 Poster: A snowHead
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A group of British skiers in fast cars have been tracked by French police helicopters, alerted to an illegal 'speed rally'. Fearing a repetition of the Cannonball Rally - an unofficial “race” that takes place every year across France and Italy, according to the official site – a major surveillance operation was organised by the French gendarmes after a tip-off from British police. From the early hours of Sunday morning, January 9th, police followed a number of high performance British cars all the way from Calais to their ski holiday destination in Val d’Isère...
Back in the September "Cannonball Run Europe 2004", several drivers were cautioned, four having their licences suspended, having been clocked in excess of 200 kph on the motorway to Paris. However, fines are unlikely to be a deterrent, as participants do not appear to put off by the £2,500 entrance fee for the event. In comparison the “Winter Sports” edition was a relatively low key affair, only thirteen participants turning up in Calais Sunday morning at 2.30 am - perhaps a reflection of the success of the authorities in finally cracking down on these rallies.
By the time the racers had reached the Saint Omer toll, a total of eleven fines had already been imposed. “We didn’t want to be taken by surprise like last time”, police chief Didier Gourvès explained. No licences suspended, no vehicles confiscated on this occasion, just fines averaging £60 for driving in excess of 110 mph. However it seemed effective enough. With a helicopter dispatched to follow the British speedsters all the way to Val d’Isère, the group stuck to the limit for the remainder of their journey, according to the Rhone and Savoie police spokesmen.
“The plan worked. The traffic police watched them on their journey throughout France, following them on the Lyon Chambéry A43, and finally the RN90 to their holiday chalet destination in Val d’Isère. We refuse to allow people to use the motorway as a Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit.”
More details on the September Cannonball in this Expatica article, which serves as a timely reminder to holidaymakers heading across the Channel by car that merely having a UK driving licence no longer renders drivers immune to fines, points, bans, even confiscation of cars, with the new Europe-wide laws permitting police to enforce national legislation on EU citizens, wherever they're from.
Watch your backs on the pistes of Val d’Isère this week!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Idiots
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The cost of the operation doesn't bear thinking about. I get this sudden urge to nip up to Val with a spray can and drive around to see how many Ferraris and Lamborghinis I can spot. But of course, being a law-abiding citizen I won't... which is what they count on, of course.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Does anyone know anyone who's been involved in this? No names, no pack drill.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Back in the sixties - LA to NY or visa versa, started as a bet between a Ferrari owner and a Cobra owner is how I remember the story. Then, of course, some idiot made a film in the seventies and now any unofficial race is a 'Cannonball Run' Want to bet there's not a film crew floating around somewhere? And there's bound to be some of the 'usual' faces.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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> Back in the September "Cannonball Run Europe 2004", several drivers were cautioned, four having their licences suspended, having been clocked in excess of 200 kph on the motorway to Paris.
My wife was nearly run over by these idiots when she was in Paris on a training course in the autumn. She reckons they were driving at 80-100kph through the street in Paris she was trying to cross (it should be noted that such speeds are not that uncommon in Paris, a doctor was stopped travelling at 147kph on Bld Stalingrad last year and someone I know was flashed at 157kph!!! under the Pont Alma).
> with the new Europe-wide laws permitting police to enforce national legislation on EU citizens, wherever they're from.
Could you expand on this? There is a EU extradition warrant that could be used to compel you to appear in court in France but no real system for enforcing small penalties as far as I can tell apart from direct action by the police.. In most cases the Gendarmerie or Police are quite lenient with non-French drivers and will settle for a fine with no further action if the excess is below 25kp/h. Eric Clapton was caught on the A6 in the autumn doing 210kp/h and had his license confiscated for 2 weeks and a large fine. No action is taken against non-French registered cars caught on speed cameras.
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davidof, interesting question. Mrs Ise got caught by a speed camera near Basel on the Swiss side a couple of months back, I've not much sympathy, she's got cruise control and I had warned about the cameras there, she might have waited until she got over the German border before putting her foot down. However, her car had German plates and a fine arrived at our address in Germany where the car's registered with payment slip. I wondered at the time how enforceable the fine was, presumably if nothing else they could have flagged her plate and stopped her at the border the next time.
You mention no action is taken on non-French cars on speed cameras, that's the second time I've heard that recently and I'm suprised. I'm fairly sure it's not true, I've heard of Swiss drivers getting fines via the post and as the experience of Mrs Ise shows, the German authorities will forward registration details to other European police forces. The bi-lateral agreements between European countries are in place I thought as PG mentioned. In fact, my recollection is that the agreements also covered drink driving penatlies. It seems incredibly hard to get actual facts about these things though, it may be something that's been proposed as been picked up as being implemented by some.
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Penalties for traffic offences committed in ANY EC country are automatically applied to your licence, whatever EC country you are from, and thus are operational in any EC country. ie get banned in one, you're banned in them all.
A friend was done for DD in Germany, Oct 2000 (might have been 2001, can't remember) and the resultant ban was only valid in Germany - once they crossed the border, they could drive again. If they'd done it 3 months later the ban would have been EC-wide.
I beleive Switzerland also follows suite, but cannot confirm this.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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sorry, duplicate post.
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FAQ
