The End For Rideouts?

Originally Posted by Red Herring

But it isn't. I'm much more likely to speed in France than I am in the UK.... allegedly.
What I meant was, if I were to speed I'd be more likely to do it in France!

You driving much in France nowadays? A first offence of 31mph over the limit gets you an automatic six points with maximum sentence of a 3 year ban and a 1500 euro fine

A second offence of 31mph over the limit carries an automatic 6 points (hence license loss for locals or ban on driving in France for you) and a max sentence of 3 months in jail with a 3750 euro fine.

When was the last time all the bikers on here did 91mph in a 60 limit? Last weekend?

Major crackdown on speeding in france in the last few years. Foreigners are more likely to get a stiffer sentence as the license can't be endorsed with the points. Gone are the days when you can do the south coast in one 100mph stint. My advice is stick to the limits, police are everywhere nowadays, and at 130kph motorway in the dry it's not like it's any slower than your average driver does when speeding over here.

[Red Herring]

I ride/drive in France several times a year, invariably recreationally, and always enthusiastically (read into that what you will). I rarely use motorways and am generally respectful in towns and villages, much like I am in the UK. I've never had a problem. I guess our experiences are different, maybe I'm just lucky?

Originally Posted by Red Herring

I ride/drive in France several times a year, invariably recreationally, and always enthusiastically (read into that what you will). I rarely use motorways and am generally respectful in towns and villages, much like I am in the UK. I've never had a problem. I guess our experiences are different, maybe I'm just lucky?

Stick to it on motorways, dual carriageways, towns/villages and junctions where it drops from 90 down to 70 for a few hundred yards then goes back up again and it's OK. Don't tend to see the local plod speed trapping in the 90 limits too much. I drive from Calais to Laon on the motorway (all the UK registered vehicles that are speeding, most of the the french are at the speed limit), then round Picardie local roads a few times a year too, and I generally don't speed simply due to the number of speed traps I pass.

Father in law been stopped and breathalysed 3 times this year too.

Don't ride on roads in areas frequented by overseas drivers then. I did Le Havre - Angiers/Nantes earlier this year and spent virtually the entire journey on the motorway at three figure speeds without trouble, as did a ton of the locals.

[G]

I think its MCN making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Wont stop me.

Originally Posted by ranathari

Don't ride on roads in areas frequented by overseas drivers then. I did Le Havre - Angiers/Nantes earlier this year and spent virtually the entire journey on the motorway at three figure speeds without trouble, as did a ton of the locals.

I don't have the luxury of going for one off holiday trips, nor choosing where I go.

I blast up and down the M40 or the M74 on a regular basis at speeds that I wouldn't do on the majority of the motorway network. Just because you did one trip on one motorway at silly speeds that doesn't mean you can get away with it everywhere.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

I don't have the luxury of going for one off holiday trips, nor choosing where I go.

I blast up and down the M40 or the M74 on a regular basis at speeds that I wouldn't do on the majority of the motorway network. Just because you did one trip on one motorway at silly speeds that doesn't mean you can get away with it everywhere.

This was your original post:

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Strictness and inflexiblity isn't necessarily a bad thing, nobody speeds on the motorway in France nowadays, so long as the punishment is fair and consistant.

And my reply was meant to show that it's not true. They clamp down in areas where speeding's common, not globally, which tends to be areas where there's lots of foreigners

Originally Posted by ranathari

This was your original post:

And my reply was meant to show that it's not true. They clamp down in areas where speeding's common, not globally, which tends to be areas where there's lots of foreigners

It may appear that way if you are a foreigner, but in my wifes home town everyone knows we are visiting as it's the only british car they see from one of our visits to the next, it's a poor industrial northern town and far from being a tourist trap, and I have only met one british person who has ever been there for a weekend away and that was a surprise, most british people have no clue where it is, it'd be like asking your average French person if they have ever been to Chorley or Birstall or even knew where they were on the map! People we know wave hello, everyone else just stares and points at the steering wheel on the wrong side! Speeding is no more common there than anywhere else in France. But there are still plenty of speed traps on the regional roads.

If you want to be black and white to an anal degree about it then, no it's not true that NOBODY EVER speeds on a French motorway. My post was a generalisation, and it is generally true that the French motorways no longer flow at 100mph like they used to, following a national clamp down in enforcement and an increase in the penalties.

They are not clamping down because of any speeding problem in particular or because of speeding foreigners, they are clamping down because the government has told them they want to eradicate the general problem of speeding in France, and IMO they are succeeding. All my wifes friends and family, young and old, who use to habitually travel at 160kph on the motorway (130 limit) or 120kph on a national road (90 limit), no longer do so.

As a counterpoint, my Dad lives in Eastern France in the region of Angiers and Nantes and even the locals don't bother to obey the speed limits.

It's very much a regional thing according the locals I've spoken with when staying over there and the police in that region don't give a toss about people speeding.

Don't think this has been posted yet...

http://www.buryhillbikers.com/forum/...php?f=7&t=9321