DRIVING IN FRANCE : The horror !
Discussion
Hi Guys
If you plan a trip to France, be :careful: careful.
The
are without ANY pity and the cameras are allover the roads with 
NO tolerance. Fixed among main roads, into banalized estates (Megane, Focus, 306), and you have to pay cash if you are got by them. It's the big driverhunting now !!!!!
My exemple :
October : 126 km/h > 90 = 3 pts and 135 Euro
January : 56 km/h > 50 = 1 pt and 90 Euro
94 km/h > 90 = ''
92 km/h > 90 = ''
112 km/h > 110= ''
So do I cancel my T350C and order a DACIA LOGAN dci ? :banghead
Gil
If you plan a trip to France, be :careful: careful.
The
are without ANY pity and the cameras are allover the roads with NO tolerance. Fixed among main roads, into banalized estates (Megane, Focus, 306), and you have to pay cash if you are got by them. It's the big driverhunting now !!!!! My exemple :
October : 126 km/h > 90 = 3 pts and 135 Euro
January : 56 km/h > 50 = 1 pt and 90 Euro
94 km/h > 90 = ''
92 km/h > 90 = ''
112 km/h > 110= ''
So do I cancel my T350C and order a DACIA LOGAN dci ? :banghead
Gil
It gets worse mate. The RAC Foundation has warned drivers that they could have their licences confiscated if they are caught speeding in France.
The French authorities have become much stricter about enforcing their traffic laws since 2000 in an attempt to reduce French accident levels to British ones. One law means that anyone stopped for exceeding the speed limit by more than 25 miles per hour can lose their licence on the spot and be forced to find another way home if no substitute driver is present.
Foreign drivers get their licences back when they leave the country - but they will not be allowed to drive themselves back to the border. Apparently, the RAC is getting an increasing number of calls from stranded motorists who can be facing bills of up to £3,000 for repatriation.
The French authorities have become much stricter about enforcing their traffic laws since 2000 in an attempt to reduce French accident levels to British ones. One law means that anyone stopped for exceeding the speed limit by more than 25 miles per hour can lose their licence on the spot and be forced to find another way home if no substitute driver is present.
Foreign drivers get their licences back when they leave the country - but they will not be allowed to drive themselves back to the border. Apparently, the RAC is getting an increasing number of calls from stranded motorists who can be facing bills of up to £3,000 for repatriation.
That's right,I'm so sad, we have such marvellous roads without traffic, it's only a question of making maximum cash to refill our deficit and grinning Mr. Sarkozy (our Minister of Interiour) for his electoral future.
But PHers will be the last Lords of the roads and "we never surrender"
Gil
But PHers will be the last Lords of the roads and "we never surrender"
Gil
It's all true and has been for a few years.........
On my way back from Le Mans a friend got delayed and tried to catch us up....caught doing some stupid speed and had license confiscated and car impounded on the spot.
The only way for the car to be released was to pay a 750euro fine on the spot.
He pleaded poverty.....they said tough S**t....but offerred him a lift to the nearest cashpoint to get the money out which he did and paid.
They then gave him back his keys but kept his license and said he could not drive (in france you must keep your license with you at all times) fortunately his wife could drive and did so......a guy in a Aston had no passengers and was totally stuffed.
My mate heard no more for 3 months and then was contacted by French Embassy for him to go and collect his license by that time he'd reported it lost and had a replacement anyway.
I'm not sure if the French Authorities can add points to a UK license yet does anyone know?
On my way back from Le Mans a friend got delayed and tried to catch us up....caught doing some stupid speed and had license confiscated and car impounded on the spot.
The only way for the car to be released was to pay a 750euro fine on the spot.
He pleaded poverty.....they said tough S**t....but offerred him a lift to the nearest cashpoint to get the money out which he did and paid.
They then gave him back his keys but kept his license and said he could not drive (in france you must keep your license with you at all times) fortunately his wife could drive and did so......a guy in a Aston had no passengers and was totally stuffed.
My mate heard no more for 3 months and then was contacted by French Embassy for him to go and collect his license by that time he'd reported it lost and had a replacement anyway.
I'm not sure if the French Authorities can add points to a UK license yet does anyone know?
kmpowell said:
It gets worse mate. The RAC Foundation has warned drivers that they could have their licences confiscated if they are caught speeding in France.
The French authorities have become much stricter about enforcing their traffic laws since 2000 in an attempt to reduce French accident levels to British ones. One law means that anyone stopped for exceeding the speed limit by more than 25 miles per hour can lose their licence on the spot and be forced to find another way home if no substitute driver is present.
Foreign drivers get their licences back when they leave the country - but they will not be allowed to drive themselves back to the border. Apparently, the RAC is getting an increasing number of calls from stranded motorists who can be facing bills of up to £3,000 for repatriation.
This VV nearly happened to me near Lyon last June. 150+ks in a 110 limit. 2 bike cops came up to me before I'd spotted them. They said I was going to lose my license and took it from me. Got it back in the end and didn't even get a fine (just called me a jammy dodger extraordinaire). Luckily the other half was in the car so I asked if it was OK if she drove and they said yes (if I hadn't got my license back Id still have driven later that day - very carefully - we were heading home).
France is most definitely not a speeders paradise any longer. Our next road trip will be to Germany and Italy (done this several times - nicer people and food anyway - sod the French).
It will be interesting to see if the French have lowered road deaths by much. Many French seem to have rolled over and accepted this extremely tough approach by the cops. Strange. I thought they'd have been burning a few speed cameras myself.
Dont know if they still do this, but the AA used to be able to issue an international licence which was paperbased but like a passport, if you could not find your UK one, or get a duplicate in time. I used one of these in the past, about 10 years ago now.
One thing you can do, is get a duplicate licence before you go abroad, so you have two. they will have different 'issue' numbers on them say 16 and 17. If you get stoppped hand over the lower issue number as the lower issue number will not be valid in the UK. Give the Frogs this one, and keep the higher issue number and be on your way.
As the French seem to be 'crooked' with fines ( I do wonder if the money makes it back to the French coffers, or ends up on the wine table that night), you might want to 'flex' the rules too.
Have to say, I would 'never' do this myself, but I have heard of it being used before by people drving abroad for a long time.
Mr F
One thing you can do, is get a duplicate licence before you go abroad, so you have two. they will have different 'issue' numbers on them say 16 and 17. If you get stoppped hand over the lower issue number as the lower issue number will not be valid in the UK. Give the Frogs this one, and keep the higher issue number and be on your way.
As the French seem to be 'crooked' with fines ( I do wonder if the money makes it back to the French coffers, or ends up on the wine table that night), you might want to 'flex' the rules too.
Have to say, I would 'never' do this myself, but I have heard of it being used before by people drving abroad for a long time.
Mr F
I drive in France every year. Did 2000 miles down there in the Tiv last year. Hardly saw a copper at all. I have never had any problem in France and I don't drive any more slowly over there than I do over here.
Anyone who goes mad on the run back from Le Mans is asking for it. Of course the Police target it, 5000 odd British sports car fans driving back from a race weekend. Hmm.. I wonder if any of them will be speeding.
(The police used to always be out in force around the A43 after a race meeting at Silverstone too, and I'm sure they still are).
Anyone who goes mad on the run back from Le Mans is asking for it. Of course the Police target it, 5000 odd British sports car fans driving back from a race weekend. Hmm.. I wonder if any of them will be speeding.
(The police used to always be out in force around the A43 after a race meeting at Silverstone too, and I'm sure they still are).
Tip from a friend living in the Loire
Local police really like their lunch-which gives you at least an hour and more like an hour and a half.
Weekends, which start Friday early afternoon, can be suprisingly quiet as well.
Not had a problem myself but then I don't speed on the toll roads or the motorways.You can have tons of fun on D roads in the countryside cranking up Wheeler's 6th and the interest you get in France from enthusiasts is amazing.
Unrepentant-missed the Lobster this time round but I'm back out there in 4 weeks so I'll give it a try.
Local police really like their lunch-which gives you at least an hour and more like an hour and a half.
Weekends, which start Friday early afternoon, can be suprisingly quiet as well.
Not had a problem myself but then I don't speed on the toll roads or the motorways.You can have tons of fun on D roads in the countryside cranking up Wheeler's 6th and the interest you get in France from enthusiasts is amazing.
Unrepentant-missed the Lobster this time round but I'm back out there in 4 weeks so I'll give it a try.
sideways mostly said:
Unrepentant-missed the Lobster this time round but I'm back out there in 4 weeks so I'll give it a try.
It's near the Marriott Downtown on Hubbard St off Michigan Ave. The soft shelled crabs are historic. www.shawscrabhouse.com/chicago.html
madbadger said:
Went down to the south of France, last summer, at 250kph (Allegedly)
Don't think they saw me.
Must admit I'm surprised by a lot of this talk, having done the length of France twice in the Tuscan and not having seen many plod at all; and when I did, they were well flagged by friendly motorists beforehand.
Somebody with the same name as me managed Courchevel to Calais (634 miles) in 6 hours 20 minutes last January (including stops) and didn't see a single plod. Autoroutes were all clear and there can't have been any toll booth to toll booth timing going on...
There simply aren't enough traffic police and too many kilometres of road in france to effectively enforce the speed limit. The french themselves show very little regard for it. Most cars are flat out all the time which isn't so bad when most cars in france struggle to top 100mph.
I've been driving in france for years and now live here and have never once been stopped by the fuzz for speeding and that includes driving to and from Le Mans on a very, very quick motorcycle. Everyone was flat out on the way home and I didn't see anyone one get stopped. I've hear stories of 'clamping down' every year and I'm sure the Le Mans weekend would be the first place they'd start but so far so good for me in France.
By contrast the last time I brought the Saggy back to the UK I was pulled over within 10 miles of Dover! The UK is absolutely the worst place to speed in Europe. I even had that in mind as I followed a Mitsubishi Evo up to a relaxed 80+. The trouble was, after being followed for 2 miles it ended up reaching the low 90's. Anyone with a TVR will appreciate that I was driving with real restraint and it's absurdly easy to let the speed creep up over 90 without meaning to. Try telling that to plod though!
Compared to driving in the UK, driving in France is still a driver's paradise. Roll on spring!
I've been driving in france for years and now live here and have never once been stopped by the fuzz for speeding and that includes driving to and from Le Mans on a very, very quick motorcycle. Everyone was flat out on the way home and I didn't see anyone one get stopped. I've hear stories of 'clamping down' every year and I'm sure the Le Mans weekend would be the first place they'd start but so far so good for me in France.
By contrast the last time I brought the Saggy back to the UK I was pulled over within 10 miles of Dover! The UK is absolutely the worst place to speed in Europe. I even had that in mind as I followed a Mitsubishi Evo up to a relaxed 80+. The trouble was, after being followed for 2 miles it ended up reaching the low 90's. Anyone with a TVR will appreciate that I was driving with real restraint and it's absurdly easy to let the speed creep up over 90 without meaning to. Try telling that to plod though!
Compared to driving in the UK, driving in France is still a driver's paradise. Roll on spring!
I have to precise that you won't see cops all the time because they got laserguns which catch you at 800 m 
,they are hidden in bushes,behind trees IN the fields.
One year ago, you could cruise over 15-20 km/h over the limits,but now ZERO TOLERANCE,look what happened with me!
They got over 500 new guns this year,and the fixed radars increased from 1000 2005 to 1500 2006!!!
For the last one, you should buy the "AUTOPLUS" magazine which publish every two weeks the updated map of them.
Gil
,they are hidden in bushes,behind trees IN the fields. One year ago, you could cruise over 15-20 km/h over the limits,but now ZERO TOLERANCE,look what happened with me!
They got over 500 new guns this year,and the fixed radars increased from 1000 2005 to 1500 2006!!!
For the last one, you should buy the "AUTOPLUS" magazine which publish every two weeks the updated map of them.
Gil
I quiet often drive down to Lyon & more often you can see the police on the motorway embankments/bridges with high power binoculars in one hand and a high power radar gun in the other. The fixed cameras that are not quiet as visible as they are elsewhere also now have a zero tolerance .These can be detected with an Inforad which you can actually buy in France as I have seen them advertised in there motoring magazines although I don’t how legal they are. Best to stay off the motorways & keep on the N roads.
I was caught in France last summer. The odds were against us as we were in the "Cannonball Run", driving a bright blue 911 Turbo smothered in stickers - whoops. Anyway, we were caught doing about 110mph and were duly pulled over and given a telling-off. Fair enough. We were fined €270, which seemed heavy, but we were assured that was the right fine. We paid up and they cleared off for a while with our licenses etc.. They came back 15 mins later and returned all docs etc. along with a 'receipt' for the fine. We didn't check this until later in the day - but it was for €90. So the extra €180 was presumably split 50-50 between the thieving police. Later that evening we were swapping stories with other "Cannonballers" - most people had been ripped off by the police in the same way, or worse...some guy in a Lambo had his doors kicked around, (all caught on film by some others who were held up on the side of the road waiting to pay their fines!)
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