Man who put up fake speed camera at blackspot says there have been no crashes since

A fed up farmer is duping drivers into thinking a bid box is a speed camera after he became sick of watching drivers to crash into a ditch.

Nick Porter insists his creation is working after an 60mph accident blackspot near his home in Essex saw four cars lose control and go into a ditch last year.

The spot, on the A1017 between High Garrett and Gosfield near Braintree, also saw three deaths in 2014 following a car accident.

Despite residents pleading to the council to lower the speed limit, nothing has been done, leaving Nick, 40, to come up with his own solution.

‘It’s money well spent. We no longer get the really fast cars,’ Nick said.

‘People would literally put their feet down from the traffic lights about a quarter of a mile away and can get up to 70 or 80 mph. Motorcycles sometimes reached 90mph.

‘It’s a fairly straight road but there are enough curves in it to make it dangerous, which is why people end up in ditches or crash into deer and write their cars off.’

He bought the £40 bird box and spent another £25 on the metal safety rail used to hold it up just outside his house.

Nick then painted it yellow to make it look like a speed camera, and made the hole which birds use to enter the box as a lens.

‘I saw the bird box speed camera idea online and it has worked,’ he said.

‘The traffic is noticeably a little bit slower now which is great, but once people realise it’s not a proper speed camera, they’ll just speed up again – but something needs to be done.’

But neighbours are now considering buying a car to buy on the road to force drivers to slow down to overtake.

‘Obviously we don’t want to have to do it because, if something happens, it’ll then be on our conscience,’ Nick said.

‘But it’s getting to the stage where it’s either that or it could be one of our children. We’re left with very limited options.

‘Eight or nine drivers a year hit deer and four cars ended up in the ditch last year.’

Essex County Council said they conduct a full investigation following any fatal collision to establish if there were any highway-related contributory factors, as well as reviewing the previous 10 years of collision data.

Braintree District Council said they have not received a planning application or any enforcement inquiries in relation to the dummy camera, and could not say if the structure required planning permission without viewing it first.

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