More Possible French Speeding Crack Downs
Discussion
Mtters not to most of us. There is a time and a place for hoonage, and on the way to the busyest car event, with your car stickered up in a pisstake homage of some sort is probably not it.
It'd kind of like when the sign says wet paint and you touch it to check. Easy to predict the outcome!
It'd kind of like when the sign says wet paint and you touch it to check. Easy to predict the outcome!
), just thought it was interesting that they might escalate their already massive anti speeding presence.
Hopefully it wont be too bad. We've never encountered any on the smaller roads but the main autoroutes had Les Gendarmes hiding in lots of places. I had a very close call a few years ago - caught up with a Skyline and got to a really long straight with a bridge going over it about half a mile down the road. We were both about to set off on a little "autotest" when a lorry further down the road blocked the lanes so we had to back out. Passed the bridge and there were about 5 Gendarmes sitting on bikes waiting! We would have been in a lot of trouble if it wasn't for the lorry!
This may be the last year for a FREE speeding offence. This was from the Sunday Times.
Police officers in France have the power to impose on-the-spot fines for speeding
EUROPEAN POLICE forces are to be given access to British drivers’ details so they can pursue fines for motoring offences committed on the Continent. It will be the first time that information, including a driver’s name, address and previous con–victions, has been made widely available to authorities outside the UK, writes Joseph Dunn.
The new law, being drawn up by the European Commission and due to come into force next May, will give police in 27 countries the power to demand British motorists’ details from the DVLA if they suspect an offence has been committed and has been caught on camera.
Offences include speeding, driving without a seatbelt and driving while using a mobile phone. Once the DVLA has received the demand and the car’s registration number, it will supply the registered owner’s name and address, allowing European police forces to send a penalty demand through the post. The letter will be written in English.
At the moment, British drivers can be fined for most offences in Europe only if they are stopped by an officer, who can issue an on-the-spot penalty. The new rules mean that speed and CCTV cameras can be used to capture the licence plate of the car, allowing police to trace its owner across the Channel. Parking offences are not covered by the new rules because they are not regarded as a road safety problem.
According to Brussels, the move is a response to concerns that foreign drivers were getting away with many offences when driving on the Continent. “This is the result of 10 years of frustration with blatant abuses of traffic laws,” said Helen Kearns, a transport spokesman for the European Commission. “Figures show that foreign drivers’ offences are relatively high and this measure is necessary to say: you can’t just get away with it.”
Police in most European countries have been sharing driver information since November 2013 under a European policing directive. Britain exercised its right to opt out of the directive on the grounds that the penalty notice applied to the registered owner of the car — so-called owner liability — rather than the person who was driving the vehicle at the time the offence was committed. Under British law, the driver at the time is responsible.
Earlier this month the European Court of Justice ruled that the law had been in–correctly drafted and should have fallen not under the policing directive but under the road safety directive, an area where Britain has no right to opt out. “Transport safety is part of EU rules where everyone is involved,” said Christopher Fretwell, a spokesman for the court. “There are no opt-outs. If re-adopted, it will apply across the board to member states.”
Some MEPs are furious that the directive will now be applied to British drivers: “The UK decided that on balance it was not in our interests to take part [in the previous law] because the directive prosecutes vehicle owners, rather than the offending driver, and it seeks to implement fines when other deter–rents — such as points on a licence — may be more effective,” said Timothy Kirkhope, a Conservative MEP who sits on the transport committee.
“If the commission brings forward a similar piece of legislation then we will oppose it when it reaches the European parliament.”
Experts say it is unlikely the legislation can be stopped since it would mean blocking the entire road safety directive. Foreign police forces have no powers to enforce the fine — that remains a matter for British courts — and British drivers could ignore the demand for payment. However, the next time they visited the country where the offence had been committed they would run the risk of being issued with an on-the-spot fine, or in extreme cases having their car impounded. British drivers issued with speeding fines in France have been escorted by officers to cash machines where they are expected to withdraw money to make the payment.
The new law could prove a boon for the Treasury, however: because it works both ways foreign drivers could be traced by British authorities. Although no official figures are available, the number of unpaid fines issued to foreign drivers runs into the millions. According to the most recent estimates, based on a survey of speed camera partnerships in 2012, an estimated 60,000 speeding fines worth £3.6m were written off because there was no effective way to track down foreign culprits.
The drivers we roll to LM with each year have a tendancy to be a little bit unhinged on the occasional motorway stint, but I can say that during each LM pilgrimmage we very much behave ourselves, and sit on 110/130 with cruise control enabled.
The shear amount of BiB knocking around on the common Calais -> Le Mans routes are incredible, and many of which must go home with a bloody big bag of loot (sceptical as ever)!
There is something I find quite relaxing about French driving... the autoroutes especially... Rouen aside, there is next to never any traffic, and when the weather is nice, you're often driving through some really nice countryside with the odd cool bridge to shoot over.
It always makes me chuckle with the obligatory "1750 Euro club" or whatever the fine is these days for doing crazy speeds and being caught. I just dont think it's worth it!!!
The shear amount of BiB knocking around on the common Calais -> Le Mans routes are incredible, and many of which must go home with a bloody big bag of loot (sceptical as ever)!
There is something I find quite relaxing about French driving... the autoroutes especially... Rouen aside, there is next to never any traffic, and when the weather is nice, you're often driving through some really nice countryside with the odd cool bridge to shoot over.
It always makes me chuckle with the obligatory "1750 Euro club" or whatever the fine is these days for doing crazy speeds and being caught. I just dont think it's worth it!!!
The cross border camera thing is interesting.
For the last years we've taken a shopping trolley estate car to lug all our crud in, rather than a gt car, so speed hasn't been an issue (air con is fun too, rather than fannying around with keep fit windows).
We've always regarded the cameras as danger points, having approached one on an early trip to Le Mans, and found the gendarmerie camped next to it (speed guns, fast bikes - you get the picture).
The roads in France are lovely compared to good old blighty, but I really can do without a bend-over-wallet-emptying experience.
For the last years we've taken a shopping trolley estate car to lug all our crud in, rather than a gt car, so speed hasn't been an issue (air con is fun too, rather than fannying around with keep fit windows).
We've always regarded the cameras as danger points, having approached one on an early trip to Le Mans, and found the gendarmerie camped next to it (speed guns, fast bikes - you get the picture).
The roads in France are lovely compared to good old blighty, but I really can do without a bend-over-wallet-emptying experience.
The autoroutes are not the place to speed, but its a fair enough limit (81 mph) so no need at all.
Some care needed on main RN roads certainly but away from the beaten track , its possible to press on within reason, keep it legal in the villages though.
Some care needed on main RN roads certainly but away from the beaten track , its possible to press on within reason, keep it legal in the villages though.
Edited by Dblue on Thursday 22 May 14:32
Dblue said:
The autoroutes are not the place to speed, but its a fair enough limit (81 mph) soon need at all.
Some care needed on main RN roads certainly but away from the beaten track , its possible to press on within reason, keep it legal in the villages though.
That logic says it all.A road designed and built for high speeds is stated as not the place to drive at high speed but press on when using the small single carriageway D roads instead.The fact is the 130 kmh autoroute speed limit is a joke considering the road and traffic conditions and the cost of using them.As for using the D roads for 'press on' driving that logic could result in a nasty surprise if anyone gets caught considering the even much lower limit on those roads.In which case 'pressing on' under those limits will be more likely to result in loss of the car and/or a jail sentence than exceeding the autoroute limit at reasonable speeds.Some care needed on main RN roads certainly but away from the beaten track , its possible to press on within reason, keep it legal in the villages though.
I'm not sure which times people are referring to but as I remember it,having made the trip regularly since the 1980's,Le Mans was always about a fast run on good clear French roads with the autoroutes being the best.The idea of unmanned camera convictions and licence points from next year will just be the final nail in many types of continental trips with quick cars being that even reducing the odds by running overnight won't work in that case together with the risk of loss of licence.In which case anyone with any sense who went to Le Mans for the fun of a quick run with a quick car will just leave it to the motor home and shopping car drivers running at UK type speeds on clear French motorways.While using the money saved for more runs through Germany at least while some unlimited sections of autobahn remain.Sad days.
FraMac said:
The cross border camera thing is interesting.
We've always regarded the cameras as danger points,
The difference is that Brit registered cars have,so far,been immune from foreign unmanned camera traps which is one of the advantages of running on the continent.However the article seems to have concentrated on the cross border camera issue while not making the cross border licence penalty implications which go with it as clear.It's not the fines it's the points which will be the problem.IE the idea of getting enough points to lose a licence for exceeding 130 kmh on a clear autoroute is a joke.While it's obvious that the EU are turning the minor offence of exceeding the speed limit into an extraditable and potentially custodial offence. We've always regarded the cameras as danger points,
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