Berlin
Speed trap flashes every driver without exception – police put him out of action with a paper bag
Ambitious: In Berlin, a speed trap simply flashed every vehicle.
© Christian Ohde/ / Picture Alliance
“I wasn’t on the road that fast” – police officers hear that enough. In Berlin, they now had to find out: A number of speed camera photos were actually on the speed trap itself.
The speed camera is probably one of the most unpleasant opponents of every driver, ultimately threatening fines or points in Flensburg. Despite all the anger at the speed trap: Normally it only measures what you have done wrong yourself. It’s different in Berlin: A speed trap there went completely nuts over the weekend and was only able to be tamed by the police with unusual measures.
On the night of Monday, the speed trap on Frankfurter Allee in Lichtenberg apparently started flashing every car on its own and from one second to the next – even if the vehicle was traveling out of town at the permitted speed. It is clear that this behavior irritated a number of drivers: The “BZ” reports that there were long tailbacks because of cars that were now clearly driving too slowly. The police also received a number of calls from 10 p.m. about the overzealous speed camera, as the “Tagesspiegel” reports.
A paper bag and lots of tape put the speed camera out of action
Twice as stupid: Because of the public holidays, no technician could be reached at this time and on Monday. The police officers who were called in reacted on the spot with an unusual but pragmatic solution: the speed camera was simply covered with a paper bag and plenty of adhesive tape.
According to a police spokesman, it is still unclear what caused the defect in the speed camera. The investigation by a technician on Tuesday should provide more detailed information about the cause. There is good news for the “shot” drivers: They don’t have to worry about fines or points, and there shouldn’t be any fine notices for them.
Sources:daily mirror, “BZ”