For those intending to travel through France you should be aware that 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.

http://uk.support.tomtom.com/app/ans.../?locale=en_GB

Interesting,though I imagine those that simply have plug in devices could easily pull the plug at the first sign of being pulled.

Replacing speed trap warnings with danger warnings seems a simple loophole to make them legal.
The message is the exactly the same, for speed traps simply read danger, so possibly the law makers are totally wasting their time and haven't properly thought it through.

Mine is a Garmin so I imagine the same applies, though to be honest I've never yet taken the trouble to find out what each of the variety of dings and dongs actually refer to.

So it is nothing to do with slowing the traffic down (the warning would do that). it is just to catch people speeding and fine them.

1500€ fine and the device or vehicle confiscated .... ouch

You also need to carry a disposable breathalyser.

If you are riding a 125 or over moto you need to wear reflective clothing.

Talking on a mobile has gone up to 135€ and 3 points, also other fines have increased.

WHAT ? Even if you're Teatotal ?

Why is everyone so pissed off with catching people breaking the law? Speed kills, as the cops said at the inquest of my neighbour's daughter who was killed in a car accident by a speeding driver. If he hadn't been going so fast, she'd still be alive.

You lot get angry when people burgle your houses and complain that the cops never catch the burglars, but when they fine speeding drivers to prevent them killing people you start whining.

Rant over.

I don't think everyone is p!ssed off.

I'm certainly in favour of anything that helps restrict traffic to a reasonably safe speed and as already mentioned the warning on the satnavs already serves that purpose to a certain extent.

Making them technically illegal when the radar warning can simply be altered to a danger warning to legalise them, serves very little purpose at all and seems to be a totally futile exercise.

As for compulsory breathalizers much the same applies. The vast majority have no use for them and have enough common sense to know they are always well inside the safe range when taking to the roads.
The only ones who may need them, are those who are not sure about their alcohol blood level, in which case they should have more sense than take to the roads anyway.

I'm not pissed off at catching people breaking the law. I'm all for it. What I'm saying is, we are told that they are SAFETY cameras to help slow the traffic down. Well maybe if there is warning of the speed traps, people WILL slow down. Job done. The only reason to make warning of them illegal, as far as I can see, is to ensure that people carry on speeding so they can fine them! Nothing to do with safety.

Steve, I think the problem is that the old overt methods of catching speeding drivers have been replaced by covert methods such as cameras.
The police are not seen as "doing the job".
But then with all those speeding fines coming in they still cannot do the rest of the job of catching lawbreakers.
My home town has a problem with speeding cyclists in the middle of the pedestrian precincts, even when police and pcso's are present no one gets stopped. But when the public get back to the car they find a parking fine for being 5mins late, or it has been vandalised, their house has been broken into and ransacked. Is that fair ? Where are the police ?

Cars are much faster and responsive than they were 15-20yrs ago. But it isnt that, its the psychological change of the driver when they get behind that steering wheel. The devil take the hindmost, get out of my face, couldnt give a s*** about anyone else on the road attitude. Very few people have any idea what speed they are travelling at, at any time. The radio is on too loud, the fag is held in the hand whilst steering, the kids are jumping around in the back. And don't you dare criticise them and their driving.

Cars are a legal item with the power to kill when in the hands of irresponsible people, and there are many of those around. If you havent seen them then you may well be one of them, especially if your blood pressure has rocketed whilst driving down to the shops

Consider a car to be similar to a cruise missile, but not quite so accurate or reliable.
It is kept on course to its planned destination, but all thats needed to turn it into a deadly killing machine of innocents along the way, is a minor malfunction, deviation or momentary lapse in concentration of the driver, all of which are greatly exacerbated by excess speed or alcohol in the system.

Just tax collection by another name........still we should be happy that they have found yet another way to bail out the bankers.

If you break the law, pay the 'tax'. Suggestion; don't break the law and then you'll have nothing to whine about.

Can anyone explain to me why they should make these speed camera warnings illegal apart from the obvious desire to collect lots of fines? Is there any safety reason at all or is it purely financial? My Garmin warns me that I'm going to fast whether or not there are speed cameras about. I would have thought that anything that helped you to keep to the speed limit would be a safety benefit.

Can't see anything wrong whatsoever with something that warns a driver that he/she's exceeding the speed limit. That would be an aide to road safety.

Good point......anything else would just be a way of the government making money.