Yes, but they are illegal in France.
When I changed my NZ license for a French I was not told it was probationary - not anywhere.
What a futile discussion this is.
You break the law - you pay the penalty. You don't break the law - you don't pay any penalty! There are 8-foot high signs to warn you of the radar camera ahead.
This not a holier-than-thou post - iI have had a speeding fine too - my fault for not paying attention.
Radar trap warning systems are illegal in France now.
There is no doubt that the 'speeding fines' scam has not one thing to do with road safety. We were fined €40 for travelling at exactly 3kmh over the 70kmh limit near Chalons-sur-Saone, and we noted that you have the right to challenge the finding BUT if the fine is challenged and found non-proven the fine payable with then be tripled!
Guess who does the judging of validity or not? Yep, the same crowd that issued the thing in the first place.
I wonder why the authorites haven't figured out the bad feelings this develops between the Police/Gendarmes (well actually I don't, but you get my point. Oddly Paris has Traffic Police which makes more sense, although I suppose it is a question of Manpower.
One day in Paris we wanted to park and were not too sure and asked a policeman on duty outside a Jewish school if it was OK where we had chosen, and were assured it was OK. When we returned the car was gone and delivered to a Pound. When we stated what we had done, it was the old Gallic shrug again, and 'that will be €90 thank you very much'.
When you start losing faith in the police things are really bad. I lost faith with politicians yonks ago.
Naughty as a pro driver you should know that your speedo under reads by 10% therefore to be flashed at 57kph you were driving at an indicated 63kph..........................Now having retired I can no longer look at speeding fines as a 'cost of sales' ;-)
I usually see speed checks on motorways or national roads, and motorway roadworks are meant to be bad for cameras, especially when they put the speed down to 90 or 70 for miles and everyone is going at 110km. The police sometimes hang out in my village on Saturday night around 7pm breathalysing people, because they recently put a stop there and want to check people actually stop at it. I was breathalysed once and was a bit worried as I had had a glass of wine but I passed the test after having to blow about three times because I didn't do it hard or long enough.
Getting your points back
This came from the organisation where I attended my stage de récuperation de points. Have also attached the summary sheet they gave us
TOUS LES 6 mois : Toute personne titulaire d'un permis de conduire et qui commet une infraction entrainant un retrait d'1 point récupérera ce point 6 mois seulement après l'avoir perdu à condition qu'il n’a pas eu d'autres retrait de points pendant cette période. Cette règle est cumulable avec la règle des trois ans expliquée précédemment.
Pour les permis probatoires, vous récupérez 2 points chaque année si aucune infraction constatée n’a été relevée à votre encontre à partir de l’année qui suit l’obtention du permis. Dans ce cas, (sans aucune infraction constatée) vous serez à 8 points en fin de première année, à 10 points en fin de seconde et à 12 points en fin de dernière année.
Si vous avez opté pour la conduite accompagnée, c’est 3 points de plus que vous obtiendrai automatiquement en fin de chaque année de votre période de probation si aucune infraction constatée n’a été relevée à votre encontre à partir de l’année qui suit l’obtention du permis. Sans infraction constatée, vous serez à 9 points en fin de première année et à 12 en fin de seconde.
TOUS LES ANS : En suivant un stage de sensibilisation dans notre établissement. Ce stage de 2 jours consécutifs vous permet de récupérer 4 points dans la limite maximum du plafond affecté à votre permis de conduire.
ATTENTION : à partir du 15 mars 2011, vous pouvez suivre désormais un stage tous les ans.
Les stages sont payants (FOREM-SR : à partir de 210,00 euros).
TOUS LES 2 ANS : En adoptant un comportement responsable au volant, vous retrouvez alors automatiquement la totalité de vos points (votre permis passe à 12 points) si vous ne commettez pas d’infraction susceptibles d’entraîner un retrait de points pendant les 2 années qui suivent le dernier retrait de points, sauf en cas d'infraction de quatrième classe ou supérieure, les permis probatoires et en cas de délit.
TOUS LES 10 ANS : Les points perdus du fait de contraventions passibles d'une amende forfaitaire sont réattribués au titulaire du permis de conduire à l'expiration d'un délai de dix ans à compter de la date à laquelle la condamnation est devenue définitive ou du paiement de l'amende forfaitaire correspondante.
Cette reconstitution progressive concerne le titulaire de permis qui n'aura pu bénéficier de la reconstitution globale, par suite de la commission d'une nouvelle infraction passible de retrait de points avant l'expiration d'un délai de 2 ou trois ans.
The whole speeding system is corrupt here. It may be that you were not even speeding.
I was 'caught' speeding last year when I was actually in hospital at the time. The hospital wrote to the authorities saying where I was but they just refuse to reply to any mails at all. I have even sent registered letters to them that they have received but all they did was keep increasing the fine until the finally threatened to enter my house and take my property to pay the fine (which I later found was illegal). If you don't pay the fine they will just increase it and make life even more difficult for you.
I used to help the police and on a couple of occasions I have gone out of my way to report a break in (I had to miss a football match to go to the station as they insisted I went and reported it at the time the wanted), and report a car accident (again I had to go to them to help) but now I am afraid I will never help French police again.
Naughty naughty Jane! You need a Tom Tom that warns you where they are. Not the cameras as such of course, that would now be illegal, but you are allowed to be warned of where the dangerous areas are, and that's where they're supposed to put the cameras...
Just as a matter of interest, anyone had any problems at St Maur, near Chateauroux? I got a ticket there for doing 129kph, and I'm sure there was no sign of a 110 limit. I went through it again last week, thankfully in heavy rain so I was going slowly, but I still didn't see any 110 sign.
The 12 points may only apply to those who already possess an EU country license and simply transfer it for a French one. When you acquire a new French permis de conduire, there is a 3 year probationary period wherein you start out with only 6 points. A roadside mobile speed cam knocked off 1 point the first week with my new license. I had driven for 5 years on a California license without any problem from France. I didn't worry about French violations until my Banque Populaire assurance cancelled without notice due to the fact that I did not have a French license. I could not get coverage from any French agency without a French license. This forced me to rent a sans permis for the 3 months required auto ecole to take the exams. The French license wound up costing just south of Euro 4000. At one time I was down to only 2 points, and three days after my last carefully driven trip to Annecy I had one of the dreaded French letters in the post. Trembling, I open it to discover that two older violations had timed out and the points had been added to my meager balance. Whew!
If you lose a point you will get it back after 6 months but only if you don't get flashed a second time. If you do I think you have to wait a year. I have a usefull piece of paper that I got after my stage that I will try and make available.
Can confirm it is 4 points for missing a stop sign.
Everybody starts with 12 points. Speeding offences are normally a loss of one point. The point is only lost for I think 6 months after which you’re back to 12 points. If you have a UK licence and lose a point you must hand it in at the local prefecture and fill in forms to get a French one. On the letter from the police informing you of your loss there is an opportunity to complete a form which “gives” the point to another driver. If you don’t stop at a STOP sign its 4 points and I think its for 3 years, although I could be wrong about the time elapse.
Fortunately (compared to the UK) there are definitely less lorry drivers on our routes but they all seem to enjoy what feels like a 'thwart a car driver' technique. It takes some patience not to pull away at speed when they've done this routine on the busier stretches!
Overall it is still much pleasanter driving here in France. We are just gonig to have to accept that the French system is different and years of clean driving licences will have to be achieved with a slightly slower driving style!
Thank you - a nice simple way of informing the authorities!
My wife drives my car to Paris on a weekly basis. On the occasional trip she's been heavy on the go-faster pedal, we return the form with the following letter.
I hope it helps:
Centre d'Encaissement
TSA 69089
35908 Rennes CEDEX 9 N Mmmmmmmm 2012
Nos Ref: NNN XX NN
Je soussigné Mrs XXXX xxxxx déclare que j’étais le conducteur de la voiture immatriculation NNN NN NN le dd/mm/yyyy a 00h00.
Mes détails sont :
Nom : XXXX
Prénom : Xxxxxxx
Date de naissance : dd/mm/yyyy
Lieu de naissance : Xxxxxxxxx, Angleterre
Adresse en France: Xxxxxxxxxxxx
NNNNN Xxxxxxxxxxxx
Permis de conduire no : XXXXX NNNNN XXXXX (britannique)
I just keep to the right and let the lead foots have the right of way. Gotta watch those reduced speed zones though. That's where the traps are most likely to be on the autoroutes. What grinds my gears are the articulated lorry drivers who build up enough downhill speed to pass the truck in front of them, who pull out to pass at the bottom of a two lane stretch of autoroute, as I am about to pass them both, and then gravity takes over and they both chug slowly side-by-side up the next long steep grade, blocking both lanes.
Depends on who the car is registered to. When I had a company car, the PV arrived at the office but there was no request to identify the driver so we just paid the fine using a company cheque and I reimbursed the company. This happened 3 or 4 times.
Tthank you for the note about the temporary flashing signs. I thought there was some link and have paid attention to these. Sadly this time, one fine was due to the rapid decrease in speed on entering a town (Chartres) - two signs indicating low speeder very close together. The others were the tricky 110 when the rest of the motorway was 130. Anyone else get frustrated about the other drivers who go sailing past when one is endeavouring to keep with the sometimes strange limits?
We have discovered this - but thank you all the same. Sadly first fine was on the way to UK, prior to a 4 week trip to Oz to celebrate a big birthday. We asked a neighbour to clear post but not to open it - so the letter went over its cut off date while we were away! It has been said we could have appealed against the higher fine but at that point we chalked it to experience. Then the next two fines for the return journey arrived!