My husband and I have just returned from a 6 week trip away to find we’ve received 3 speeding tickets. Neiher of us have been caught for speeding for many years and this trip is one we’ve done a number of times in recent years.
We are concluding the speed cameras are more active than on previous trips! Others might like to be aware of this!
Living as we do in rural France we are concerned about the points implicatns of these fines and wonder if anyone could enlighten us on this system. The car is currently in my husband’s name but I was driving on one of occasions we were caught on camera. We obviously do ont want my husband to recieve all the ponit. Guidance on this matter would be appreciated!
it's called "undue care and attention" if you're nattering away with your client..slow up..or pay up..sorry!!
and jonny d'arme is now being sneakier with speed cams in rad grilles on a number of plain wrappers.. word also has it they've installed cams on the armco in some areas.
plod in our region hide in a maintenance acces road at the bottom of a drop after a long haul up and out of Perigueux on the A89.. with darned near a km range on their lasers.. your clocked before you even see 'em..
You can't necessarily rely on these "educational" speed signs. There's at least one near my home that gives speeds 10 kph slower than I'm actually doing.
I believe it's actually a legal requirement for manufacturers that speedos over read Paul. I think the number is 5%. Mine says 137 at a real 130.
I've had cruise control on my cars for twenty years now and wouldn't be without it. Recently I considered ordering the new sort that keeps you a certain distance from the car in front but I'm not totally convinced by the technology yet. I don't want to rearend someone at 130. Similarly I would never set the speed inhibitor function. What if one needs to accelerate out of trouble?
I register EVERYTHING I send to ANYONE in France Heather. If it is anyway important I get an accuse de reception and file it away.
The educational ones are not that good, 90 or 100 will beat it.
Don’t you have cruise control or speed inhibitor? Very useful.
You are correct Carl. The speeometer in your car is designed to show that you are going slightly faster than you actually are. Your gps and road side flashing speed signs will show you this.
Love the story! The true ones are often the best.
You absolutely must use registered post if you want to dispute the driver at the time . I wrote and got the reply "as you did not send your letter by registered post we can not take any action". We left the points in my husband's name as he rarely drives these days.
agree with speed limits but don't agree with devious traps where there's no risk...! been caught too many times to mention now, missing quite a few points. BIL on a stage yesterday and today to recuperate points.
As for how to pay: just drop into my tabac and you can pay direct via my link with Rennes or buy a timbre fiscal and send it off to them ;-)
Not true Dick. I did not break the law and I did not speed and I wasn't even where the so called speed camera was yet I got fined.
The camera that supposedly photographed me had no warning signs and must have been a temporary camera as when I went to see where the camera was supposed to be it had been removed. This is why I said that the system is corrupt.
It is not as black and white as you seem to think it is.
They can also take pictures from behind you remember.
Actually I don't have a big problem as I have an inboard speed controller. I call it a 'Hyacinth', but officially it is called a W.I.F.E. The only problem is I don't know how to turn it off!
Another Oz memory! We had a flat in Sydney (7th Floor The Ridge, North Shore) which had a million-dollar view over the Harbour bridge - directly below us with the Opera House and the submarine base etc spread out below our balcony.
The Entertainment centre of Sydney faced us, and the exit from there to the suburbs swept over the Bridge.
It was a revelation to us to see the police setting up the 'booze busses' as they were called, and trapping the early-morning returnees from the clubs etc., who obviously thought this was the 'quiet time' to get home. Wrong! They did a roaring trade from about 5.00am - 8.00am on a Sunday morning in particular.
I doubt if any of us can put our hands on our hearts and say we have never gone over the speed limit , and I have been caught in France, (minor infraction), in Austria (were they REALLY Police?), in Hungary (where it was physically impossible on winding backgrounds to do more than about 25kmh), but oddly enough I actually have a FAVORITE, and I mean that - in Australia.
Most people know it is a HUGE country, and between Melbourne and Mildura there is a stretch of divided highway that runs for about 300kms, and for the most part one has the road to oneself. At the time my company car was a V12 Daimler Sovereign, very thirsty and very, very fast. It was also very quiet and easy to become unaware of just how fast one was travelling.
As it transpired I was tracking along when I was suddenly aware of a blue-lamped BMW behind me, siren blaring.
I pulled over (as ever the picture of innocence), opened the window with the usual (crass) " anything wrong Officer?"
Traffic cops are not generally noted for a sense of humour, and he asked me very politely if I knew what speed I was travelling at, and of course I said the limit of 130km. His reply has stayed with me all these years, which was "Well, actually no sir, and our problem is whether to book you for speeding or flying too low!"
Luvly stuff! Cost me a €300 fine, but as OZ is one of those countries where you really DO need a car, that was the extent of it. Worth it for the quote I felt?
The Coyote system was quite legal at the time I purchased mine. I read that they have recently changed the legal wording to address this technology. It is not a radar detector, rather a real time network of drivers marking the locations of temporary speed traps. This is noted and transmitted to other drivers, via satellite, using the Coyote system. Looks like Euro 129.00 down the drain, now that the rolling laser systems are operational.
Perhaps Cyprus should give that a go.
That's because you exchanged licenses from a reciprocating country (even if they drive on the wrong side of the road). If you must go through the French testing process, while holding a valid licence from a non-reciprocating state/country, you do not have to wear the scarlet letter "A" but you will go through a 6 point probationary period. This is the same for all French jeune conducteurs when they receive their first license.
Well how Tomtom handled it was last year when you connected your device for map updates the Tomtom application unilaterally deleted the French camera locations to prevent you breaking the law. I didn't like their highhanded approach but Tomtom are notorious for their poor customer support so it didn't surprise me. Some months later when I again connected the device for updates it informed me that the French authorities had now agreed that the GPS could warn of "driving danger spots" and of course where else would one have a speed camera except a danger spot. So now we're back where we started just with another name :-)