobody that I am aware of?its nuggets like that 122mph biker that we need off our roads and those that think its ok to drive at 40 in a 30 zone or 70+ in a 60 zone, its not a difficult concept really!

verysafedriver says...
4:42pm Mon 2 Mar 09

It also highlights the bizzare attitude of the "anti speed camera vigilante" who is quite happy to endanger other road users by his dangerous act of arson

Dean M says...
5:54pm Mon 2 Mar 09

Well we agree on something - the 122mph drivers should be banned.
However, it is - in my opinion - the deliberate positioning of these camera's where they will catch large numbers of motorists, driving just a few mph over the limit in area's where there is little or no danger to pedestrians, that is questionable. This is what makes me (and many others) believe they are tax camera's.

billysaid says...
7:44pm Mon 2 Mar 09

i got a 60 quid fine and 4 points for doing 43mph in a 40 limit,its a money making racket. carry on the good work and burn em all.

TimeBandit says...
8:13pm Mon 2 Mar 09

who gets nicked for a couple of miles over the limit??Nobody that I am aware of?its nuggets like that

Verysafedriver, take your head out of your backside and think about what you have written, that certainly is the case in County Durham but NOT in Cleveland where as I said fractions of an mph WILL get you prosecuted, and as I said before there is no consistency in applying the law.
However, only today, I was travelling along a road, in the Cleveland police authority area, with a 40mph speed limit. At this particular time of day the weather was bright and sunny and the road was bone dry, I was aware that a police patrol car was following me and a cursory glance at my speedo showed 42mph but the policeman was unperturbed as I was not tailgating anybody or otherwise endangering anyone, in other word a bit of discretion was wisely used, but had I gone past a speed camera it would have been 3 points and a fine.
In addition to a comment by Dean M about positioning of cameras (near schools etc) on the Stockton ring road a 30mph limit was introduced, however on this route is a primary school whose entrance is off this road but there is no pedestrian crossing(with or without signals there at all). There is a lollypop lady but she is at the mercy of the beer swillers(common in Stockton!),and mobile phone users-pity there is'nt a camera to catch these far worse offenders- what more proof does anyone need that local authorities and camera partnerships are NOT INTERESTED in road safety but in extracting revenue from allready overburdended motorists.
In France speed limits are dependant on weather conditions unlike here, where, on the 40mph road I mentioned before, 39mph might well have been inappropriate during the recent spate of bad weather we had but would a camera have detected this NO, the answer is to get more police vehicle out on patrol with experienced officers and then we might be rid of the drunks and mobile users some discretion could be used with speed depending on road conditions although I think we are all agreed that excessive amounts over the limit deserve prosecution.If I want to speed there are places I can go (at a cost) to do so and be safe from idiots on their mobiles, those who've had a few bevvies or most likely both!.

PettyComplainer says...
9:44pm Mon 2 Mar 09

Get it right - improper speed kills, but everyone (with the obvious exception of verysafedriver, who has never done anything wrong) has gone faster than the speed limit without crashing in a ball of flame.
Speed cameras (even the police have stopped trying to call them 'safety cameras'!) only record the 'crime' of travelling faster than a proscribed limit, not prevent it.
Therefore the only benefit of cameras recording these offences are the resulting fines.

Dean M says...
11:13pm Mon 2 Mar 09

Isn't the tyrannical cash-crazy approach of the Cleveland authorities down to Ray Mallon? ex-bent copper (allegedly) and all that...

verysafedriver says...
8:34am Tue 3 Mar 09

fined for 42 mph in a 40?? what a load of tosh haha If the vigilante thinks endangering lives is an acceptable form of protest he has a bizzarre concept of justice, MORE SPEED CAMERAS PLEASE!Pettycomplain
er, can you show me where I haves said I have never done anything wrong??

Dean M says...
9:33am Tue 3 Mar 09

The 'vigilante' simply performed a public service and got rid of a tax camera, no harm dobe - good man!

Dean M says...
9:34am Tue 3 Mar 09

No harm done, that is!

verysafedriver says...
6:11pm Wed 4 Mar 09

dean M "no harm done" more by luck than good judgement, it was a dangerous and reckless act (mind you so is speeding!)

Ninja Rider says...
9:15pm Wed 4 Mar 09

I have seen a mobile camera parked on the central res. inbetween these two cameras, as if one either way isnt enough. I have to say though that the speed limit along this section of the road should be changed to national and close the central crossings and there would be alot less chance for accidents. As for the "idiots speeding" are you going to tell us verysafedriver, that you have never ever broken the limit? Im all for speed cameras but lets keep it sensible to places that are built up where there is alot of foot traffic. Just a shame there wasnt a speed camera in Newcastle that day, then maybe the police wouldnt have been speeding without light and killed that young girl.

TimeBandit says...
9:38pm Wed 4 Mar 09

fined for 42 mph in a 40?? what a load of tosh haha

Of course people get fined just for that very safe driver, if you do'nt believe me then come to Cleveland authority area- especially Redcar and Cleveland - and drive past a mobile unit 2mph over the limit and see what happens (save up your 60 quid first though!).
As regards more cameras, get real, in bad weather it may well be inappropriate to travel at or just below the speed limit but wheras a camera will not spot this, an experienced police officer almost certainly will and also cameras do'nt detect drunken driving or other offences. The reason possibly being is that the majority of road users are pretty responsible people who do'nt drink, use mobiles or drive recklessly but occationally stray a few mph over the limit - for which it is relativly easy to build a device to detect- and are therefore are an easy target for the money grabber government and authorities.

verysafedriver says...
5:57pm Thu 5 Mar 09

speed cameras detect people who break the speed limit freeing up valuable and dwindling traffic police officers for other duties such as drink drivers! still waiting for a good reason to remove/vandalise these valuable assetts?

verysafedriver says...
5:59pm Thu 5 Mar 09

I do not believe ANYONE has been fined for 2mph over the limit, perhaps someone who has experienced this can say otherwise but I very much doubt it

billysaid says...
7:52pm Thu 5 Mar 09

no..3 mph over and i got 60 quid fine and the points to go with it. told my insurance company,and the reply was oh yes they have done some of our customers for 1mph over. by the way it dont cost me any more on insurance for the points.

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