Model Boat Mayhem

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length.
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Radar detectors  (Read 2518 times)

sinjon

  • Sinjon
  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 351
  • Model Bioat Mayhem Forum is the Best!
  • Location: Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset, TA14 6UF
Radar detectors
« on: September 09, 2009, 12:45:23 pm »

We am driving down through France next week, I seem to remember someone saying that in France radar detectors are illegal.
Should I leave mine at home ? My wife is a bit of a 'nippy' driver (its her Porsche) and it gets noticed.
Real advice, not hearsay please.

Colin
Logged
Colin

Colin Bishop

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Online Online
  • Posts: 12,171
  • Location: SW Surrey, UK
Re: Radar detectors
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2009, 12:52:42 pm »

Detectors are illegal in France and if you are caught with one it will be confiscated and you will be heavily fined. Having camera locations programmed into a SAT NAV is OK though. I do quite a bit of driving in France myself and there are far less cameras than there are here. On the other hand the traffic police are a lot more active than in the UK and set up ambushes. Sounds like your car is just the sort of target they like! I suggest your wife curtails her urge to make the most of her car which is difficult as the roads are a lot more open and traffic free than over here once you are out of the towns. They have been having a clampdown on speeding in France over the last year or so so expect no mercy if you are caught!

Colin
Logged

sinjon

  • Sinjon
  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 351
  • Model Bioat Mayhem Forum is the Best!
  • Location: Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset, TA14 6UF
Re: Radar detectors
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2009, 02:27:06 pm »

Thank you Colin, the detector will stay at home for this trip. I just need to find some way of slowing her down, possibly avoid the motorways and toll roads, go for the side roads and enjoy the scenery !

Colin
Logged
Colin

alan colson

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 693
  • I Just Dabble In Model Boats
  • Location: West Sussex
Re: Radar detectors
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2009, 03:56:37 pm »

You will spend enough on fuel, why pay tolls as well. Go on the old National routes that have now been classified as the 'D' roads, they take you through all the villages, you can stop at a cafe for refreshments, enjoy the scenery, it's a beautiful country.
Alan
Logged

Jonty

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 894
  • Location: Hoselaw - facing The Cheviot (Scottish Borders)
Re: Radar detectors
« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2009, 09:16:04 pm »

  And if they catch you doing more than 130mph it's bye-bye Porsche! For good.
Logged
I eat my peas with honey,
I've done it all my life;
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps 'em on the knife.

sinjon

  • Sinjon
  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 351
  • Model Bioat Mayhem Forum is the Best!
  • Location: Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset, TA14 6UF
Re: Radar detectors
« Reply #5 on: September 09, 2009, 09:55:12 pm »

130mph ! explain please, capacity 150mph, but out of the question.

Colin
Logged
Colin

Colin Bishop

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Online Online
  • Posts: 12,171
  • Location: SW Surrey, UK
Re: Radar detectors
« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2009, 10:06:09 pm »

I think he means that they will take the car! In France the driving is superb but you really do not want to fall foul of the Gendarmes - it could ruin your whole year!

Remember that  the Gendarmes are es sentally a military rather than a police organisation and act accordingly!

Colin
Logged

Roger in France

  • Guest
Re: Radar detectors
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2009, 07:22:32 am »

Just to recap:

Radar detectors are illegal and are readily detected by Les Flicks.
Speeding is taken very seiously, fines and confiscation of a vehicle can be severe.
Very many patrols using portable radar.
All fixed detectors are proceeded by a large warning sign, followed by a sign stating the legal maximum.
On Autoroutes, purges often take place where your time of entry is compared to your time of exit and checked against the distance covered.
Remember that in wet weather all permitted maximum speeds are reduced by 10kph except on the Autoroute where it drops by 20kph.
If you see a black silouhette of a man by the roadside with a red flash through the head, that is where someone was killed on the road, recently.
Document inspection by the roadside is common, there is no requirement that you have done anything wrong, as in the UK.
You must carry insurance documents, vehicle registration documents and some form of identification at all times. There is no allowance to produce at a police station.
The system for applying fines by post in a foreign country is now much more streamlined and readily enforceable, so don't assume they won't bother a foreign vehicle.
Finally, never argue with Les Flicks. French law assumes they are right, they KNOW they are! france is far more a police state than the UK.

Roger in France
Logged

alan colson

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 693
  • I Just Dabble In Model Boats
  • Location: West Sussex
Re: Radar detectors
« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2009, 07:08:18 pm »

The advice given by Roger is very good and I appreciate it as a motorist that travels to France on occasions.
A comment made in an earlier post by Jonty and replied to by Sinjon suggested speeds of 130 and 150 mph, PLEASE remember that these should read Kilometres Per Hour which is a lot reduced speed 80kph = 50mph.
Alan
Logged

Jonty

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 894
  • Location: Hoselaw - facing The Cheviot (Scottish Borders)
Re: Radar detectors
« Reply #9 on: September 10, 2009, 10:40:47 pm »

 Lot of conflicting stories, but see:

http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/Cannonball-racers-arrested-by-the.html

from the French Embassy.
Logged
I eat my peas with honey,
I've done it all my life;
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps 'em on the knife.

Guy Bagley

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,218
  • Location: thames valley
Re: Radar detectors
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2009, 10:26:03 am »

definately remember the tolls on the motrorways..... the tickets times are monitored.... so when you joint a motorway and collect your ticket the time is stored, when you exit the motorway later the distance and time is calculated and you can be done for having a lead foot!

but i always leave my snooper at home when crossing the channel to france... its not worth the risk if you are stopped....its on the spot fines too, i have heard stories of motorists being marched to a cashpoint to pay fines....

also remeber you need to carry a hi visability vest, a spare bulb kit and a fire extinguisher and first aid kit too !!!

on the way back from my parents in bordeaux 2 years ago i got photographed  near chartres ?  i think..... i  was in the wrong lane at a big roundabout/ intersection as i came off the roundabout and approached the traffic lights as they were changing, i shot across as the lights and got in my desired lane just as the lights had changed and got a lovely holiday snap as a souvenir.... i continued about 250 m up the road where the traffic cop  ( on a motorbike) who was skulking by the side of the road in the undergrowth waved me in too.....

i got a good telling off about the risks of crossing on an amber traffic light, he told me my photo and my punishment would follow in the post.....( it did several weeks later thanks to the french authorities and the DVLA ! )  he then wanted to inspect all my papers, luckily i was aware and carried everything with me, but then he wanted to see the hi vis vest you need to carry in the event of a breakdown, also the other bits like the spare bulb kit..... again i was aware of this but i had to unpack the boot of the car to show him everything...not nice on the side of the road !

also be aware alot of tyre centres will not fit a replacemt tyre to your vehicle in france without first inspecting your registration document, and often they will only fit a pair of tyres too....not a single  tyre....

the autoroutes would be the perfect place to ' stretch the legs of a porsche......' if you are going to  open it up make sure you stop for a coffee so your average speed does not rise too much - and enjoy your french trip !
Logged
all in all its just another brick in the wall......

Roger in France

  • Guest
Re: Radar detectors
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2009, 10:49:13 am »

If you reread my reply above you will see i mentioned time checks on the Autoroute. Sorry, Guy, you are wrong. There is no automatic check on transit times but the gendarmes do (as I said) occasionally have a purge but not often.

Nor is it true that you must carry a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit, even though it may be advisable.

The law was changed in 2008 to make carrying a high visibility vest and an emergency warning triangle compulsory. Most importantly they MUST be inside the passenger compartment and not in the boot.

As to garage practises and only changing a pair of tyres......go to a different garage!

Roger in France
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up
 

Page created in 0.1 seconds with 22 queries.