Wave of battery thefts from speed-activated road safety signs

A number of battery-powered digital road speed sign in Cork have been targeted by thieves for their valuable batteries. 

A wave of battery thefts from speed-activated road safety signs has broken out in parts of Co Cork.

Criminals are stealing the batteries from the digital warning signs, which flag the speed of passing vehicles to alert them to slow down. 

The incidents occur during the hours of darkness and mainly in rural areas on the outskirts of villages.

The county council has tried to prevent the thefts by putting padlocks and chains on some camera boxes, but the thieves have used heavy-duty bolt-cutters or angle-grinders to cut through them.

Macroom Municipal District Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Looney said recent thefts occurred in Tower, Waterloo, Cloghroe and Firmount, all near Blarney, in Donoghmore and Dromohane further north and in the mid-Cork village of Coachford.

Mr Looney said he'd been informed the batteries may be used for "lamping," or "dazzling", as it's known in some quarters — a practice of stunning rabbits or hares with bright lights at night before either capturing or killing them.

Kanturk/Mallow Municipal District Fine Gael councillor John Paul O'Shea said thieves had hit Rathduff, Bweeng and Dromahane more than once.

Both councillors said the cost to the council of replacing the batteries, fixing the damage done to the wiring and recalibrating the devices was several hundred euro per camera.

Mr O'Shea said they can be out of action for some time as a result and communities are concerned this leads to a noticeable increase in speeds through villages, with the inherent increased danger to pedestrians.

The cameras cost in the region of €3,000. In many cases a community organisation purchases one and the local authority provides them with a second, free of charge so that the two main approaches to villages are covered.

"We have to find some way of eliminating these thefts, not only because of the money involved but the impact they have has on road safety," Mr Looney said.

Gardaí in the Macroom area carried out covert surveillance on drivers approaching speed-activated cameras and noticed they nearly always slowed down to activate the 'smiley face', which signals they are travelling under the speed limit.

Gardaí even suggested this was a better deterrent than having speed detector vans parked in certain areas.

Mr O'Shea said he had been on to engineers in his municipal district about the issue and they were in contact with the manufacturers to see if they could do something about making the batteries theft-proof.