European Speed Trap Cameras

Many festers have posted about speeding tickets received, photographed by stationary speed cameras while on ED. Here's a New York Times article about phone apps that can warn drivers when they approach a risk area.

Originally Posted by 640GC

Many festers have posted about speeding tickets received, photographed by stationary speed cameras while on ED. Here's a New York Times article about phone apps that can warn drivers when they approach a risk area.

Hey thanks for that, kinda similar to WAZE in the U.S.

But what about radar/laser detectors these days? Which one is really the best, Escort or Valentine? Is there any recent data or testing?

Originally Posted by 640GC

Many festers have posted about speeding tickets received, photographed by stationary speed cameras while on ED. Here's a New York Times article about phone apps that can warn drivers when they approach a risk area.

I should have tried to find out about this before my trip. I got photographed twice during my recent ED (Germany and France). Well at least now what to do next time.

Originally Posted by CE750Jockey

Hey thanks for that, kinda similar to WAZE in the U.S.

But what about radar/laser detectors these days? Which one is really the best, Escort or Valentine? Is there any recent data or testing?

Radar detectors aren't legal in Europe, so don't bring one.

When I went in 2008, I had a list of radar locations uploaded into my portable GPS. The problem was, with moveable cameras, is the system gave too many false positives to be useful.

Originally Posted by cwsqbm

Radar detectors aren't legal in Europe, so don't bring one.

When I went in 2008, I had a list of radar locations uploaded into my portable GPS. The problem was, with moveable cameras, is the system gave too many false positives to be useful.

The new phone apps are supposed to have a community component so that new traps can be added to the list and old ones taken away in real time. I'll have to give it a try for our next ED. It could be up to a year before I find out if I received any speeding tickets on our 1st ED.

So how do they make you pay?

Waze works in the parts of switzerland that we were driving in (near Geneva.) Definitely identified a number of speed cameras.

Originally Posted by trencher

So how do they make you pay?

They mail you the ticket if it's a camera.

Originally Posted by the-pup

Waze works in the parts of switzerland that we were driving in (near Geneva.) Definitely identified a number of speed cameras.

That's cool. We'll have to try these out on our next trip. Did you need WiFi access or a data plan on your phone while driving?

You need wifi access or a data plan. We rented one of the tep wireless portable my-fi hot spots and it performed pretty well. Exceeded my expectations, really and came in especially handy to do facetime in and around the places we were visiting.

Best

Wish I saw this thread before I left, I 'm sure I have a few envelopes on the way.

Thanks for the heads up and the link to the article. I visited all the sights listed in the article and downloaded radar android to my phone and have been using it for days here to get used to how it warns. The free app works great and I have downloaded all the speed trap data for the counties I will be visiting for free also. The German sight blitzer.de has an excellent google map view of all the traps in Europe and can certainly give you an idea of what your up against, and truly why you should have the app in Europe, they are everywhere. And I thought they were bad here in Scottsdale... Seriously thank you so much and my pocket book thanks you also.

I bought a speed camera detector from a British company called Cheetah, and also downloaded the European KPH camera database. It worked very well throughout the ED trip. I had it mounted in the cup holder.

It uses GPS to warn you when a camera is coming up, so it is not illegal since it isn't receiving any laser or radar signals.

I'd be happy to rent it out to anyone who is doing ED.

Originally Posted by Stealth.Pilot

I'd be happy to rent it out to anyone who is doing ED.

I'm going to send you a PM...

I was flashed twice during a recent 3 week vacation in Europe in a rental car, not an ED. I received a letter from Avis notifying me of the situation and that I should expect correspondence from the appropriate jurisdiction. That was about 8 weeks ago and so far I have received nothing. I am hoping that the "jurisidiction" decided not to pursue it once they were informed it was a dumb American in a rental car. Both were in Germany, one in Heidelberg and one in a small town NW of Heidelberg, can't remember the name.

Originally Posted by rmorin49

I was flashed twice during a recent 3 week vacation in Europe in a rental car, not an ED. I received a letter from Avis notifying me of the situation and that I should expect correspondence from the appropriate jurisdiction. That was about 8 weeks ago and so far I have received nothing. I am hoping that the "jurisidiction" decided not to pursue it once they were informed it was a dumb American in a rental car. Both were in Germany, one in Heidelberg and one in a small town NW of Heidelberg, can't remember the name.

They are just waiting for the Euro to appreciate more before they send the bill.

Originally Posted by jlukja

They are just waiting for the Euro to appreciate more before they send the bill.

I hope they take plastic as I have no idea how to send Euros.

Originally Posted by Stealth.Pilot

I bought a speed camera detector from a British company called Cheetah, and also downloaded the European KPH camera database. It worked very well throughout the ED trip. I had it mounted in the cup holder.

It uses GPS to warn you when a camera is coming up, so it is not illegal since it isn't receiving any laser or radar signals.

I'd be happy to rent it out to anyone who is doing ED.

That's brilliant Stealth.Pilot! I'll file that away for next trip.

There's a free 30-day trial download for cameras that I downloaded into my Garmin (which has Euro maps) for my upcoming trip.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=287&pID=68108

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=287&pID=68089

I downloaded Italy because that's where I'll spend just about all of my time. It will be interesting to see if it works. The Garmin will be redundant with the BMW GPS so it will also be interesting to see how they differ in their routing.

I wish I'd known about this for mine. I did my damnedest to drive the speed limits while on my ED (to the extent that I pissed off a few European tailgaters wishing I'd go faster), but I'm willing to bet I got flashed by at least 1 or 2 cameras. Mainly because of some areas where I just couldn't for the life of me figure out the speed limit. Wish I knew the languages better

One of them was somewhat obvious though. DON'T SPEED on the bridge to Venice. I think the limit was 50kph which is ridiculously slow for that enormous bridge, but there are cameras all over the place.

Guess I'll find about my ticket(s) soon enough :/

I dropped of my car on Aug 21st in Zurich. I received a ticket two days ago for going 70 in a 30...it's a German and I have no idea where it took place exactly, but apparently not on the autobahn. I hope it's the only one, but I did an awful lot of driving...Prague and back through Austria :-/

Corrected: I dropped it off on Aug 21st...not Sep.

Originally Posted by desertpilot

One of them was somewhat obvious though. DON'T SPEED on the bridge to Venice.

oops

I may have been flashed twice while in France. Neither time was I going more than 10km/h over the posted speedlimit. We will see if I get anything in the mail. To me, going about 5 miles over the speed limit doesnt warrant a ticket, but we will see.

A few speeding observations from someone who has driven ALOT in Europe:

Switzerland: Just don't speed. I used to speed there all the time, then I got caught speeding 3 times in three days earlier this year, I was probably due since I'd been speeding there once or twice a year for the past 7 years. So far has cost me 120 swiss francs EACH (2X) for two speeding tickets of less than 10 kph over near Luzern and I could be tagged with a massive fine for going 45 kph over near Zuerich as I'm waiting to hear...I got a letter from the Kantonelle Polizei Zuerich stating that my case was turned over to the state prosecuter. They could nail me for as much as a month's salary.

Italy: I have grossly exceeded the speed limit in Italy and been charged as little as 30 euros...40-50 kph hour over the limit.

France: Excessively sped through France numerous times, no tickets.

I will say this, this last ED, I got a 750Li xDrive...@ nearly $9.00 per gallon for gas, I COULD NOT WAIT for the speed controlled areas of Germany or to cross the border into other countries so that I could hit eco-pro and sit back and feel glad that my hotel bill for the night would exceed my gas bill.

Do US folks pay the speed tickets from Europe? As far as I know it is not so easy for cops from one EU country to get the money from citizens of another EU country... I can't imagine how they would chase Americans...