speeding in france
Discussion
Depends what speed you were nicked at.
If it's not a hire car or is UK reg then you won't hear anything from the French.
Some advice here;
Foreigner or not, speeding is punishable by law (usual speed limits). Having a french driving licence or not, driving a vehicle with french driving plates or not, will make a difference in the outcome:
- You are arrested by the police or gendarmerie for moderate speeding. Fine to be paid on the spot. Points lost if french driving licence.
- You are arrested by the police or gendarmerie for inmoderate speeding (in excess of 50km/h). Fine to be paid, licence confiscated, vehicle might be impounded.
- You are caught speeding by a speed camera but not arrested with a foreign registered car. You are not likely to ever have to pay the fine, except if you are from Luxembourg. For now. Check here for more.
Speeding by less than 20 km/h (12 mph)
Fine (0) : 68 euros
License points loss : 1 point
License suspension : none
if however the speed limit is lower than 50 km/h (31 mph)
Fine (1) : 135 euros
License points loss : 1 point
License suspension : none
Speeding between 20 km/h and 30 km/h (12 mph to 19 mph)
Fine (1) : 135 euros
License points loss: 2 points
License suspension (2) : none
Speeding between 30 km/h and 40 km/h (19 mph to 25 mph)
Fine (1) : 135 euros
License points loss: 3 points
License suspension (2) : 3 years
Speeding between 40 km/h and 50 km/h (25 mph to 31 mph)
Fine (1) : 135 euros
License points loss: 4 points
License suspension (2) : 3 years
Speeding by more than 50 km/h (31 mph)
Fine (2) : 1500 euros
License points loss: 6 points
License suspension (2) : 3 years
Second offence speeding by more than 50 km/h (31 mph)
Jail (2) : 3 months
Fine (2) : 3750 euros
License points loss: 6 points
License suspension (2) : 3 years
(0) The fine is 68 euros, however if paid in less than 15 days it is 45 euros, and if paid in more than 45 days it is 180 euros. The maximum possible being 450 euros (if it goes into trial).
(1) The fine is 135 euros, however if paid in less than 15 days it is 90 euros, and if paid in more than 45 days it is 375 euros. The maximum possible being 750 euros (if it goes into trial).
(2) maximum.
Hope that helps a bit.
If it's not a hire car or is UK reg then you won't hear anything from the French.
Some advice here;
Foreigner or not, speeding is punishable by law (usual speed limits). Having a french driving licence or not, driving a vehicle with french driving plates or not, will make a difference in the outcome:
- You are arrested by the police or gendarmerie for moderate speeding. Fine to be paid on the spot. Points lost if french driving licence.
- You are arrested by the police or gendarmerie for inmoderate speeding (in excess of 50km/h). Fine to be paid, licence confiscated, vehicle might be impounded.
- You are caught speeding by a speed camera but not arrested with a foreign registered car. You are not likely to ever have to pay the fine, except if you are from Luxembourg. For now. Check here for more.
Speeding by less than 20 km/h (12 mph)
Fine (0) : 68 euros
License points loss : 1 point
License suspension : none
if however the speed limit is lower than 50 km/h (31 mph)
Fine (1) : 135 euros
License points loss : 1 point
License suspension : none
Speeding between 20 km/h and 30 km/h (12 mph to 19 mph)
Fine (1) : 135 euros
License points loss: 2 points
License suspension (2) : none
Speeding between 30 km/h and 40 km/h (19 mph to 25 mph)
Fine (1) : 135 euros
License points loss: 3 points
License suspension (2) : 3 years
Speeding between 40 km/h and 50 km/h (25 mph to 31 mph)
Fine (1) : 135 euros
License points loss: 4 points
License suspension (2) : 3 years
Speeding by more than 50 km/h (31 mph)
Fine (2) : 1500 euros
License points loss: 6 points
License suspension (2) : 3 years
Second offence speeding by more than 50 km/h (31 mph)
Jail (2) : 3 months
Fine (2) : 3750 euros
License points loss: 6 points
License suspension (2) : 3 years
(0) The fine is 68 euros, however if paid in less than 15 days it is 45 euros, and if paid in more than 45 days it is 180 euros. The maximum possible being 450 euros (if it goes into trial).
(1) The fine is 135 euros, however if paid in less than 15 days it is 90 euros, and if paid in more than 45 days it is 375 euros. The maximum possible being 750 euros (if it goes into trial).
(2) maximum.
Hope that helps a bit.
k down. No, I'm alright as I am thanks.
If you honestly think exceeding 81MPH on a huge, wide, empty stretch of road in a large modern saloon car is dangerous then you might want to take a look at your own driving abilities before you start criticising others. For what it's worth, I've never been flashed on any roads apart from motorways, mainly because the speed limits in the town/countryside tend to be sensible.
I've only been stopped for speeding once, and happily paid my €90 and was sent on my way without any of the usual "child killer" lecture you'd expect in Britain. I got the definite impression that the gendarmes were well aware I wasn't doing anything dangerous, in the same way I was aware they were simply doing their job and enforcing the law.
If you honestly think exceeding 81MPH on a huge, wide, empty stretch of road in a large modern saloon car is dangerous then you might want to take a look at your own driving abilities before you start criticising others. For what it's worth, I've never been flashed on any roads apart from motorways, mainly because the speed limits in the town/countryside tend to be sensible.
I've only been stopped for speeding once, and happily paid my €90 and was sent on my way without any of the usual "child killer" lecture you'd expect in Britain. I got the definite impression that the gendarmes were well aware I wasn't doing anything dangerous, in the same way I was aware they were simply doing their job and enforcing the law.
Geekman said:
Unless you were actually stopped at the time (in which case surely you wouldn't be asking what the fine is?), you won't have to pay a penny. I get flashed by French cameras all the time and they can't process British registrations.
They will soon AND the points will be put on your UK licence, not sure of the exact implementation date, but it's before 2017 at the latest, cross border tracking of offences has been agreed by all the relevant EU countries and was also ratified by the UK, Ireland and Denmark who previously objected. Not sure how they will prove who was driving at the time though so maybe it's the registered owner who'll have to cough up.Quote from the French Ministry of Transport "From now on we will be able to exchange digital files across the EU, including the UK, so that when a foreign driver is flashed in France, through their registration plate, we will be able to identify them and find out their address with fines and penalty points that will be locally enforced with the exchange of data".
Perik Omo said:
They will soon AND the points will be put on your UK licence, not sure of the exact implementation date, but it's before 2017 at the latest, cross border tracking of offences has been agreed by all the relevant EU countries and was also ratified by the UK, Ireland and Denmark who previously objected. Not sure how they will prove who was driving at the time though so maybe it's the registered owner who'll have to cough up.
Quote from the French Ministry of Transport "From now on we will be able to exchange digital files across the EU, including the UK, so that when a foreign driver is flashed in France, through their registration plate, we will be able to identify them and find out their address with fines and penalty points that will be locally enforced with the exchange of data".
It's May 2017 that it'll be implemented so quite a long way away - the OP is definitely in the clear.Quote from the French Ministry of Transport "From now on we will be able to exchange digital files across the EU, including the UK, so that when a foreign driver is flashed in France, through their registration plate, we will be able to identify them and find out their address with fines and penalty points that will be locally enforced with the exchange of data".
Geekman said:
No, I'm alright as I am thanks.
If you honestly think exceeding 81MPH on a huge, wide, empty stretch of road in a large modern saloon car is dangerous then you might want to take a look at your own driving abilities before you start criticising others. For what it's worth, I've never been flashed on any roads apart from motorways, mainly because the speed limits in the town/countryside tend to be sensible.
I've only been stopped for speeding once, and happily paid my €90 and was sent on my way without any of the usual "child killer" lecture you'd expect in Britain. I got the definite impression that the gendarmes were well aware I wasn't doing anything dangerous, in the same way I was aware they were simply doing their job and enforcing the law.
You didn't specify where you were caught so it's only reasonable to presume you were speeding every where if you got flashed all the time. If you honestly think exceeding 81MPH on a huge, wide, empty stretch of road in a large modern saloon car is dangerous then you might want to take a look at your own driving abilities before you start criticising others. For what it's worth, I've never been flashed on any roads apart from motorways, mainly because the speed limits in the town/countryside tend to be sensible.
I've only been stopped for speeding once, and happily paid my €90 and was sent on my way without any of the usual "child killer" lecture you'd expect in Britain. I got the definite impression that the gendarmes were well aware I wasn't doing anything dangerous, in the same way I was aware they were simply doing their job and enforcing the law.
You're probably a decent bloke but the way you've written the first bit of your post makes you sound a bit, powerfully built company director etc.You know the sort of bloke I mean.
anotherjohnv said:
kind of morally doesn't work that though .. breaking one country's laws and taking the punishment from another country's laws
It's just another small step on the way to true Federal Europe, very few local laws will be allowed but lots of laws instigated by our friends in Brussels.smifffymoto said:
You didn't specify where you were caught so it's only reasonable to presume you were speeding every where if you got flashed all the time.
You're probably a decent bloke but the way you've written the first bit of your post makes you sound a bit, powerfully built company director etc.You know the sort of bloke I mean.
Haha, well I'm definitely not that sort of person! I just can't be bothered sticking to a limit on some of the emptiest and best surfaced roads in Europe.You're probably a decent bloke but the way you've written the first bit of your post makes you sound a bit, powerfully built company director etc.You know the sort of bloke I mean.
Upnorthgt3 said:
Very informative posts on here
Anyone know what the definitive (accurate) situation is regarding toll roads, toll booths and average speed/timing?
Done around 30k in France, never seen it happen and none of my french friends have ever had it done to them. I suspect now they all use handheld radars in police cars - see quite a few of them, but as long as you're running Waze on your phone it's pretty hard to get caught. The only time I've ever been done was when I forgot to bring my charger and my phone ran out of battery Anyone know what the definitive (accurate) situation is regarding toll roads, toll booths and average speed/timing?
Geekman said:
smifffymoto said:
You didn't specify where you were caught so it's only reasonable to presume you were speeding every where if you got flashed all the time.
You're probably a decent bloke but the way you've written the first bit of your post makes you sound a bit, powerfully built company director etc.You know the sort of bloke I mean.
Haha, well I'm definitely not that sort of person! I just can't be bothered sticking to a limit on some of the emptiest and best surfaced roads in Europe.You're probably a decent bloke but the way you've written the first bit of your post makes you sound a bit, powerfully built company director etc.You know the sort of bloke I mean.
Upnorthgt3 said:
Very informative posts on here
Anyone know what the definitive (accurate) situation is regarding toll roads, toll booths and average speed/timing?
Done around 30k in France, never seen it happen and none of my french friends have ever had it done to them. I suspect now they all use handheld radars in police cars - see quite a few of them, but as long as you're running Waze on your phone it's pretty hard to get caught. The only time I've ever been done was when I forgot to bring my charger and my phone ran out of battery Anyone know what the definitive (accurate) situation is regarding toll roads, toll booths and average speed/timing?
Upnorthgt3 said:
Waze? Go on then educate the ludite.
It's a smartphone navigation app, a bit like google maps, only users can report hazards/traffic/police/speed traps. So many people use it in France that speed traps tend to get reported pretty much as soon as they're set up. The navigation and route planning is just as good as any other app, and you get the "danger zones" where it warns you if you're near a fixed speed camera. I use it every day, never failed me yet.https://www.waze.com/
Geekman said:
Upnorthgt3 said:
Waze? Go on then educate the ludite.
It's a smartphone navigation app, a bit like google maps, only users can report hazards/traffic/police/speed traps. So many people use it in France that speed traps tend to get reported pretty much as soon as they're set up. The navigation and route planning is just as good as any other app, and you get the "danger zones" where it warns you if you're near a fixed speed camera. I use it every day, never failed me yet.https://www.waze.com/
What you may have missed is that they've now fitted dual facing radars to moving unmarked police cars. I haven't seen any good way of identifying these see (sorry it's in French) -
http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2013/10/18/radars-mob...
http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2013/10/18/radars-mob...
What will happen in 2017?
The UK will at last share information with other European countries. They opted out of the last road safety directive along with a Scandinavian country (I forget which).
In 2017 the sharing of information will come under a new Police co-operation directive.
The worst that will happen is if flashed in France you will receive a fine.
You will NOT receive any points.
If you are caught at, say, 140 kmh in a 130kmh zone that is minus 1 point on a French licence.
How can the DVLA endorse your licence with only 1 point?
Different counties, different systems.
The UK will at last share information with other European countries. They opted out of the last road safety directive along with a Scandinavian country (I forget which).
In 2017 the sharing of information will come under a new Police co-operation directive.
The worst that will happen is if flashed in France you will receive a fine.
You will NOT receive any points.
If you are caught at, say, 140 kmh in a 130kmh zone that is minus 1 point on a French licence.
How can the DVLA endorse your licence with only 1 point?
Different counties, different systems.
trunnie said:
What you may have missed is that they've now fitted dual facing radars to moving unmarked police cars. I haven't seen any good way of identifying these see (sorry it's in French) -
http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2013/10/18/radars-mob...
I went past one of these a while ago - it was a black Megane with the radar mounted in the grille below the numberplate. He happened to pull up next to me at some services but didn't say anything - I reckon they don't actually stop people, they simply record their registrations and send out tickets later, a bit like a camera van. I'm sure he'd have had a word with me otherwise, and relieved me of some Euros http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2013/10/18/radars-mob...
Geekman said:
No, I'm alright as I am thanks.
If you honestly think exceeding 81MPH on a huge, wide, empty stretch of road in a large modern saloon car is dangerous then you might want to take a look at your own driving abilities before you start criticising others.
Fair enough , but then don't whine when you get nicked If you honestly think exceeding 81MPH on a huge, wide, empty stretch of road in a large modern saloon car is dangerous then you might want to take a look at your own driving abilities before you start criticising others.
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