Friday January 9, 2004

RADAR DETECTOR BAN

If you use a radar detector to avoid speed cameras, leave it at home if you visit France. Anyone caught with the device will be banned from driving and have it confiscated on the spot.

According to wine and travel website, winedrive.com, some British drivers are using the devices as UK style speed cameras spread across the Channel. Winedrive's Maurice Carroll, warns: "If you are caught with a radar detector, you will be banned from driving in France for up to three years and the device will be confiscated. Unless there is another driver in the car, you will turned round at your port of entry and put back on the boat.

"If you are stopped anywhere in metropolitan France, you will have to get your motoring organisation to repatriate your car or get someone from England to collect it. Ports and airports are notified if a visiting driver is banned and anyone who continues to drive can expect severe consequences, with a possible prison sentence."

Unlike the UK, many French speed cameras are hidden behind signs and bridges, the authorities openly admitting they are used as a means of raising revenue to cover the cost of road safety initiatives.

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