Homeowner builds fake speed camera to spook law-breaking drivers

Residents in McComas Avenue in Kensington, Maryland, in the US, got quite annoyed at speeding commuters recently. It seems like the city’s plans to install speed bumps and other traffic-calming measures aren’t happening quickly enough, so they took things into their own hands.

McComas Avenue connects two main roads, so people use it as a shortcut. According to WUSA9, resident Matthew Fairbank said people were doing up to 50 miles per hour (80kph) down the road, with one even colliding with the retaining wall of his home.

After multiple instances of damage being done by speeding drivers, someone installed a “little library” filled with classic novels like “New Driver’s Guide to Thing to Not Crash Into,” “How to Drive Safely: 49 Expert Tips, Tricks, and Advice for New, Teen Drivers,” and “The Original Roadkill Cookbook.”

While tiny community libraries like this aren’t all that uncommon, this one was dressed up to look exactly like the standard speeding cameras used in Maryland, consisting of two stacked grey boxes, the upper one angled slightly towards the road.

And it worked. “I have no idea who put it there, but I thought it was hilarious… Actually observed people slowing down for the first time since the three years I’ve been here,” said Fairbank.

Unfortunately, official-looking signs above the library reading “Traffic Laws Photo Enforced” caused Montgomery County Police to get involved, taking down the signs and forcing the library off the footpath. The MCPD said the spot isn’t an approved location for the speed camera, even a fake one.

While the solution was quite ingenious and ultimately effective, the signs were probably a step too far. But with any luck, city officials will see that it worked and, at the very least, fast-track those speed bumps for McComas Ave.