Current "safe" speed(ing) limit on French autoroute?

[Dog Star]

Johnniem said:

Similarly, from Bordeaux, a mate bagged four tickets (all delivered to his UK address), three of which were less than 10 kph over the autoroute speed limit. Last one was for 90kph in a 50, so fair enough.

130 kph is plenty fast enough. We drove from the coast, south of Narbonne to Calais in 11 hours last year, mostly with cruise control on. Perfectly acceptable.

Consider that if the police behaved like this in the UK you’d lose your licence in a matter of weeks for some pretty trivial infractions that a UK copper wouldn’t even blink at.

[braddo]

Johnniem said:

Similarly, from Bordeaux, a mate bagged four tickets (all delivered to his UK address), three of which were less than 10 kph over the autoroute speed limit. Last one was for 90kph in a 50, so fair enough.

130 kph is plenty fast enough. We drove from the coast, south of Narbonne to Calais in 11 hours last year, mostly with cruise control on. Perfectly acceptable.

Were all these tickets from fixed cameras on the side of the road?

[21st Century Man]

I've always considered that if you're done by a fixed camera you deserve it, non observance tax. Generally with the Gendarmes and Police, they're hidden, and hidden very well.

[NDA]

I don't want to filter off the autoroute too much.... but are speed traps as prevalent in rural spots?

I drove around 2,000 miles in France this year - and stuck to the 130kph limit on the peage without feeling too aggrieved. But the speed limits on country roads, which were empty and often pin straight, was too low and very frustrating to drive along.

I didn't see any Police presence in the countryside - just wondered if it's low priority nowadays.

[CABC]

longblackcoat said:

though the ticket said, bizarrely, that although I was going 105 (IIRC) they'd do me for 97. They do send them through to the UK, and you do have to pay them.

maybe they registered you at 105, 4kph reduction for calibration and 4 off for tolerance?
when people talk about being done for 1kph over the reality is they were well over on their speedo.

[markcoopers]

Not that it was directly related, but in August i received a letter from an Austrian official trying to prosecute me for speeding back in April (Easter), it took that long to get my details.....but get them they did. I paid as after all i did the speed so what did i expect, but it was not for a high excessive speed. Fixed camera in the dark was my excuse to myself.

[Speed 3]

Kolbenkopp said:

The SANEF "Bip&Go" badge is next on the agenda. Every time we drive in France I think "damn get one of those things". And every time I remember too late to order one before we set off. They have a version now that also works in Italy, Spain and Portugal. Cheap to buy, costs nothing if not used, tiny service charge (~ €2) if you do. Just need to get to the closest local shop now...

I'm considering one of these too. We only travel once a year to the Alps these days but the queue saving alone would be worth it. There is a note on the website that International postage is €10 so I assume you can get them posted outside of France ?

[Jaguar steve]

21st Century Man said:

I've always considered that if you're done by a fixed camera you deserve it, non observance tax. Generally with the Gendarmes and Police, they're hidden, and hidden very well.

Yeah... Pretty much this. If you get caught then there's really nobody to blame except yourself.

Coming over all Powerfully Built and trying to discover what speeds over the limit you may or may not be able to get away with in France or publicly bhing if you've been caught exceeding the limit implies some sort of expectation of entitlement to concessionary treatment or a quite remarkable degree of arrogance in assuming French speed limits don't apply to everybody.

[myvision]

Speed 3 said:

I'm considering one of these too. We only travel once a year to the Alps these days but the queue saving alone would be worth it. There is a note on the website that International postage is €10 so I assume you can get them posted outside of France ?

Yes they will post to your home address outside of France had mine now for four years.
First barrier every year is a 'will it won't it' moment.
There is a bit on the website that tells you if the battery is still good or not i think the battery life is seven years or thereabouts.

[Johnniem]

braddo said:

Johnniem said:

Similarly, from Bordeaux, a mate bagged four tickets (all delivered to his UK address), three of which were less than 10 kph over the autoroute speed limit. Last one was for 90kph in a 50, so fair enough.

130 kph is plenty fast enough. We drove from the coast, south of Narbonne to Calais in 11 hours last year, mostly with cruise control on. Perfectly acceptable.

Were all these tickets from fixed cameras on the side of the road?

I guess so as they were all on autoroutes and within 1.5 hours of each other.

[Johnniem]

myvision said:

Speed 3 said:

I'm considering one of these too. We only travel once a year to the Alps these days but the queue saving alone would be worth it. There is a note on the website that International postage is €10 so I assume you can get them posted outside of France ?

Yes they will post to your home address outside of France had mine now for four years.
First barrier every year is a 'will it won't it' moment.
There is a bit on the website that tells you if the battery is still good or not i think the battery life is seven years or thereabouts.

Truly excellent bits of kit and well worth getting. They email you to tell you that the battery life is coming to an end. You send the old one back and they send a new one for a few euros. Very efficient machine and saves a lot of faffing. I have the ones for France and Spain (which covers other areas I think). As you drive up to the barrier it opens (if all is working as it should) and you do not have to stop if there is a clear lane.

[Pan Pan Pan]

Even the speed limits in this country would not be too bad, if people just stuck to them, but unfortunately for several reasons they don't.
Try doing 70 mph in the centre lane on most motorways, and you will find that you have to keep changing lanes to pass people who are doing 60 -65 on the centre lane. If they just stuck to the motorway NSL good progress can be made legally.
In France it is a different situation, Just like a ship does not need to be going fast to cover great distances, on French motorways they are so lightly trafficked, a driver can easily sit at the dry motorway speed limit for long spells at a time, only pulling out to overtake the HGV traffic in the nearside lane. The main problem with UK roads is that they are grossly over crowded and congested for most of the time, which makes sticking to the speed limit difficult if not impossible for most of the time.

[768]

Maybe it's luck, but I've never had an issue doing 150kph.

I do ease off comfortably before the peage and for maybe an hour in/out of Calais. Changed the Waze icon and its name. Not sure if that's smart or not.

[21st Century Man]

Johnniem said:

myvision said:

Speed 3 said:

I'm considering one of these too. We only travel once a year to the Alps these days but the queue saving alone would be worth it. There is a note on the website that International postage is €10 so I assume you can get them posted outside of France ?

Yes they will post to your home address outside of France had mine now for four years.
First barrier every year is a 'will it won't it' moment.
There is a bit on the website that tells you if the battery is still good or not i think the battery life is seven years or thereabouts.

Truly excellent bits of kit and well worth getting. They email you to tell you that the battery life is coming to an end. You send the old one back and they send a new one for a few euros. Very efficient machine and saves a lot of faffing. I have the ones for France and Spain (which covers other areas I think). As you drive up to the barrier it opens (if all is working as it should) and you do not have to stop if there is a clear lane.

My God! They still do it that way? I've had Sanef boxes in the past. Aren't they just the most outdated tech for the job?! In Asia they have a tiny sensor on the screen or the dash and a little box tucked away and connected to the cars power and a credit card or toll card slots in and you're debited as you go. Meanwhile the French still use big plastic boxes with sealed ancient internal electronics and batteries that need replacing periodically. My car is an old JDM import and the toll unit is in the centre console, you just stick a card in it.

Edited by 21st Century Man on Tuesday 1st October 16:59

[bolidemichael]

21st Century Man said:

Johnniem said:

myvision said:

Speed 3 said:

I'm considering one of these too. We only travel once a year to the Alps these days but the queue saving alone would be worth it. There is a note on the website that International postage is €10 so I assume you can get them posted outside of France ?

Yes they will post to your home address outside of France had mine now for four years.
First barrier every year is a 'will it won't it' moment.
There is a bit on the website that tells you if the battery is still good or not i think the battery life is seven years or thereabouts.

Truly excellent bits of kit and well worth getting. They email you to tell you that the battery life is coming to an end. You send the old one back and they send a new one for a few euros. Very efficient machine and saves a lot of faffing. I have the ones for France and Spain (which covers other areas I think). As you drive up to the barrier it opens (if all is working as it should) and you do not have to stop if there is a clear lane.

My God! They still do it that way? I've had Sanef boxes in the past. Aren't they just the most outdated tech for the job?! In Asia they have a tiny sensor on the screen or the dash and a little box tucked away and connected to the cars power and a credit card or toll card slots in and you're debited as you go. Meanwhile the French still use big plastic boxes with sealed ancient internal electronics and batteries that need replacing periodically. My car is an old JDM import and the toll unit is in the centre console, you just stick a card in it.

Edited by 21st Century Man on Tuesday 1st October 16:59

iirc the batteries last for around seven years. The replacements are just pulled off and pushed onto the bracket. The accumulation of costs is taken at the end of the month by DD. Not particularly outdated and also an easy fit which anyone can do.

[21st Century Man]

Seems a bit of a faff compared to sticking a card in a slot

[braddo]

21st Century Man said:

Seems a bit of a faff compared to sticking a card in a slot

Except you only need one little transmitter for whichever car you want to use so no issue when buying/selling cars or indeed using multiple cars.

This was useful for me for example, taking the family to a holiday home in one car (they were staying longer than me), then I brought a second car on my own when I stayed with them.

[braddo]

Johnniem said:

braddo said:

Johnniem said:

Similarly, from Bordeaux, a mate bagged four tickets (all delivered to his UK address), three of which were less than 10 kph over the autoroute speed limit. Last one was for 90kph in a 50, so fair enough.

130 kph is plenty fast enough. We drove from the coast, south of Narbonne to Calais in 11 hours last year, mostly with cruise control on. Perfectly acceptable.

Were all these tickets from fixed cameras on the side of the road?

I guess so as they were all on autoroutes and within 1.5 hours of each other.

Sounds like better observation would have avoided all those tickets, I'm afraid...

[21st Century Man]

braddo said:

21st Century Man said:

Seems a bit of a faff compared to sticking a card in a slot

Except you only need one little transmitter for whichever car you want to use so no issue when buying/selling cars or indeed using multiple cars.

This was useful for me for example, taking the family to a holiday home in one car (they were staying longer than me), then I brought a second car on my own when I stayed with them.

The portability of the hardware is useful in Europe where a reader isn't a standard fit item for sure. I was in Japan for several weeks not long ago and switched cars a few times, I just put my card in the slot in each vehicle. At one point a passenger offered to pay a toll, they just popped my card out and their card in.

[Exige77]

Pan Pan Pan said:

Even the speed limits in this country would not be too bad, if people just stuck to them, but unfortunately for several reasons they don't.
Try doing 70 mph in the centre lane on most motorways, and you will find that you have to keep changing lanes to pass people who are doing 60 -65 on the centre lane. If they just stuck to the motorway NSL good progress can be made legally.
In France it is a different situation, Just like a ship does not need to be going fast to cover great distances, on French motorways they are so lightly trafficked, a driver can easily sit at the dry motorway speed limit for long spells at a time, only pulling out to overtake the HGV traffic in the nearside lane. The main problem with UK roads is that they are grossly over crowded and congested for most of the time, which makes sticking to the speed limit difficult if not impossible for most of the time.

Are you one of these people that sit in the middle lane ?

One of the reasons our motorways are so congested I dare say.