Speed camera in France vandalised for fifth time since 2024
The device in south-west France had just been repaired…again
In 2019, so many speed cameras were vandalised during the gilets jaunes protests that it caused a €400 million dent in government revenue
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A speed camera in south-west France has been vandalised for the fifth time since 2024, just 10 days after receiving its last repair.
The camera in Bagas (Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine) was installed in early 2024 in a bid to improve safety at a particularly accident-prone junction, on a road with a 70km/h speed limit.
However, the device has been vandalised four times in two years, and was once again damaged overnight from January 4 to 5, reported local newspaper Le Républicain Sud-Gironde.
The metal pole holding the camera was deliberately bent to a 45-degree angle out of the ground, the mayor Serge Issard told the paper.
“The camera has been properly pushed over by a tractor or vehicle with enough force [to do damage],” he said.
It comes just 10 days after the camera had been reinstalled following the previous vandalisation, and the mayor added that repeated attacks meant the device had never been operational for longer than one month at a time.
No repair date for this latest damage has yet been announced.
‘Not a money-making scheme’
Despite its evident unpopularity, the camera is necessary and effective, Mr Issard said.
“This is a very accident-prone road,” he said. “Contrary to what people might think, this speed camera is not a money-making scheme. We really need it, especially to protect cyclists who use this road.”
Each repair costs money, with the most recent amounting to €30,000. The funds come out of the money raised from traffic and speeding fines.
“I would prefer for that money to go towards reducing local taxes,” Mr Issard said, reiterating that the camera has the desired effect when it is in use. “Since it was installed, people do slow down more,” he added.
Mr Issard has also been campaigning to make the road safer for cyclists, with plans for an extra lane dedicated to these more vulnerable road users who are at particular risk at the junction in question.
However, the project – which will be funded by the Gironde department – will not be implemented immediately, hence the need for a camera now, he said.
Vandalism ‘led to more road deaths’
This camera is not the only one suffering repeated vandalism; a new turret camera installed on a road near Lizio, in Morbihan (Brittany) in 2022 has been burnt and destroyed three times; while over Christmas 2025, many devices were seen with ‘festive decorations’ on them, in a bid to obscure the cameras and stop them from working.
In 2019, so many speed cameras were vandalised (as part of the gilets jaunes protests) that it caused a €400 million dent in government revenue, saw 75% of devices damaged, and even led to a rise in road deaths, said the interior minister at the time.
The damage comes as speed cameras are set to become even more visible in 2026, with camera flashes returning to devices across the country as an ‘educational’ measure, to let drivers know that they have been caught speeding, and to act as a warning to surrounding motorists.
