The ‘Guardrail Guy’ Gained Fame by Sharing Insights on Flock Cameras, Only to Have Them Vandalized.

Steve Eimers has gained a significant following, amassing hundreds of thousands of fans on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and X. Known as “The Guardrail Guy,” he shares insights on installation issues concerning guardrails along highways nationwide. Eimers started highlighting guardrail concerns in 2022, a few years after tragically losing his 17-year-old daughter, Hannah, in a collision with a guardrail that failed to guide her vehicle back onto the road.

In April, Eimers shifted his focus to another feature of American roadways: automatic license plate readers (ALPRs).

Manufactured by companies such as Flock and Axon, ALPRs utilize mounted cameras to collect vehicle data, which can assist in tracking individuals suspected of criminal activities. Eimers broadened his advocacy for safety, expressing concerns that ALPRs could pose significant risks to passengers during crashes. He argues that many ALPRs are positioned too close to guardrails, compromising their effectiveness, or are mounted on existing road signs, potentially undermining the function of “breakaway” posts in the event of an impact.

His commentary on ALPRs resonated widely. These devices have sparked debate, with cities across the nation evaluating their benefits against potential misuse risks. While Eimers’ videos centered on the crash safety of the cameras, many viewers criticized the devices as intrusive, perceiving them as a subtle increase in mass surveillance within their communities.

Eimers observed, with growing concern, that an increasing number of viewers urged him to destroy the cameras, some expressing outrage that he hadn’t taken action. Others inquired about the exact locations of the cameras in his posts or speculated about the metals—like gold, silver, and copper—that they might contain. Various comments suggested methods for vandalizing the cameras.

“Large diameter pipe cutter,” one comment on a video Eimers shared on July 24 read, accompanied by an image of such a cutter. “Nice and quiet, cuts it like butter!!!!”

On July 22, Eimers announced that Flock, arguably the most well-known ALPR brand in the United States, had agreed to undertake a nationwide audit of its camera installations. He included footage of a local Flock camera that he had also featured the day before. Garrett Langley, the CEO of Flock, responded by quote-tweeting Eimers, whom he referred to as a “true American hero.”

On July 25, while driving home with one of his daughters, Eimers encountered the camera he had mentioned in his post. To his shock, it was severely damaged. He told WIRED it appeared to have been shot.

Further down the road, he spotted another Flock camera he had previously documented in a TikTok video from May, and it was similarly damaged.

Faced with this situation, Eimers decided to suspend all ALPR-related advocacy indefinitely.

Eimers shared that witnessing the cameras left him feeling “a little bit shell-shocked.” He perceives them as indicative of a disturbing rise in negative attitudes toward Flock and other ALPR providers.

“I just haven’t seen or experienced what I’ve experienced over the last few months with the escalation ever with any of my guardrail advocacy work,” Eimers remarked, emphasizing his desire not to “feed the trolls.”

Eimers informed WIRED that he reported the damages to local authorities. The Maryville Police Department and the Blount County Sheriff’s Office subsequently announced on July 31 that they had arrested Adam Heimerman, who seems to be campaigning for Congress in Tennessee, charging him with felony vandalism for shooting four ALPR cameras in the vicinity between July 14 and July 22.