Attention! French cops are out to nail speeders
Travellers in France this summer face a crackdown by speed cops.
Far from being laissez-faire with motorists from abroad, as they have been in the past, French police are now adopting a zero tolerance approach to drivers who break the speed limits.
The clampdown, highlighted in a report in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph, comes in the wake of European Union attempts to cut road deaths on the Continent. France has more than 7,000 fatalities on its roads every year, double the death toll in Britain.
The speed limit in built-up areas in France is 50 kilometres an hour (31mph) and 90 kilometres an hour (56mph) in non-built-up areas. On toll motorways it rises to 130 kph (81mph) but foreign drivers frequently go faster and then plead ignorance when stopped by the gendarmerie.
But excuses will not be tolerated any more, the newspaper reports. It says the French will be targeting roads both in the north of the country, such as the A26 , A16 and A131, fast routes from the ferry ports, and the A9 and A8 in the south.
Unlike the UK, France does not have a growing network of highly-visible, brightly-painted speed cameras on its roads.
On the other side of the Channel, hand-held and vehicle-mounted laser guns are more commonly used – and they are often concealed behind road signs, bushes and other obstructions.
Phil Davies
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