You have to smile.....

[Steph64]

Got a speeding fine in the post yesterday (France) the super quick Yeti fined 90 euros for doing 54 kph in a 50 limit ( hidden portable radar / camera). That's less than 3mph or 25 quid per mph in excess.

Life is a balance I guess as my other half didn't get caught a month or so back on a new bit of dual carriageway (empty) doing 250kph in a 90 limit....... Still, a bit miffed - the only other ticket we've ever got between us was me again, in France again, in my Smart car - 65 in what I thought was a 70 but was a 50! (On my birthday). The modest cars are the most dangerous clearly!!

[manxskoda]

Do you get just a fine or points on licence as in the Uk and her Crown Dependencies.

Tony

[Steph64]

One point for minor excess of speed - but we've kept our UK licences so none :-)

[Babs]

That's a very minor excess of speed!

[Steph64]

You are not wrong! Nazis .... C

[Steph64]

Also; (be warned) anything over 50 in excess means instant impound of the car for a certain period of time; unlike the early 80's this is not the place to come to go fast. (anyone remember Fast Bike magazine, who regularly did speed and performance testing (plus wheelies) in France ALL the time then)?

Thank goodness for cheap trackdays.......

[FlintstoneR1]

Methinks they saw you as a cash cow, rather than a criminal. More like taxation than fines?

[hmibennett]

One point for minor excess of speed - but we've kept our UK licences so none :-)

The only speeding ticket I've ever had was in France last year driving my French-registered Peugeot 207cc, so immediately traced to my French apartment! After the various calculations the French do to allow for inaccuracies in measurement, I was adjudged to be doing only 2kph excess on a stretch of 110kph autoroute that I had realised too late had changed from 130! Like you, a smallish fine and no points (but like you too I have a UK licence).

[Sporky McGuffin]

You are not wrong! Nazis .... C

 

That seems a bit over the top to me - you were speeding after all. To be doing 54 the speedo must have been reading close to 60 so you can't not have known either.

 

They're fining you for breaking the law, not rounding people up and putting them in death camps based on their sexuality or race.

[MCAMRA]

This weeks 'Auto Plus' magazine here in France comes with handy booklet showing all the fixed radars in France and 'moblie traps' by department on lovely detailed maps. God bless 'Auto plus'.

[briwy]

This weeks 'Auto Plus' magazine here in France comes with handy booklet showing all the fixed radars in France and 'moblie traps' by department on lovely detailed maps. God bless 'Auto plus'.

They move the mobile ones around though, getting sneaky hiding behind bridges etc and then have a chase bike or car but you have to blind to get caight by a fixed one as there are generally big warning signs.

Strange times as well, we have seen traps on the Lourdes ring road at two in the morning on the way to our place in the Pyrenees.

As mentioned, France is no place to be speeding nowadays.

[Kingsley]

I used to get caught driving across France, but now I have the cruise control, which i set at 138 kph which is just under 86 mph. It is rather boring if you haven't got a great sound system. I could go much faster very safely, however I just don't trigger those bloody radars like that. I have been caught and fined at 142 kph around Dijon, that's 88 mph. It really is all about making money on such fast roads, especially as it costs over 70 euros - £60 - to go across France diagonally from Geneva to Calais. Of course it's a total ripoff all round.

[Llanigraham]

It is not a "rip off"

It is a monetary fine on idiots who think that speed limits do not apply to them.

[simonsheil]

On the plus side in a UK car the cameras are free.

[MCAMRA]

It is not a "rip off"

It is a monetary fine on idiots who think that speed limits do not apply to them.

Perhaps....but sometimes when driving through country towns in France , certain parts of cities, even on motorways, you really dont know what the speed limit is.....even my wife who is French will ask me 'what is the speed limit here ? and I shrug my shoulders. The signposting really is bad. You can change from one speed limit to another without knowing.......not mentioning 'right-hand priorities' ......which (off subject....is so bloody dangerous) Trouble is, the Police/Gendarmes know what the speed limit is and strategically place their cameras (fixed or whatever) to catch you. So even the most law abiding citizen will get caught and add to the coffers of the government.

Funny is, I am writing this while watching a report on TFI on French telly about this very subject.

Its a tax.....pure and simple.

[James I]

I can beat that, 32mph in a 30mph in Flintshire!  

[FlintstoneR1]

N.B. "Flintshire" is NOT where "Flintstone" comes from!  Not that you thought that anyway.  Just thought I'd get the excuse in before anyone else noticed?

[hmibennett]

Perhaps....but sometimes when driving through country towns in France , certain parts of cities, even on motorways, you really dont know what the speed limit is.....even my wife who is French will ask me 'what is the speed limit here ? and I shrug my shoulders. The signposting really is bad. You can change from one speed limit to another without knowing.......not mentioning 'right-hand priorities' ......which (off subject....is so bloody dangerous) Trouble is, the Police/Gendarmes know what the speed limit is and strategically place their cameras (fixed or whatever) to catch you. So even the most law abiding citizen will get caught and add to the coffers of the government.

Funny is, I am writing this while watching a report on TFI on French telly about this very subject.

Its a tax.....pure and simple.

 

 

 

I'm surprised you find it difficult to know what the limits are in France - I've always found them very well signed.

 

I'm with Graham on this - it's not a tax, it's a fine on people who think they don't need to follow the rules, however much they may disapprove of them. The 'most law abiding citizen' won't be caught by definition, if they're law abiding!

[manxskoda]

James surely there is a 10% tolerence for 32 in a 30mph limit?

Tony

[MCAMRA]

Perhaps....but sometimes when driving through country towns in France , certain parts of cities, even on motorways, you really dont know what the speed limit is.....even my wife who is French will ask me 'what is the speed limit here ? and I shrug my shoulders. The signposting really is bad. You can change from one speed limit to another without knowing.......not mentioning 'right-hand priorities' ......which (off subject....is so bloody dangerous) Trouble is, the Police/Gendarmes know what the speed limit is and strategically place their cameras (fixed or whatever) to catch you. So even the most law abiding citizen will get caught and add to the coffers of the government.

Funny is, I am writing this while watching a report on TFI on French telly about this very subject.

Its a tax.....pure and simple

 

 

I'm surprised you find it difficult to know what the limits are in France - I've always found them very well signed.

 

I'm with Graham on this - it's not a tax, it's a fine on people who think they don't need to follow the rules, however much they may disapprove of them. The 'most law abiding citizen' won't be caught by definition, if they're law abiding!

Believe me, I think the majority of the French population........will quite 'loudly' debate that point.

[Steph64]

Easy now! Hardly an idiot who thinks speed limits don't apply to him/her - just cheesed off that I wasn't going quicker to make it worthwhile. Let those of you who are without sin cast the first stone (and I mean those that have never been 3mph over the posted limit here!!).

Anyone in this category? If so I'll create a sub club called "Bleedin' Liars" ;-)

[hmibennett]

Of course we have all broken a limit at times, but I would say (as I did last year), fair cop on the rare occasion when apprehended! And while I don't want to come across as Mary Poppins or a wild H&S type, to say 'I wish I'd been going fast enough to make it worthwhile' makes me worry somewhat for all other road users including, for example, my two-year-old grandson.

[Llanigraham]

I'll be the first to admit that I break speed limits, and have had points for it, but my comment about it not being a rip-off was in reply to our Swiss friend's comments.

Speeding fines are not a tax or a rip-off, they are a charge on miscreants who do not abide by the speed limit; that is all, nothing more.

I will agree with speed limits in French towns are not always being obvious. Therefore I work on the principle that if I haven't seen a sign then they are 38kph, and if the locals want to overtake me then they can do so. I was also told that to hit that speed at the entry sign to every village, and not to increase it until the crossed sign for the village has been passed. It's kept me "clean" for the 25 years we've been going to France.

 

And I bet our Swiss friend doesn't speed in Switzerland!!

[Steph64]

^^ you are correct - white town sign with red border = 50kph ( plus or minus zero it seems) after the town/village where the sign is crossed out it's 90 unless otherwise notified. I've been clean for over 40 years, thanks in the main to driving reasonably and always safely on the roads and having had the privelege of sensible/flexible british rozzers. As for the comment I made about wishing I was going faster to make it worthwhile - well, that passes for sarcasm or even mild humour in these parts ( note to self - to be funny here must try harder with sexual innuendo rather than dry wit or sarcasm...)

[simonsheil]

My experience of swiss motorways has always.had plenty of cars doing over the limit, admittedly I was not paying attention how many were swiss.

I didn't buy a vignette either, oh well