How does anyone drive in rural France?!

d215yq

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What used to be a pleasurable experience and nice part of my trips to the UK is now pretty stressful with the low speed limits and endless hidden speed cameras...I got flashed twice on my way back; once doing 78km/h in a 70 zone (20m before it became an 80 zone so I was speeding up) and another doing 55ish in a 50km/h zone at night. Following cars and trucks who all seem to do 85-95km/h on the roads they are constantly braking whenever they see any road furniture thinking it might be a speed camera. It doesn't help that there seem to be about 5 different types of speed camera and none of them are brightly coloured or warned about (apart from generic signs saying "speed cameras for the next 100km").

And I am someone who drives an old car which is noisier than most new ones at speed, is generally anti speeding and "pressing on" on country roads (which is usually code for driving on the edge and risking anyone else's life when it goes wrong). So how do all the keener drivers with big new mercs cope with doing 80km/h 50mph on straight empty roads for miles? I think if I lived in France the best solution would be to buy a 30 year old Mini or something so that 80km/h actually felt like a reasonable speed! Though even then my French mate has 6 points on his licence and he drives an ancient 1.9td VW t4 van which has a 0-60 time of 22seconds!

I suppose I'm lucky in that I have a Spanish registered car so don't have to pay, though apparently not paying can lead to problems if stopped in France in the same car in the future...a risk I'm prepared to take though would rather not have to do. I can see why the French are out protesting so much!

It's rather different in Spain where the cameras are warned, focussed on accident black spots and bright yellow so everyone slows down and the cameras serve their purpose.
 

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It’s difficult... I was down for being 4mph over in Northern France on a dual carriageway. It’s nothing like as nice a place to drive as it was :(
Cost me ~£45 but no points thankfully
 

LostKiwi

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Must be where you're driving. I've never noticed any cameras anywhere I drive other than some of the major routes. Our Tom Tom has a database of cameras on it and alerts when approaching one but rarely hear it ping.

There's a very useful utility on the 210 called a speed limiter....
 

ajlsl600

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my understanding being . france has farmed out speed camera opps in some departments as a trail to spread if deemed a success? by what measure we can just guess . normandy . being but one department jumping on the bandwagon.
 
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d215yq

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Must be where you're driving. I've never noticed any cameras anywhere I drive other than some of the major routes. Our Tom Tom has a database of cameras on it and alerts when approaching one but rarely hear it ping.

There's a very useful utility on the 210 called a speed limiter....

Poitiers to spanish border on n10 and d834. Counted over 20 (that i saw), admittedly some vandalised.

Ill be honest, it wasnt accidental so not sure a speed limiter helps. I mean who waits til passing the nsl sign before accelerating? And as for doing 50 on a clear wide road for hours its quite difficult and would lead to no concentration.

My guess is although they have a very high accident rate most of it is due to reckless overtaking of which i saw much. The casualty markers at the road sides arent on bends nor near junctions so it must be head on crashes that kill them. Theyd be better off doing what spain did and paint solid white lines on the roads where theres bends/dips to prevent this. And then have severe penalties for crossing it. In spain weve gone from 100 to 90kmh on single carriageways but enforcement below 100 is lenient and cameras are properly signposted and often bright yellow so it feels like its fairly done and not just a money raiser.
 

LostKiwi

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Hmmm. I use the N10 between Angouleme and Bordeaux from time to time and Poitiers to Tours but not noticed cameras. We usually use the A10 toll.
I'm also in the habit of setting cruise at whatever the speed limit is so I don't have to think about it.
 

rorywquin

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Must be where you're driving. I've never noticed any cameras anywhere I drive other than some of the major routes. Our Tom Tom has a database of cameras on it and alerts when approaching one but rarely hear it ping.

There's a very useful utility on the 210 called a speed limiter....
I also have a speed camera database (in the car SD slot) - I heard that it is illegal to use them in France. Is that true?
 

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I also have a speed camera database (in the car SD slot) - I heard that it is illegal to use them in France. Is that true?
Yes. I use scdb.info on mine (also on the SD Card) and that has the option, for France, of using the exact position or somewhere nearby to denote a “danger zone” which, apparently, is not illegal. I opted for the exact spot on the basis I have never been stopped by Gendarmes in 30 years and they would not know that was on my SatNav anyway unless they had a very close look. I nearly got caught out on the Camargue where a couple of cameras, on a clear 80kph road, pinged and, only later, I realised it was an average speed section. That was last September and nothing heard since so I suppose I was behaving!
 

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Before Malta was in the EU I gave my Maltese address if ever I was stopped in France - never my UK address. Never heard anything afterwards, even after a rear end shunt which the other two (French) drivers reported, or a toll violation in Italy in which the police became involved.
Because Malta is such a corrupt, lawless and disorganized place, although it is now part of the EU, there is never any follow-up even if a European incident got as far as Malta - so a Maltese back-stop is still useful to have.
 

Wighty

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Now that Macron has folded on the Pension Reforms , there are going to be even more speed cameras/fines to pay for it :rolleyes:
 

LostKiwi

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Now that Macron has folded on the Pension Reforms , there are going to be even more speed cameras/fines to pay for it :rolleyes:
And that's one thing I love about the French. If the government does something they are unhappy with they actively show their displeasure. Here everyone just shrugs shoulders and accepts it.
If speed cameras become an issue don't be surprised to see a lot of them suddenly made inoperative.
 

ashford charlie

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I drive a lot in France and since the 80 km speed limit on single lane roads was introduced I've found that when you stick to the limit you invariably get tail-gated by French drivers who seem hell-bent on ignoring the limit. Having said that, the 80 km limit is difficult to stick to when faced with long straight open roads, but like Lost Kiwi, I generally us cruise control (though it can be boring!)
 

Oldspanners

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There are warning panels before radars which may be in the next few 100m or a couple of KMs. The problem now is that ones that only used to "flash" in one direction have been changed to bi-directional. Other novelties are the latest generation which give no visual flash and as all the pylons are not equipped because of the expense, they move the internals around between them every few weeks to keep you guessing which are operational. There are also mobile units in cars run by private firms which drive around the main routes which can measure 32 different cars at a time. They were trialled here in Normandy and will be spreading around other regions this year.
I use this site https://www.radars-auto.com/carte-radar/ to check out any routes I don't use frequently.
i agree that the main problem is the drivers of all ages who just have the mindset that accidents only happen to other people and the confusion about some departments reverting back to 90 kph hasn't helped.
 

LostKiwi

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Well there's why I've never noticed any cameras near us - there aren't any!
 

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Drove to Split last summer, but only about 100 miles is France. Used TomTom for navigation with camera warning on. Also used my iPhone on Waze also with camera warning on. Over the whole trip only missed camera warning about 10 times.Waze was better than TomTom in identifying camera sites. Rural Italy south of Bolzano was the worst area for lack of camera warning. There seemed to be one in every village, French suitcase type on the footpath at about 4' off the ground. Read an article later which said local town councils could install them & keep the fines.
 
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d215yq

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Well there maybe none in some areas/local routes but there are clearly very many in others as I saw them with my own eyes, and they are not the sort you can see until you are right upon them! There are also a lot of French preoccupied with them who do keep rigorously to the limits or are braking all the time in case so it must be a threat.

So all those who would pay when a demand comes through should be very aware of this as if you were just driving respectfully/carefully but 10km/h above the limit a trip through parts of France could cost you quite a lot of money...
 

js190d

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There are warning panels before radars which may be in the next few 100m or a couple of KMs. The problem now is that ones that only used to "flash" in one direction have been changed to bi-directional. Other novelties are the latest generation which give no visual flash and as all the pylons are not equipped because of the expense, they move the internals around between them every few weeks to keep you guessing which are operational. There are also mobile units in cars run by private firms which drive around the main routes which can measure 32 different cars at a time. They were trialled here in Normandy and will be spreading around other regions this year.
I use this site https://www.radars-auto.com/carte-radar/ to check out any routes I don't use frequently.
i agree that the main problem is the drivers of all ages who just have the mindset that accidents only happen to other people and the confusion about some departments reverting back to 90 kph hasn't helped.
Thats a great website. Thanks for posting it!
 
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