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French motorway speed camera being flashed


EMS

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I have just returned from France and I have been flashed twice by a speed camera on the motorway, has anyone received a fine/demand for payment from these cameras?

I was not speeding at the time and our vehicle a Dethlef Trend is less than 3.5tons.

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This 2017 forum discussion may be of interest

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Speed-limits-in-France-/48133/#M570404

 

This happened to me on a dual carriageway in France in July and I was driving (for once) well below the prevailing speed limit. I didn’t expect any follow-up and there was none.

 

Suggest you forget it....

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I had at least four in Europe last summer. One in Germany and the rest in France. Never heard a thing. So far Ive not heard that anyone ever has apart from those that were in EU hired vehicles where the fine is passed on.

 

There are new private companies I believe taking over some of the speed camera operations so it may change. The French have the capability to pursue fines now though so it could change. So far it seems they cant be bothered.

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Thanks Derek, no worries now.

My son in-law in Switzerland received a French speeding fine a couple of years ago as he was driving at over 140Km/h!

I was able to pay the fine for him as I had my French cheque book with me, the days before you could easily pay over the internet with a card.

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Three years ago I was flashed in Germany exiting an Autobahn in an 80 zone. I was in a Swiss registered rental car. The rental company emailed me the ticket and charged me a handling fee taken from my credit card still on their file. I did not pay the fine and have been back to Germany since with no issues at entry point. Probably they wrote it off!
Cheers,
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Billggski - 2018-09-18 2:19 PM

 

It seems to be that the camera identifies you as a goods vehicle. I've been flashed in a land rover with two roof boxes doing 100kph.

They can trace you nowadays if it's a real transgression.

 

The issue was discussed here a year ago

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Flashed-in-France/47662/

 

When I was flashed last July on a dual carriageway entering Caen the traffic was fairly heavy and I was travelling well below the speed limit appropriate for goods vehicles let alone for my under-3500kg (categorised as a ‘car’) motorhome. The incident was not long after the national changes to French speed limits, but those changes should not have affected the dual carriageway I was driving on. The speed camera was also one of the traditional type that - as far as I’m aware - cannot discriminate between vehicles based on size, weight or appearance criteria. (Speed cameras are machines and, as every motorcaravanner will learn sooner or later, machines hate humans.)

 

Information on current French speed limits is provided here

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_France

 

The advice is not strictly accurate where French 3-lane roads are concerned.

 

If a 3-lane road has no ‘priority’ markings (ie. there’s a broken-line separating each lane from its neighbour and overtaking in either direction is down to the judgement of drivers) the speed limit for all 3 lanes will be 80kmh.

 

However, if the 3-lane road has a 2-lanes + 1-lane configuration, with a solid must-not-be-crossed line separating the former from the latter, the speed limit will be 90kmh on the former (2-lane) section and 80kmh on the latter (1-lane) section.

 

My recently-updated Garmin sat-nav accurately reflects the 90kmh or 80km limits for '2-lane + 1-lane' 3-lane roads, but the result is that, when travelling on the 2-lane section, there can a lot of swapping between the 90kmh and 80kmh limits (and back again) at junctions. As the rationale of the 90kmh to 80kmh change must have been to reduce the previous 180kmh closing speed between vehicles, it would have made better sense to limit all 2-lane and 3-lane ‘bi-directional’ roads to 80kmh (closing speed 160kmh) rather than have a closing speed of 170kmh on some 3-laners and 160kmh on others.

 

My Garmin sat-nav warns of French ‘danger zones’ (where there MIGHT be a speed camera) but those warnings that before July 1 2018 applied to a 90kmh speed limit have not been altered to show 80kmh.

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