Distronic triggers speed camera

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PaulXC

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This morning, driving from up from Toulouse on the return leg of our Europe trip, my Distronic thought it funny to accelerate and trigger a speed camera !

I know the piece of road very well and I know where the camera is.

The stretch of road is a 90 kmph limit just before you leave the A84 to get onto the Bordeaux Périphérique going anti - clockwise towards Paris.

The car was set to follow speed limits on Distronic.

I must have taken my eye of the ball as just before the camera the car sped up and triggered it! Weird as both the lanes leading off that junction are 90 kmph. The speed sign display on the car was showing 90 leading up to the camera and then changed to 130 kmph just before it causing the car to accelerate.

I reckon I was doing about 100 kmph when it flashed so the fine is likely only to be 45 Euro.

Maybe its an elaborate scam by the French authorities to feed duff data to the system to rake in money from cars on auto pilot...

This is on top of the 36 Euro bottle of oil I bought from Mercedes in Barcelona that the car told me it needed - which it didn’t ..

On the other hand the hotel we stayed at in Barcelona seems to have forgotten to charge us the 50 Euro fee for car parking so, mustn’t grumble too much.
 
This could be a problem with advanced driver aids or maybe even Autonomous vehicles. Who do we blame? The car?
 
When I had a TomTom years ago I noticed on occasions the speed identified on the unit differed from the actual speed. Usually a few hundred yards from a change in speed limit.

It’s got to be the sarnav data.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Why trust Distronic to protect your licence?
Go analogue. Couple of years ago on my bike in southern France - 50 miles of fast sweeping roads with a 90kph limit. Slowing down coming into a village. Blue lights in my peripheral vision. Uh Oh pull over. Gendarmerie not Police so have to play this right.
Helmet off.
We eyeball each other.
Monsieur said I.
He nodded lightly.
Monsieur, Je suis desolee, said I.
His pal walked around the bike to check it and gave a thumbs up despite the Akra not having baffles.
Monsieur, parlez vous francais? he asked
Petit peu said I.
OK, he said. We can do this in English. Do you know the speed limit here?
Oui monsieur. 90kph. Je suis desolee.
And your speed was?
Silence from me.
Your speed was 145kph.
Desolee Monsieur.
30 second eyeballing.
Allez Monsieur but............if I catch you again I shall take your machine and you will walk back to England. Understood?
Oui monsieur. Merci. Merci beaucoup.
 
Blaming distronic for speeding is akin to blaming the satnav for driving into a swamp. They're driver aids, not substitutes.
Thanks for that
 
Blaming distronic for speeding is akin to blaming the satnav for driving into a swamp. They're driver aids, not substitutes.

I don't have a problem with getting a ticket as I was speeding and in charge of the vehicle.

I'm just curious as to why the car did what it did at that point in the road. It clearly displayed 130km/h as the limit as it passed the camera. I must have driven the Bordeaux Périphérique route 50 times in the last few years - I know where all the cameras area and where all the speed limits change.
 
My guess is, because in France speed camera notifications are forbidden. Of course it is quite possible that French have installed new cameras after yellow west protests and satnav systems were not updated with new locations. My Garmin displays "dangerous zone" in France not "speed camera".
 
My guess is, because in France speed camera notifications are forbidden. Of course it is quite possible that French have installed new cameras after yellow west protests and satnav systems were not updated with new locations. My Garmin displays "dangerous zone" in France not "speed camera".

I read a few weeks ago that Macron is installing new cameras in France, each camera will have four possible siting points and will be moved around them at random. He's also installing dummy cameras to add to the confusion. After getting two tickets the last time I was over there, I'm in no hurry to venture back, I wonder if their tourist income is about to take a big hit in the next few years?
 
I read a few weeks ago that Macron is installing new cameras in France, each camera will have four possible siting points and will be moved around them at random. He's also installing dummy cameras to add to the confusion provide more targets for Pierre with his shotgun.
Fixed that for you :thumb:
After getting two tickets the last time I was over there, I'm in no hurry to venture back, I wonder if their tourist income is about to take a big hit in the next few years?
Certainly I know a number of people who used to regularly tour in France (including myself) who are less inclined to go there since the introduction of the 80kph limits and the fascination with - to all intents and purposes - automated zero tolerance speed limit enforcement.
 
Not many years ago it was ‘cool’ and almost obligatory for many Brits (not directed at the op) to totally ignore the speed limits on French Autoroute, so they are now cracking down on that behaviour; seems reasonable.

Won’t stop me going there to enjoy their lovely country.
 
It's not just aimed at us although the Calais area offers low-hanging fruit for Plod.
Compared with ours, the French Killed and Seriously Injured rates were / are horrendous.
They had to do something and be seen to do something.
Anyway, Swiss fast cars and bikers still head to France for fun because it's far easier to get away with stuff.
 
Anyway, Swiss fast cars and bikers still head to France for fun
Over the years I've learned to keep well out of the way of bikes (and cars) on Swiss plates that are "going for it" in France, mainly because - almost without exception - they have much less talent than they think they do :confused:

On the subject of KSI rates, I agree that France was well into in the "carnage" league. My personal view was that it was always much more down to things like the anachronistic "priorite a droit" rule and the penchant for taking a glass of wine (or two, or three) before putting the key in the ignition switch than it was down to absolute speed.
 
On the subject of KSI rates, I agree that France was well into in the "carnage" league. My personal view was that it was always much more down to things like the anachronistic "priorite a droit" rule and the penchant for taking a glass of wine (or two, or three) before putting the key in the ignition switch than it was down to absolute speed.

And they do like to start an overtake on the approach to any blind bend.
 
Why trust Distronic to protect your licence?
Go analogue. Couple of years ago on my bike in southern France - 50 miles of fast sweeping roads with a 90kph limit. Slowing down coming into a village. Blue lights in my peripheral vision. Uh Oh pull over. Gendarmerie not Police so have to play this right.
Helmet off.
We eyeball each other.
Monsieur said I.
He nodded lightly.
Monsieur, Je suis desolee, said I.
His pal walked around the bike to check it and gave a thumbs up despite the Akra not having baffles.
Monsieur, parlez vous francais? he asked
Petit peu said I.
OK, he said. We can do this in English. Do you know the speed limit here?
Oui monsieur. 90kph. Je suis desolee.
And your speed was?
Silence from me.
Your speed was 145kph.
Desolee Monsieur.
30 second eyeballing.
Allez Monsieur but............if I catch you again I shall take your machine and you will walk back to England. Understood?
Oui monsieur. Merci. Merci beaucoup.

Did you just say you were pissing by?

allo-allo-arthur-bostrom-as-officer-crabtree--2_400x400.jpg
 
Not many years ago it was ‘cool’ and almost obligatory for many Brits (not directed at the op) to totally ignore the speed limits on French Autoroute, so they are now cracking down on that behaviour; seems reasonable.

Won’t stop me going there to enjoy their lovely country.

Over the years I've learned to keep well out of the way of bikes (and cars) on Swiss plates that are "going for it" in France, mainly because - almost without exception - they have much less talent than they think they do :confused:

On the subject of KSI rates, I agree that France was well into in the "carnage" league. My personal view was that it was always much more down to things like the anachronistic "priorite a droit" rule and the penchant for taking a glass of wine (or two, or three) before putting the key in the ignition switch than it was down to absolute speed.

Yes, many factors in the KSI rates. Priorite a droit still being used by grannies and farmers after it had more or less been abolished. Post - prandial collisions at rural crossroads - hence why the Frogs went mad for building roundabouts everywhere. But they don't understand how to use roundabouts. They are still the world champion tailgaters. They think they are the world champion overtakers and will do a pass and cutback just because they can. Oh, and they think they solved the three lane highway problem with different white line layouts. It's still the same: one lane for going, one for coming back and one for dying.
On a positive note, I always found that French drivers respected fast bikers and gave me plenty of road space whereas British drivers squeeze you out because they can't bear to be passed.
 
Sounds relly unlucky. Just back from a raod trip through France and every camera i saw had been disabled. The gilet jaunes have been at them as part of the protest!
 
Sounds relly unlucky. Just back from a raod trip through France and every camera i saw had been disabled. The gilet jaunes have been at them as part of the protest!

Not really, my two fines were from last October, the week before the gilet jaunes started their protests. Apparently you can be fined up to a year after the event.
 
Sounds relly unlucky. Just back from a raod trip through France and every camera i saw had been disabled. The gilet jaunes have been at them as part of the protest!

I reckoned 80 % of the ones I saw had been burnt out.

Not many years ago it was ‘cool’ and almost obligatory for many Brits (not directed at the op) to totally ignore the speed limits on French Autoroute, so they are now cracking down on that behaviour; seems reasonable.

Won’t stop me going there to enjoy their lovely country.

I do about 6000 miles a year in France and I don't have a problem with the French speed limits - they seem pretty well thought out to me.

130 kmph / 80 mph on Motorways OR 110 kmh - 69mph on motorways if its raining seems pretty fair.

110 kmph / 69 mph on dual carriageways - same as UK.

80 kmph / 50 mph on main roads is a bit of a of pain but due to go back to to 90 kmph / 56 mph later this year.

50 kmph / 30 mph in towns and villages though in some main road hamlets the limit is 70 kmph / 44 mph

This is worth reading before you take your car over there:

Driving offences and penalty fines in France

I like the fact that speeding by up to 20 kmph in a 50k mph limit carries a bigger fine that than speeding by up to 20 kmph in over a 50kmph mph limit ( i.e. out of town).

I think I'm due a 45€ fine in the post ....
 

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