Yarra Ranges, Knox, Maroondah: Traffic camera operators abused
From almost getting run over to constant abuse and harassment, these traffic camera operators are being attacked for just doing their job in Melbourne’s outer east. And police are amazed by some of the incidents.
Outer East
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A man was lucky he wasn’t killed when a truck driver changed lanes so he could swerve towards him as he stood on the side of a highway in Melbourne’s east.
The man hadn’t done anything to the truck driver — he was simply a traffic camera operator who’d gotten out of his car to adjust the camera.
And he’s certainly not the only one in his job who has been placed in serious danger by angry drivers.
Traffic camera operators are being attacked almost daily in Melbourne’s outer east, according to Maroondah highway patrol Sergeant Michael Aston.
Sgt Aston said police were constantly getting reports of operators being harassed in Knox, Yarra Ranges and Maroondah, and had interviewed and charged a number of culprits in the past six months.
An operator was setting up on Canterbury Rd, Montrose, about 3.35pm on Monday, March 23, when he was spotted by a man leaving his driveway.
The man got out of ute and walked over to the camera car to abuse the driver.
Sgt Aston said the operator tried to put his car window up during the verbal attack, in which he was called “every name under the sun”, but the man held the window to stop it from going up.
Sgt Aston said it was “very disturbing” hearing the behaviour operators were facing.
“It’s amazing people think they can treat people like this,” he said.
“At times (operators) are being placed in serious danger.”
He said the abuse certainly mentally affected the workers, who were only out saving lives and heartache.
“If you don’t speed then you’ve got no issues,” he said.
Sgt Aston said interfering with a traffic camera operator was a criminal offence, and police would prosecute anyone caught.
And it’s easy to catch the offenders — after all they’re on camera.
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