French 80kmh limits

[daveuprite]

Hey Davey, some one told me twas an emissions thing reducing speed, that's how the politicians got it through parliament..

Yeah, that's right - emissions was definitely a strong factor too. And it would work to an extent, IF everyone kept to the limit. 80kmh is about where most ICE engines in top gear are most economical, so it should make an impact. The GJs and the vandalised cameras have rather kyboshed the plan for now.

Myself, I don't really care about a lower limit. But that's because I am almost never in a hurry to get anywhere, and I long ago gave up the idea that driving a car on straight roads at traffic speeds was any fun at all.

Overtaking on a sports bike before piling into a series of knee-sliding sweepers - now that's different .

[simonw]

The problem is that the main policy response governments use to address road accidents is to lower speed limits. It's a dim-witted and simplistic response to a complex issue <snip>

So true. But who wants better training, better (regular?) testing, thorough policing? It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the UK government moved to ban gun ownership after Hungerford, and then again after Dunblane, following the deaths of 34 people, and yet year in year out thousands of people are killed or seriously injured on the roads and the government....puts up more speed cameras and introduces more speed limits.

[SteveR]

still enforcing the speed limits around the mayenne area ( north west) finned for only a couple klm over . Brits over here with UK plates think there safe ! oops think again. respect the speed limits , no problem

More like the GB sticker acts like a target roundel for Les flics to home in on.....

Like most riders, I do pay attention to limits, but the idea of sticking to 80kph on those long, empty N and D roads makes me shudder... It was bad enough some times sitting at 92kph with locals blatting past.

[WillS]

Most of the roadside radar have been damaged beyond repair, by the men in "Yellow Vests" in SW France !!
Most of the fixed speed cameras still have a warning sign before the radar.
Best to ride around the Pyrenees, haven't seen any speed cameras there!!
As people above have said, it seems the majority have gone back to the old ways 90+ km/h.
Went for the first ride last weekend and never went above 80 km/h
Just enjoy the ride Steve !!

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[daveuprite]

but the idea of sticking to 80kph on those long, empty N and D roads makes me shudder

Yeah too right. Terribly dull on a bike, especially pretty much anything with over 50 bhp. Imagine riding a ZZR1400 at a constant 80kmh - agony.

But when it comes to cars, you just stick the cruise control on and crank up the sounds. The problem is that the limit changes too often. On my local N-road (the N147 between Limoges and Poitiers), it goes from 50kmh in villages, up to 70 on the way out of settlements, then the new limit of 80 where it's single carriageway, and then 90 where it's dual carriageway. You end up setting, resetting and resuming your cruise control all the time. Cameras are only sometimes located where you could seriously justify them for safety reasons, and sometimes hidden behind bridge uprights etc - which is the worst kind of foul play. It's quite possible to get a speeding ticket not because you really wanted to speed but simply because you didn't knock off your cruise in time or accelerated out of town a little bit too quickly.

Meantime a nobhead in a beaten up citroen can overtake you within the legal speed limit into the rising sun just before a left hand bend while lighting a fag, watching a film and scratching their arse...

[WillS]

The crazy thing is the 3 lane D road, (the old centre lane for overtaking) 90 km/h on the two lane and 80 km/h on the single lane in the opposite direction!!
Find this a bit illogical if the reason for 80 km/h is safety !!!

[SteveR]

The crazy thing is the 3 lane D road, (the old centre lane for overtaking) 90 km/h on the two lane and 80 km/h on the single lane in the opposite direction!!
Find this a bit illogical if the reason for 80 km/h is safety !!!

Totally barking...

[catcitrus]

My father in law, who has long since passed, was a police advanced driving instructor in North Wales----and he was VERY fast and VERY safe--never allowed conversation or a radio in the car--he hated double white lines for example and reckoned that they caused more accidents because people simply switch off their awareness etc---I think my trail bike is the only suitable transport for France now--and even on that its possible to do more than 50 mph!--I will leave out France for a destination this year until common sense returns.

[WillS]

Not sure they will increase back to 90 km/h Steve.
Take the ferry to Santande Steve, Spain has reduced the limits from 100 km/h to 90 km/h, and no where near the amount of speed cameras. Better still get the bike shipped down by Tony Barker (EuroBikeTrans) to Spain and take a cheap flight, think the cost is almost the same, and far less km on the trail bike.
Those great Spanish Trails are waiting for you
Anyway, it's only 1 hr for me to cross into Spain over the fantastic roads of the Pyrenees.

[daveuprite]

-I will leave out France for a destination this year until common sense returns.

No, there's no reason for doing that. France is still one of the very best countries to ride a bike. Those who live here know well that laws in France are a kind of loose guide, and many of them are introduced with no real intention to police them. While the main means of control remains fixed robot speed cameras, those of us who want to 'crack on' needn't worry too much. With a few exceptions you are generally warned that a camera is coming up, and of course modern GPS points them out anyway. What I outlined above are irritations, certainly not reasons to by-pass France.

What would be much worse, from a 'getting away with speeding' point of view, would be an increase in random hand-held radar traps - which are almost always placed where it is too late to slow down in time. At the moment Les Flics are far too occupied elsewhere to mount any such offensive.

I can still leave my house on a bike, hoon about on well-surfaced D-roads for a couple of hours, and return without having seen a single camera, gendarme or anything you could even vaguely describe as traffic.

And then there's the trails. Thousands of miles of unrestricted dirt, on which you will never encounter an angry voice or a no-entry sign - a paradise for greenlaners.