Uh oh, traffic ticket from Germany!

[NW-Bound]

Speaking of pedestrians on the street, I saw that Italian drivers were respectful of pedestrians in a crosswalk; if they saw someone about to step off the sidewalk at a marked crossing, they stopped. Not so with the French drivers in some cities. In fact, in Strasbourg, I saw a crossing that required two traffic cops waving hand-held stop signs to make motorists stop. That's terrible!

OK, I found the photo that I took. The ASVP on their vests means "Agent de Surveillance de la Voie Publique", which means "Traffic Warden on Public Road".

Note the speed limit painted on the road: 30 km/hr (19 mph). If motorists drove really that slow, they would not have problem stopping for pedestrians.

The above kind of road was where I got tailgated for obeying speed limits.

[gerntz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Aachen was on the drive from Cologne to Brussels. A friendly German I talked with in front of the Cologne Cathedral said I had to make a stop there to see the church. And indeed the stop was worthwhile, even if I got a ticket there. And I also stopped at Maastricht, Holland.

Thanks. We're going from Aachen to Köln & then on.

[Beldar]

I admire your honesty in paying the fine, I might have blown it off myself.

Many moons ago I travelled regularly to Syracuse NY on business. I racked up numerous parking citations with the rental cars, all of which adorned my office as souvenirs. Never had any hassle from the rental agency or anyone else for that matter.

I have a framed US government military paycheck for $0.02 hanging on the wall. One month between travel advances and expense reconciliation my pay came out to be "PAY EXACTLY 2 cents". Must have sent a shock-wave through the system when I didn't cash it.

_B

[Alan]

Add my admiration of your integrity in jumping through the hoops to pay the fine.

AFAIK Transferwise is the best and lowest cost forex company out there. Over this past 18 months I have used them to transfer a LOT of money and continue to use them to transfer money most months. I have an HSBC US and an HSBC UK account so transfer between the two is same day but they are still much more expensive than Transferwise until it comes to sums exceeding $100k which I have needed when buying a house in England.

In 2013 we went on a driving holiday in France with my wife's sister and her husband using their car. That year France changed the law to make it illegal to use the speed camera warning feature on car GPS's. If you are stopped for speeding in France they will apparently check your GPS if you have one to see if the feature is enabled. You are also required to carry 2 breathalyzer kits in your car.

[Blue Collar Guy]

[QUOTE=Alan;1916342. You are also required to carry 2 breathalyzer kits in your car.[/QUOTE]

I think this is awesome. It gives the driver another chance to maybe not kill someone.

[Blue Collar Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan . You are also required to carry 2 breathalyzer kits in your car.

I think this is awesome. It gives the driver another chance to maybe not kill someone.

[Lakewood90712]

Let go to a bench warrant. They will have Interpol on you in a few days , might send agents to arrest you and fly you back to see a judge.-free airfare for a second vacation. Maybe even get you on the no fly list

[Moemg]

I was going to send you my leftover euros to help pay for your fine but I remembered I am trading them in Cuba for Cuc's so I can buy some cigars and Rum.

[NW-Bound]

Thank you. It's the thought that counts, as they say.

Hmmm... Maybe I could raise some money with GoFundme, so that I could go back to Aachen to pay in person. Too bad the fine money is already deposited into the police account, as Transferwise advised via email. Oh well, next time then.

[NW-Bound]

I received another foreign letter in the mail. Wife handed it to me, saying that perhaps it was the receipt from the German police in Aachen.

Nope! It's from Switzerland. Arghh!!!

Yep, another speeding ticket. This one is from the police in Basel. The letter is addressed to Phoenix, AZ, France with Zip Code of 00000, same as the earlier German ticket. And same as with the earlier letter, the excellent cooperation of the French and US Postal Offices ensures that the letter gets in my hand.

I opened it up and read it. This one is also in French. It has no copy of the radar photo like the German letter. It says I was clocked doing 68 km/hr (42 mph) in a 60 km zone (37 mph) on an Autobahn. After deducting 3 km/hr for margin of error, they determined that I oversped by 5 km/hr (3 mph).

Hence, the fine shall be 20 Swiss Franc, or US$ 21. The letter includes a voucher for my convenience. All I have to do is to fill in the number of my preferred credit card, and mail it back to them.

My wife said I should pay it, and I will. The trip was more than 2 months ago. Are there more foreign tickets coming my way? Sigh...

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I received another foreign letter in the mail. Wife handed it to me, saying that perhaps it was the receipt from the German police in Aachen. Nope! It's from Switzerland. Arghh!!! Yep, another speeding ticket. This one is from the police in Basel. The letter is addressed to Phoenix, AZ, France with Zip Code of 00000, same as the earlier German ticket. And same as with the earlier letter, the excellent cooperation of the French and US Postal Offices ensures that the letter gets in my hand. I opened it up and read it. This one is also in French. It has no copy of the radar photo like the German letter. It says I was clocked doing 68 km/hr (42 mph) in a 60 km zone (37 mph) on an Autobahn. After deducting 3 km/hr for margin of error, they determined that I oversped by 5 km/hr (3 mph). Hence, the fine shall be 20 Swiss Franc, or US$ 21. The letter includes a voucher for my convenience. All I have to do is to fill in the number of my preferred credit card, and mail it back to them. My wife said I should pay it, and I will. The trip was more than 2 months ago. Are there more foreign tickets coming my way? Sigh...

Wow! I would send them a postal money order so that in case you owe some other government money for the illegal acts, they won't bill your credit card.

[explanade]

Administrative overhead may be more than the fine.

Normal car rental agency would charge you twice that for looking up their rental records to give your address to the authorities.

[Scrapr]

We were driving across Europe in April after picking up "my" Volvo at the factory. The factory loaded US maps on the navigation so I had to go out and get a Garmin. The really nice thing about the Garmin is that the speed zones were displayed. And a few speed cameras

Really helped with speed zones changing. Only got flashed once (in Germany) for poking along in the hammer lane

No tickets have arrived yet

[Bestwifeever]

That almost sounds like a scam--who did you rent the car from? Hope that's the end of the tickets!

OTOH When we left London our very worried pre-arranged driver had to pick us up in a bus stop lane (no busses were there) and said he would be getting a camera-generated parking ticket--law enforcement cameras are everywhere and the photos are probably difficult to appeal, if that is even an option.

[Fermion]

It would be a sophisticated rental car scam since they had a photo of him driving for the first ticket. I suggest using Uber on your next trip :-)

[explanade]

Uber is being pushed out of many countries and cities.

Or are never in some like Spain.

[Bestwifeever]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fermion It would be a sophisticated rental car scam since they had a photo of him driving for the first ticket. I suggest using Uber on your next trip :-)

See, I read this "I opened it up and read it. This one is also in French. It has no copy of the radar photo like the German letter." to mean there was no copy of the radar photo. Perhaps I am too cynical.

We drive in Europe every year or so--we could get a ticket for going too slow

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever That almost sounds like a scam--who did you rent the car from? Hope that's the end of the tickets! OTOH When we left London our very worried pre-arranged driver had to pick us up in a bus stop lane (no busses were there) and said he would be getting a camera-generated parking ticket--law enforcement cameras are everywhere and the photos are probably difficult to appeal, if that is even an option.

Both of my tickets came directly from the police. The 1st one from German police in Aachen, and that 2nd one from Swiss police in Basel.

The car leasing agency is not involved at all, as the police had my address from the French registration record (hence the letters were in French).

[BigNick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Speaking of pedestrians on the street, I saw that Italian drivers were respectful of pedestrians in a crosswalk; if they saw someone about to step off the sidewalk at a marked crossing, they stopped. Not so with the French drivers in some cities. In fact, in Strasbourg, I saw a crossing that required two traffic cops waving hand-held stop signs to make motorists stop. That's terrible! OK, I found the photo that I took. The ASVP on their vests means "Agent de Surveillance de la Voie Publique", which means "Traffic Warden on Public Road". Note the speed limit painted on the road: 30 km/hr (19 mph). If motorists drove really that slow, they would not have problem stopping for pedestrians.

The reason there are two people there to help people across the road is that there is an elementary school opposite the restaurant and bar, which you can see on Street View here. I'm guessing that you were there at the start or end of classes for the day; the ASVP turn up then to make sure the kids cross the road safely. That's also why that particular zone (Quai Finkwiller) has a 30km/h limit - however, some French cities are bringing in that limit much more widely.

[NW-Bound]

Ah, I guess you could locate the spot on Google Map using the name of the restaurant: Fins Mets Gourmands.

Isn't the Web great? One can find out almost anything.