A new and very sneaky speed radar starts this month in France. The radar is mounted in unmarked police cars, and there are no visible signs that you're about to be caught by one. No markings, no telltale radar bubble, to visible flash... nothing to tell you that you've been photographed apart from a very expensive photo sent to your house in the next few days (and remember that radar detectors are highly illegal in this country).
The only current sign is that these unmarked police cars are Renault Megane 1.5 dCi , and there will be two uniformed gendarmes inside, and starting on the 15th of March, there will be 20 of them patrolling the French roads. The cost for each car is €70,000, paid for by our taxes and speeding fines.
 © LP/Yann Foreix |
Currently the radar will start making expensive photos of you when you are 20 kph over the limit. The interesting debate is that the politicians have been saying that the radars have nothing to do with making money, that all the thousands of radars have been placed alongside the road for safety reasons, since people are warned about them in advance with signs telling you there is a radar up ahead. Then why have unmarked police cars?
Unfortunately for us motorcycle riders, the radar and camera are located in the front of the police car, so a photo will be made of the rear of your motorcycle. But since the photo is from the rear, it can not show who was riding the motorcycle. And that is something several lawyers are now attacking, since in France there is license point system, and since the photo will not show who the driver was, how can you deduct license points?
Already several road "violence" organizations are pushing the government to install mandatory speed limiters in all vehicles, blocking cars, trucks and motorcycles to the legal speed limit. If that happens, I personally will lead a revolution in this country.
NOTE: In the Via: below there's a video showing you how the car operates (in French).
Via: Le Parisien
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