Le Mans and speeding
Discussion
WhyTwo said:
One of our group in an m3 got pulled on the way back. He is adamant he had his cruise control set at 80. He was told he was doing 143. He asked for evidence and there was none forthcoming. €90 later he was on his way. It's nothing but a fund raiser.
Another of our group got pulled in his m3 about 5 miles out of Calais doing 139 in 110, fair enough but again no evidence. This was where the uk bib were 'helping'.
Strangely one of the guys on our campsite in an F-Type S got pulled at 145 but was let off with a warning. There really is no rhyme or reason to it.
One of the guys in a Porsche Boxter got nicked at 169kph on the way down.....90€ fineAnother of our group got pulled in his m3 about 5 miles out of Calais doing 139 in 110, fair enough but again no evidence. This was where the uk bib were 'helping'.
Strangely one of the guys on our campsite in an F-Type S got pulled at 145 but was let off with a warning. There really is no rhyme or reason to it.
Like I said fairs fair if you are speeding & get caught but I purposely set the cruise control 5kph below the 130 limit......
I did manage to get a receipt though this time lol
I am never quite sure if the stories of being pulled are true or not, but traveling from Calais to Bergerac on the Monday before Le Mans, I wasn't prepared to take the risk and ran via Paris.
On that particular route which was done in one sitting, (swapping drivers twice) we saw:
One Gendarme in a bush with a speed gun.
One Gendarme on an access ramp busy having a slash.
One set of Gendarme on bikes ready for pursuit.
It was 110kph all the way with a trailer on and no hassle. From what I could glean about trailers, as long as the entire outfit is less than 3.5tons, you can cruise at 130kph like the cars.
On that particular route which was done in one sitting, (swapping drivers twice) we saw:
One Gendarme in a bush with a speed gun.
One Gendarme on an access ramp busy having a slash.
One set of Gendarme on bikes ready for pursuit.
It was 110kph all the way with a trailer on and no hassle. From what I could glean about trailers, as long as the entire outfit is less than 3.5tons, you can cruise at 130kph like the cars.
Troubleatmill said:
Seen a couple of them on the way down.
An unmarked gunmetal scooby with blue lights in the bonnet bulge was the most discreet.
For those who were done. Just wondering if being stickered up was an influencing factor.
We spent a sizeable amount of time, both there and back, doing between 110 and 130mph in convoy in stickered up cars. An unmarked gunmetal scooby with blue lights in the bonnet bulge was the most discreet.
For those who were done. Just wondering if being stickered up was an influencing factor.
Speed limits were obeyed for the camera zones but we didn't see any plod at all, let alone unmarked ones.
ChemicalChaos said:
Troubleatmill said:
Seen a couple of them on the way down.
An unmarked gunmetal scooby with blue lights in the bonnet bulge was the most discreet.
For those who were done. Just wondering if being stickered up was an influencing factor.
We spent a sizeable amount of time, both there and back, doing between 110 and 130mph in convoy in stickered up cars. An unmarked gunmetal scooby with blue lights in the bonnet bulge was the most discreet.
For those who were done. Just wondering if being stickered up was an influencing factor.
Speed limits were obeyed for the camera zones but we didn't see any plod at all, let alone unmarked ones.
Gixer said:
Yes they are, as per my post ages ago, taken from SP&L forum. Euro high court has overruled the UK's veto until the matter is readdressed in euro parliament- probably next year
The annulment doesn't apply 'until' the law has been revised moving it from justice and policing to transportation which hasn't taken place yet.The UK reserves the right to fight the move and in which case we'll see just how truthful Cameron is being about taking on the dictatorial nature of the federalist EU tossers.Assuming that UKIP doesn't tear Cameron's pro EU Cons apart before that point.The fact is there's no way that Cameron can keep up the facade of not being controlled by a federalist agenda while at the same time not defending the veto in question against an obvious EU federal drivers' penalty regime.
Having said that,ironically,one of the UK's objections was that the law would apply fines where the UK would prefer to issue points.Which would fit in with Cameron supposedly saying that he's against a federal system and that he would stop the war against the motorist while doing exactly the opposite.Being that the law could see the domestic courts here imposing a higher penalty,in the form of points,for an offence,which the local courts, where the offence was committed,would have only imposed a fine.
www.blogs.findlaw.co.uk/solicitor/2014/05/eu-court...
Edited by XJ Flyer on Monday 16th June 22:03
Edited by XJ Flyer on Monday 16th June 22:08
Just got back and heard plenty of horror stories from people about confiscations and even suspended jail sentences! Not sure what to make of it really - I've driven in France quite a few times and drove as I always do - 100-130, slowing to 80-90 for locations flagged as speed trap areas, and corners where there isn't enough visibility to see far ahead.
Went past one gendarme at around 90 and he didn't seem to mind, other than that we didn't see any. Either I've always been incredibly lucky, or those who get caught are going so fast they can't see the police, or simply aren't paying attention.
A lot of the people who told me their bad experiences were clearly honest, decent guys, and I'm not doubting their accounts in any way. Whenever I go over to France I always tell myself I'll heed their warnings and stick to the limit, but those lovely smooth, empty autoroutes just tempt me too much. I'm moving out there in a few months - so I'll be sure to post back here if I get my comeuppance
Went past one gendarme at around 90 and he didn't seem to mind, other than that we didn't see any. Either I've always been incredibly lucky, or those who get caught are going so fast they can't see the police, or simply aren't paying attention.
A lot of the people who told me their bad experiences were clearly honest, decent guys, and I'm not doubting their accounts in any way. Whenever I go over to France I always tell myself I'll heed their warnings and stick to the limit, but those lovely smooth, empty autoroutes just tempt me too much. I'm moving out there in a few months - so I'll be sure to post back here if I get my comeuppance
Geekman said:
Went past one gendarme at around 90 and he didn't seem to mind, other than that we didn't see any. Either I've always been incredibly lucky, or those who get caught are going so fast they can't see the police, or simply aren't paying attention.
A lot of the people who told me their bad experiences were clearly honest, decent guys, and I'm not doubting their accounts in any way. Whenever I go over to France I always tell myself I'll heed their warnings and stick to the limit, but those lovely smooth, empty autoroutes just tempt me too much. I'm moving out there in a few months - so I'll be sure to post back here if I get my comeuppance
Trust me if you're concentrating on the road ahead as you should do the chances are you won't see any of the usual types of traps.Nor probably even if you're applying too much attention to the roads sides.A lot of the people who told me their bad experiences were clearly honest, decent guys, and I'm not doubting their accounts in any way. Whenever I go over to France I always tell myself I'll heed their warnings and stick to the limit, but those lovely smooth, empty autoroutes just tempt me too much. I'm moving out there in a few months - so I'll be sure to post back here if I get my comeuppance
As for me,having read accounts of the UK law being on the ground 'advising' the French,I'm now thinking about wether to even bother with running to the classic event in July,having decided that it wasn't worth the expense and potential aggravation just to see the Group C legends race.Being that Hybrids and now neutered GT's don't really interest me.
In which case it's looking more likely that I'll go to the Nurburgring 24 instead.Where at least,by all accounts,they still allow the Aston in V12 form to race.
Which,together with obviously being well away from the UK/French anti speed alliance,for most of the run there and back,possibly beats watching classic Le Mans types,running on a circuit that's been altered almost beyond recognition,to the point where it's arguably no longer worthy of such cars anyway.That's in addition to an entry cut off date which puts the Group C cars out of the classic event where they really belong.Sad days.
Edited by XJ Flyer on Tuesday 17th June 01:58
FartKong said:
We must have been lucky too as we were scanning the hedgerows etc and saw no police today and sat at around 140-150kph the whole way.
At that type of speed you're probably not likely to get seriously nicked anyway especially if the law are looking for faster traffic to get.Having been caught previously trust me you won't see them and the first you'll know of it is when they stop you after the trap.Which at least in my case was a simple matter of being waved over to a stop at the toll gate having ( luckily ) only been recorded at the 90 euro type level. lewisco said:
What was with there being people stood on every bridge on the auto route pretty much from Le Mans to Rouen? Saw a S2000 get pulled by a police bike into a stop with a police car waiting and was thinking the people might be spotters for speeders?
From what I could see they just seemed to be locals, sometimes the whole family, giving thumbs up and waving to the cars going past 
Regarding the actual speeding - this year only one of our group got pulled, 179kph and relieved of 135 euros and lost license for 1 month (ie posted straight back to UK). Based on this and our previous incidents I'm convinced that the French police don't have the capability to record actual speed. Its all made up, all of those times we have been traveling nowhere near (either well above or well below) the speed written on the receipt. The last time I was pulled (2013) and I asked in my best french "how fast?" you could actually see him making up the number on the spot in his head...
On the other hand, 135 euros for over 110mph and having the cops ask the pop the bonnet and rev it can't be all bad...!
bazza_g said:
On the other hand, 135 euros for over 110mph and having the cops ask the pop the bonnet and rev it can't be all bad...!
The fact that we've got documented reports of direct UK plod involvement in French motorway traffic policing and with the main UK government objections,to a cross border penalty regime,being that the Brits want to hit us with points and the money.While the French seem to just want the money,might explain all the inconsistencies.In that French speed enforcement still sometimes seems to be along the lines of how we knew it and French enforcement as it really is in most cases now.IE it's got the UK government's policy of war against the motorist and resulting speed regime grubby paw prints all over it.www.visordown.com/motorcycle-news--general-news/fr...
Edited by XJ Flyer on Tuesday 17th June 17:37
Sunday 8th down and Monday 16th up..... in the Campervan..so no record breaking speeds...lol
None going down but 2 Frog Plod with camera near Abbeville and they "collected" the chosen ones at the Boulogne Peage ....which was easy pickings as there was a queue to pay... unlike us who crept through the Lorry tag lane... (happy days).....
None going down but 2 Frog Plod with camera near Abbeville and they "collected" the chosen ones at the Boulogne Peage ....which was easy pickings as there was a queue to pay... unlike us who crept through the Lorry tag lane... (happy days).....
Jmorgan93 said:
Went on monday, came back on monday, not a single police car seen on the motorways! Even had to sit at about 150kph on the way back in convoy with an unstickered Audi A6, thank god there was no police, made the ferry by a minute!
The difference is that the French plod don't often use patrol cars of whatever type like ours do.It's usually just a case of a hidden trap and then you'll be stopped by plod with parked van/s and/or motor bikes further up the road or at the autoroute toll gates.lescombes said:
Sunday 8th down and Monday 16th up..... in the Campervan..so no record breaking speeds...lol
None going down but 2 Frog Plod with camera near Abbeville and they "collected" the chosen ones at the Boulogne Peage ....which was easy pickings as there was a queue to pay... unlike us who crept through the Lorry tag lane... (happy days).....
While I wasn't speeding, they did look VERY confused when I went through behind a French car, barely stopped and didn't get out of my car. I don't think they expect many Brits to have a Sanef tag. Well worth it though, saves so much time.None going down but 2 Frog Plod with camera near Abbeville and they "collected" the chosen ones at the Boulogne Peage ....which was easy pickings as there was a queue to pay... unlike us who crept through the Lorry tag lane... (happy days).....
I do chuckle when cars that have previously steamed past me are then seen queuing at the next toll. Takes them a while to catch back up as well..hehe
XJ Flyer said:
Jmorgan93 said:
Went on monday, came back on monday, not a single police car seen on the motorways! Even had to sit at about 150kph on the way back in convoy with an unstickered Audi A6, thank god there was no police, made the ferry by a minute!
The difference is that the French plod don't often use patrol cars of whatever type like ours do.It's usually just a case of a hidden trap and then you'll be stopped by plod with parked van/s and/or motor bikes further up the road or at the autoroute toll gates.Four of us in two MX5s, 15 mins North east of Le Mans on Sunday morning. Just north of Change on the road to Bonnetable...117km in a 90km limit. Following 4 French cars, who obviously were let through and we got pulled. Absolutely no way we were doing that....indicated 74mph allowing for the optimistic speedo. No way.
No point in arguing, we had a crossing to catch. Just a minor downside to a great weekend. 90 euros each. Ah well.... We were cautious for the next few miles....
No point in arguing, we had a crossing to catch. Just a minor downside to a great weekend. 90 euros each. Ah well.... We were cautious for the next few miles....
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