Road rage: Speed camera destroyed on A68
Ally McGilvray • Published 1 Mar 2011 09:58
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A DISGRUNTLED motorist is believed to be responsible for setting a speed camera on fire in the Borders.
Firefighters were called out to extinguish the blaze on the A68, three miles south of Lauder, on Thursday around 3am.
It is just the latest in a series of attacks to have struck safety cameras in the Borders, with 19 recorded on roads throughout the region, since 2004.
Recent figures showed speed cameras raised nearly £900,000 in Lothian and Borders last year, more than anywhere else in Scotland.
The Taxpayers' Alliance called for the cameras to be scrapped, arguing that the technology had "failed to sustain" a reduction in the number of road casualties.
However, the Lothian and Borders Safety Camera Partnership said cameras had almost halved the number of people seriously injured or killed on some roads.
Commenting on the latest damage to the camera on the A68, Earlston Community Council chairman Harry Cummings, who regularly travels the route, said: "I don't condone it in the slightest because it is a known accident black spot and the camera does slow traffic down."
And he added: "Vandalising the camera will only cost the community in the long run because, at the end of the day, it will be replaced."
Police have appealed for information.
This article appeared in Border Telegraph 02 Mar 11
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