mgf.be

[colintf]

I first heard this on a Triumph Forum, and has been the topic of discussion on the Two-Sixties (we have French 260 owners)

Since 4th of January 2012 a new law in France makes it illegal to be warned about the location of speed cameras while you are driving, which could result in a 1500 Euro fine and the confiscation of the device

there is some debate as it is not clear as to if switching this facility off in France is legal or not. There are some convinced that having a device which can have the facility switched on is also illegal!!

Also worth noting, and confirmed by French 260 owner : -

1. The French Speed Camera Warning signs warning of a speed camera ahead are being removed

2 The French police are also investing this year in unmarked cars with new technology which uses an IR beam (so no flash) and can sweep both carriageways.

from Tom Tom : -

"Changes to the law in France
From 4 January 2012 a new law in France makes it illegal to be warned about the location of speed cameras while you are driving. If you have the TomTom Speed Camera service on your device, you are breaking the law if you continue to receive the speed camera warnings and you risk getting a fine.
How to stay within the law
There are two things that you should do:
Disable Speed Camera alerts for France on your device.
Update your device with the latest Speed Cameras. This will remove the Speed Cameras for France from your device. [ show me how... ] Note: If you manage your device using TomTom HOME and if you don't have a subscription to Speed Cameras, you need to manually remove the Speed Cameras for France. [ show me how... ]
We are working on a new service for France that warns you about danger zones instead of speed cameras. To keep up-to-date with the latest news about this new service, subscribe to this page by clicking the Notify me link at the end of the page. We'll send you a mail when more information is available.
Switzerland
In Switzerland, the use of the TomTom Speed Camera service is forbidden and we do not offer Speed Cameras for Switzerland."



You have been warned

[Rob]

Thanks for the warning Colin, this was new to me.

[BlackFox]

So this actually means you can't even have a GPS or smartphone in your car, because basicly they can have these services?

What about the Coyote system? This originated in France?

[colintf]

you might be ok having the GPS speed camera alerts switched off on your Satnav??????

I was not sure if this news had reached Belgium, so I created the thread just in case. This news is not well known in the UK either.

[Bruno]

not new this news.I know the guys from Coyote very well and have asked some more info about this issue. It's forbidden indeed to have a warning on the exact locations of the speed cameras or even give the warning text for example "mobile camera", but there is no problem to give an alert for a zone where the camera is located. This zone may be minimum 400 meters and the warning text is in that case "risico zone". For coyote it is infact for France 300 meters, but no one will check this.

[Bart-K]

Another reason to avoid france as much as possible

[ErikB]

What about someone in the passenger seat that knows the place and warns you about speed camera's. It sounds like he must shut up and start smiling for the pictures.

Ridiculous law .... thank God we only use France to get to and back from the UK.

[Kasper]

You're absolutely right ErikB!

By eliminating speed camera tools based on GPS there's a huge advantage to have knowledge about the local area.
There is a good reason why we don't have such a rediculous law: the day they will try to introduce this kind of laws in our Poldercountry, plenty of people who will fight such a law based on human rights:
Everybody must be treated equal: here we find those who have local knowledge and those who have not.

[ovi]

Another reason to avoid france as much as possible

The result is fewer caravans on the road so more room for us!
Sorry Bart, I could not resist.