French mini speed cameras !

[IanFraser]

RADAR CARS
In the battle against speeding, 450 unmarked radar cars will be on French roads by the end of this year, according to the road safety authority Sécurité Routiére. Carrying high-tech cameras, the cars will be on the road 24 hours per day. Rather than try and catch out motorists, the Charente-Maritime gendarmerie have unveiled their plans to use the radar cars alongside additional cars used by local police, and even announced the routes that they will be on. “We have no interest in fining,” says unit leader Sébastien Letellier. “What we want is for people to stay alive”. The radar is installed behind the windscreen in the passenger area and is capable of measuring the speed of any vehicle within its range. There is also a flash installed beneath the registration plate. The vehicles will be driven at the authorised speed limit, so overtaking them means you are speeding, although a 10% margin is applied. While confinement has reduced traffic on the roads, excessive speeding (greater than 50km/h over the limit) has gone up steeply (+21%). Initially the cars will be driven by gendarmes, but it is expected that responsibility will be handed over to private firms later in the year.



Source: LIVING Magazine.

If they've worked out they're at risk of losing 60 million euros of revenue from UK drivers alone sounds like a good investment, just wait on UK plates coming off the ferries and send one of the 450 off to shadow them, jobs a good un!

 

[MitchandJenny]

Think you missed the point i.e. they can't issue you a penalty notice if they don't know who you are i.e. there's no agreement with UK to supply driver information the way there was when we were EU members.

But delays get a little sweetener to divulge.
£2.50 I think
Mitch

 

[MitchandJenny]

But delays get a little sweetener to divulge.
£2.50 I think
Mitch

I meant DVLA.
Bloody spell check
Mitch

 

[Vipar]

They won’t catch many this year. Come on release us so we can chance getting a speeding fine

 

[AXO66]

New game now springs to mind.
Only the Brits can play it , and only in France.

See who can drive carefully to generate the longest tail back

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[Bernie P]

The Norweigians had speed camera's disguised as wheelie bins back in the mid-nineties and no warning signs.

 

[Tea Bag]

Hi.
Some years ago. Leicester Forest services M1. had an Unmarked British racing green type coloured Subaru Sports car that patrolled its area....... It had......... GOLD..... coloured wheels........... OOOoppps....... DOH !!
Tea Bag

 

[DelMar]

In France, I thought by law, all radar cameras had a warning sign to say they were ahead of you. With the further introduction of 450 unmarked speed radar detection cars throughout France and the only way to avoid a fine is to drive to the speed limit, do it. These cars will be driven initially by the police and travel at whatever the speed limit is at that time. Therefore overtake one and they have got you.

As speed in Europe is in Kph, why not buy a GPS HUD and set it to kph. I have used one of these in Europe for a number of years with great success. Just switch back to MPH when home. When we are on holiday, I want our cash just for that, not to pay for speeding fines.

Drive slooowly.

 

[SpeedyDux]

As speed in Europe is in Kph, why not buy a GPS HUD and set it to kph. I have used one of these in Europe for a number of years with great success. Just switch back to MPH when home. When we are on holiday, I want our cash just for that, not to pay for speeding fines.

Drive slooowly.

The pesky Gendarmerie really are out to get us! Watch out for random roadblocks and breathalyser checks especially after lunchtime.

I haven't been to France since 2019 (sob) but on the major D roads you see advance warning signs about "radars".

The Garmin 760 shows quite accurate GPS speed in MPH or KPH. I find it much easier to keep an eye on the satnav than the hard-to-read X290 speedometer. Also the Garmin gives a loud "BONG" warning when you exceed the speed limit in its map database, so doubly handy.

 

[Despicable]

The pesky Gendarmerie really are out to get us! Watch out for random roadblocks and breathalyser checks especially after lunchtime.

I haven't been to France since 2019 (sob) but on the major D roads you see advance warning signs about "radars".

The Garmin 760 shows quite accurate GPS speed in MPH or KPH. I find it much easier to keep an eye on the satnav than the hard-to-read X290 speedometer. Also the Garmin gives a loud "BONG" warning when you exceed the speed limit in its map database, so doubly handy.

Agree, SpeedyDux , I change my Garmin over to KPH whilst going through the tube. I've found the speedo on my Peugeot Boxer based moho is so inaccurate it's useless; it over-reads so much that to comply with it in built-up areas, I'd probably be arrested for curb-crawling.

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[gus-lopez]

Also the Garmin gives a loud "BONG" warning when you exceed the speed limit in its map database, so doubly handy.

But in France anything that warns the driver of speed cameras ,speeding etc is illegal. so the boing shouldn't be on.

 

[DelMar]

I agree the X290 Speedo is a nightmare, even after the update.

 

[Yorick]

The pesky Gendarmerie really are out to get us! Watch out for random roadblocks and breathalyser checks especially after lunchtime.

I haven't been to France since 2019 (sob) but on the major D roads you see advance warning signs about "radars".

The Garmin 760 shows quite accurate GPS speed in MPH or KPH. I find it much easier to keep an eye on the satnav than the hard-to-read X290 speedometer. Also the Garmin gives a loud "BONG" warning when you exceed the speed limit in its map database, so doubly handy.

There's big fines if your Satnav warns of speed cameras.

 

[FIDGET]

This is what the new in town & villages speed camera's look like , so beware as and when we get back over .

 

[Scotch mist]

But in France anything that warns the driver of speed cameras ,speeding etc is illegal. so the boing shouldn't be on.

my avtex sat nav doesn’t warn about cameras , it warns about dangerous segments of road SO they sneaked round that law

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[ambulancekidd]

Even then you will still find an artic up your chuff at anything less than an actual 90km/h

Don't think that defence would work in court, besides which a lorry or any other vehicle up my chuff trying to intimidate me, simply makes me go slower, a lot slower.

 

[DelMar]

Gus. The bong mentioned earlier, was not a speed camera warning, which as you say is illegal in many countries, but a warning to the driver he is exceeding the speed limit which comes from the sat nav and a HUD unit.

 

[Campervan_man]

I did a speed awareness course once, never has 4 hours lasted so long.
Low 30's, car rolling down a very steep hill out of town taking My Son to the train station.
No schools any where near.
Mobile camera van sits at the bottom of the hill.
Click = ££'s

 

[SpeedyDux]

my avtex sat nav doesn’t warn about cameras , it warns about dangerous segments of road SO they sneaked round that law

As you say, that's the legally acceptable alternative warning available on satnavs.

My first Garmin Nuvi satnav did have French speed camera POIs installed, deleted by me when they changed their law. The French government website had a map showing all their fixed speed camera locations, but that's gone. I used that info to mark up my paper maps before I bought the excellent Garmin Nuvi, now 13 years old and kept as a back-up.

 

[elamessa]

I use Waze a lot, it tells you your actual speed, where the speed cameras are and if any Gendarmes are about. And with just a push of a button you can let Waze know of any problems along the way i.e. Police, Accidents, Traffic Jams, Hazards, Roadworks etc.

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[jongood]

Don't think that defence would work in court, besides which a lorry or any other vehicle up my chuff trying to intimidate me, simply makes me go slower, a lot slower.

I don't either, I'm not suggesting it as a defense just describing recent experience. I actually saw road rage last year( not involving me) which rural France never had.