Speeding in France

[Rashman]

Could this be you?

British driver breaks speeding record for a French motorway after traffic police clock him at 160mph... so fast it took four miles to catch him | Mail Online

"Police to roam French motorways in new 300-strong fleet of unmarked Renault Meganes and Peugot 208s"

Ooooo..... Way to sh*t them up!

Lol!!!

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Some of you will know that I've just returned from an 11 day driving holiday in Europe. I was interested to observe that the typical cruising speed of most drivers on the unrestricted sections of the German autobahn was no higher than those on the French toll roads. Around 130kph (approx. 80mph) was the speed of choice. That's the limit in France (except when it's raining and it drops to 110kph).

In Germany a small number of higher powered cars were going well in excess of 130kph where conditions allowed (including a certain C350). In France I saw a few cars equally capable of high speeds, but all doing the same as me and cruising along happily below 140kph. It was the smaller Clios, Fiestas and the like that seemed determined to demonstrate what they could do. Not a great deal more as it happens of course, but still at the risk of getting fined. I really couldn't understand the point.

Going slightly off the speed topic, another motoring observation was that Audi drivers are male birds in every country. What is it that makes them so aggressive, unobservant and inconsiderate?

 

[pipmk]

Oh come on, lighten up, life’s to short......

Exactly the point,his life may well be to(o) short, if only we could be certain it was just his life then we would all be content to see him go out in a blaze of glory.

 

[Dieselman]

Oh come on, lighten up, life’s to short......

You're right.

Not enough time to waste some on ...holes.

 

[jeffwebb]

Am I the only one who wonders why we have to put up with constant provocative sniping on this forum from someone who apparently doesn't even own an MB?

 

[219]

On this topic I happen to agree with DM's comments , but apart from that , ownership of an MB is not a requirement for membership here , just an enthusiasm for the marque .

There are lots of members who have moved on from running Mercs to 'other makes' but still hang around for the banter with their friends here , being that most of us here are such an uncommonly nice bunch

 

[markjay]

Every time we go know we notice more and more police, cameras etc

watch out in the tunnels also as they are often camera controlled. I'm not sure I would risk it nowadays thinking you will be ok...

Thing is on the tolls roads 80mph on cruise seems a good combination of mpg and actually getting somewhere (as you can literally have cruise on for hours....)

I've done the trips so often its quite funny watching cars zoom past only to be stopping for fuel or queuing to pay at the toll both as we cruise past then 30 mins later or so they come zooming past again...

Toll pass will in summer save you a heap of time ! you can cruise through at 20mph....barrier opens and your off...

I don't condone speeding (in any country), however just to say that I suspect that most motorists who drive too fast do so because they derive some sort of pleasure out of it, rather than because they are in a hurry to get somewhere quickly.

 

[AMG-Al]

I don't condone speeding (in any country), however just to say that I suspect that most motorists who drive IN EXCESS OF THE LIMIT do so because they derive some sort of pleasure out of it, rather than because they are in a hurry to get somewhere quickly.

FTFY

 

[boxbrownie]

I am due to travel back through France from the south of Spain on Wednesday, we came down the west coast of France along the Le Mans route on the Thursday before LM13 weekend, I have never seen so much ultra fast machinery cruising along at 80mph on clear motorway........it looked daft to see a Ferrari, followed by two more in convoy being shadowed by a couple of AMs and a trailing Lamborghini all pootling (relatively) along. Then again I also have NEVER seen so many French police along the route, at the tolls it occasionally looked like they were out on their annual picnic....all of them at once!

But the best bit was the dummies in some of the expensive machinery who had never heard of the autoroute token system.......seeing somebody trying to ease themselves out of a 5 foot long door from a car the width of a truck between the toll Armco with a handful of euros was quite amusing

 

[smite]

But the best bit was the dummies in some of the expensive machinery who had never heard of the autoroute token system.......seeing somebody trying to ease themselves out of a 5 foot long door from a car the width of a truck between the toll Armco with a handful of euros was quite amusing

Haha, nice! I hate these token systems, especially if you are out of coins and need to get some change quickly while all the other cars behind you are honking at you. Horrible situation! We once had it when we were making holidays in Denmark and rented a car through Sixt. Though everything was alright with the car we didn't know about this toll system and got in a really awkward situation Classic!

 

[boxbrownie]

Haha, nice! I hate these token systems, especially if you are out of coins and need to get some change quickly while all the other cars behind you are honking at you. Horrible situation!

Not sure I made myself clear........the token system I refer to is the small RF device similar to the Dartford crossing TAG system you can obtain in England prior to travelling in France, it is charged directly to your BA.
You just have to slow down and cruise through the barrier (a bit nerve racking occasionally ).

My fault for not being clear.

 

[smite]

Not sure I made myself clear........the token system I refer to is the small RF device similar to the Dartford crossing TAG system you can obtain in England prior to travelling in France, it is charged directly to your BA.
You just have to slow down and cruise through the barrier (a bit nerve racking occasionally ).

My fault for not being clear.

Ahh, okay, didn't get that. Thanks for making it clear

 

[GP801]

Not sure I made myself clear........the token system I refer to is the small RF device similar to the Dartford crossing TAG system you can obtain in England prior to travelling in France, it is charged directly to your BA.
You just have to slow down and cruise through the barrier (a bit nerve racking occasionally ).

My fault for not being clear.

Cruise through is a bit optimistic. There are some you can cruise through at 30kmh but most require you to pretty much come to a stop near the barrier. It can be quite nerve racking as it does not sense your tag until very close to the barrier.
The Italian ones you really can cruise through and you see some locals go through at amazing speeds. Personally I find 60kmh scary enough.

 

[st13phil]

There's no doubt about the fact that the French have really clamped down on speeding in the last two or three years.

One thing that catches out the Brits is that they think there's a fairly wide tolerance band like in the UK before enforcement action is taken: there isn't. For limits of 90kph and upwards the tolerance is 3% for fixed installations (I think this also covers the remote tripod-mounted radar traps) and 7% for hand-held devices. That's a pretty small margin and is why the vast majority of French drivers set their cruise to bang on 130kph on the Autoroute.

In general, fixed camera detections don't seem to get followed up (there are exceptions for tunnels, see below), but I'm reliably informed that the cameras on the last stretch of the A26 heading to the port are remotely monitored and you will almost certainly get the opportunity to discuss any infraction with a real live Gendarme a little further up the road. Infractions detected by remotely operated and hand-held traps will always result in a fine as a minimum.

Good advice from someone earlier in the thread about absolutely not exceeding the limit in tunnels, too. Since the Mont Blanc incident these are policed with absolutely zero tolerance. I was travelling though that tunnel a couple of weeks back, fractionally under the limit, when a car at probably 10kph over started to overtake me. There was a camera flash and the car slowed and dropped in behind me, but the Gendarmes pulled him over at the exit of the tunnel.

Long gone are the days of flat-out fun on the Autoroutes with Gendarmes turning a blind eye, I'm afraid.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Good advice from someone earlier in the thread about absolutely not exceeding the limit in tunnels, too. Since the Mont Blanc incident these are policed with absolutely zero tolerance. I was travelling though that tunnel a couple of weeks back, fractionally under the limit, when a car at probably 10kph over started to overtake me. There was a camera flash and the car slowed and dropped in behind me, but the Gendarmes pulled him over at the exit of the tunnel.

On my recent trip I was surprised that the opposite seemed to be true. I stuck rigidly to the posted limits through tunnels for the very reasons you mentioned, only to find myself being overtaken at far greater speeds by all sorts of vehicles. Perhaps we were there during the gendarmes' annual holiday so none around!

 

[ricardo62]

Am I the only one who wonders why we have to put up with constant provocative sniping on this forum from someone who apparently doesn't even own an MB?

old dieselman is a prickly old sod but he is very learned about mechanical things so you have to forgive him his belligerence and look beyond that .

 

[st13phil]

Perhaps we were there during the gendarmes' annual holiday so none around!

Could have been. Was it one of their 15 "Napoleon sent into exile" holidays, or one of their 14 "Napoleon returned from exile" holidays?

 

[b1gb0y112]

Fixed Camera in Nantes N844 flashed!

Hi,

I have just come back from France and got flashed on the clockwise side of the N844 in Nantes, just before the bridge.
Am I likely to get a fine or points??
I have had a look around on a few threads and cannot find a definitive answer, can any one help me on this?


Many Thanks!

 

[Spin_bowler]

Hi,

I have just come back from France and got flashed on the clockwise side of the N844 in Nantes, just before the bridge.
Am I likely to get a fine or points??
I have had a look around on a few threads and cannot find a definitive answer, can any one help me on this?


Many Thanks!

Almost certainly not, now stop panicking.
Welcome BTW.

 

[DrNick]

Oh come on, lighten up, life’s to short......

Having just recently been involved in a crash though no fault of my own, I can vouch for the fact that life certainly has the potential to be too short.

If I'd being going any faster, or the car that ran into me had been, it would have been very messy. I for one have been converted to the belief that speed limits are there for the common good. I'd very much appreciate everybody else sticking to them as well as I don't want to be wiped out by somebody just because they wanted to go faster than they are allowed.

There is always an element of chance, but we do have the ability to modify the odds.