[Closed] PSA - Thinking of speeding in France.....

I got one from Italy.

I didn’t sign the postie letter.

They gave up after a year and sold it to a bailiff.

At the time if they couldn’t prove you accepted the mail and logged in online with a set time period, the fine would be written off.

I have visited Italy and silent sweat if the missus wants to go again.

Waiting for U.K. speeding ticket flashed last week on M42... dammit.

Do you have to tell your insurer?

I think I'd accept a €45 fine without complaint if I had been caught speeding. Way better than points and not exactly that much.

Oh, I'm not bothered about it and have already paid it.

Just thought i'd post up here as a lot of people still think there is no reciprocal agreement. I've been flashed in the past a few years ago and didn't get anything, but it seems they don't ignore it any more.

Just a heads up to those that will be driving down there over the summer.

This was on a normal road not a motorway if that makes any diffetence.

Just a fixed penalty fine, so I wouldnt have you'd need to inform insurers.....

Sometimes the road are worth €45 😉
A number of years ago my mate got done on a road in Germany. His fine was something like €15. Cracking road, We all thought the road was definitely worth the €15 lol!

The speed limit on many rural roads in France was reduced from 90 to 80kmh recently and it's caught a lot of people out.

Got one in Germany a few weeks ago. Hidden camera. €15. I'd just pay up as these things can escalate.

Germany has quite a business like approach to fines. Ie. 10kmh over/10 euro fine. 20km/h over, 20 euro fine.

It’s only when you get to higher speeds that points get involved.

The french must be making a packet from the Belgians! There were tonnes of Belgian registered suv’s Belting it along, going to and from the alpes last week. Some of the most aggressive driving I’ve seen.

Nah bargain I got a €100ish one once but I did get the personal touch but did have to slow down to give them a chance to catch up.

I’d pay up a cheap one tbh just in case you go back over with the same car, I’ve seen them block and stop and search on motorways checking paperwork in Spain so I’d hate to have my vrm on a list of unpaid fines.

Got one in Italy, driving back over the causway from Venice. Got the taken €40 thing from car hire company and then the fixed penalty notice. I paid nearly €100 in total. Worth it for the peace of mind.
Nearly 30yrs ago I had a "driving without due care thing" in California. I ignored it and spent years worrying about extrodinary rendition, and was to scared to go back over. When I did I was a bit tense about a red light flashing at immigration.

Another factor to take into account of speeding in France at the moment is that the gilets jaunes have gift wrapped, dismantled or torched a large proportion of speed cameras, so if you notice that local plated cars aren't slowing down for them there's more than a slight chance that the cameras are out of service.

I got fined 2.5k (£1500 on the spot then a further fine after court) in France on the way back from Le Mans a few years ago. I thoroughly deserved it and have driven like a vicar ever since in France. The boys don’t mess about either - one bloke also got caught at the same time and didn’t have the funds to pay the fine, so they calmly told him to remove his bags from the car and off it went on the back of a transporter.

Just don't speed in. Norway.
96km in a 90. 400 euro fine. 98 and the fine was double! The rest of the holiday I was driving like a granny!

Bunch of my mates just got there's from our euro road trip through France last August and September. Bizarre that it's taken so long

Thanks for the PSA. I’ve been flashed in France 6 times in 3 trips and never had a ticket. We go in our motorhome which is 8.0m long and I’ve been flashed at 55mph on a m way before. I think the cameras must think it’s a lorry. I think I would appeal them as we have limiter set to 60mph. I’ll be more careful in August!!

I watch a motorcycle YouTube channel called 44teeth, on a recent trip through Switzerland one of them was caught speeding. A fine of 4000 Swiss francs, over £3k. Was a bawhair off prison. Not going terribly over the limit either iirc.

Sounds good to me.(As a non driving poster on a cycle forum.)

We were done in Verona for driving to our rented flat in a hire car without the necessary permit. That was three years ago. We paid the fine online. Have copies of all transactions and STILL get chased. The following year we received a parking fine which we paid at the post office immediately. Then we were chased once back for another six months. Even after showing them the receipt.

Fines are used in lieu of local taxation in parts of Italy. And Peterborough it seems based on the number of cyclists done. And Hounslow who had 5000 fines in Chiswick high road in 2017 for a single bus lane violation. At 65 pounds each.

Reciprocal agreement kicked in some years back. Though wasn't in place around 2013 as I kept noticing a flash but couldn't see a camera (they hide them unlike UK), and I hadn't twigged the signs that look like WiFi symbols aren't telling me there's free WiFi somewhere but that there are speed cameras. I never got anything in the post, but heard it was in place a year or two later.

Other thing is GPS and other devices that alert you to camera positions are illegal in France, and that includes phones (not sure how they police it. The phone isn't illegal, but using such an app is, though likely the main ones disable that feature when in France).

I was working on a guiding trip in Switzerland, Italy and Austria last year and one of the guys driving the big support van got done for speeding twice. None of this "we'll send a fine through the post", it was charged there and then to his credit card.

One was through roadworks; they had a policeman with a speedcamera half way along it and then at the end of it some nice police people to wave you off to one side and take the money. About €120.

So I noticed when I was paying it online, that you have to recieve the fine within 91 days of the offence. Mine is dated 09.04.2019, and the offence date is 02.01.2019. 91 days is 3rd April!!

So I've paid the full €68 fine, and am appealing it with the handy exemption form they send you!! Save a few quid but I'll still be mor careful in the future.

Boardinbob, your mates might also be able to appeal theirs. You still have to pay the fine first though.

Am I alone in thinking that the best solution is to drive within the limits set by law??

This is gutting, I've been planning to speed in France for years now, just never got round to it. Now thinking maybe Italy might be better. Thanks for the heads up though.

Any thoughts on the cheapest destinations for a speeding holiday. I've considered the Isle of Man, but the absence of speed limits outside town seems to kind of defeat the purpose of the trip.

Am I alone in thinking that the best solution is to drive within the limits set by law??

No-one's saying the OP set out to break the law deliberately. Stuff happens, a few holiday beers and a chaser or two and you're inadvertently driving a few km/ph over the limit, no harm in that.

Had one recently too, I coffed up the 45euro as its my personal car, but as others have said it was almost 4 months since it happened, I think I'll leave it as a lesson learnt. Oddly I also received one using saying I was driving a French registered car in a day I wasn't even in France, I've ignored that..