The focus is on the footage from the cameras. There are ten electronic gates that the local police officers of Camposampierese are currently examining in search of any clue to answer the ultimate question. Who is “Fleximan”, the dark avenger who on Monday night in Villa del Conte in the province of Padua announced his arrival with a sign and then put the fifteenth speed camera in Veneto out of order in the last eight months? The investigation is ongoing for damage, interruption of public service and aggravated theft since the knocked down column remained on the ground but the electronic device has even disappeared. The investigators hope that the assailant was caught before the act of vandalism or during the escape.
SPEED CAMERAS KNOCKED DOWN
The last speed camera, cut with a manual pipe cutter instead of the flexible one as in many previous cases, was activated in October 2021 along the Brentana provincial road where the speed limit is 70 kilometers per hour. In the entire 2023, it triggered 4,780 fines and the average ticket is 50 euros each. This means more than 11 fines on average every day. A number certainly high but not exorbitant. Just to give an idea, the speed camera sawed off last week in Vallà di Riese in the province of Treviso averaged 50 fines a day. The extreme case is that of the two speed cameras in Cadoneghe, in the Padua area, destroyed last summer with gunpowder and a pellet gun: they totaled 58,723 tickets in a month and a half, over 1,300 fines a day.
THE POSITION
The only certainty so far is that the last knocked down speed camera will not be immediately reinstalled in the same place. This is confirmed by Sarah Gaiani, president of the Federation of Municipalities of Camposampierese. 'In that stretch there are two speed cameras within 800 meters and therefore an evaluation was already underway on the ideal positioning of the devices - she explains -. The idea is to move it, always in function of road safety which is the goal we pursue. On this, I do not accept contradiction'. Gaiani, in any case, does not want to feel blackmailed at all: 'Ours is not a surrender at all. We are talking about a road with a high accident rate and prevention is needed. We will use common sense and make every evaluation. Meanwhile, I hope that whoever committed the crime is identified and pays for his responsibilities'.
THE CONTROLS
The Carabinieri are also investigating to shed light on a phenomenon that has now become a real national case capable of triggering social media and igniting political conflict. In Padua, the military will focus on night patrols in areas where other operational speed cameras are present. The installation of photo traps near the speed camera locations, capable of capturing anyone approaching the instruments, could also be useful.
OTHER CASES
In Veneto, fifteen cases are counted (including thirteen with the methods adopted by Fleximan) between the provinces of Padua, Rovigo, Treviso and Belluno, but this is not the only region affected by attacks on speed cameras. On Saturday night, a device was sawed off in Albano Sant'Alessandro in the province of Bergamo and meanwhile in Piedmont the Carabinieri have just reported for aggravated damage a fifty-year-old accused of having uprooted two columns along the state road 337 in the municipality of Druogno in the Val Vigezzo during the night between 11 and 12 November. This is evidence that behind the “Fleximan” phenomenon there could be more hands following the emulation effect.
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