Doug James confirms it, in today's Dispatch Online: "The municipality is experiencing an increase in the theft of guard rails from bridges," says the acting director of engineering services, referring to the Buffalo City area of East London in South Africa. Doug failed to speculate why but does observe that the thefts endanger the lives of pedestrians and motorists. Meanwhile, a "concerned citizen" told authorities that he caught a man in the act of smashing guard rails into small pieces near a bridge. The man said he was going to sell it as scrap metal because he was hungry.