Speeding sign removed due to vandals' target practice

An anti-speeding sign has been removed after Wanganui residents became fed up with vandals shooting it.

The ACC-funded billboard featured a photo of a cop with a speed camera and the question "How fast are you going?".

It had been a regular target since going up more than 18 months ago, and was surrounded by a pile of broken bottles, bricks and shotgun shells from late-night attacks.

A resident said the final straw came when vandals attacked it last month, before shooting at letterboxes and a front door down the road.

That prompted him to contact local councillor Ray Stevens, who arranged for its removal.

"It was attracting antisocial behaviour," said Stevens. "There was more than one incidence of it being shot at with a firearm."

Stevens said when the sign was put up, its visibility and impact on the environment had been taken into account, but not its proximity to dwellings.

That would be taken in to account in future, particularly for signs in rural areas, he said.

"Residents should not be inconvenienced by signs."