Speeding abroad

[rudel123]

With the annual Summer trip to the Continent imminent, I need clarification if anyone can help please.

My question is simply this; Can British drivers be prosecuted and given points on their U.K. licences by foreign Police forces for driving offences committed on the Continent???

I heard this change to the Law was "imminent" back in December 2006. France and Germany now have as many speed cameras as the U.K. So when you get home from your holiday, could you find a fine and/or Summons from a foreign Police force on your door mat.

Apparently the DVLA will supply your details to any EU Police Force wanting them to follow up on driving offences committed abroad.

Worth knowing if you intend to blast over to the Nurburgring or Le mans etc. as I intend to.

Also I heard that Germany has "covert speed cameras" which are near impossible to spot. I heard their speed cameras are dark green and hidden in bushes!

[flemke]

rudel123 said:

With the annual Summer trip to the Continent imminent, I need clarification if anyone can help please.

My question is simply this; Can British drivers be prosecuted and given points on their U.K. licences by foreign Police forces for driving offences committed on the Continent???

I heard this change to the Law was "imminent" back in December 2006. France and Germany now have as many speed cameras as the U.K. So when you get home from your holiday, could you find a fine and/or Summons from a foreign Police force on your door mat.

Apparently the DVLA will supply your details to any EU Police Force wanting them to follow up on driving offences committed abroad.

Worth knowing if you intend to blast over to the Nurburgring or Le mans etc. as I intend to.

Also I heard that Germany has "covert speed cameras" which are near impossible to spot. I heard their speed cameras are dark green and hidden in bushes!

They won't give you UK points, yet.
A year or two ago the UK did, however, sign an "Anti-Crime Convention" agreeing, in principle, to apply a driving ban in any other EU state to driving in the UK.
That part of the convention has not yet been implemented.

[rudel123]

thanks flemke,

so to clarify - if i was caaught speeding by a camera in say Germany - would I receive just a fine then and no points?

and what if I didn't pay the fine ? and just ignored their letters ? would they "nab" me on entering Germany next time I visit the Ring ?

thanks for any input !

[catso]

rudel123 said:

France and Germany now have as many speed cameras as the U.K.

I don't think the rest of the world combined have as many speed cameras as the UK.....

Edited by catso on Saturday 2nd June 22:58

[rudel123]

catso said:

rudel123 said:

France and Germany now have as many speed cameras as the U.K. So when you get home from your holiday

I don't think the whole world combined have as many speed cameras as the UK.....

true !! - maybe I exaggerated but at least ours in the UK are clearly visible. A work colleague told me that in German villages their fixed cameras are plain grey or even dark green with little or no warning signage - hard to spot at night or in the rain.

[MonkeyHanger]

catso said:

rudel123 said:

France and Germany now have as many speed cameras as the U.K.

I don't think the rest of the world combined have as many speed cameras as the UK.....

Try going to Holland. They hide the buggers in wheelie bins over there.

[rudel123]

wheelie bins !?! - LOL - that's so ill !

in many villages in Germany the speed limit is just 30kph. and thats where the fixed cameras are - often on down hill sections of road.

isn't 30kph about 21mph ?

[flemke]

rudel123 said:

thanks flemke,

so to clarify - if i was caaught speeding by a camera in say Germany - would I receive just a fine then and no points?

and what if I didn't pay the fine ? and just ignored their letters ? would they "nab" me on entering Germany next time I visit the Ring ?

thanks for any input !

(There have been loads of threads on this, including two or three in the last week.)

If you are caught by a camera, the operating authority may or may not seek the RK's identity from the DVLA. If asked, the DVLA will supply details (just as they will do if you're a professional car thief or fraudster and ask them for someone's details) to that authority.
The authority would contact you through the post.
don't have to pay, but if you didn't and that reg plate were subsequently to show up within the authority, you would have a problem.
They wouldn't "nab" you necessarily, but if you were stopped for any reason (and they do do random breathalyzer and document checks), the routine police rag plate confirmation would come up with an big exclamation point.

[streaky]

rudel123 said:

A work colleague told me that in German villages their fixed cameras are plain grey or even dark green with little or no warning signage - hard to spot at night or in the rain.

Just the place, time, and conditions to be travelling at an inappropriate speed - Streaky

[rudel123]

streaky said:

rudel123 said:

A work colleague told me that in German villages their fixed cameras are plain grey or even dark green with little or no warning signage - hard to spot at night or in the rain.

Just the place, time, and conditions to be travelling at an inappropriate speed - Streaky

Just the place, time, and conditions to have a completely anal and unnecessary 21mph speed limit in order to catch "speeders" and swell the Coffers via stealth taxation.

250mph on unrestricted Autobahns is fine. but one tenth that speed in an empty village is an Offence. Thats bizarre.

[steelej]

I'm in Italy at the moment, got here by driving through France and Switzerland, I got flashed by one camera in France at about 95 so just 14mph over the limit. The camera's look very different to ours, little orange boxes at the side of the road and they flash you as you come towards them not going away. Even more sneaky though when my wife was driving we passed a car stopped in a layby with passenger window down and as we passed it flashed out the passenger window. What we did find though is that in France driving is good, lane discipline is excellent and you are able to blast along at a good 85 mph without much to worry about. Now Italy is just Mental, 95 is required just to keep up with traffic and I lost count at how many times people came flying past me at what could only be 120-130mph, I'm sure they must have all died though as going at that speed according to folk in the UK results in instant death

John.

[blueyes]

steelej said:

Now Italy is just Mental, 95 is required just to keep up with traffic and I lost count at how many times people came flying past me at what could only be 120-130mph

Speed limit on 3 lane m/ways with a central reservation is 150kph.
Plod are pretty cool about high m/way speeds but will be strict when you enter towns... so you know what to do!

[Flat in Fifth]

So what are those face on gantries over unrestricted autobahns about?

Definitely look as if they have cameras in? Are they like the M25 gantries, ie enforcement only when temporary variable limit imposed?

Oh yes and Polish motor caravan drivers, ffs look in your mirrors!!!!!!!!!! Just because a Porker has winged past you at 190 kph doesn't it enter your tiny brain there might just be another 4 to 5 seconds behind? My normal strategy of picking someone going at my speed and sitting 4/5 seconds behind and using them as a pathfinder was thus somewhat neutralised.

Maybe 4/5 seconds is too much? Always used to be OK though.

[dcb]

Flat in Fifth said:

So what are those face on gantries over unrestricted autobahns about?

Traffic management.

So a speed limit can be applied if needs be.

Also handy if there is a traffic jam in front.

Flat in Fifth said:

Oh yes and Polish motor caravan drivers, ffs look in your mirrors!!!!!!!!!!

Is the Warsaw to Calais road getting a bit serious with Poles
visiting the UK ?

I've always fancied a go on the Aachen to Berlin autobahn
- three lanes each way and mostly no limits.

I might give it a miss if it's full of low quality drivers.

[Flat in Fifth]

I can't speak for the stretch you mention but lane discipline was far worse than the last time I had a reasonable mileage to cover, ie more than say an hour's drive each way.

There were a lot of East Europeans on the road that is for sure, and to be fair what I would call the professional drivers (ie heavies and coaches) were spot on. Also fairly good were the surprising numbers of drivers taking UK registered accident damaged vehicles back to Poland. What's that all about then?

But the private drivers!!! Holy crap! There were some Germans who weren't that hot on mirror useage either. There were a few Brits and not one of us, not one of us, hindered anyone, anyone watching would think lane discipline in UK was a model of efficiency, good planning and courtesy. As if!

In one 350 mile section through Germany I managed to hit 190 kph once, a couple of sustained sessions at 160/170, and odd blurts ~180 but only for a few kms or so and then elephant racing motor caravans got in the way. I accept that things were somewhat limited by a self imposed differential limit where there is not a clear lane in between. ie if in next lane then target speed plus 30 kph is what I keep to, will stretch that to +50 kph if overtaken vehicle assessed as stable and aware. If a clear lane in between then.....

Maybe it was just a bad day with a lot of weekend traffic about.

[ewenm]

rudel123 said:

streaky said:

rudel123 said:

A work colleague told me that in German villages their fixed cameras are plain grey or even dark green with little or no warning signage - hard to spot at night or in the rain.

Just the place, time, and conditions to be travelling at an inappropriate speed - Streaky

Just the place, time, and conditions to have a completely anal and unnecessary 21mph speed limit in order to catch "speeders" and swell the Coffers via stealth taxation.

250mph on unrestricted Autobahns is fine. but one tenth that speed in an empty village is an Offence. Thats bizarre.

Not bizarre at all - one is a place you can expect to find things in the road, the other is a highly restricted access piece of road. Of course the rules are different.

[rudel123]

ewenm said:

rudel123 said:

streaky said:

rudel123 said:

A work colleague told me that in German villages their fixed cameras are plain grey or even dark green with little or no warning signage - hard to spot at night or in the rain.

Just the place, time, and conditions to be travelling at an inappropriate speed - Streaky

Just the place, time, and conditions to have a completely anal and unnecessary 21mph speed limit in order to catch "speeders" and swell the Coffers via stealth taxation.

250mph on unrestricted Autobahns is fine. but one tenth that speed in an empty village is an Offence. Thats bizarre.

Not bizarre at all - one is a place you can expect to find things in the road, the other is a highly restricted access piece of road. Of course the rules are different.

I said empty village e.g. 3am - the cameras still work at 3am you know.......

And what do you mean "one is a place you can expect to find things in the road" - they both have slow traffic on them last time I looked. At 3am the village is totally empty but the autobahn has lories doing 50mph - which is most dangerous then ??????

[dcb]

Flat in Fifth said:

But the private drivers!!! Holy crap! There were some Germans who weren't that hot on mirror useage either.

Heavens above. Used to be as rare as an honest politician
years ago, but even I am finding that some Germans
aren't bothering as much with their mirrors.

I'm thinking particularly of one silly lady who was
only doing about 110 mph when I was approaching her at
over 150 mph.

She decided it would be a good idea to pull out to overtake
even though I had the full dip lights on to indicate
that I was *fast* moving traffic.

One emergency stop downto 90 mph and ten seconds of
full beam soon sorted it though.

Flat in Fifth said:

In one 350 mile section through Germany I managed to hit 190 kph once, a couple of sustained sessions at 160/170, and odd blurts ~180 but only for a few kms or so and then elephant racing motor caravans got in the way.

Seems slow to me. I get brassed off if I have to drop below 200 kmh.
Double so in a Porsche.

Flat in Fifth said:

Maybe it was just a bad day with a lot of weekend traffic about.

I save my high speed runs for before 8am Sunday. Most
of the Erics are sleeping off their hangovers.