By Richard Diamond/Staff Reports

The French government has been recovering from the widespread destruction of speed cameras during the "Yellow Vest" revolt against automated ticketing and the tactics of President Emmanuel Macron. Profit from automated ticketing machines peaked in 2017, with the citation revenue surpassing a cool billion euros (US $1.1 billion). In 2020 and 2021, ticket revenue also suffered from the Covid scare lockdowns, which banned travel that did not have a government-approved purpose. According to the Court of Auditors, 2022 ticket revenue recovered to 707 million euros. By adding another 200 photo radar devices, 2023 revenue could exceed the billion-euro threshold, by the estimate of the experts at Radars Auto. In Gray, a talented artist did his part to keep that from happening by decorating the speed camera on the RD67 with a wide-eyed happy face. Officials in Piegros-la-Clastre were less than pleased to find a burnt-out shell was all that remained of the speed camera on the RD93 after vigilantes torched the device on Thursday.

In Nichelino, Italy, vigilantes decapitated six "Velo OK" brand speed cameras on Sunday, April 16, defeating the town's entire photo radar program just two days after the devices had been installed.

Police in Heidelberg, Germany, admitted Tuesday that the speed camera purportedly introduced to cultivate beneficial driving habits had the opposite effect on the A656 highway.

"A driver was so frightened by a mobile speed camera that she twisted the wheel to the left and crashed into a concrete barrier," a statement from Polizeiprasidium Mannheim explained. "She lost control of her vehicle and came to a stop in the left lane."

The 20-year-old driver of an Opel Vectra was taken to the hospital for treatment of her injuries.