Five speed cameras across Auckland have been destroyed in the past week, with one cut clean off its pole using an angle grinder in a daylight attack that police say they witnessed but failed to stop.
The Coatesville Riverhead Highway camera stood for years issuing fines to motorists exceeding the 60 km/h limit. On February 2, someone drove up in a blue 4WD, sliced through the pole, and disappeared before police could respond to witness reports. The camera toppled to the ground in pieces.
According to 1News, the incident is now the subject of a police investigation for wilful damage. Waitematā Road Policing Manager Inspector Jason Edwards confirmed police responded to reports but the offender had already left the scene.
Days later, a second camera on Matakana Road was spray-painted black. The New Zealand Transport Agency acknowledged the vandalism but said the camera remained operational despite the paint. Both attacks occurred in North Auckland within a week of each other.
Rodney local board member Geoff Upson, who describes himself as a road safety campaigner, posted videos celebrating the attacks. Standing beside the severed Coatesville pole, he called the device "the revenue collector," according to reporting by the NZ Herald.
"Good news, it's safe for you to drive 61 km/h on your way to work tomorrow," Upson said in the video. He later told the Herald the attacks showed speed cameras weren't welcome and that slower speeds lacked community support.
The Coatesville camera generated approximately $3.7 million in fines across 36,000 tickets during its first six months of operation after the speed limit dropped from 100 km/h to 60 km/h in June 2020, per Stuff reporting. That revenue stream just ended with an angle grinder.
Auckland is not alone. South Auckland cameras near Waiuku were targeted multiple times in 2024, with stands forced down, poles pushed over, and in one concerning incident documented by Newshub, the bottom of a camera appeared to have been shot with a firearm.
Counties Manukau South Area Commander Inspector Joe Hunter said at the time the vandalism put loved ones at risk. "We'd like to remind people that speed cameras are proven to be effective in reducing deaths and injuries on the roads where they are operating," Hunter stated in a New Zealand Police release.
The attacks reflect a global pattern of enforcement camera destruction driven by what drivers describe as government overreach wrapped in safety rhetoric. Coverage from automotive sites tracking the trend, including detailed analysis from GaukMotorBuzz.com, shows similar resistance movements gaining momentum across multiple continents.
In London, the so-called Blade Runners have destroyed over 1,000 ULEZ cameras since 2023. The Metropolitan Police recorded 795 crimes relating to cameras between April and September 2024, with 200 stolen and 595 damaged, according to LBC. Activists cut down cameras, spray-paint lenses, slash enforcement van tires, and openly share instructions online for disabling the devices in under one minute.
After London Mayor Sadiq Khan won re-election in May 2024, vigilantes launched a coordinated purge. Nine camera locations across the capital were targeted in the hours following poll closure, with traffic light poles holding ULEZ cameras sawn in half and toppled to the ground in Ickenham, Northwood, and Hillingdon, per the Telegraph.
One Blade Runner activist who goes by the alias Lee told GB News he had personally disabled 34 cameras and designed cutting tools that reduce disabling time to ten seconds. He described the £12.50 daily charge as "a war on working-class people" and claimed widespread public support despite Transport for London spending an estimated £160 million on the ULEZ expansion.
North America shows identical resistance patterns. Toronto's Parkside Drive camera near High Park has been vandalized six times in less than a year, including being cut down five times and tossed into a semi-frozen lake in December 2024, according to Narcity. That single camera issued over 66,000 tickets generating more than $7 million in fines.
Five Toronto cameras were vandalized in a 24-hour period in June 2025, with two cut down completely and three having lenses destroyed. Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced legislation in October 2025 to ban speed cameras entirely, calling them "cash grabs" after the vandalism wave, per Wikipedia.
In Virginia, cameras have collected nearly $60 million since 2022, according to a December 2025 Virginia State Crime Commission report cited by Connection Newspapers. The Virginia Senate advanced two bills on January 22, 2026 that would eliminate speed and red-light cameras statewide on 8-7 votes, with Democratic senators joining Republicans after expressing concern cameras serve as revenue generators rather than safety tools.
Richmond, Virginia saw four of eleven school zone cameras spray-painted in a single week in February 2025, per 12 On Your Side. Des Moines installed security cameras on its new speed camera trailers specifically to deter vandalism.
The pattern repeats globally. Drivers see cameras installed after speed limits drop, fines skyrocket, and authorities claim safety justifications while revenue climbs into the millions. Resistance follows. Angle grinders, spray paint, firearms, and in London's case, outright camera theft.
Auckland Transport claims rural roads where speed limits were reduced saw a 71 percent reduction in deaths and 25 percent fewer serious injuries in the first 18 months. Authorities cite studies showing speed cameras reduce fatal and serious injury crashes by 11 to 44 percent worldwide.
Vandals argue the cameras appear on roads where speed limits dropped inappropriately, targeting compliance rather than addressing dangerous driving. Upson told the NZ Herald that speed was a factor in only a small minority of crash injuries when drugs and alcohol were removed from the data.
The debate over whether cameras save lives or generate revenue will continue in courtrooms and council chambers. Meanwhile, the practical question facing enforcement agencies has become simpler: how do you protect cameras from people willing to risk criminal charges and potential injury to destroy them?
NZTA calls the vandalism "extremely disappointing" and costly for taxpayers. The agency said intentional damage is a criminal offense reported to police. Officers warned they would patrol areas where cameras were destroyed to enforce speed limits manually.
The enforcement approach failed spectacularly on Coatesville Riverhead Highway. Someone cut down the camera in broad daylight. A witness called police. Officers responded. The vandal escaped. The camera is gone. A replacement pole is on the way.
Whether that replacement lasts longer than the original depends on how angry Auckland drivers remain about a road that went from 100 km/h to 60 km/h in four years. Based on what happened to the first camera, and based on what's happening in London, Toronto, and Richmond, the smart money says the angle grinder wins again.
The message from Auckland to Wellington is clear, and it echoes from London to Virginia: drivers have decided enforcement cameras crossed a line. Whether authorities respond by reinforcing cameras or reconsidering the policies that made them targets will determine if this wave of vandalism marks the beginning or the end of automated traffic enforcement as we know it.
For now, the blue 4WD with the angle grinder is still at large. And five more cameras are waiting.
