Driving in Europe - experience share

[crockers]

I got a camera flash at me in Austria, going through a village at 50 kph in a 40 kph zone. - never heard a thing.

 

[Spin_bowler]

Ditto but in France for me on the Autoroute, I was doing 130 on a 110 section and didn't see the camera until it was too late. Nothing ever came through.

 

[DITTRICH]

I have never received anything from Europe and I've done at least 35,000 miles over there in the last 10 years. However, I do keep to the advertised speed limits. By advertised, I mean whatever the locals are doing less a little. Sometimes I tuck in behind a local vehicle for a bit if I want to make progress. Poland was the only place I have been unsure of in the past.

 

[Rosun]

I've done about 5000 miles on mainland Europe this summer (France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy & Luxembourg).
Your route to Cologne should take you through France, Belgium, Holland & Germany (if you go via the Brussels ring road). Scrub Holland if you take the southern route across Belgium.
I found that the standard of driving is about 50% better than that in Britain. Belgian drivers and the roads are of a standard similar to British drivers / roads. The Dutch love to drive fast in any other country apart from Holland (so keep an eye out for yellow front number plates suddenly acting like their 10 men). The French don't really travel outside of France and you'll be in their country for a maximum of 20 minutes each way. The German drivers and their roads are the best in the countries you'll be visiting. On their motorways their driving is brisk. You can drive at 70mph all day but you'll be playing in & out with the trucks. Certain sections of the German autobahns are speed controlled. They have cameras on gantries above the carriageway. The limits are signposted well in advance. The only part I don't like about German motorways is when they have roadworks on them. The lanes seem un-naturally narrow, my tip would be to keep to the right of the right hand lane in these sections.
My final tip would be to angle your nearside (passenger side) mirror so that it gets the longest unobstructed view of what's coming up behind you.
Also, watch out for Gendarmes on the speed limited sections approaching the terminal at Calais. These are usually a chap on a motorbike with a speed gun and a pocket full of blank speeding tickets on which he would love to see your autograph!
Enjoy and have a good 'un.

 

[Tiff]

I have never received anything from Europe and I've done at least 35,000 miles over there in the last 10 years. However, I do keep to the advertised speed limits. By advertised, I mean whatever the locals are doing less a little. Sometimes I tuck in behind a local vehicle for a bit if I want to make progress. Poland was the only place I have been unsure of in the past.

Poland is just crazy- rules just don't seem to apply there, but if you can speed on some of their roads, you must have much less mechanical sympathy than I do.. Mind you I did manage to fall asleep on the bike one night..

 

[Ringer250]

Also, watch out for Gendarmes on the speed limited sections approaching the terminal at Calais. These are usually a chap on a motorbike with a speed gun and a pocket full of blank speeding tickets on which he would love to see your autograph!
Enjoy and have a good 'un.

That reminds me of another ruse that the French use when you are 3 to 4 miles from the last toll booth on the way to Calais. The Gendarmerie are in the on the side of the autoroute (sometimes partially hidden) with the speed gun pointing and a pair of binoculars. You pass by knowing that you have been speeding and breath a sigh of relief when they do not pull out and follow you. BUT, what they have done is radio ahead to the toll booth with your details and relayed all the gun details. You arrive at the toll booth and another Gendarme looks at you registration, stops you, and proceeds to lighten you of some Euros.
We have seen this happen several times when people are in a rush to get to Calais.

Steve B.

 

[A210AMG]

Always amazes me when around 40 miles or so from the tunnel or ferry the amount of Brits that have a last blast...

licence to print money for the police.

 

[DITTRICH]

Poland, Mr Tiff, is definately worse than Russia for driving, especially on single carriageway roads (worse than anywhere else I have been). I rarely overtake on Polish single carriageway roads for very good reasons and then it is foot-carpet-kickdown-out-whoosh-brake-in. The motorways I have been on over there rarely have the cops and no cameras that I saw. Single carriageway roads have fixed cameras all over the place, especially in villages where theoretically the limit is 50kph or 60kph in the dead of night. And this is where the confusion lies, so I go slower than the locals in towns and villages. In the countryside I tuck in behind someone making progress but I never match them over long distances due to their total disregard for signage and often cameras too. If a crash occurs on a single carriageway road, you can be held up for hours and hours whilst the police come and scrape everything off the tarmac.

 

[Tiff]

Poland, Mr Tiff, is definately worse than Russia for driving, especially on single carriageway roads (worse than anywhere else I have been). I rarely overtake on Polish single carriageway roads for very good reasons and then it is foot-carpet-kickdown-out-whoosh-brake-in. The motorways I have been on over there rarely have the cops and no cameras that I saw. Single carriageway roads have fixed cameras all over the place, especially in villages where theoretically the limit is 50kph or 60kph in the dead of night. And this is where the confusion lies, so I go slower than the locals in towns and villages. In the countryside I tuck in behind someone making progress but I never match them over long distances due to their total disregard for signage and often cameras too. If a crash occurs on a single carriageway road, you can be held up for hours and hours whilst the police come and scrape everything off the tarmac.

My experience was pretty much the same, but being on a bike it was even worse. Never before had I seen 4 cars across a 2 lane road overtaking, or a car coming towards me overtaking,then the car being overtaken pulling out and pushing the outside driver into the verge- all while looking me in the eye!!. I'm not even going to mention the vodka drinking truckers, or the beavertail Merc Sprinter carrying another 2 beavertail Merc Sprinters... Or the near kicking I got for having yellow plates...

 

[GlenQ]

Be careful in Switzerland!

180-mph ride could bring huge fine