France

[NDA]

Zed 44 said:

NDA said:

I generally do around 2,000 miles in France every year - and have done for 30 years I should think.

It has changed. 30 years ago I could drive on the peage at 150mph knowing that the fine was a very affordable sum... Now, you could have your car seized at those speeds.

But is it that bad now? Not really. I get to where I want to get to on the peage at 90mph and then pootle around at the destination observing the limits.

France is a superb country to drive through, despite the speed limits on rural roads.

How old are you now? Maybe that explains why you're happy driving it 48 mph

I quite like high speeds - having raced at Le Mans a couple of times, owned a Murcielago and a Ford GT (amongst others) for many years. I may not have your rich motoring experience, but I'd say it is possible to drive across France quite quickly.

[Zed 44]

NDA said:

I quite like high speeds - having raced at Le Mans a couple of times, owned a Murcielago and a Ford GT (amongst others) for many years. I may not have your rich motoring experience, but I'd say it is possible to drive across France quite quickly.

Put down again. How can I possibly compete with those credentials? My neighbour is deperate to go to France. I am negotiating with him.He pays any fines I might get. At the moment he is reluctant but we will see.

[NDA]

I wouldn't dismiss France - it's such great countryside and amazing roads... I've had days where I've (almost) not seen another car.

I agree that the speed limits are a bit of a pain and it feels slow sometimes. But I've shifted to motorways to get to the area I'm heading, rather than doing it all on the back roads.

[Zed 44]

NDA said:

I wouldn't dismiss France - it's such great countryside and amazing roads... I've had days where I've (almost) not seen another car.

I agree that the speed limits are a bit of a pain and it feels slow sometimes. But I've shifted to motorways to get to the area I'm heading, rather than doing it all on the back roads.

To be honest, I used to like driving the RNs and D roads when the speed limit was 90kph. You could push it to a 100kph and not get stopped and enjoy the roads very nicely thank you. I went many times to both France and the Pyrenees. In fact, there were roads in the Pyrenees where you would struggle to safely beat the speed limit sometimes. But now with the limit at 80kph I feel that you would draw too much attention to yourself driving at the speeds I used to.

[blue_haddock]

Zed 44 said:

I used to enjoy the RNs and D roads in France. That was the reason for my enquiry. From the answers above, it would seem that a return to France for the pleasure of driving on these roads would be best avoided.

we do 2 or 3 trips to france each year, usually sticking to the non toll roads and i've never seen a manned speed trap anywhere. Even the static ones are well signed posted and are easy to slow down for even though the fines are now non enforcable to us brits post brexit.

I've just returned from the south west coast of france and did 2000 miles and it was so much easier than in the uk.

[IJWS15]

We tend to travel out on the RNs and back on autoroute.

I see more gendarmes measuring speed on the autoroutes.

I do remember seeing a group of gendarmes, just outside Calais on the D to Saint Omer, stood around a tripod obviously trying to assemble it so they are present on the NSA’s.

The drive is part of the holiday so I don’t stretch the limits too far and she can’t shop while we are driving ;-).

[Mr Magooagain]

Zed 44 said:

NDA said:

I wouldn't dismiss France - it's such great countryside and amazing roads... I've had days where I've (almost) not seen another car.

I agree that the speed limits are a bit of a pain and it feels slow sometimes. But I've shifted to motorways to get to the area I'm heading, rather than doing it all on the back roads.

To be honest, I used to like driving the RNs and D roads when the speed limit was 90kph. You could push it to a 100kph and not get stopped and enjoy the roads very nicely thank you. I went many times to both France and the Pyrenees. In fact, there were roads in the Pyrenees where you would struggle to safely beat the speed limit sometimes. But now with the limit at 80kph I feel that you would draw too much attention to yourself driving at the speeds I used to.

Many roads are now back to 90kph where marked.

I find it amazing people moaning about the French speed limits and speed camera's, when in the uk it’s less on the motorways and there seem to be many more speed cameras there.

Maybe they think because they are on holiday they should be entitled to drive faster than the national limits to reach their destination.
These type of threads pop up every few months.

[981Boxess]

omniflow said:

I have been caught once on the Autoroute, by a Camera that didn't show up on Waze. This led to me being flagged down at the next Toll Station by 2 female gendarmes in an unmarked Golf R. They were extremely pleasant and as it was my first offence they "only" fined me €90, which they took using their mobile card reader. No points on my UK licence either. I was doing about 140MPH, so I was ok with the outcome.

Are you saying you were doing about 140mph (224kph) in a 130kph speed limit and you got away with only a €90 fine?

[omniflow]

981Boxess said:

Are you saying you were doing about 140mph (224kph) in a 130kph speed limit and you got away with only a €90 fine?

Yes - that's exactly what I'm saying. The speed we were caught for was 217Km/hr. We were on our way from St. Emilion to San Sebastian and there was a Luxembourg registered M6, who was really going for it. My flawed assumption was that if there was a speed trap, it would catch him and not me, so I stayed behind him. At the toll booth, he hung back and took his time going through, whereas I just went straight through and got pulled immediately. I had to follow them for 2 or 3 Km to the next services, where they dealt with the paperwork. They were extremely pleasant, explained to me what they "should" have done, but said that as I hadn't been done before it would only be €90. I had all the necessary paperwork with me, including the V5, and the fact that it was my own car seemed to be quite important to them. At the time we were only about 10km from the Spanish border, and we were returning via Santander, but their parting words were along the lines of "be careful, we patrol both sides". I can't fault their attitude and approach - no lectures and very pleasant throughout.

[981Boxess]

omniflow said:

981Boxess said:

Are you saying you were doing about 140mph (224kph) in a 130kph speed limit and you got away with only a €90 fine?

Yes - that's exactly what I'm saying. The speed we were caught for was 217Km/hr.

So 87kph over the speed limit, I thought 50kph over the speed limit gets you an automatic ban?

You wouldn’t get the minimum fine at that speed either.

Very odd.

[paulwirral]

omniflow said:

Yes - that's exactly what I'm saying. The speed we were caught for was 217Km/hr. We were on our way from St. Emilion to San Sebastian and there was a Luxembourg registered M6, who was really going for it. My flawed assumption was that if there was a speed trap, it would catch him and not me, so I stayed behind him. At the toll booth, he hung back and took his time going through, whereas I just went straight through and got pulled immediately. I had to follow them for 2 or 3 Km to the next services, where they dealt with the paperwork. They were extremely pleasant, explained to me what they "should" have done, but said that as I hadn't been done before it would only be €90. I had all the necessary paperwork with me, including the V5, and the fact that it was my own car seemed to be quite important to them. At the time we were only about 10km from the Spanish border, and we were returning via Santander, but their parting words were along the lines of "be careful, we patrol both sides". I can't fault their attitude and approach - no lectures and very pleasant throughout.

You definitely got lucky there , probably because you were on your way out of the country.
When I lived in France I quickly learned anything with a Luxembourg plate would be travelling with complete disregard for any speed limit in France .
That said , I did get to the border to san seb a few times to be met by lines of armed and very serious looking gendarmes. Clearly looking for a certain person on their way out of the country but once I was travelling back up from San and there was some sort of “gum ball rally “ event on . My word there was a huge police presence and a lot of very tasty cars in one line being introduced to Spain in a very expensive way , we were on our way to Biarritz and when we got there a lot of the rally was parked up there , I’m guessing waiting for the weather to cool off , among other things !

Edited by paulwirral on Friday 12th April 23:23

[omniflow]

981Boxess said:

omniflow said:

981Boxess said:

Are you saying you were doing about 140mph (224kph) in a 130kph speed limit and you got away with only a €90 fine?

Yes - that's exactly what I'm saying. The speed we were caught for was 217Km/hr.

So 87kph over the speed limit, I thought 50kph over the speed limit gets you an automatic ban?

You wouldn’t get the minimum fine at that speed either.

Very odd.

Not odd at all. They were very clear that they were using their discretion and only fining me €90 as it was the first offence I was caught for in France. Also - it's 40Km/hr over where the nasty punishments start - i.e. 108 MPH. You can call it lucky if you like, but odd it wasn't. They were very clear as to what the punishment "should" have been. It wasn't a case of grovelling either, they were extremely pleasant and reasonable throughout the entire encounter.

[981Boxess]

omniflow said:

Also - it's 40Km/hr over where the nasty punishments start - i.e. 108 MPH.

Speeding offense Fine Legal consequences
< 20 km/h (not in urban area) €68 None
< 20 km/h (in urban area) €135 None
< 30 km/h €135 None
< 40 km/h €135 3 years license withdrawal
< 50 km/h €135 3 years license withdrawal
=> 50 km/h Up to €1,500 3 years license withdrawal, car can be confiscated
=> 50 km/h (recidivism) Up to €3,750 3 years license withdrawal, car can be confiscated, up to 3 months jail

[Nethybridge]

The roads are great in France and Germany, Belgian roads not so much.

Anyone know the German laws, I think I was flashed last week doing maybe 40 kph
in a 30 zone in a village on the Alpine Scenic Route.

Edited by Nethybridge on Saturday 13th April 01:04

[omniflow]

981Boxess said:

omniflow said:

Also - it's 40Km/hr over where the nasty punishments start - i.e. 108 MPH.

Speeding offense Fine Legal consequences
< 20 km/h (not in urban area) €68 None
< 20 km/h (in urban area) €135 None
< 30 km/h €135 None
< 40 km/h €135 3 years license withdrawal
< 50 km/h €135 3 years license withdrawal
=> 50 km/h Up to €1,500 3 years license withdrawal, car can be confiscated
=> 50 km/h (recidivism) Up to €3,750 3 years license withdrawal, car can be confiscated, up to 3 months jail

Exactly - the 3 years license withdrawal is the biggest problem. It's an instant ban. You either swap drivers, or leave the car where it is. A friend of mine got stopped on his motorbike coming back from Andorra, there were no spare drivers in the group so he had to leave it in France and return later with a friend in a van to collect it.

[981Boxess]

omniflow said:

981Boxess said:

omniflow said:

Also - it's 40Km/hr over where the nasty punishments start - i.e. 108 MPH.

Speeding offense Fine Legal consequences
< 20 km/h (not in urban area) €68 None
< 20 km/h (in urban area) €135 None
< 30 km/h €135 None
< 40 km/h €135 3 years license withdrawal
< 50 km/h €135 3 years license withdrawal
=> 50 km/h Up to €1,500 3 years license withdrawal, car can be confiscated
=> 50 km/h (recidivism) Up to €3,750 3 years license withdrawal, car can be confiscated, up to 3 months jail

Exactly - the 3 years license withdrawal is the biggest problem. It's an instant ban. You either swap drivers, or leave the car where it is. A friend of mine got stopped on his motorbike coming back from Andorra, there were no spare drivers in the group so he had to leave it in France and return later with a friend in a van to collect it.

Yes at 50 kph over the limit, so you would have to be pretty stupid to risk that, knowing that is how it works.

[omniflow]

981Boxess said:

Yes at 50 kph over the limit, so you would have to be pretty stupid to risk that, knowing that is how it works.

"Stupid" - that's a bit rude / unnecessary.

You obviously have a different tolerance for / attitude to risk than me, but that doesn't make me stupid any more than it makes you a fraidy cat.

[smifffymoto]

The only people who drive that much over the limit these days are the ‘go fast’ running their product up from Spain.

[981Boxess]

omniflow said:

981Boxess said:

Yes at 50 kph over the limit, so you would have to be pretty stupid to risk that, knowing that is how it works.

"Stupid" - that's a bit rude / unnecessary.

You obviously have a different tolerance for / attitude to risk than me, but that doesn't make me stupid any more than it makes you a fraidy cat.

Nothing to do with 'tolerance for / attitude to risk', I see being able to travel to a foreign country as a privilege, not a God given right. So when I do it I try to treat that country and its laws/inhabitants with a bit of respect, I don't go into arrogant nob mode (not saying you did) and start a sentence with well I spend my money there so I can do whatever I want. I wouldn't want people coming over to the UK doing it, so I don't go abroad and do it, simple as that.

If you look at the fine structure above it very simply says two things:
If you go over the speed limit up to 50kph over the limit (110mph on the motorway) and you get caught it will cost you.
If you go over the speed limit by more than 50kph we don't want you here, no grey areas.

I am more than happy to drive in France within those constraints, which is far better than what we are stuck with here in the UK with our cone infested roads with loads of traffic on them.

[omniflow]

981Boxess said:

Nothing to do with 'tolerance for / attitude to risk', I see being able to travel to a foreign country as a privilege, not a God given right. So when I do it I try to treat that country and its laws/inhabitants with a bit of respect, I don't go into arrogant nob mode (not saying you did) and start a sentence with well I spend my money there so I can do whatever I want. I wouldn't want people coming over to the UK doing it, so I don't go abroad and do it, simple as that.

If you look at the fine structure above it very simply says two things:
If you go over the speed limit up to 50kph over the limit (110mph on the motorway) and you get caught it will cost you.
If you go over the speed limit by more than 50kph we don't want you here, no grey areas.

I am more than happy to drive in France within those constraints, which is far better than what we are stuck with here in the UK with our cone infested roads with loads of traffic on them.

I notice that you don't explain / apologise for calling me stupid