French mini speed cameras !

[Itsmcb]

From this month's 'motorhomingfrance' newsletter..

WATCH OUT FOR THESE

Towns throughout France are this year installing a new mini-radar to control speeds as well as traffic light jumping. The new radars are just 85cm high by 30cm wide which makes them easy to install as well as being unnoticed in an urban environment. They also come in various colours to blend in with the surroundings but it is believed that four out of five will actually be dummy cameras.

 

[pappajohn]

They don't control speed, the driver does that.
If they are more or less inconspicuous/undetectable they are a revenue maker.

 

[Itsmcb]

I suppose once you know they exist you control your speed accordingly. Big (french) Brother is controlling your thought process

 

[Yorick]

Just encouraging you to obey the law. Nowt wrong with that

 

[jongood]

From this month's 'motorhomingfrance' newsletter..

WATCH OUT FOR THESE

Towns throughout France are this year installing a new mini-radar to control speeds as well as traffic light jumping. The new radars are just 85cm high by 30cm wide which makes them easy to install as well as being unnoticed in an urban environment. They also come in various colours to blend in with the surroundings but it is believed that four out of five will actually be dummy cameras.

Any pics? Asking for a friend

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[63720]

Is there still a reciprocal arrangement to catch victims?

 

[Clipgate]

What is the challenge I ask, no excess speed or light jumping no fine!
The New private car speed camera units are a cleaver idea in France. I see they are due to be expanded to 450 units. Now that should be an interesting development, no doubt as the UK was behind in motor vehicle development and reacted, they may well come a enforcement tool here quite soon!

 

[IanFraser]

I thought I read our departure from the EU means a directive allowing the cross-border exchange of information in the event of a traffic offence no longer applies? UK was top of the offenders league in France, report stated they stand to lose 60 million euros in fine revenue for just this sort of thing.

 

[Richard n Ann]

The French village signs come out of nowhere sometimes, I don't intentionally speed but they should put 300metre warning signs up.

 

[jongood]

What is the challenge I ask, no excess speed or light jumping no fine!
The New private car speed camera units are a cleaver idea in France. I see they are due to be expanded to 450 units. Now that should be an interesting development, no doubt as the UK was behind in motor vehicle development and reacted, they may well come a enforcement tool here quite soon!

Its not always clear what the limits are in France, There are 70 s that mean 50's and even the national speed limit varies by region. Even then you will still find an artic up your chuff at anything less than an actual 90km/h

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[Coolcats]

I thought I read our departure from the EU means a directive allowing the cross-border exchange of information in the event of a traffic offence no longer applies? UK was top of the offenders league in France, report stated they stand to lose 60 million euros in fine revenue for just this sort of thing.

I for one am not going to argue, if I receive a penalty notice I will pay. I suspect if I ignore it re-entry into France may become more difficult.

 

[PaddyM]

Of all the countries I could or want to visit France is very near the bottom at the moment .

 

[Stealaway]

Is there still a reciprocal arrangement to catch victims?

I thought it had stopped with Brexiwotsit

 

[Abgs]

I don’t get this obsession with French speed limits and how to avoid them.

I’ve spent a great deal of time in France over the last 20 years. In that time I’ve had a couple of camera flashes and paid a couple of small fines. The French speed limits are all reasonable and well thought out. Not madly different from the UK.

Dry Weather Limits:

• Built-Up Areas: 31mph (50 kph)
• Outside Built-Up Areas (two lane roads): 50mph (80kph) - though some Departments have gone back to 90kph
• Dual Carriageways and Non-Toll Motorways: 68mph (110 kph)
• Toll Motorways: 80 mph (130 kph)
• The Paris Ring Road has its own limit of 49 mph (80 kph)

Wet Weather Limits (and drivers with less than two years since passing the test):

• Built-Up Areas: 31mph (50 kph)
• Outside Built-Up Areas: 43mph (70kph) though some Departments have gone back to 80kph
• Dual Carriageways and Non-Toll Motorways: 62mph (100kph)
• Toll Motorways: 68mph (110kph)

If you speed, expect a ticket and don’t grumble about paying it. If you are only a kph above the limit the fine will be cheaper than the comparable UK fine - and no points on your licence.

Here’s list of all Driving Offences and Penalties in France.

 

[Emmit]

Is there still a reciprocal arrangement to catch victims?

No.
That went out of the window when we left.

However??? That doesn't stop them having ANPR at the ferry to give you the demand (and a trip to the cash machine)

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[busby]

I suppose once you know they exist you control your speed accordingly. Big (french) Brother is controlling your thought process

Thought speed limits were to control your speed.BUSBY

 

[gus-lopez]

Outside Built-Up Areas (two lane roads): 50mph (80kph) - though some

Unable to get in to top gear at 80kph so cruise on in 4th. Had the same problem with the hire car they gave me when I broke down the other year.

Wet Weather Limits (and drivers with less than two years since passing the test):

• Outside Built-Up Areas: 43mph (70kph) though some Departments have gone back to 80kph

Now we are down to 3rd gear cruise.

Excellent for the emissions & the environment .

 

[IanFraser]

I for one am not going to argue, if I receive a penalty notice I will pay. I suspect if I ignore it re-entry into France may become more difficult.

Think you missed the point i.e. they can't issue you a penalty notice if they don't know who you are i.e. there's no agreement with UK to supply driver information the way there was when we were EU members.

 

[gus-lopez]

Think you missed the point i.e. they can't issue you a penalty notice if they don't know who you are i.e. there's no agreement with UK to supply driver information the way there was when we were EU members.

They can always fall back on there old tried & tested illegal methods. Like getting the info off the Dart charge french management company.

 

[CamperJack]

Speed cameras are about encouraging drivers to slow down and obey limits. So make them BIG and make them YELLOW. That way people will see them in a residential area or outside a kiddies school and slow down.

Making them small and camouflaging them so they are unseen by drivers is not about slowing drivers down... it's a money making scheme.

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[Coolcats]

Think you missed the point i.e. they can't issue you a penalty notice if they don't know who you are i.e. there's no agreement with UK to supply driver information the way there was when we were EU members.

Even before that agreement was in place British drivers still had fines to pay for speeding, Drinking and other motoring offences, the only thing that you may get away with currently is the 'fine in the post' as no cross boarder agreement but nothing to stop on the spot fines (or at the border) .

 

[IanFraser]

Even before that agreement was in place British drivers still had fines to pay for speeding, Drinking and other motoring offences, the only thing that you may get away with currently is the 'fine in the post' as no cross boarder agreement but nothing to stop on the spot fines (or at the border) .

I thought fines in the post were the preserve of cameras, never having driven in France do they operate differently? If they have the technology to enforce offences picked up on camera whilst in their country at the border before a driver leaves the UK should implement the same technology otherwise we're missing a trick and revenue.

 

[Despicable]

Speed cameras are about encouraging drivers to slow down and obey limits. So make them BIG and make them YELLOW. That way people will see them in a residential area or outside a kiddies school and slow down.

Making them small and camouflaging them so they are unseen by drivers is not about slowing drivers down... it's a money making scheme.

The problem with highly-visible speed cameras is that traffic tends to slow down in their vicinity and speed elsewhere. There appears to be a large number of drivers who do not know what the speed is on the road they are on, a couple of examples:
1. Years ago I frequently drove north out of London on the A1 (Barnet-By-Pass), the speed limit is 50mph. It is an uphill drive and in a truck it took quite awhile to get up to that speed. Unfortunately, just when 50mph was reached is a speed camera, and 9 times out of 10, the traffic ahead would slow to 30mph to pass the camera, therefore, all that hard gained speed was lost because these drivers didn't know the well-signed speed limit.
2. On the A303 going west downhill passed the services while approaching Amesbury is a camera. National speed limit on a dual-carriageway, yet traffic that was happy to go at 80mph see the camera and brake down to 40mph.

The advantage of hidden cameras is that it will make drivers become more aware of the actual speed limit of the road they're on. Speeding fines are a self-imposed taxation, one that is easy to avoid.

 

[SpeedyDux]

Speed cameras are about encouraging drivers to slow down and obey limits. So make them BIG and make them YELLOW. That way people will see them in a residential area or outside a kiddies school and slow down.

Making them small and camouflaging them so they are unseen by drivers is not about slowing drivers down... it's a money making scheme.

French fixed speed cameras are usually grey and Gendarmes with the mobile speed cameras tend to be well hidden so no change there.

 

[Coolcats]

I thought fines in the post were the preserve of cameras, never having driven in France do they operate differently? If they have the technology to enforce offences picked up on camera whilst in their country at the border before a driver leaves the UK should implement the same technology otherwise we're missing a trick and revenue.

I agree with you, but consider how technology has evolved. Speed camera’s with Film and manual processing, and now digital images. It is not beyond the possibility of an exemption being flagged eg it’s a GB plate and the information can be passed instantly to a boarder or it could be flagged up on a French patrol car the same way a stolen vehicle is. I am not saying this is definitely how this is going to work but not beyond the realms of possibility with the nature of data processing.

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[elamessa]

RADAR CARS
In the battle against speeding, 450 unmarked radar cars will be on French roads by the end of this year, according to the road safety authority Sécurité Routiére. Carrying high-tech cameras, the cars will be on the road 24 hours per day. Rather than try and catch out motorists, the Charente-Maritime gendarmerie have unveiled their plans to use the radar cars alongside additional cars used by local police, and even announced the routes that they will be on. “We have no interest in fining,” says unit leader Sébastien Letellier. “What we want is for people to stay alive”. The radar is installed behind the windscreen in the passenger area and is capable of measuring the speed of any vehicle within its range. There is also a flash installed beneath the registration plate. The vehicles will be driven at the authorised speed limit, so overtaking them means you are speeding, although a 10% margin is applied. While confinement has reduced traffic on the roads, excessive speeding (greater than 50km/h over the limit) has gone up steeply (+21%). Initially the cars will be driven by gendarmes, but it is expected that responsibility will be handed over to private firms later in the year.



Source: LIVING Magazine.

 

[Ridgeway]

Speed cameras are about encouraging drivers to slow down and obey limits. So make them BIG and make them YELLOW. That way people will see them in a residential area or outside a kiddies school and slow down.

Making them small and camouflaging them so they are unseen by drivers is not about slowing drivers down... it's a money making scheme.

Here they are always hidden = road tax which already isn't low.

On a national speed limit road leading to my village:

The sensors ar hidden behind the plastic bollards and the cameras are hidden under camo nets. You have absolutely NO chance of spotting them unless someone on a bicycle happens to photograph them and announce them on your village speed camera group

The vans are about 100m away hidden in the forest or down a side street. They used to run a cable the 100m but even that is now gone and it's all wireless.

I spotted a new type in France about 2wks back, very modern looking and kind of hanging/bent forwards, It's a new one for me but was at least very visible.

Like this:

 

[Coolcats]

I don't think anyone really likes speed Camera's, and I know I have been caught but if we don't want a fine then we don't speed, if you want to go fast go to a track

 

[Yorick]

Oh diddums. The nasty Froggy Filth won't let you speed. How dreadful.

 

[IanFraser]

The problem with highly-visible speed cameras is that traffic tends to slow down in their vicinity and speed elsewhere. There appears to be a large number of drivers who do not know what the speed is on the road they are on, a couple of examples:
1. Years ago I frequently drove north out of London on the A1 (Barnet-By-Pass), the speed limit is 50mph. It is an uphill drive and in a truck it took quite awhile to get up to that speed. Unfortunately, just when 50mph was reached is a speed camera, and 9 times out of 10, the traffic ahead would slow to 30mph to pass the camera, therefore, all that hard gained speed was lost because these drivers didn't know the well-signed speed limit.
2. On the A303 going west downhill passed the services while approaching Amesbury is a camera. National speed limit on a dual-carriageway, yet traffic that was happy to go at 80mph see the camera and brake down to 40mph.

The advantage of hidden cameras is that it will make drivers become more aware of the actual speed limit of the road they're on. Speeding fines are a self-imposed taxation, one that is easy to avoid.

I agree with you, but consider how technology has evolved. Speed camera’s with Film and manual processing, and now digital images. It is not beyond the possibility of an exemption being flagged eg it’s a GB plate and the information can be passed instantly to a boarder or it could be flagged up on a French patrol car the same way a stolen vehicle is. I am not saying this is definitely how this is going to work but not beyond the realms of possibility with the nature of data processing.

I suspect not but I'm not aware of technology that exists to do this right now otherwise have to think why haven't our own government implemented it already....ah bollocks did I just ask out loud why our government wouldn't do something sensible!

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