France Road Trips Tips (following from the recent nice post)

[dgm]

I got flashed near Troyes by the crew of an unmarked radar car at midnight last year but fortunately wasn't stopped after it. They were positioned only a couple of hundred yards after a fixed camera position. The only time I have been pulled up for speeding in France was for approaching the tolls too fast when entering Nice. 2 police officers hiding behind the toll booth leapt out with a radar gun at the last minute but they were very reasonable and let me off with a warning. It certainly has made me a lot more cautious when approaching the peage now. As far as I know the police did try to use your time between the tolls to prosecute you for speeding some years ago but several court cases decided that asking the toll companies to declare your times to the police was an infringement on your civil liberties and it had to be abandoned.

I have to agree with the use of the telepeage transponder, it saves a huge amount of time in the summer when the tolls are at their busiest and even in the quiter times are worth their weight in gold for the amount of hassle they save.

Are you sure on the point of the GPS camera/black spot detectors? Sat nav systems have camera warnings built in and I saw a camera detector for sale in a BMW dealership in Toulon last week which it surely wouldn't have been if they are illegal. Mine is hard wired to the car and never got a second glance when I was stopped.

 

[lacroupade]

He's definitely right about detectors being completely illegal in France, but your point about satnav is a good one, although they are perfectly legal there even with camera locations built in.

But think about the logic for a second (and this applies in the UK as well, and remember France is much less advanced in its use of speed cams - five years or so ago you wouldn't have seen any)...

1. The fixed cameras are all signed anyway, so its no biggie that your satnav tells you they are there really.

2. Whenever a mobile cam is deployed, the database gets updated for that location (at least in the UK), so your satnav bleeps at you whether or not the cam is deployed there today....this means that they build up a database of locations, the number of which is several times larger than the number of cams actually deployed, so yet a further method of controlling speed indirectly, since you pay attention every time the satnav goes off on one!

I use TomTom France mapping but it doesn't seem to have camera locations in it - anyone know different?

And re the tags, its even more useful these days since many of the tolls aren't even manned any more, especially the smaller exit ones and at night....and its only a few euros more than paying by card (as a result of the initial cost and the small fee thats charged for any month the card is used (no use, no month charge)). We have a french bank account so could use our card in the CB lanes previously - I don't know if UK cards can be used yet, they did stop accepting Amex which used to be one option.

 

[PetKiller]

I have to disagree with the 'standard of driving' quote though..the french are simply crap. Poor lane discipline aside, does that justify them driving three inches from your bumper at 90mph? I don't think so. I've also witnessed, on more than one occasion, incidents where autoroute traffic has been stationary following an accident, so the entire queue has simply turned round and driven the wrong way up the autoroute on the hard shoulder to reach the exit they just passed.....

And it isn't subjective. They have roughly the same number of cars as the UK, but FOUR TIMES the number of RTAs. Enuf sed.

+1

 

[eurgain]

Good post and some good info for drivers in France. Used to live in Paris and it's amazing how bad the Brits generally are once they get into France to drive.

There seem to be 2 groups - those who believe they have to hit 150mph from the French docks to their destination and others who seem to lose all basic control of the car from lane discipline, junctions, etc. Probably lost and concerned about where their headed...

iirc you also have to carry a full kit of spare bulbs in France, but not sure if that still applies as we gently move to standard rules pan Europe

Sorry for the delay - just back.

I do not think that the bulb kit is mandatory in France, but it is in many other countries in which I drive, including Germany.

Apart from being common sense (and present from the factory in older BMWs E28, E30 in my personal experienve) In the UK, if Plod ever pulls you over for having a bulb out, it will save you getting a vehicle rectification notice, and the bill you then have to pay, and the hassle of answering the notice.

A

 

[eurgain]

If you were EVER going to get caught on an Autoroute speeding, well that is your best chance...

I was heading south on the A26, Friday afternoon at the end of holiday season...

The driver of the UK-registered Ferrari registration number GP1, passed me probably doing about 250k in broad daylight, about 15:40 on a Friday afternoon. About 5k later, we pass the speed trap! I think he got pulled into the aire couple of km later.

Please do not give other UK drivers an even worse name by doing this sort of thing!!

I certainly may exceed the speed limit in France sometimes, but never during the silly season that is the approach to a week-end. (220kmh at 6:00 on a Thursday on the A26 in Picardie is not risking much! He, he!)

A

 

[eurgain]

I got flashed near Troyes by the crew of an unmarked radar car at midnight last year but fortunately wasn't stopped after it. They were positioned only a couple of hundred yards after a fixed camera position. The only time I have been pulled up for speeding in France was for approaching the tolls too fast when entering Nice. 2 police officers hiding behind the toll booth leapt out with a radar gun at the last minute but they were very reasonable and let me off with a warning. It certainly has made me a lot more cautious when approaching the peage now. As far as I know the police did try to use your time between the tolls to prosecute you for speeding some years ago but several court cases decided that asking the toll companies to declare your times to the police was an infringement on your civil liberties and it had to be abandoned.

I have to agree with the use of the telepeage transponder, it saves a huge amount of time in the summer when the tolls are at their busiest and even in the quiter times are worth their weight in gold for the amount of hassle they save.

Are you sure on the point of the GPS camera/black spot detectors? Sat nav systems have camera warnings built in and I saw a camera detector for sale in a BMW dealership in Toulon last week which it surely wouldn't have been if they are illegal. Mine is hard wired to the car and never got a second glance when I was stopped.

I no not know about the GPS-based systems. It is the radar detector systems that have always been illegal in France.

I have never heard anything about them trying to enforce the descending limits that are common in advance of the booths (130-110 and sometimes to 90). Maybe someone had crashed into a tollbooth at that place.

IMO, Télépage is superb in all occasions, day or night, quiet or busy (but especially busy) if you are using an Autoroute in any event at all, because it saves so much time. With a right-hand-drive car, it also saves a lot of silliness (and scuffed wheels or dented wings), when trying to get a ticket or pay at the other end! If you are on your own in an RHD car (without a passenger to deal with the tolls) it is just about essential!

Last week, I had to dive into Orange, make a call on the outskirts, and head off again. When I left the Autoroute, there were about eight vehicles waiting to pay - I went straight through the Télépage lane. When I re-joined the Autoroute ten-or-so minutes later having completed my business in Orange, the last of those vehicles was STILL just passing through the toll barrier -it was a lovely early 911, so I immediately recognised it as the same car I had seen earlier.

A

 

[AJZ4London]

My 2 cents is what people have said, use your common sense and look into the distance. If you see a sea of brake lights it is probably because a gendarme is parked behind a tree at 90 degrees to the road trying to get people...just slow down in case!

Other point is that the French love to flash when there are police ahead, obviously not so easy on Autoroutes but a life saver on single carriageways. It gives me a certain satisfaction to warn other drivers of the speed trap.

One complaint...and that is the current price of fuel on the continent. With the exchange rate as it is you are paying approx £1.28 a litre which adds up when you are doing a couple of thousand miles