Speed cameras in France

Thanks to Google alerts and a long list of RSS feeds, I get to read a lot of traffic and mass transit news from around the world. In the past week, my favorite came from Times Online of London, which ran an article about the way the British drive when visiting France.

Erase any image you may have of polite British drivers. According to the story, the British have overtaken the Germans as reputed speed demons. In one recent crackdown, 28 out of 30 cars stopped for going over 130 kmh (80 mph) were driven by Britons.

As it turns out, the French have in the past few years installed hundreds of automatic speed cameras to snap photos of alleged violators; the above map shows the locations of dozens of those cameras outside Paris. The story continues:

French drivers have begun obeying the limits, but many foreigners have not, because Europe has not applied an accord reached last spring on the cross-border enforcement of fines.

Britons' sense of immunity is felt across the board, from holidaymakers to the owners of sports cars who stage informal races, police say. “The mentality of letting go across the Channel seems to be the same one that makes les Anglais get drunk as soon as they leave their country,” one officer said.

Lewis Hamilton, the Formula One driver, lost his right to drive in France last December when he was stopped on the A26 near Calais doing 122 mph in a Mercedes.

I also thought the story had some relevance here. An effort to allow a test program for speed enforcement cameras on residential streets in Beverly Hills died in the Legislature amid opposition. Still, resistance to the cameras appears to be easing in many parts of the country.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is adding them throughout the state to slow down motorists and raise revenue. Illinois is trying to do the same. It's almost inevitable someone will try again in California and as the years go by, they'll be able to cite more examples from elsewhere.

-- Steve Hymon

Map credit: government of France