Speed limits in France to drop!

[(RIP) Shenzi]

It is now looking rather definite that our speed limits will drop in 2008 'in order to reduce pollution'! Max speed on autoroutes will drop to 120kph (75mph) and the national roads will be limited to 80kph (50mph).
Judging by his performance when he was the minister in charge of the police I think we can assume that our president will ensure the new limits are rigourously applied.
His blitz on speeding dramatically reduced the number of road deaths, (much to my surprise), so I think our driving habits are about be changed and some may say for the better
Personally I can live with the autoroute limit but the 80kph limit on national roads will be a large PITA!
It won't be long before a driving offence anywhere in Europe will be detrimental to ones licence so driving over here will become less relaxed for you guys!

 

[squid]

Thats not good news. The best thing about France is the speed you can get through it.

To be honest though I don't think the speed is the problem -

its the fact so many of them drive right up the arse of each other - I don't get when there is so much space

Must be frightening on a bike with some halfbake 5ft from your back wheel at 80mph

 

[Yoda]

Having had the joys of both Italy and France this summer, its' my view that the French drivers are absolute paragons of virtue compared to the Italians.

If this 80kph malarky gets ratified in France it might not be too long before we find it here in Nanny State, UK. If memory serves, the Dutch already have this.

 

[Brian ROSEN]

tail gating, etc;

".....its the fact so many of them drive right up the arse of each other - I don't get when there is so much space..."
I assume that you have not been in France recently - I think you will find that there has been a huge change for the better. (Although the further South you go the the more bad behaviour on the roads is apparent. Corsica is still UNBELIEVABLE at times!)
As Shenzi says, there has been a huge reduction in road deaths, partly because of the speed limit enforcements and also, I suspect, to the more obvious presence of police on the roads. (It used to be the case that if you had a friend or relation in the Mairie, the Grendarmie or the police it was possible for your speeding ticket to get lost in the system - but not so easy now, I understand!)
There is a different mentality now also - it is no longer considereed 'clever' to get from A to B in the minimum time nor to cruise on the autoroute at 180 kph which we ALL used to do a few years ago. Nevertheless, having been in the UK last weekend, it is nice to get home and have a bit of space on the roads around here and France is still a wonderful place to exercise your GS.

 

[squid]

Been top to bottom twice this yr. Great roads and no traffic.

Still saw people driving up each others arse even though the other lane was clear.

Must be doing it to save petrol

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

Sounds ominous. Having said that, I was in France last week at a bar with all the obligatory no smokign signs, and smokers were still smoking. Seems no-one enforces laws like the UK.

I'd like to think the typical French approach to enforcement will still leave some room for manouevre over enforcement of speed limits, but from Shenzi's and Brian's comments, it seems like there might be a stricter approach developing.

 

[(RIP) Shenzi]

Sounds ominous. Having said that, I was in France last week at a bar with all the obligatory no smokign signs, and smokers were still smoking. Seems no-one enforces laws like the UK.

I'd like to think the typical French approach to enforcement will still leave some room for manouevre over enforcement of speed limits, but from Shenzi's and Brian's comments, it seems like there might be a stricter approach developing.

Smoking isn't banned in bars yet Robin, that comes in next year I believe. As you say they don't always enforce laws here, the law regarding no smoking areas in restaurants is a few years old but generally they don't exist so I don't know what will happen when the overall smoking ban comes in.
Driving too close is a habit here and generally not a wind up, bloody dangerous though and I think it is coming under scrutiny now as someone we know of in the next village just paid a big fine for doing it in a 70kph limit. Apparently one should keep a minimum distance of 30 metres between vehicles on the route nationals.

Note that over here there is no tolerance whatsoever with the speed limit, if you are over you are nicked! Sarkozy started being tough about speeding when he was a minister, usually these things are a flash in the pan but this isn't and I am sure it will continue and get worse.

 

[Wapping]

France will be just like the UK, much as it is now.

Speed through villages / towns and on easy to cover main roads and you may well get done. On 1000s of miles of D roads, however....

How many people obey the current limits, anywhere, at home or elsewhere? A drop in the absolute ain't really going to spoil too much, surely?

 

[FLASH]

The application of existing laws, both on speeding and drink-driving, has had a dramatic effect on RTAs with a corresponding and dramatic drop in deaths and injuries. One side-effect is that restaurants have complained that they're selling less "digestifs" (Cognac to you) and the garage-trade are upset about the reduced amount of body-repair work (all true!)

As one on the receiving end of a fine recently, I can say that Le Plod is sticking pretty much to the same MO as in the UK: they'll set up where there is the most traffic volume and where they've got a good 1km bead on you down a nice straight road (yes, to my lasting shame that's exactly where I got caught - on a strange road and I thought I'd left the village boundary sign behind me, but hadn't....98kph in a 50...ouch...).
The road network here is ENORMOUS and they can't physically be everywhere, so providing you use common sense and go easy down straights and on the approach to and exit from built-up areas you should be reasonably safe. They DO, of course, set up on the twisty B-roads ("D" roads over here) but they rarely stay long and their presence is more of a "visible deterrent" type exercise than a real attempt to nail anybody. Be warned!
Other road-users will continue to flash their headlights at you to warn you so don't ignore these signs, but the gendarmes have taken to concealing themselves so this is no longer 100% effective.
It's still God's own riding country though and, no, he doesn't ride a Harley.