Speeding in France

[MondeoMan]

I'm not blaming anyone but myself, and certainly not Ford.

Point taken regarding blowouts and debris - and if there's a sure fire way to stop a speeder, it's the way the Gendarmerie have done it. If I hadn't been done, would I still speed? Certainly. Now? Certainly not.

Regards

[cooperlola]

Am I the only one apart from our o/p who's done 130 on a public road? Obviously I should have offered myself up for a public lynching.  What a judgemental bunch some of you are.

In Germany it's perfectly legal to do these kinds of speeds on a motorway.  I'm with Idun, I really have never understood the vitriolic reaction some people have to speeding on decent roads away from urban centres.  With the technolgical ability we now have to impose speed limits on sections of motorway (as with the variable speed limit sections of the M25) when they are busy or in bad weather, I wonder why we still persist on blanket upper limits regardless of road conditions/time of day etc. There are far worse driving errors in my book.

MM put his hand up, admitted he has been a prat, and asked for some advice. Looking at the reaction he got, I reckon he deserves a medal for admitting it on here.  Let he who is without sin....

[crossy67]

With you 100% Coops. 

[sid]

[quote user="idun"] Wondering how the bikers on here are always so 'good'. In my bit of the Rhone Alpes the bikers never seemed to believe that any speed limit was applicable to them.[/quote]

No-one is claiming to be "so good" ! But not all bikers are reckless, far from it. When you're on two wheels you are only too aware of how things can go wrong. Especially if you meet a twerp doing 60kph over limit.

It seems to be the wrong place to ask advice; get a lawyer instead.

I'm gone too.

[cooperlola]

An idiot is certainly not defined by the number of wheels on his vehicle, Sid.  I am with you there.

 

Please tell me why, though, it is necessary to walk off in a huff, rather than to continue to argue rationally about something?  I realise that some topics are emotive but everyone is entitled to have a point of view - even those who disagree with me.

[idun]

We have good friends who have died in motor bike accidents in both France and England, as it happens my sons have good friends who have died in car accidents in France.

MM, as I said, it doesn't matter who owns the car, if it is being driven over the limit then they can take it and who knows, sell or destroy it. I'm just saying this so that others can see and maybe even look it up.

I gave MM an example and that was in our village. They put a 20 limit on part of a road. People would drive at 70 on that bit of road, as they probably thought, I'm just over the 50 limit as is in the rest of the village, in fact they too were 50kph over the limit and going slowly, well relatively. AND the same laws would apply to them too, excessive speeding.

I think that the fastest I have ever driven is around 155kms/160 per hour. I am not happy any faster and when we bought my Fiat Panda as a second car, I could get the sensation of going far too fast and still be within the motorway speed limits in France.

Which actually illustrates well how some cars go fast really well IMO and others do not.

I would have very strict speed limits everywhere but on motorways. I realise that there is all the 'green' thing associated with speed, and understand how one can use a lot less fuel driving at certain speeds, BUT on our almost 1000 mile journey home from France, it would have been rather nice to spend a little extra on fuel and get there quicker.

[Alex H]

[Clair]

[IMG]http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q296/clair46/amendes.jpg[/IMG]

(source)

A similar tale and the ensuing discussion HERE.

[Bugsy]

Removed, pointless post.

definitely gone now.

[Patf]

As Clare has pointed out it's not worth the risk nowadays ( of getting caught and losing license for 3 years.)

But I used to speed myself in my youth - once had an Alfa Romeo Spider and managed 110mph on a dual carraigeway but got a shock when the back of the soft-top blew in. [:'(]

Also got done for speeding in Singapore, racing against a male driver on the causeway to Jahore Bahru.

[idun]

Ah Bugsy you have made me smile. It is beyond my imagination that there would be a group of bikers all adhering to the speed limit. I have never ever seen it, ever.

I am now wondering what the people of 'my' region of France would have made of it, truthfully, probably have made driving very unsafe for the bikers and would have wanted to get past at any cost or speed.

ps is there a collective noun for a group of bikers?

[cooperlola]

Not everybody has mentioned bikes, Bugs, nor compared the average rider to the average driver -both of whom are probably no better or worse than their counterparts, and probably a good deal worse than they think they are in both cases.  Myself included, no doubt.  However, it doesn't improve anybody's case when they throw their toys out of their prams and go off in a huff. 

I used to break speed limits on a regular basis when I was younger, and certainly when I was doing 30k miles a year and travelled a lot for my job.  I was just lucky I didn't get caught.  Like MM, I was a prat at times, but at others it was really far less dangerous, both to me and to others, than some of the other driving errors and bad habits people have which produce far less of an adverse reaction - like failing to look in their mirrors - (as it happens, the reason why I'm typing this from a wheelchair.)  I just wish that the police  and those who decide the locations of speed cameras, would concentrate more on urban areas and rural roads where the driving habits and speeds at which people travel are far more dangerous than on empty motorways.  They are soft targets - that is what this is about, money - if it were easier to catch people elsewhere then that's where the flics would be.  Just as they would be more vigilant about other poor driving habits, if they had a machine which could spot and milk money from the offenders as easily as speed cameras do.

[JSKS]

Curiously, the only ones to have mentioned speeding bikes are the bikers. Still, it's good to introduce an irrelevant slant to the thread.

Seems to me the OP recognises the legal and moral dimensions of the incident. What he asked for was if anyone knew what happened next.

What happened next, as so often, is that the sanctimonious chose to berate him - a very childish way of saying 'look at me - I would NEVER do such a thing. Aren't I wonderful?'.

Seems that whenever a question asking for fact is posted it will be used as a basis for moralising. I remember once asking what the regs were for child seats in France. One not very helpful reply was to the effect that keeping the children safe was more important than the rules - you just can't keep the holier-than-thous down.

[Patf]

But the apparently unjust part is that those of us who live here and have a french driving license suffer real penalties, ie points deducted and sometimes license lost. Whereas those with a a UK driving license only get a fine. I have a neighbour here who still has his UK license and boasts about flouting the french law.

That is what irks me, and I suspect is at the root of the "holier than thou" responses.

I believe there's going to be some legislation to correct this.

[cooperlola]

I believe, Pat, that if you are in a French reg car in the UK and are clocked by a speed camera that the same applies in reverse, though.  As you say, this is being tightened up but you know how long it takes the EU to join up the dots. 

[JSKS]

Patf

Your point is very valid. There are indeed moves afoot to have a pan-EU system for motoring offences. Currently some countries have reciprocal arrangements but not France and UK. And, yes, it is annoying that overseas licence holders escape local penalties.

However, from the OP's point of view he is operating within the current arrangements (no matter how daft they may be). But it does appear that his collar-feeling by the Gendarmes has sobered his driving and that, to me, seems more positive than simply seeking punishment.

[Simon-the-censored]

[quote user="PaulT"]

And then on the empty motorway a tyre suddenly bursts - could be bit of debris on the road and now the car is somersaulting through the air and the motorway is closed for a number of hours for the recovery of body and car and the investigations that take place.

But I see where you are coming from, it is Fords fault for building a car that can go at 140+ mph.

Perhaps you could stab someone and then blame the knife manufaturer because they made it sharp.

[/quote]

No tyre burst

No debris on the road

No car somersaulting through the air

No motorway was closed

No body was recovered

Nobody was stabbed

Mondeoman was caught speeding - not exactly a tsunami is it?

PaulT - you obviously watch far too much James Bond - more important things happening in the world! Get a grip......

Simon :-)

 

 

[Simon-the-censored]

Coops and JK - totally with you and your spot-on comments !

Simon

[cooperlola]

Alex, I was going to respond to you but now your post seems to be blank?[blink]  I wasn't ignoring your reply, I just got diverted![:)]

[MondeoMan]

I'll now provide an update.

I have my car back (I paid the bond on it yesterday) and it is now in my garage in Picardie for the foreseeable, or at least until I can employ a driver/or get my missus over here and drive me for work.

Thanks to both the supporters for their kind and reassuring words, and those who think I'm the devil personifed. You've certainly kept me on my toes.

Regards

[sid]

[quote user="JK"]Curiously, the only ones to have mentioned speeding bikes are the bikers. .[/quote]

You might need glasses; I hope you don't drive.

Re-read the whole thing and you'll find that "Idun" was the first to mention bikers, simply I guess because he saw the avatars from two of us, and maybe doesn't like being passed by bikes? Who knows. Naturally when someone tries to divert the finger of accusation at us I have to react. Both of the biker members who have replied are of more mature years, and the lesson about recklessness was learned many moons ago.

No-one ever said that we are whiter than white and if you read my original post in this thread you'll see that that I mentioned " from personal experience", so yes, I have exceeded the limit and been dealt with (56kph in a 50kph zone for your interest, and only my second offence since passing my test in 1964).

What's wrong here is the degree of stupidity and to me, the idiotic way it's OK for the OP to hold his hands up and say "OK, OK I'll pay up". Of course you'll bl**dy well pay up, that's how the law works! But even more infuriating is the number of people who come on and feel sorry for him, and start ranting about me and my fellow bikers! Totally irrelevant and completey mindless.

 

 

[cooperlola]

Maybe we all need glasses, Sid.  

I don't think anybody felt sorry for our o/p, nor said they did.  Neither did everybody who felt he was being bullied for something which one or two of us (not you bikers of course) have also done in our wicked youths, mention bikers or suggest that they had worse road manners in general than car drivers.  Idun mentioned bikers, but we don't all agree 100% with her, just as we don't condone what our o/p did.  I don't know about anybody else, but all I wanted to see was a sense of proportion and some rational discussion.  Twit (me, I mean)!

[Simon-the-censored]

Could somebody pass sid a bigger shovel please - he needs to dig an even bigger hole!

Simon :-)

[JSKS]

S-C-L

I hope someone can otherwise the thread will die and we shall miss the righteous splutterings!

[sid]

Well here we go then.

 I hope the guy gets everything that the law can throw at him. I'm sick of Mr Cavalier, the company car man, who who steams up our motorways, here and in the UK, and probably through our villages too, chatting on his mobile phone, and happy to cough up. 

But never mind, it'll be the bikers fault for being in the wrong place, and that's what they have to write on his headstone.

No righteous splutterings, I've seen too many of these cases.

Own up now... ever owned a motorbike? Or a bicycle even? Talking from experience. No, of course not. I know the type "Hitler wasn't such a bad bloke, just a bit unlucky at the end there".