In fact the poles are back in the news with the announcement that there is going to be 73 more. Strange when you consider that in Britain speed cameras are being removed in some areas because they don't improve road safety and are seen as a pest. Flitspalen do bring out the worst in some of us. Take the guy who found his way into the news recently. Like many others, "hij werd geflitst door een flitspaal - he was flashed by a speed pole (camera)". He saw the flash and realised that een boete - a fine would be coming his way. Being short of money, he saw only one way out and that was to destroy the pole: "hij heeft de flitspaal in brand gestoken - he set fire to the speed camera pole". The fire drew the attention of a passing police car and within minutes the police stopped the man, who immediately confessed mainly because hij naar benzine rook - he smelled of petrol; and also, de man bleek onder invloed van drank te zijn - the man seemed to be under the influence of alcohol. Yet when you pass a flitspaal going just a tad over the limit, you don't always know if you have been flashed or not. You might think that in the digital age, images are being bounced off passing satellites to some nerve centre at police headquarters; but no, instead each camera is shared between four boxes. I suppose someone has rota for them. It's almost a game of Russian roulette: "dat er meer flitskasten dan camera's zijn, wekt ook onvrede - that there are more boxes than cameras also causes discontent," comments a paper this week. You might think I'm stirring things up to get you to sign a petition, yet no less a person than Stefaan Eeckhout, Kortrijkse korpschef - police chief of Kortrijk - has questioned the use of flitspalen bij verkeerslichten - speed cameras at traffic lights. Meanwhile, a motorway exit near me has three of the things guarding one junction! Certainly, they would pick up both overdreven snelheid - speeding and roodrijden - driving through a red light. But according to Eeckhout, such offences account for een zeer miniem aandeel van de boetes - a very small part of the fines. "De enige weggebruikers die soms een stoplicht negeren, zijn fletsers - The only road-users that sometimes ignore a red light are cyclists." Enough said.