The speed limit cut seems to be a nice little earner for the French government. That couldn’t have been the reason for it surely 
Well, the article suggests the French government raked in almost 2billion€ in speeding fines with an extra 335million€ expected as a result of the drop to 80kmph - if those figures are accurate then they are not to be sneezed at as a source of revenue. The corresponding figure for the UK government seems to be about £80million (this from a Telegraph article, not sure of its accuracy).
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Let’s face it… the Government only gets in what the plonkers give out…
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Oh so true Stella
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Help in paying for the new signage I guess… Can’t have been a cheap exercise.
They’d have used fewer signs if
a) they had a “national speed limit” sign as in the UK - then the speed limit can be changed without changing the signs
or
b) concentrated on known accident black spots
but then Paul, they’d have to install lamp posts…
and this is bad because…?
assuming that they had lamps on the top of them, of course.
It will be interesting to see what the effect on accident rates has been after 12 months.
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It certainly will be interesting… in our region recent road deaths are occurring when folk are under the influence and/or speeding ridiculously…
crazy waste of a life…
Perhaps you missed the subtly of my post Paul… In the UK, if lampposts are spaced a certain distance apart in an urban area, it denotes a 30mph limit - so there are no signs as such…
Ah, yes I did miss that point, probably because I was thinking of the national 60mph limit which has little to do with lamp posts unless they happen to be holding the sign off the ground.
There are 30mph signs, of course, there will be one where a higher limit is reduced to 30mph - what there (usually) are not is reminder signs, - as you say 30mph is assumed where there are street lights less than 200 yards apart in a built up area.
On my local national road today I noticed that the new 80kph signs had been vandalised. Someone had sprayed graffiti on them and they were full of holes like they had been shot.
I guess the locals aren’t happy.
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and how stupid is that ??? 
someone has to pay for the damage… guess who … yep, it’s us…
These vandals seem to think they are such clever folk… yet, in fact, they are petty criminals and I have no sympathy for them … whatsoever… 
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Seems to have been more foreigners that French… who have been flashed…
and of ALL those flashed… only 62% have received a fine or whatever…
I think plonkers is a bit strong.
I’m from the “Only Fools and Horses” era… It was not seen as “strong” in those days… 
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Except where they are 20mph lol
Anything other than 30 mph within an area of streetlights must be signed appropriately on the entry to the speed limit - it is also possible to erect/paint additional repeater indications of the speed (but not in a 30 mph area in area of streetlights).
The regulations regarding signing have been relaxed somewhat - but when not following the specific regulations the likelyhood of a legal challenge against a speeding prosecution is increased.