A man was arrested in Tainan City yesterday, after a speed camera was set on fire earlier this week.

At around 2:00am, Monday, October 1, firefighters in Tainan City responded to a report that a speed camera was on fire on Yongcheng Road. After the fire was extinguished a preliminary investigation determined that the fire had been deliberately lit.

Police investigators accessed roadside traffic camera footage which showed a man putting tires under the camera, soaking them in gasoline, and lighting a fire using a gas torch, before escaping on a scooter.

Yesterday, a 37 year-old resident of Rende District was arrested and interrogated. According to the suspect’s testimony, Zeng had tested his friend’s modified car on September 29, passing the speed camera at 120 kph in the 60 kph speed limited zone.

Zeng was worried that his friend would be fined and have his driver’s licence suspended, so he decided to set fire to the camera to destroy evidence of his speeding violation.

The speed camera, located in Tainan City’s South District, was the first to be installed in Tainan City, and has been in operation since 2013. As the road is on the approach to an expressway, many speeding violations are recorded. This year alone, 6,000 violations were recorded by the camera, generating over NT$9 million in fines.

The speed camera cost the city NT$2.48 million to install, and repair costs are estimated at NT$400,000.

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