Quote:
Originally Posted by slob
The French cameras look like wheelie bins, I had a last minute panic going into one small town on rubbish collection day.
At least in France when you see a camera sign it means you are approaching exactly one camera in the immediate vicinity, which is nice and predictable.
We stopped in a German lay-by near the ‘ring once and saw two cops in cammo kit pull what looked like a military range finder on a tripod out of the roadside bushes and stick it in their olive green van, you’d never spot that on the fly.
At least they seem to much further between than the yellow perils in this country.
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The French fining system allows you a margin of error of 5kph below 100kph and 5% above 100kph. So travelling at 95kph in a 90kph zone will not get you fined. Likewise on a 130kph motorway 136.5kph will not get you fined. The speed that you are recorded as having been travelling at is the -5kph or -5% speed. So when you get a fine for 75khp in a 70kph zone you were actually doing 80kph.
More than half of the French fixed speed cameras have been rendered inoperable in recent years by protesters.
The French police with their mobile speed cameras will usually hide if they are trying to catch people. You won’t see them until you pass them. Drivers coming towards you will usually flash their headlights to warn you of their presence. They also like to operate on motorways. If the police are just trying to act as a deterrent to remind people not to speed they will be quite visible.