Vandals target city traffic light detector units

About 200 traffic light detector units have been vandalised across Cambridgeshire since the May bank holiday weekend, with most incidents concentrated in Cambridge city, a council has said.

Detector units identify vehicles and pedestrians waiting at junctions, allowing traffic lights to respond to real‑time demand.

Cambridgeshire County Council said the units had been "deliberately vandalised through the cutting of their cables".

Cambridgeshire Police confirmed it was investigating the incidents.

The council said the equipment played "a vital role in keeping traffic moving safely and efficiently", as when damaged, "traffic lights revert to a fixed‑time setting, leading to increased congestion and delays for everyone".

It said each incident typically cost £250 to repair but if the entire unit needed replacing it could cost as much as £1,500.

Detector units at about 50 locations had been targeted, the majority of which were in Cambridge, on Cherry Hinton Road, Perne Road, Mill Road, Milton Road, Coldham's Lane and others in Fen Ditton and Horningsea.

A crossing outside Park Primary School in Histon, which used sensors to allow large groups of children to cross safely, was also targeted.

The council said it was working to replace the damaged equipment as quickly as possible, although the scale of the vandalism meant some repairs would take longer to arrange than others.

Alex Beckett, the Liberal Democrat chair of the highways and transport committee, described the vandalism as "dangerous" and "stupid".

He added: "It's also going to cost taxpayers money as we must pay for the repairs, which prevents us from spending that money on other essential highways maintenance work."

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