BBC - Les Flics target UK drivers
Discussion
As someone who drives a lot in France (& has been fined this year), I think this is entirely fair. If fines cannot be transferred to a driver's home country and an officer cannot insist on payment at the roadside (a debit/credit card terminal would ease matters for drivers & gendarmes though), how should fines be enforced? As research has shown, there are too many foreign drivers involved in accidents in France (let's not go o/t into the speed kills debate) & too many breaking the law.
If you break the law in any country, if you are caught you need to accept the punishment imposed by that country. If you don't want to be punished, comply. Imagine the furore in the Daily Wail/Express if foreign drivers could come to the UK, drive like loons and escape without punishment...
If you break the law in any country, if you are caught you need to accept the punishment imposed by that country. If you don't want to be punished, comply. Imagine the furore in the Daily Wail/Express if foreign drivers could come to the UK, drive like loons and escape without punishment...
Sortie 10 said:
...Imagine the furore in the Daily Wail/Express if foreign drivers could come to the UK, drive like loons and escape without punishment...
This (although there seem to be plenty of foreign lorry drivers in the UK who seem to write their own rules).I live in France and it seems fair enough to me. Surprised the Belgians haven't been mentioned, I don't think I've ever seen one on a French motorway NOT speeding!
I live in SW France and I can tell you that no research is required to say who the principal offenders are in this regard, in ascending order it's British, Dutch, Belgian and very worst of all, the Swiss !
I couldn't begin to even guess how many times I've been passed on the motorway by one or more of the above when travelling at the legal limit of 130.
I would say that when you see a speeding car approaching it's a 50/50 bet that it's one of the above and when you consider what an insignificant proportion of the cars on the road foreigners represent, even in high Summer, that gives you an indication of the scale of the issue.
Remember too that the numbers only relate to foreign drivers actually caught speeding which itself must be a tiny fraction.
The BBC article is incorrect when it claims that the fine is €375. For a minor offence, under 20kph over the posted limit, the roadside fine will normally be either €135 or €90, it depends somewhat on the particular gendarme. For a French driver €135 is the standard fine but if paid within 14 days it's reduced to €90 with the loss of one point from a driving licence.
Fines can escalate alarmingly though if caught doing really daft speeds.
It's also not true to say that foreign drivers have no choice but to pay on the spot, they can opt to refuse and go before a court but for obvious reasons few if any do. You can also challenge a fine but would have to pay it first then argue the toss afterwards, again pretty impractical for a visitor once they have left France.
In any case I'm certain that the reason so many do speed is that although they stand to be fined the most important thing is that there is no loss of or awarding of points involved so all they are gambling is a bit of money nothing else. The sooner proper cross border penalties are enforced the better in my book, get caught speeding in France/Europe and losing 3 points of your UK licence for it would be a real incentive to obey the law.
I couldn't begin to even guess how many times I've been passed on the motorway by one or more of the above when travelling at the legal limit of 130.
I would say that when you see a speeding car approaching it's a 50/50 bet that it's one of the above and when you consider what an insignificant proportion of the cars on the road foreigners represent, even in high Summer, that gives you an indication of the scale of the issue.
Remember too that the numbers only relate to foreign drivers actually caught speeding which itself must be a tiny fraction.
The BBC article is incorrect when it claims that the fine is €375. For a minor offence, under 20kph over the posted limit, the roadside fine will normally be either €135 or €90, it depends somewhat on the particular gendarme. For a French driver €135 is the standard fine but if paid within 14 days it's reduced to €90 with the loss of one point from a driving licence.
Fines can escalate alarmingly though if caught doing really daft speeds.
It's also not true to say that foreign drivers have no choice but to pay on the spot, they can opt to refuse and go before a court but for obvious reasons few if any do. You can also challenge a fine but would have to pay it first then argue the toss afterwards, again pretty impractical for a visitor once they have left France.
In any case I'm certain that the reason so many do speed is that although they stand to be fined the most important thing is that there is no loss of or awarding of points involved so all they are gambling is a bit of money nothing else. The sooner proper cross border penalties are enforced the better in my book, get caught speeding in France/Europe and losing 3 points of your UK licence for it would be a real incentive to obey the law.
said:
The sooner proper cross border penalties are enforced the better in my book, get caught speeding in France/Europe and losing 3 points of your UK licence for it would be a real incentive to obey the law.
This point is unlikely to happen anytime soon. The offence for speeding in France is enforced at 5kph over the limit and the loss of one point. The ACPO guideline is 10% + 2mph at which point 3 points are put on your license.The probability of any UK Government changing things anytime soon are extremely remote, but if they did, this "grey" area would ensure that Nick Freeman earns good income for the rest of his lifetime.
However, the loss of license for the few caught exceeding 160mph; most politicians would sign up for that as that is what already happens in the UK.
I agree that full harmonisation of points systems and penalties is unlikely to ever happen however I can envisage a system whereby an offence in another country could be treated as if it had occurred in the offenders home country and the penalties applied accordingly.
It's difficult to imagine any convincing or logical argument as to why a minor speeding offence committed in say Dover should be penalised any differently than for the same offence committed 22 miles away in Calais so IMO the way to deal with offenders is to penalise them as they would be punished at home regardless of where the offence was committed, i.e. for a UK driver caught speeding in France a fine and 3 points.
Certainly the current system in France where anybody driving on a UK licence can commit multiple offences and set off every camera in the land with complete immunity from any meaningful consequence other than the paying of the fines is far from ideal and no disincentive at all to breaking the law.
It's difficult to imagine any convincing or logical argument as to why a minor speeding offence committed in say Dover should be penalised any differently than for the same offence committed 22 miles away in Calais so IMO the way to deal with offenders is to penalise them as they would be punished at home regardless of where the offence was committed, i.e. for a UK driver caught speeding in France a fine and 3 points.
Certainly the current system in France where anybody driving on a UK licence can commit multiple offences and set off every camera in the land with complete immunity from any meaningful consequence other than the paying of the fines is far from ideal and no disincentive at all to breaking the law.
Gassing Station | France | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff