France bans sat navs with speed camera warnings

[st13phil]

Just picked this up on a motorcycle forum I frequent...

France bans sat navs with speed camera warnings

General news

13 January 2012 10:26


Sat navs and smart phones which warn of speed camera locations have been banned in France.

Offenders face a fine of €1500 (£1237).

Sat nav manufacturers are advising customers to switch off the speed camera warning function while in France.

The ban, introduced on January 4, has been branded unenforceable by critics who say police will not be able to establish whether a device gives speed camera warnings.

Motoring lawyer Eric de Caumont told French newspaper Le Monde that police would not to be able to scrutinize GPS devices at the roadside because it would infringe the owner’s right to privacy.

A spokesman for Garmin, a leading supplier of sat navs for bikes, said French government had agreed new software could be supplied with ‘danger area’ warnings which ‘might or might not’ be a speed camera site. She said the French market was being prioritised but the new software would be available in the UK soon.

In the meantime, she said riders should disable safety camera warnings while in France.

 

[BTB 500]

Pretty pointless. Just rename the speed camera file for France to 'interesting lamp posts' or anything else that takes your fancy

 

[CKLclive]

Ha ha well as they have just been down graded in the credit rating they have to find the money from some where lol

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

Wouldn't surprise me in the least if the Gendarmes start confiscating TomToms from British drivers. Privacy rules or not! These guys aren't known for their diplomacy.

 

[markjay]

'Sat nav manufacturers are advising customers to switch off the speed camera warning function while in France.'

So it's not illegal to have this function on the SatNav, it is just illegal to actually switch it on and use it? If so how can the police know if it has been used...? Surely it stopped by police this feature can be switched-off before the car comes to a halt...

 

[Niks]

Thats one of the stupidest laws to be implemented! Switzerland has this same law too!

 

[Spinal]

Probably like in some US states, if police see you slowing down just before a "hidden" camera they assume you have a detection device and fine you.

The onus is then up to you to prove you don't have one and slowed down by luck...

M.

 

[markjay]

Probably like in some US states, if police see you slowing down just before a "hidden" camera they assume you have a detection device and fine you.

The onus is then up to you to prove you don't have one and slowed down by luck...

M.

That's because in the US they use 'speed traps'. But where there's a visible fixed camera (even if it is not painted bright yellow as in the UK), you could always argue that you slowed down because you actually noticed it.

 

[Spinal]

That's because in the US they use 'speed traps'. But where there's a visible fixed camera (even if it is not painted bright yellow as in the UK), you could always argue that you slowed down because you actually noticed it.

Would you be willing to go back to france xx months later to argue in court, spending £xx in lawyers, etc? Or would you just pay the fine and get on with it?

 

[DITTRICH]

My 2c would be that provided you didn't have a poi file for french camera locations in the satnav's permanent memory or on an inserted sd card, then the capabilities of the satnav are irrelevent. The speed camera warnings can still be "on" IMHO provided any speed camera data excludes french data. I think we need the original wording in french in order to understand precisely what the french are saying. To "ban" satnavs simply because they have the capability is unreasonable and IMHO unenforceable because the functionality is legal in many other european countries. It will be interesting to see whether the french take action against french websites which allow downloads of data.
Regards
Les

PS Some satnavs I think tell you what the speed limit is on the road where you are driving. I bet the french will try to make this illegal as well.

 

[MercFanUk]

Does COMAND (or other car manufacturers built in sat navs for that matter) contain camera data? If so, can it even be disabled?

You'd be pretty buggered if they did you for it when you can't help but have it...

 

[markjay]

Does COMAND (or other car manufacturers built in sat navs for that matter) contain camera data? If so, can it even be disabled?

You'd be pretty buggered if they did you for it when you can't help but have it...

COMAND does not have camera data, as far as I know... but some manufacturers now offer standard TomToms with their cars.

 

[MOCAŠ]

COMAND does not have camera data, as far as I know... but some manufacturers now offer standard TomToms with their cars.

COMAND Online does, however, have optional speed limit sign recognition. No doubt that will be next on their list...

 

[markjay]

Displaying speed limit prevents offending, displaying camera location just prevents being caught...

 

[MOCAŠ]

Displaying speed limit prevents offending, displaying camera location just prevents being caught...

Can you not set the cruise control to automatically observe detected speed limits? If so, that would dent potential revenue from speed cameras, so could also become a target.

Was it Belgium that recently trialled a ban on using cruise control on its motorways, ostensibly due to the risk of drivers losing concentration if they didn't have to control the accelerator themselves, but widely believed to be a way of preventing widespread compliance with speed limits.

 

[st4]

France put massive big signs up advertising a speed camera. For the sake of being a good boy and not having to worry about lanugage barriers, when in France I never broke the speed limit.

 

[st13phil]

France put massive big signs up advertising a speed camera.

Not any more they don't, and as of the middle of last year they've been actively removing the signs so that there are no warnings. This little wheeze of banning GPS based detectors is just the latest extension of their "stealth speed cams".

Knowing the propensity of the French for direct action when they dislike regulations, I foresee lots of vandalised installations - especially out in the boonies.

 

[markjay]

Every punitive payment system (taxes and fines) immediately creates conflict of interest.

The council wants us to park properly, so it imposes PCNs on offenders, yet if everyone parked legally the council would loose an important source of income. So in fact they do want us to park illegally as much as we can...

The London Congestion Charge was TfL's way of saying they didn't want us to drive into London. But now that the system is in place, if we actually all stayed away, it will collapse financially... so TfL need us to continue driving into London and pay the charge aimed at preventing us from driving into London...

If we all smoked less, drunk less, and drove less (all are official government policies), the treasury would probably collapse... so in effect the government is dependant on us continuing to smoke, drink, and drive. The first two make governments the most profitable drug dealers in the world...

 

[Deleted member 37751]

The first two make governments the most profitable drug dealers in the world...

I came to this conclusion a long time ago.

 

[st4]

I don't drink or smoke so the government can't give any of my money to the greeks.