Pi.1415926535/Wikimedia CommonsSpeed cameras have attracted a particular kind of hostility for their inconvenient ability to accurately single out speeding drivers. People have shot them, set them on fire, wrapped them in duct tape, and spray-painted their lenses. In France, as Forbes noted, the Yellow Vest movement vandalized roughly 60% of the country's speed cameras — or around 3,200 units — beginning in late 2018. In the early 2000s, over 700 cameras were destroyed across England in a coordinated campaign by a group calling themselves Motorists Against Detection (MAD). And as recently as March 2026, a 30-year-old Portland man was sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to shooting out multiple red light cameras in 2024, according to KFVS. The manufacturers building these systems have noticed.Before getting into the arms race, the underlying rationale is worth stating. Studies consistently show cameras reduce speeding and prevent fatal crashes. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) studies show that cameras in Montgomery County, Virginia, reduced the likelihood of a driver exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 mph, compared to similar roads in nearby counties without cameras by 59% between 2007 and 2014. When the county introduced "speed camera corridors" — moving cameras to different positions along a road segment rather than keeping them fixed — crashes involving fatal or incapacitating injuries dropped an additional 30% beyond the benefit cameras already provided.AdvertisementAdvertisementGermany's Vitronic has produced one of the more serious engineering responses to speed camera vandalism: the Poliscan Enforcement Trailer. From the outside, the angular, metallic housing looks like the rear end of the equally polarizing Tesla Cybertruck. That's not a coincidence — the design deliberately eliminates handholds, rope attachment points, and any surface a vandal can easily grip or damage.Read more: These Are The Deadliest Cars On The RoadEnter the bulletproof solutionsKürschner/Wikimedia CommonsThe Poliscan Enforcement Trailer is bulletproof and the glass panels in front of the camera optics are ballistic-grade. The trailer lowers fully onto the ground when deployed, hiding its wheels behind smooth covers that prevent it from being towed away. A built-in sensor system monitors a two-meter perimeter and triggers alarms if anyone approaches. Data is transmitted wirelessly to an office, meaning the trailer never needs to be opened during deployment — eliminating the window that typically requires a technician visit and creates physical exposure.Montgomery County, Maryland, deployed six of these trailers in 2026. The county's assistant chief administrative officer confirmed to ABC 7 News that the decision to use ballistic-grade glass came specifically from prior incidents in which cameras had been shot out. Maryland has been no stranger to cracking down on drivers, even going as far as to ban gas-powered car sales in the state by 2035.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe trailer can run autonomously for up to 30 days on internal battery power, monitor multiple lanes simultaneously, and enforce different speed limits for different vehicle types at different times of day. It is, in effect, an unattended speed enforcement station that was designed from the start with the assumption that someone would eventually try to destroy it. A similar concept can be seen in Jenoptik's TraffiTower, a housing system used globally by law enforcement to monitor and enforce road traffic laws. Though both traffic camera systems are seemingly resistant to ballistic attacks, the TraffiTower is an entirely stationary piece of equipment. Despite its lack of mobility, it is touted as a mixed-use monitoring device that can even aid in public security.Whether these systems deter the next person with a spray can or a firearm is another question. The cameras are keeping score either way.Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and follow us or add us as a preferred search source on Google.Read the original article on Jalopnik.