Driving in EU

The French speed cameras don't seem to have any latitude at all. I was flashed doing 92 kph (as per my GPS) in a 90 limit.

You are right about Belgium being a building site - the queue of lorries and cars funnelling into a single lane from Ostend towards Antwerp last Friday had to be seen to be believed. Fortunately, I was heading in the other direction and my trusty TomTom with Live Traffic Info had rerouted me around a 45 minute 6 km queue coming in to Antwerp from the east.

I do admit Beligan beer and chocolate are good... and heaven for petrol heads is a place called Spa Francorchamps.

I drive back and forward between Scotland and Belgium quite often and in France you must have breathalizer and biggest one is do not under any circumstances use or have on display any form of radar detector. Hi viz, warning triangle, water for your windscreen washers as its a big fine to have an obstructed windscreen and in BE you must have a fire extinguisher but bulbs are recommended not mandatory.

I thought that the French had rescinded the requirement to carry a breathalizer recently. Regarding the radar detector even satnav's showing the location of
speed traps are also banned IIRC.

(28-05-2013 03:32pm)XFullFatTim Wrote:  I thought that the French had rescinded the requirement to carry a breathalizer recently. Regarding the radar detector even satnav's showing the location of
speed traps are also banned IIRC.

Yes, devices which pin point camera locations are banned. Those which highlight "danger zones" which might be 5 miles where speed cameras are deployed are deployed. They match the signs the French put up warning cameras are coming.

TomTom changed their functionality in France when the law came in.

I've never bothered with the breathalyser. It was a Law that was never going to stand.

As it currently stands, it's a legal requirement to carry one, but it's not enforceable. They have canned the enforcement indefinitely.

It'll soon become a silly by-law similar to that of a London Cabbie having to carry a bail of hay.

As for Belgium, yes, some of the roads are bad (no worse than the UK!) and the driving is, er, defensive to say the least, but it's a great place. Spent a lot of time in the Flemish region. (Vilvoorde, Grimbergen and Machelen). I miss going there! The biggest thing I miss though is a great meal on Rue des Bouchers in Brussels Old Town. Yum!

(28-05-2013 09:32am)XFullFatTim Wrote:  Also don't forget that traffic law violations anywhere in the EU can now be sent to your home address since all the police computers were linked up a couple of years ago.

My wife got stopped by the gendarmes travelling down to the South of France about 5 years ago doing 112mph (180kph) we had no idea what the penalty was going to be given that it would be a ban in the UK. A 90 euro fine and told to drive a bit more slowly and on our way. Does this mean it would get referred back to the UK for prosecution here?

As far as I know if you had gone to court and been prosecuted then the points would appear on your UK records now.