European Union Creates International Speeding Ticket
Discussion
http://thenewspaper.com/news/29/2960.asp
European Union Creates International Speeding Ticket
European countries connect vehicle records so that automated speeding tickets cross international borders.
Speeding tickets are beginning to cross international borders in Europe, thanks to the European car and driving license information system, or Eucaris. At the beginning of the year, Swiss motorists began being charged for speed camera tickets issued by French authorities. As of October, the French government had collected on a total of 10,000 citations from violations allegedly committed by vehicles registered in Switzerland. A total of 1800 tickets were issued last month alone.
Prior to Eucaris, most countries had no means of collecting on automated tickets issued to non-citizens because there was no automated system that could identify vehicle registrations in a foreign country. Beginning in 1994, a number of authorities upset by losing millions in potential revenue created the drive to standardize the sharing of electronic vehicle and driver's license records among the disparate database systems in twenty countries.
Progress in connecting these databases has been slow. Only last year did The Netherlands and Germany become the first to swap speed camera ticketing information. Cross-border tickets will also be issued in Belgium as part of a bilateral information exchange program.
Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom have all signed the Eucaris treaty with the rest of the European Union countries expected on board by August 2011. Once fully connected, officials hope to be able to issue fully international speeding tickets and introduce further uses, such as the collection of per-mile taxes.
European Union Creates International Speeding Ticket
European countries connect vehicle records so that automated speeding tickets cross international borders.
Speeding tickets are beginning to cross international borders in Europe, thanks to the European car and driving license information system, or Eucaris. At the beginning of the year, Swiss motorists began being charged for speed camera tickets issued by French authorities. As of October, the French government had collected on a total of 10,000 citations from violations allegedly committed by vehicles registered in Switzerland. A total of 1800 tickets were issued last month alone.
Prior to Eucaris, most countries had no means of collecting on automated tickets issued to non-citizens because there was no automated system that could identify vehicle registrations in a foreign country. Beginning in 1994, a number of authorities upset by losing millions in potential revenue created the drive to standardize the sharing of electronic vehicle and driver's license records among the disparate database systems in twenty countries.
Progress in connecting these databases has been slow. Only last year did The Netherlands and Germany become the first to swap speed camera ticketing information. Cross-border tickets will also be issued in Belgium as part of a bilateral information exchange program.
Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom have all signed the Eucaris treaty with the rest of the European Union countries expected on board by August 2011. Once fully connected, officials hope to be able to issue fully international speeding tickets and introduce further uses, such as the collection of per-mile taxes.
Not really an aid to safety, come back from holiday and get a fine some weeks later.
Also tend to think only law fearing people will pay. What proof will the Germans have, for example, that I ever received their NIP or whatever it will be? If they do send them recorded, how long before people start sending such letters back marked 'not known here'?
Then what? Will they really clog up their own courts with in absentia convictions?
Or just take the easy money they no doubt will get from most fines sent out?
Also tend to think only law fearing people will pay. What proof will the Germans have, for example, that I ever received their NIP or whatever it will be? If they do send them recorded, how long before people start sending such letters back marked 'not known here'?
Then what? Will they really clog up their own courts with in absentia convictions?
Or just take the easy money they no doubt will get from most fines sent out?
jondude said:
Not really an aid to safety, come back from holiday and get a fine some weeks later.
Also tend to think only law fearing people will pay. What proof will the Germans have, for example, that I ever received their NIP or whatever it will be? If they do send them recorded, how long before people start sending such letters back marked 'not known here'?
Then what? Will they really clog up their own courts with in absentia convictions?
Or just take the easy money they no doubt will get from most fines sent out?
No doubt UK authorities will chase the payment on the German authorities behalf. perhaps the ticket for the offence committed in Germany will be issued with the S172 /FPN etc by an office in the UK. An offence in Germany will become no different than commiting the same offence in any Police Force area in the UK. Also tend to think only law fearing people will pay. What proof will the Germans have, for example, that I ever received their NIP or whatever it will be? If they do send them recorded, how long before people start sending such letters back marked 'not known here'?
Then what? Will they really clog up their own courts with in absentia convictions?
Or just take the easy money they no doubt will get from most fines sent out?
rewc said:
perhaps the ticket for the offence committed in Germany will be issued with the S172 /FPN etc by an office in the UK. An offence in Germany will become no different than commiting the same offence in any Police Force area in the UK.
S172 only applies to a car being driven on a road in the UK, it would probably hold up in court to answer the S172 with "car was outside of the UK at the time".peterguk M500 said:
Only last year did The Netherlands and Germany become the first to swap speed camera ticketing information.
That is Bull s
t , 4 years ago while living in Germany i was nicked in Nederland by a scamera while driving a german reg car , the ticket followed in der post back to home address in Germanycatso said:
The France/Switzerland thing has been ongoing for some time I understand, some kind of long-time feud.
If they ever do link up scamming though, will they unify the penalties? as we all know that the penalty for doing 50 in a 40 varies considerably between countries.
Of course they will. The whole point of the EU is to 'harmonize' all EU countries until we are all ruled and taxed from Brussels in euros. Subsidiarity is a short term bluff to confuse people who do not wish to be absorbed by the super-state.If they ever do link up scamming though, will they unify the penalties? as we all know that the penalty for doing 50 in a 40 varies considerably between countries.
I envisage several problems with this.
Does this mean that a European FPN will be created, and thus the same price will be paid across the continent?
What about driver identification? In most European countries (France included), fixed camera tickets are payable by the owner of the car, and points deducted from their licence, unless they choose to name the driver. Then there is the other side of the coin.
In Germany, for example, speed camera offences cannot be processed without a photo positively identifying the driver (as this driver clearly was aware! http://gizmodo.com/5069422/the-muppets-animal-caug... So is a German going to be bound by a S172 served to an address in Germany? How can the Germans enforce something that goes against their own rules?
Then we come to the issue of penalty points. Some European countries have a points system - eg Netherlands (apart from younger drivers). Does this mean that some drivers will end up losing their licences, whereas others will escape because they have no points system?
I'm sure people can think of many more potential pitfalls.
Does this mean that a European FPN will be created, and thus the same price will be paid across the continent?
What about driver identification? In most European countries (France included), fixed camera tickets are payable by the owner of the car, and points deducted from their licence, unless they choose to name the driver. Then there is the other side of the coin.
In Germany, for example, speed camera offences cannot be processed without a photo positively identifying the driver (as this driver clearly was aware! http://gizmodo.com/5069422/the-muppets-animal-caug... So is a German going to be bound by a S172 served to an address in Germany? How can the Germans enforce something that goes against their own rules?
Then we come to the issue of penalty points. Some European countries have a points system - eg Netherlands (apart from younger drivers). Does this mean that some drivers will end up losing their licences, whereas others will escape because they have no points system?
I'm sure people can think of many more potential pitfalls.
I presume the driver will still have to be identified, and I can't see S.172s working very well across Europe, and what about Court hearings? Would they be held in the country where the alleged offence was comitted, or the country of residence of the alleged driver (once he has been identified)?
peterguk M500 said:
I presume the driver will still have to be identified, and I can't see S.172s working very well across Europe
I don't know about other EU countries but in Italy, the privacy laws mean that if caught by scamera you don't have to admit to being the driver if you don't want to even if the pic clearly shows you, in which case (I believe) the RK gets a higher fine but no points. If the S172 scam could be killed then this might overall be a good thing?Hopefully if this 'unification' goes ahead we will get a less spiteful, vindictive & petty system as per the more lenient countries but somehow I don't think so.
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