DRIVING IN FRANCE: SATNAVS, SPEED CAMERAS AND BREATHTESTS ETC

[Paul_Bowden]

With the holiday season approaching, I thought it might be worthwhile passing on a bit of information about subjects which seem to worry UK motorists, including my own family and friends.

I do so with a slightly heavy heart, having just received my SEVENTH speeding ticket, after two years of living in France (in 38 years of driving in the UK, I got……. 0/zero!) AND because my French Yeti's Amundsen satnav does not alert me to the cameras, which are far less obvious than in the UK. 

SATNAVS AND SPEED CAMERAS etc.

The last gendarme who stopped me was extremely friendly (still gave me ticket though!) and we chatted about the widely held belief (in France, as well as in UK) that satnavs which list cameras are illegal.  He said that he is sure that they ARE NOT illegal but that. most importantly, it is absolutely against the law for police officers to enter and search a car, without cause (which examining a 'suspect' satnav would not be) or a warrant; their touching a satnav, or asking a driver to present it, would be an infraction of the law on their part. 

He patrols an accident-prone tourist-heavy north-south autoroute and says that he has NEVER heard of any motorist having any problems for having a satnav which lists cameras - indeed, he assumes that almost everyone does have them. 

Incidentally, he recommended I get the 'Coyote' system, which he says he's got in his own car, so I am going to look into it [any advice/expériences welcome!]

BREATHTEST KITS

He also mentioned (and this I already knew) that there is absolutely no point in worrying about having an 'ethylotest' breath-tester either, about which a lot of fuss was made a couple of years ago, when they were theoretically required (and were heavily pushed at the Channel ports.)   No one has them, the police aren't interested in checking for them (he says);  in his view, the law was all so that the politician who introduced it could do a favour for his chum, whose company produced the breath testers!

HIGH VISIBILITY JACKETS are required and are obviously a very useful safety accessory, anyway.  The same goes for the accident warning triangles.

STOP!

If you come up to a 'Stop' sign at a junction, then stop!  Wait at least 2 seconds before starting off again.  And all this, even if you can see utterly empty roads for 10km in all directions.  During my time here, this seems to have become an obsession with police/a nice little earner for the French state.  If you DON'T stop/wait 2 secs/restart, you risk a fixed-penalty ticket of (I think) 90 euros.

 

Hope this helps.

 

[mannyo]

Useful info,

 

I've moved this thread to where it can have a much wider audience rather than just Yeti owners.

[DaKKs_152]

In recent years the French have gotten worse than the Germans when it comes to tickets. And, for the record, you guys are targeted more than others because they can ticket you. They know that they cant ticket most other foreigners because we wont pay it anyway. They have zero cooperation with the CBA for instance. Their tickets have less legal power here than nigeria letters.

[33q]

Simple way to avoid speeding tickets is to stop speeding.

 

The level of speeding in our village is horrendous. This morning I have recorded 3 drivers over 60 MPH in a 30 limit....several more over 50 and many over 40.

 

For the record I coordinate a Speedwatch team and use an approved recording device. Offending drivers get a letter or visit from the Police

 

We have had 4 fatalities within 6 Months due to speeding. 

[Llanigraham]

Thanks for that Paul, and very much confirms what we have found and been told by our French friends.

 

My Garmin, when set to France, highlights "warning areas" which seem to correspond to where the cameras are/may be. However in the 30 odd years we've been going to France I have never had a ticket or been stopped by the Gendarmes. 

[Titanium_Man]

Never had a problem driving on the continent.

I know how it works, what to expect and drive accordingly. :wonder:

Always good to hear other peoples experience and advice though

[Paul_Bowden]

Particularly in reply to 33q, I have no sympathy with those who drive excessively fast and tend to avoid doing this myself, as I think 38 years of driving 25,000 miles a year in the UK without a single ticket would suggest (incidentally, I used to live in a village on the Notts/Leics border (see your post!)) 

However, I have been guilty of minor infractions in France:  always where the speed limit has been 70, 90 or 110 kph (so, not urban areas, where it's 50 or 30 kph) and never exceeding it by more than 7 kph.  These have cost me dear (300 euros in total) and you are entirely entitled to say that it is my own fault, but I do not think that acting on a satnav warning to decrease my speed by 4-5 kph, which would have avoided a penalty, would honestly have made me a more unsafe or reckless driver!

[33q]

I have not driven in France for over 20 years so I have no recent personal experience of its speeding policies.

 

Here in Notts the speeding policy is very lax and we do not record any vehicle travelling below 36 MPH in a 30 Limit. I think this laxness encourages drivers to have no consideration for any limit and whilst I have no desire to see the apparent 'over diligence' of speed limit enforcement introduced here I do want to be able to enjoy some peace and quiet and feel safer whilst walking or on two wheels.

[DaleW]

Simple way to avoid speeding tickets is to stop speeding.

 

The level of speeding in our village is horrendous. This morning I have recorded 3 drivers over 60 MPH in a 30 limit....several more over 50 and many over 40.

 

For the record I coordinate a Speedwatch team and use an approved recording device. Offending drivers get a letter or visit from the Police

 

We have had 4 fatalities within 6 Months due to speeding. 

 

I bet you're a barrel of laughs on a night out

[33q]

I bet you're a barrel of laughs on a night out

 

According to my friends I am good fun......you clearly don't know how bad speeding is around me

 

I live in a really nice village where only a few yards away from my home is a piece of burnt tarmac where 2 men died after hitting a tree....apparently they did have one good last night out.

[TheWanderer]

I'm sick of the argument that speed kills. Speed itself DOES NOT KILL, it's the IMPACT that kills.

 

I've driven in France a more than a few times in/around Calais, where there's several cameras all in lovely matt grey, a couple on the A16 & Ave. Roger Salengro & on a couple of sets of lights.

 

I just leave my sat nav on and because I don't want a speeding ticket, I stick to the limits over there.

[rwbaldwin]

Using a speed camera database in France is illegal, however, 'Warnings for Dangerous Zones' are legal, provided they are part of a larger database of such areas and 'do not predominately concentrate on speed camera zones'.

When I was last there, a female Gendarme told me that french drivers know to set the warning distance far enough ahead so they are not slowing down in sight of the Gendarmes. If they see you slowing down abruptly ahead of a camera, it gives them 'reason' to stop you and check your satnav. She did also say that even then, it would usually be a waste of her time stopping cars, since most of the satnav companies have moved to display 'Warnings for Dangerous Zones'.

I did try to ask to her if she had ever fined anyone for using a camera database, but she'd had a few by then and didn't want to talk about work.

[nickguzzi]

I think there is a big difference between being flashed by a camera and being stopped because you have been manually radared.

I have fallen into the first category, on the decent south from Clermont Ferand on the A75 where there are several. Still awaiting any notification.

I have managed to avoid the consequences of the latter. I did get stopped once in a limit change just over a blind crest (on a dual carrigeway), but it was lunchtime and the linguistic difficulties inhibited any further processing.

I have more or less stopped being an idiot for a start (well mostly).

In the olden days, everyone would flash you if there was a speed trap coming. Now itself illegal. Then I was always on the bike. The technology was crude or ineffective, and the routes I rode had no police anyway - another reason to get out off the highway (queue Steppenwolf).

I have met a driver who got stopped, claimed he had no money, he was then given the option of being locked up until someone paid or he found his card. He was taken to a HitW and relieved of the cash. Not idea of any extenuating circumstances though.

[bealine]

I used to subscribe to the "sick and tired of being told that Speed Kills" camp until I attended a Speed Awareness Course as a guest of Thames Valley Police / AA Drivetech as a marginal speeding offender!

The photographs taken in a rural Berkshire village of an accident scene where a car was still doing 37 mph as it passed the 30 mph boards and a 14 year old standing with his mates outside a sweet shop was hit at about 32 mph have changed my habits forever!   Apparently, the boy is paralysed, brain-damaged and will need 24 hour care for the rest of his life - a bloody great hole in the windscreen showed where his face was embedded and that is what the car driver was staring at until the emergency services arrived.   The driver will need psychiatric care for the rest of his life and cannot hold down a job or drive a car.

If I had been speeding, and I had done that to a healthy, happy boy, could I live with myself afterwards?   Definitely not!   The fact the boy stepped into the road is irrelevant - if the car had been doing less than 30, the driver would have had a chance to avoid him or, if he hadn't, the injuries would not have been as severe.

Another voice recording of a mother who lost her daughter killed by a speeding driver who says she has never got over her daughter's death.   The distress in her voice is very moving.
 

There is a time and place for speed and cheap thrills - but that ain't in a built up area!   When we learnt to drive, we were all taught to reduce speed a we approached the speed limit boards to make sure we were under by the time we got there, and not to speed up again until after we passed the upper speed limit boards.   Why do we change our habits within days of passing our test?

I know I sound like an old fart, but if I ever killed or hurt someone and it was my fault, I couldn't live with myself.

Edited 22 June, 2014 by bealine

[bealine]

Thank you, Paul Bowden, for the very useful information.   Of course, where you see a "Stop" sign, no matter where in the world you are, you're supposed to pause.   The fact that very few actually do is irrelevant, you are breaking the law if you don't!   I shall make sure I pause for at least two seconds en la belle France!

[DaKKs_152]

Thank you, Paul Bowden, for the very useful information.   Of course, where you see a "Stop" sign, no matter where in the world you are, you're supposed to pause.   The fact that very few actually do is irrelevant, you are breaking the law if you don't!   I shall make sure I pause for at least two seconds en la belle France!

In some countries, the only requirement is that the wheels come to a full and complete stop. Something I learned after sliding through an icy intersection right in front of a cop and getting away with it 'cause my non-ABS equipped car had locked up the wheels.

[rwbaldwin]

In most countries (I think this includes France) the stop is only half of the requirement. The other half is to look all ways before moving off when it is safe to do so.

So it is not stop, count to two and proceed - it is stop, look all ways and proceed when safe to do so.

[Cumbrian28]

In the far northern bit of Vienne (86) where I am most of the local French drivers seem to ignore nearly all the road signage except for the 50kph ones.

As an addition, I have only seen two french registered Yetis in my nearest town in the last couple of years, and only my English reg'd one.

[Paul_Bowden]

In the far northern bit of Vienne (86) where I am most of the local French drivers seem to ignore nearly all the road signage except for the 50kph ones.

As an addition, I have only seen two french registered Yetis in my nearest town in the last couple of years, and only my English reg'd one.

 

Am also in the Vienne - Chauvigny - and agree about the absence of Yetis in particular and Skodas in general;  this seems to be Dacia territory.    Did see one French-registered one and gave a friendly wave, but my (French) wife had to break it to me that the gesture I got in return was not quite the one I was hoping for!

[Cumbrian28]

I tend not to wave at others when in France, I don't know or understand the local customs well enough.

Will be down near you in a couple of weeks picking relatives up from Poitiers airport.

[DaKKs_152]

Am also in the Vienne - Chauvigny - and agree about the absence of Yetis in particular and Skodas in general;  this seems to be Dacia territory.    Did see one French-registered one and gave a friendly wave, but my (French) wife had to break it to me that the gesture I got in return was not quite the one I was hoping for!

International communication. There is one gesture everyone understands....

[Toxicvrs]

International communication. There is one gesture everyone understands....

3 in my mind!

[TheWanderer]

Does one involve a salute with your forefinger & thumb linked in a circular fashion? 

[freelunch]

A couple questions, please, if I might revive this old thread. When driving in France, do daylight running lights count, or do dipped beams have to be on? And, is it true that you need to display a GB oval even if you have a GB/EU symbol on your registration plate? I read the symbol is too small. Thanks in advance.

 

I've driven plenty in Europe, but always on a motorcycle until now. So, any tips about driving a RHD vehicle in a LHD world would be appreciated.

 

Tip: Many times while riding my bike over there, I've been flashed by oncoming motorists. It always means that somewhere up the road is a gendarme and/or speed trap. The ONE TIME I failed to pay attention to getting flashed, I got my one and only ticket. They were very thorough in this well-set-up speed trap. Five cars were pulled over, and me. I got breathalyzed (0.0%) after they searched through every scrap of paper work and emptied my top box. They stopped just short of a cavity search – but one young chap looked pretty keen. On-the-spot fine of €95 for passing a three-wheeled farm vehicle doing 25kph in a 40kph construction zone. To add insult to injury, it then rained all the way to St. Malo.

[SWBoy]

3 hours ago, freelunch said:

A couple questions, please, if I might revive this old thread. When driving in France, do daylight running lights count, or do dipped beams have to be on? And, is it true that you need to display a GB oval even if you have a GB/EU symbol on your registration plate? I read the symbol is too small. Thanks in advance.

I've driven in France every year since 2005 with only the GB/EU symbol on the registration plate and never been stopped.

 

Whenever it's raining I assume that DRLs aren't enough and use dipped headlights, so I don't know if that's essential.