Struisbaai man slows down traffic with ‘speed camera’ built with wine box, beer can and broomsticks
Tinus Diedericks slowed down traffic on a busy road close to his home by building a 'speed camera' out of a wine box, three broomsticks and a Black Label can, fooling motorists into slowing down.
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John Maytham speaks to Struisbaai resident Tinus Diedericks about how he's slowing traffic down close to his home.
Listen below.
Diedericks found an innovative way to slow traffic down close to his home. He built a 'speed camera' out of a box and an old can, giving motorists the illusion that it's a traffic camera, fooling them into slowing down.
He explains that there is only one road between Struisbaai and Agulhas.
"The people are racing to go somewhere and it's a bit of a problem."
Diedericks, an engineer, responded to the local problem with creativity after almost being knocked over by a speeding car while walking with his grandson along this road.
"That's [speeding] one of the problems we have down there... 500 metres of straight road and the 'Formula 1 guys' take that as an opportunity to speed and overtake... there's a lot of pedestrians... so we had to make a plan."
- Tinus Diedericks, resident - Struisbaai
The plan involved getting creative with a wine box and an empty can of Black Label held together by three broomsticks.
"It came about when I was walking with my grandson and the car was overtaking another one from behind and it narrowly missed me and I was immediately so upset... a tripod is always something that draws attention, so the three broomsticks I gathered was a starting point, and then I was looking for a green box... I found a green wine box and put it on the broomsticks and then I was looking for a 'camera' and the Black Label came to mind... We put it in the wine box and it's amazing because immediately, the car just breaks because they see the tripod and think it's a speed camera..."
- Tinus Diedericks, resident - Struisbaai
So far, the plan works, as motorists are slowing down because they think the contraption is a 'speeding camera'.
"... They slow down... so many people stopping at that specific point to check if it was a real camera that they were getting out of the car to take selfies."
- Tinus Diedericks, resident - Struisbaai
"... A great deal of success with this one... I've got no plan of taking it down."
- Tinus Diedericks, resident - Struisbaai
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.