Travel to France: Beware of Speed Traps

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

We were heading south toward Provence when we hit a fork in the road where we had a choice of taking a toll road or taking the free road to save a few euros. Now from past experience I've learned there is no free lunch. When you take a "free" road you pay in time and aggravation instead of euros. You may have to fight traffic, encounter a plethora of stop lights, or just get stuck on a narrow road with a low speed limit. I've learned that these "free" roads can take anywhere from 50% to twice as long as the toll roads.

Using my usual "vino logic", I decided we could repurpose the money we saved by using the "free" road to upgrade our wine at dinner. So we went chugging along this rather pleasant country road conforming to the speed limit of 90 kilometers per hour when suddenly a camera flash hit me from a post on the road. I know from experience that means traffic ticket. Looked like my bottle of wine might not be such a bargain after all. But I couldn't figure out what I did wrong. The next sign I encountered said 90 kilometers per hour.

Miles down the road, we encountered a sign saying speed limit 30 kilometers per hour and about 150 meters later a road post with a camera on it. Hmmm! Luckily, I had slowed down even though the road conditions hadn't changed at all from my last 90 KPH sign. So the moral of the story is that when on a French "free" road be ever vigilant of changing speed limits or pay a few euros, save lots of time and aggravation, and blissfully drive on a toll road.





However, revenge was mine! I had rented my car in Belgium. When I told the rental car manager what happened, he laughed and said: "Don't worry about it. The French will send the ticket and car rental information to the Belgian Ministry of Transportation for collection, the Belgian civil servant will see that you live in California and figure he can't collect, and throw the French request in the waste basket." Since I never heard anything about it again, that's what must have happened.

Previously I had rented a car in France and gotten a parking ticket. The fine was added to my car rental bill. So if you want driver diplomatic immunity in France, rent a Belgian car.