Speeding in the Baltic States

AndyB_11

Still waiting
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
Feb 7, 2015
Messages
36,785
Reaction score
2,761
Location
Chorley Lancs
Just in case anyone doesn’t know, if you’re doing more than 15kph over the limit you’re looking at a 3 month ban :eek:

I got nailed in Latvia but according to the local cops who were good enough to show me their book telling them the penalties (google translate did a wonderful job) it’s the same in Estonia and Lithuania as well.

It’s not all bad because after I cried a lot the cops came good and let me buy my licence back for €200 cash but not all cops are nice like that and it’s a long way from home if you can’t ride your bike :rob
 
Yep, sadly sure are a lot of crooked cops in Latvia. That's why Mrs R's brother left the force over there.

I got done by a speed camera there earlier this year. Only a 20 Euro fine but 3kmh (?) over. Free money.
 
A nice little earner for them..........

Well yes but without them wanting a bit of pocket money I’d have been in a mess so they knew they were on a winner.

It’s easy to get caught if you’re not concentrating because every road junction bigger than a dirt track the speed limit drops from 90kph to 70kph so even if you’re sticking rigidly to the 90 limit if you miss the 70 sign you’re looking down the barrel of a big fine plus ban or a cash transaction to buy your licence back. After being nicked I became a bit more cautious and noticed hidden police cars a few more times over the next 500 miles. Lithuania they’re really cunning because they park the police car hidden away then position themselves behind an unmarked, older car and shoot the speed gun at you from behind it. While I was using my phone camera to translate the book in Latvia I noted that even 10kph over the limit earned you a €200 fine so it’s not a place to take chances.
 
Interesting though.. I'm going to check that out with the out-laws. The ban for 15Km over the limit doesn't ring true. Not suggesting you're talking crap for a moment by the way, the funny thing is I wouldn't be at all surprised if bent Five-0 have put together their own advisory documentation for non-locals..

http://www.speedingeurope.com/latvia/ doesn't seem to reflect what you got.
 
The dirty rotten bastards!

They had a folder with laminated sheets showing the penalties and going by the penalties in the link you’ve provided I’d have needed to have been doing double the speed limit to get a ban and should realistically got a fine of €80.

Obviously they get a lot of foreign drivers/riders up there so maybe they did have a little ‘guideline’ of their own and I fell for it then thought I’d got a bit of a result getting away with it :blast

Next time I’ll print off sheets showing fines for every country I might visit then if I get nicked shove it under their noses and refuse to pay anything higher.
 
The dirty rotten bastards!

They had a folder with laminated sheets showing the penalties and going by the penalties in the link you’ve provided I’d have needed to have been doing double the speed limit to get a ban and should realistically got a fine of €80.

Obviously they get a lot of foreign drivers/riders up there so maybe they did have a little ‘guideline’ of their own and I fell for it then thought I’d got a bit of a result getting away with it :blast

Next time I’ll print off sheets showing fines for every country I might visit then if I get nicked shove it under their noses and refuse to pay anything higher.

Aww, man. Wait until I tell bro in-law about that one, he'll pop a vein. Can I ask whereabouts you were at the time?
 
Aww, man. Wait until I tell bro in-law about that one, he'll pop a vein. Can I ask whereabouts you were at the time?

I’ve had to use my bank transaction details to find out where I withdrew the cash and it was Bauska, about 15 miles north of the Lithuanian border. I was heading for Druskininkai and the bastards made me late :blast

They were good. The folder they produced was in a black plastic cover and had loads of laminated A4 sheets in it so they’d probably got hundreds of ways to remove money from stupid tourists :D

I’m not even slightly annoyed about being scammed, I was speeding so it was my own fault for giving them a reason to stop me. If I hadn’t been speeding I’d have stood my ground and refused to pay anything or at least got a receipt and gone to the nearest police station to question it but such is life, I hope they catch a dose off the hookers they probably used my money to pay.
 
I’ve had to use my bank transaction details to find out where I withdrew the cash and it was Bauska, about 15 miles north of the Lithuanian border. I was heading for Druskininkai and the bastards made me late :blast

They were good. The folder they produced was in a black plastic cover and had loads of laminated A4 sheets in it so they’d probably got hundreds of ways to remove money from stupid tourists :D

I’m not even slightly annoyed about being scammed, I was speeding so it was my own fault for giving them a reason to stop me. If I hadn’t been speeding I’d have stood my ground and refused to pay anything or at least got a receipt and gone to the nearest police station to question it but such is life, I hope they catch a dose off the hookers they probably used my money to pay.

Gotcha. Not my extended families area (they're to the East) but interesting to know and I'm pretty sure I'll be there next year on the bike again. Good that you can be pragmatic about it and indeed, I also hope their crops fail.. the bastards. It really is shite that in a supposedly modern European state that this kind of crap goes on and the country remains so corrupt.
 
Gotcha. Not my extended families area (they're to the East) but interesting to know and I'm pretty sure I'll be there next year on the bike again. Good that you can be pragmatic about it and indeed, I also hope their crops fail.. the bastards. It really is shite that in a supposedly modern European state that this kind of crap goes on and the country remains so corrupt.

I thought the country was great and the campsite I stopped on was spot on, very friendly people who couldn’t do enough to help, the owner even told me to go to a supermarket a couple of miles away and buy beer there because it was less than half the price he was selling it for.

I’d say you get dodgy bastards wherever you go just as you get gullible tourists so I’m not going to judge the place on that pair of clowns.
 
I thought the country was great and the campsite I stopped on was spot on, very friendly people who couldn’t do enough to help, the owner even told me to go to a supermarket a couple of miles away and buy beer there because it was less than half the price he was selling it for.

I’d say you get dodgy bastards wherever you go just as you get gullible tourists so I’m not going to judge the place on that pair of clowns.

Yup, agree on the people (and some great beers whilst on that subject :thumb).
I guess I have a bit of an insight into how things work over there with the family connection - but I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone to visit and it doesn't stop me going there and having an excellent time when I do.
 


Back
Top Bottom