American Reacts to More Differences Driving in Europe (France) VS The USA
Vložit
- čas přidán 3. 07. 2024
- Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @iwrocker
original - - • driving in france: wha...
TIP JAR - - - - - SuperThanks Button :)
This will help improve the channel greatly, New webcam for better videos, Wheel for the hotlaps, or you can just buy me a cold drink 😎 I APPRECIATE YOU
Send us Stuff!! 😋 IWrocker 5225 Harrison Ave PO box # 6145
Rockford, IL 61125
Discord - - IWrocker CZcams - - / discord
LIKE and Subscribe! Join One of the BEST & wholesome Communties on CZcams, with tons of Variety in content for You to Enjoy.
*TimTam collection Record Holder
*Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS
I wish people would label these videos “The difference between France and the USA” or similar. These observations are not universal across Europe.
For some reason it seems to be mostly France when they write Europe but when it's Germany they write Germany
Yes, you don't see many cars parked in the street here in Croatia.
The French are a strange people and many things different to the rest of Europe just like their cars once were, some brilliant and quirky at the same time.
@@tonys1636 "once were"? They still are very odd compared to most other manufacturers, maybe not to the same extremes as they used to be but...
TOTALLY agree, americans really need to stop generalizing the entire continent like that
France vs USA. Not Europe.
Well, it's pretty similar in all the EU. Since decades the road "things" are unifying inside the EU. We have an European license, an European standard of signes, an European road safety policy etc. The EU has the aim to halves the fatal road accidents by 2030 and reduce them to 0 by 2050. Today, EU roads are the safest in the world, also thanks to EU policies.
@@nicoladc89 Yeah you've clearly never driven from the Netherlands to Belgium or the other way around. There's no such thing as EU roads. The road signs are also not a Europe thing. They differ from country to country, most differences are small enough so you could easily tell what they're meant to explain. If you go to Japan, most road signs look similar as well. So definitely not a Europe thing.
@@dirksplithof3174 the Road signs are very very very very very similar in all the EU countries that follow the Vienna convention on Road Traffic:
Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary and Ukraine.
Man, it's time for you to come and visit Europe and experience it for yourself. Being here is better than just watching videos.
These mini cars even have motorcycle license plates. They are vehicles for cities. They have very small displacements, I think they can go up to 125 CC, but I'm not sure. In Portugal we call "they eat reform". Many retirees who, after a certain age, have difficulty renewing their license, buy this type of car for their day-to-day use. These cars have circulation restrictions, they are only for cities.
Is there anything done all over the world that Americans aren't baffled by?
Eating burgers. 🤔But I think they would be over the look of the burgers, though. J/K Americans, its the same for everyone, but with different things of course.
@@GoldenCroc And the contents of those burgers. Real meat, real bread.
I think they are simply baffled by the concept that a world outside the USA actually exists.
Don't worry the rest of the world is baffled how Americans voted for Biden and probably vote for him again
Friendly fire
In the Netherlands, speed cameras have a error margin of 4 km/h. This is intended to reduce unjustified fines for speed fluctuations and any calibration deviations in the speedometer. And yes, the cameras are always on, so it's important to pay attention to your speed, especially if you know that a speed camera is coming based on signs, your navigation or personal experience. Although it's often already clear because all the traffic suddenly starts driving suspiciously calm and neatly below the speed limit.😂
PS: If you were wondering how that works with emergency vehicles, since they obviously have to be able to drive above the speed limit. Well that's pretty simple. The control room knows when an emergency service vehicle is on its way to an urgent report. If an emergency service vehicle is automaticly ticketed during the period in which it is registered as "on route to an urgent call" (Code A0/U0 (CPR) or A1/U1 (Acute Life Threat)), the ticket will be waived. If the emergency service vehicle isn't registered at dispatch with an emergency call and is instead registered as "on route to a 'non-life-threatening' call" (Code A2/U2, B1/U3, B2/U4 or C1-2/U5) and therefore has to apply "appropriate urgency" (no flashing lights and sirens, but usually still as quick as safely and lawfully posible), a potential fine is simply for the driver. So even emergency services have to watch out. Although in many cases these tickets can still be waived, as long as your supervisor likes you.😂 And the regular police would almost never give another emergency service vehicle a ticket, unless you really messed up for no good reason.
Keep in mind that there are many more rules and many nuances to those rules, emergency services have to follow, much much more than I can explain here. Also I'm an "Emergency-Doctors Ambulance" driver in the Netherlands, hence why I know this. ;)
In France, they have no error margin. This is why there are so many fines for an excess speeding under 5 km/h. They are just cash machines.
Yeah I always laugh about the fact that people whine about the fact that they got fined for 2 km over the limit while they drove in reality 6 km too fast with an error margin of a small percentage. In reality with the deviation of their own speedometer they would have done well over 60 on it to get a ticket😂
@@eelco1982 Facts😂
in addition, if you get a fine/ ticket, with a letter, you can download the picture of your car, speeding. fun...
@@AngelinaJolie734There is accually a 5km/h margin in France, there was a time where I drove at 53km/h instead of 50km/h in front of a speed camera and nothing happend.
Hello, I'm from Poland, here the police still use speed cameras, placed in civilian versions of police cars, to catch people breaking the rules. They immediately write tickets.
I think they do in the Netherlands as well. At least I'm still cautious when passing by a civilian car parked in a suspicious spot, or a typical spot where an incognito police car would be parked with a camera.
I was on vacation in Poland last week and saw a lot of police hand radars, but this was on weekend, on weekdays did not see any, but still Poland is the king of static radar cameras, You cannot drive through it without having a speed camera in every village 😂.
@@marisjansons5022I'm just glad they're all bright colored and announced with a street sign, in Poland. In the Netherlands there's some that are literally hidden within guard rails 😅
She did forgot speed bumps! Depends on country, but driving in cities in UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, etc. you will sometimes get a speed bump every 100 meter to keep you going slow.
In Germany, for example, you are required to use official number plates on your car (front and back).
This also has to do with the fact that the vehicle can be recorded by the radar camera.
This means that the number plate is always included in the "speed camera photos" and a good picture of the driver so that he cannot deny having driven. The number plate is then used to officially register the owner of the vehicle, and this is how you get the ticket...The tolerance for speed cameras is three km/h, and everything is measured at all times.
And you will get no official stamped number plate without a proof of insurance.
And if you don't pay your insurence fees, officials came and close down your vehicle by removing the official seal from your license plate.
In France, the sidewalk parking is usually found in smaller cities, villages etc. They are still defined parking bays, but you are meant to park half the car on the road and half on the sidewalk. However, as soon as there is enough space, regular on-street parking is normal.
the small cars are 50cc you need, like a scooter license. In Portugal you need to have the insurance and the inspection of the car on the windshield. until 2023
In the netherlands it is the same, Canta is used as slang for them here as well, but it is a brand
true in the Netherlands its the same.
They're not 50cc, they have 500cc twin cylinder diesel tractor engines.
@@module79l28 here in Portugal they are 50cc because if they have more then that is considered a normal car and you need the same type of driving license. exists 500cc but i don´t know very much about them.
As far as I know, they are not usually 50cc, but quite a lot more. Like 2 cylinder 400cc diesel for example. However, they do fall under the same rules as 50cc "mopeds" in most places for what speed and roads they can do and use.
I totally agree with the laws that say your not allowed to hold or touch your phone whilst driving, yet authorities allow car makers to put so many of a cars features on a touch screen - where with some cars you literally have to look at the screen and scroll to do simple things like change the fan speed on the hvac. (No wonder modern cars have to have stuff like lane assist and automatic braking built in!).
There was a case in Germany in 2020 where a Tesla driver triggered an accident in rain - while trying to adjust the speed of the swipe intervals via the touchscreen.
The courts final instance found him guilty of being distracted by an electronic device which lead to the accident.
The court also noted that the car manufacturer shouldn't have hidden this setting somewhere in the touchscreen menues in the first place and is basicly to blame. But this didn't help the drivers case of being distracted while driving.
Vital functions need to be easy accessible via switches or levers - which is more important than a good looking aesthetic of the interior (Tesla's comment to the matter).
@@jjosz9565 Wiper switches has to be done as physical devices in cars that want to be legalized in the EU.
@@altblechasyl_cs2093 Someone should tell Tesla - their wipers are operated via the touchscreen…
@@jjosz9565 As far as I know, many car manufacturers have corresponding switches on the steering wheel , apart from the standard settings, such as lights, indicators, all windshield wipers(+volume, station search, telephone connection, etc.)
However, this often depends on the desired equipment.
@@jjosz9565 Tesla is pure shit. I'm just waiting for capable car companies, who make cars and not poorly assembled plastic toys, to eat it up.
Hi. Eastern European here, i'm driving trucks (lorries) in UK. It's funny with miles/kilometers. Let me explain. Speedometers are in miles, some of them use both mph and km/h. Tachograps (similar to ELD's) are in km/h and because EU domestic laws, trucks are limited to 90 km/h, 56 mph. However, UK motorway speed limit it's 60 mph, around 96 km/h. I like to put my satnav in km and meters because i don't like guidance in yards. Then when i'm completing my shift documents they ask for "start kilometers" then "finnish kilometers" and then next box it's "mileage" so we reffer to how much we drive as mileage but we write the distance in kilometers. 😅
Also about speed cameras. In UK rarely i saw speed traps, like cops holding the radar. We got camera vans and another following cop come after you or you just get photos and fine at your address the following weeks. Also the motorways got fixed speed cameras and average speed cameras. On smart motorway the speed limit it's announced on the displays from the gantries.
If you speeding let's say 76 mph in a 70 mph limit, you might do one speed awarness course, you pay for it. If you do more you get points and fine. Every offence it's 3 points. They stay on your license 3 years. At 12 points or more you are disqualified. If you are a new driver and in your first 2 years you get 6 points you lose your licence. Also we got some codes like "DD" and this means "dangerous driving". You don't want this on your license. Your insurance get more expensive. Also with 6 points or more it's very hard to get accepted as a truck driver at most of the companies.
Also speaking about pickups, in UK at least they become more and more used as a daily car. Ford Ranger it's very popular. Also imported F150 or similar. I see at least1-2 each week.
Damn, that's was a long comment. 😂
Many of these videos having a "Europe vs US" theme are actually more "some country in Europe vs USA". For example: sidewalk parking is a bit of a French thing I think. Here in The Netherlands and in Germany, most parking spaces are on the side of the road. We even have a sign that states that you have to park on the sidewalk. We also have small cars where you don't need a car driver's licence. Here in NL, you need a moped license to drive one, and you have to follow moped rules in general. France has the most roundabouts per kilometer of road of all European countries, maybe even the world. And there are a lot more differences like this. Of course, general rules like roundabouts, traffic signs, yielding etc. are very different compared to the US, but more specific rules exist for different countries in Europe.
At least Parisians have improved their parallel parking skills and no longer forcefully park in too small a space.
In Germany there are many streets where you can park half or even full on sidewalks. It`s signposted,, also. Cars driven without licence go max. 45kmh and are forbidden on all Autobahns and other freeways. This also applies to mopeds that do not go faster than 60 km/h.
Well, TBH the street rules are pretty similar in all the EU, also because it would be stupid to have very different rules and habits with the European driving licence.
You missed the white lines forming a rectangle on the sidewalks where cars can park.
Or the are signs to show it’s permitted.
The Netherlands has almost 4000 roundabouts
even hands-free calling while driving can have the same effect on your driving as driving intoxicated.
If someone's incapable of safely talking and driving they shouldn't be on the road in the first place imo.
Speed cameras are easy. you speed 5+ over the limit and get your photo in the mail/e-mail with the amount you have to pay. Up to 20km over is just a fine you have to pay, above that things start to get more criminal.
Cops do set up speed traps but mobile vans and static cameras are far more common. Average speed cameras are getting more common too, especially in the uk
The only country that uses miles per hr is the UK and they drive on the left, so there isn't much cross-over and remembering that 30mph-50kph, 40-60, 50-80, 60-100, 75-120 isn't too hard(not exact but close enough).
You can driver a ‘sans permit’ car at age 14 in France without a licence. In the rest of Europe, you need to be 16 and have at least a moped licence.
That's not true, in Sweden it's 15 and I'm sure other countries have different rules too.
Edit: I guess the moped licence might but correct, but at the very least the age is not universial.
In sweden that are Sometimes normal Cars with Limited Speed i saw a BMW in my holydays there
@@reiseleeze225 Oh sweet summer child, some people even make them out of semi-trucks. Google lastbil a-traktor
I have Google IT after i See them
Those vehicles have small engine (only 50 cm^3) and they are limited to 45 km/h. But I know a guy who tuned one and who was able to reach 100 km/h with it.
In Europe you can't turn right on a red light, but in some places there's an additional "always blinking yellow" traffic light on the right side, so you CAN turn right there because technically it's not a red light.
Here in the UK the police know if you are insured, road taxed, etc. Their patrol cars are fitted with ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) systems. Their cameras are linked to a central computer system that will instantly flag any vehicle that it passes if there is something amiss. They really are sneaky bastards.
Happy 4th of July Ian.
So that's how it is now in France as of April. My insurance company sent me a letter with my renewal to tell me so.
Finland, too. Insurance, tax, missed or rejected MOT check (car condition inspection).
In Slovakia they automatically fine you when your STK (MOT/TÜV) expires, they don't even have to see you on the road. If you need to be without one for some time (e.g. you had a crash and want to keep it in your yard until you have money for repairs), you need to submit a request to temporarily suspend the registration.
@@kepanoid same in Italy, well to be honest the data are public, everybody can know the status of a car (insurance, car inspections, taxes, km at the last car inspections, emission standard etc.) just checking online.
Sweden have 2500 speed cameras. But there is also normal police controls randomly, speed, alcohol and driving license.
I am deeply ashamed that speed cameras are a Dutch invention, I am sorry..... really really sorry.
@@buddy1155 🤣
@@buddy1155 Why am I not amazed.
Over 7000 thousands speed cameras in uk
Got caught speeding (not much) by a camera a couple of months ago. First time in 41 years of driving.
Parking on the sidewalk is theoretically not allowed in France, but it's rarely enforced
Germans have a special sign for places where sidewalk parking is allowed, it simply shows a white car parking on the curb on a blue background.
@@cnikkor It is also the only thing in German STVO, that differs from the standard 3.5 tons weight limit, 2.8 tons to be specific.
Don't do that in Denmark you WILL get a fine, 70 EURO no mater if it's the sidewalk or bicycle path
It's allowed in certain circumstances in France
On the sidewalk if you're gonna be in traffic you can park on the sidewalk. Doesn't matter anyways cuz people will hit you anyways. My car has been hit like 5x parked by my apartment building in the street.
In Germany, if you pass your drivers license practical exam on an automatic shifted car, you get a remark in your drivers license "Is only allowed to drive automatic shifted cars". Therefore, everybody learns driving on a manual, to avoid this restriction. And if you've learned how to, and the manual ones are cheaper, ...
Speed cameras are not just there to punish people for speeding, they definitely do, but just having speed cameras everywhere prevents speeding in the first place (at least too some degree) especially on unfamiliar roads.
I often see them right before schools or other places where a lot of pedestrians might be to simply slow down traffic and make it safer environment for everyone.
You know: The speedlimit drops down to like 30kmph and then you get a speedcamera to ensure everyone is slowing down because there is a high school or whatever.
Initially that was the plan. Now they are just there to make money. They are actually lowering the speed, taking away speed bumps and bend to slow down traffic and put up average speed camera’s. And with the new rule the fines go to the issuing towns and their partners). The real speeders/criminals tend to drive with cloned license plates…
11:53 not really weird as the entire world (except USA, UK, Myanmar and Liberia) uses metric, mph being the odd ones out lol. That being said, newer cars such as my c7 a6 with digital displays usually do have the option to switch to mph on the digital speedo if you so desire.
in germany, you need to watch your speed and never go over the limit.
"accidentally" speeding up (eg downhill) is your own fault and no excuse.
on measurements, there is a tolarance of 3% for 100+ km/h, and 3 km/h for speeds below 100 km/h.
(radar can be set to some lower cap to not get too many minor violations which cause more administration than fines earn,
but don't count on it: i once got a ticket for driving 1 km/h too fast; measured 54 minus 3 tolarance, limit in towns is 50)
fines: up to "10 over" costs 20€ out of town and 30€ in town, up to "15 over" is 40€/50€, and up to "20 over" is 60€/70€.
it starts getting really bad for "21+ over": then you also get 1-2 penalty points (towards losing the license),
and for "31+ over" you get a driving prohibition of 1-3 months, and the fines increase too, eg 700€/800€ for "70+ over"
which would be 121+ in town, 171+ on country roads, or 201+ in a 130 zone on the Autobahn.
special rule : intentionally speeding (racing or driving 40% over the limit) can double or even triple these fines.
summary: with bad luck you get a fine already for "1 over", but for up to "20 over" there are only "cheap" fines without points/prohibition,
unless you have an accident, drive drunk, or are a repeat offender. _(disclaimer: not an attorney, and circumstances may cause variations)_
In Finland the speed cameras only "catch" you if you are going over the speed limit by about 5-10kph (depending on the speed limit) because of the tolerances in speedometers and the radar systems, but our fines are much bigger. Our fining systems is income baced and the more you earn the more you pay. Even then the minimum fine in up to 60kph zone is 100€ and in zones above 60 kph the minimum fine is 70€.
You should look for a video of why trucks and large suv's are so popular over there.. hint, it's not cos they are "cool", more like taxes are lower.
Add to that why they are so much worse for the roads (unsafe, large, inefficient) and why they are treated differently to normal cars(lobbying)..
Aaand then why there is mandated so much parking and that public transit is so looked down on I know someone that was fired for not having a car to get to work when there was a bus. (More lobbying)
Sooo strange.
13:50 Ours is digital and in the cloud, but you can get a printed A4 if you are planning a trip outside of Finland.
In the uk police cars are fitted with ANPR cameras meaning Automatic Number Plate Recognition that can get you from the Front or rear and let police officers know if your speeding or car has a MOT and Insurance and name of ownership
You do know about those microcars for which you don't need a car driving license. You did a reaction video on the Citroën Ami!
French cops also have mobile speed cameras and you can talk on the phone while driving as long as you have a hands-free set up. The insurance sticker is a French thing and doesn't apply across Europe.
That registration and insurance was interesting and quite different than here in Norway. You need the registration certificate in the car, but you can't get the plates and the registration unless the car is insured. Reason is its all tied into each other so its impossible to get one without the other. They have cameras that read plates and automatically flag a car if something is missing. Even the bi-annual inspection that is required in Europe.
Same in Germany
So in Portugal, last year, they installed 16 new speed cameras and on the first day, those 16 cameras caught drivers worth 1M € in citations (~ 50€ - 120€ each). This year there will be 25 new speed cameras. Most of them are in highways and they introduced a few years ago average speed cameras that track your speed in a section of 2Km or so.
I’m from Portugal, window sticker for the insurance its not mandatory for a year or two, police cars can scan your plate and know all the details, including if it has an insurance. But you must have an insurance proof in the car.
One thing not mentioned in the video is that in Europe you must drive on the right on hygways, no matter the number of lanes. This makes transit flow more easily, in the US it seems that everybody drives were it wants.
about cops, cops are for catching criminals, for catching traffic violators(speeding etc) we have automated radars
You just get a lovely letter in mail to tell how much you own or if too bad to bring you licence back.
When I travelled through Italy, I noticed they use a huge amount of traffic cops during rush hour rather than traffic lights. It's ridiculously efficient. Just think of all the times that a turn signal has been too long or too short, the time you've spent at a red light when no one was on the crossing road, the tens of pedestrians waiting for only a few cars to drive past.
Traffic cops eliminate much of that wasted time and make the roads SO much more efficient. It also causes drivers to be cognizant of their surroundings and drive safely around the police officer, instead of just blasting through an intersection obliviously. Traffic cops are amazing.
A hell of a lot more useful than having an officer stand by the highway with a radar gun.
Here in Belgium the speed cameras have an 8 km/h tolerance margin above the speed limit. So if you get flashed at 130 km/h, while the speed limit on the highway is 120 km/h, the speed is adjusted to 122 km/h. That is a 60.00 € fine which is sent straight to the licence plate owner.
In the UK a few things are similar.
Your registration, insurance and mot is all digital mostly now and the police just need the licence plate to check and cameras use anpr to check vehicles that have been flagged and at petrol stations. You used to have to show a tax disc in the windscreen but this was abolished a while ago now.
Roundabout are everywhere.
Manual is more common typically, and if you pass your test on automatic you cannot drive Manual.
There are very few toll roads.
There are scars that you just need a motorcycle licence for. Typically unless it is a pushbike you need a licence for everything that goes on the the road, which some exceptions.
These "sans permis" cars are pretty much a french thing. They are not registered as a car, it's a "quadricyle".
Funfact : because of regulations on engine capacity, they usually run on diesel.
And no, the smart car isn't one of them. One car that proved popular in this segment us the Citroën Ami, which is electric and cheaper than the diesel cars already for sale.
About the "carte grise" and "vignette verte" it was unclear on the video.
"Vignette verte" it's an insurance proof that is no longer mandatory because it's now linked to the number plate, just like in other countries.
There's another "vignette", it's for the technical inspection.
The "carte grise" is simply the "id" of the vehicle. In france it looks like a piece of paper but it's more "adhanced" in other countries.
Also, it's been said in a lot of other comments, but it's France, not Europe.
(And yes, parking on the sidewalk is strictly forbidden, but on specific streets, we do it, when there's enough room)
About speed cameras : their presence depends of the kind of road and the region you're in. If you're on a quiet road in a rich "département" (county), there can be one, it's much less probable in a poorer one. But it really depends. (Of course on bigger roads there are more speed cameras).
We have a little tolerance of like 5 km/h, because your speedometer can be a little off.
We have speed cameras in Canada, generally the camera is set 10km - 20km over the speed limit. It takes a picture of the car including the licence plate, a police officer reviews the images, and writes the ticket, you then get it in the mail a couple of weeks later. I would expect the mechanism in Europe is the same.
About speed control: there are two kinds of speed cameras. One checks the 'instant speed' of the vehicle and takes you a nice picture you receive at home together with the fine for you to pay throu home banking or ATM. The othe system is 'mean speed' meaning then the camera takes you a picture (a virtual one) as you pass the first check point and at a second check point the same procedure. Then the system verifies if your speed is lower/equal than the max speed for the area. If you exceed that limit, as I told before, you will get a nice pic and the fine. The procedure is full automatic and you will have no officer at place to blame or cry for mercy. About where you will be controlled: there are two options. the radars can be installed in a known place (you can see where they are installed, using google maps) or by road signs (as the one you saw) or mobile ones installed randomly and lasting one or two days in place. Nowadays the places where the mobile units are installed are publicised.
The cars without license are basically 50cc scooters with 4 wheels and a car body. In Italy the insurance certificate was abolished 10 years ago, the police know if you are insured simply by checking your license plate (well, everybody can know if a car is insured by checking the license plate online).
There is currently a huge issue around where I live. The cars are being parked at least with 2 wheels on the side walk. And there was just recently a court decision that municipallities have to actually enforce the law when it comes to parking on the sidewalk. The law requires about 5 feet of sidewalk being available to pedestrians and currently, with all the cars being parked on the sidewalk it sometimes is just about 2 feet.
So, technically it's OK to park on the sidewalk, but not when blocking the sideways or reducing the space available below 5 feet.
And of course, the car owners are up in rage, because they might loose 'their' free parking space.
Things you need to do as a European when driving abroad
1. Speed limits in your guest country
2. the meaning of certain road markings (some countries have special markings for no parking zones, being igorant of those can be expensive)
3. "environment zones" or "low emission zones" or things like those. Do you need a sticker when entering certain cities (the sticker may differ by country, France requires a different one than Germany, for example) or if your car is old do you even need to keep out.
4. are there road tolls and if so, how to pay them and when?
5. any special rules that differ from your country's? (how to navigate a multilane roundabout, who has priority on a grade, does the driver with the obstacle on their side have to wait or does the descending driver generally have to yield to the one driving upwards, is driving with the lights on mandatory even during the day, etc
If you know all these, you should generally be fine in any country.
And parking regulations for each town you will be parking in. Some places make it really complicated with about 7 or 8 different zones with different allowed parking hours, days and tariffs.
In The Netherlands there's a mixture of fixed speed cameras, usually on roads where many people start speeding when there's no camera. Then there's the mobile speed cameras which are mounted in unmarked vans on side roads. You get a ticket if you're speeding, and the amount depends on how much you've been speeding. They default substract 4 km/h from the observed speed. If you go twic the speedlimit they will come to your house and depending on the court trial (no, no ticket...), will impound your car and take in your driver's license so you can't drive until the trial date. It's then up to the judge how long to suspend your driver's license. Gross violations can lead to permanent suspensions and forfeiting your car so you can't drive at all, in combination with prison sentence.
The small cars you don't need a license for are technically mopeds. They have at best a small cylinder two-stroke engine and were developed from mopeds with a cover. They are basically 1-seater vehicle or very tight-fitting two-seater vehicle, and are mostly used by people with mobility impairments and elderly people, at least in The Netherlands. They are not comparable to a Smart as a Smart is complete car with a far higher speed limit. In The Netherlands slow-moving traffic has a different ruleset and access than fast-moving traffic. bicycles, mopeds, 45 km/h vehicles, agricultural traffic, pedestrians on one hand, and cars, motorcycles and heavy goods vehicles / semi-trucks on the other hand. Notice that difference is speed, not mass.
For the fast moving vehicles you need driver's licenses which come in different types. There's one for motorcycles, one for cars and motorcycles, one for busses, one for trucks. These types will be notified on your driver's license, so when a cop asks for your license they can immediately see what vehicles you are allowed to drive. Having a fast-speed driver's license automatically entitles you to drive all the slow-moving vehicles. So if you have a driver's license for a motorcycle or car, you can drive any agricultural vehicle that is roadworthy, on the road without an additional driver's license.
for some of the slow moving vehicles a driver's license is required. There's one for mopeds over 25 but under 45 and one for agricultural machinery. Here you need both licenses if you want to drive both on the road. The moped one also covers the 45 km/h cars and mobility scooters that can go over 25 km/h. Bicycles (so main propulsion is your legs) don't require licenses, even if you can get your bicycle to go past 25 km/h. So a bicycle that you can pedal but has electrical assist: no license. An electric moped with the pedals on for show that can go faster than 25 km/h: license.
I know from some vids that there's a lot of discussion in the USA and the UK on what is a bicycle and what isn't. The Netherlands has always had the speed limit as divider for taking licenses, except for bicycles where the main propulsion is pedalling. The way our trafffic law functions is to make the roads as safe as possible for all users, which is why we tend to differentiate roads in speed rather than type of vehicle. Say there's a road in a build-up area and a bicycle path along side side. In build-up areas the max seed limit for fast-moving vehicles is 30 km/h unless otherwise specified. So it makes much more sense to put the 25 km/h - 45 km/h mopeds on the road, instead of on the bicycle path (where they go outside build-up areas, when the road speed changes to 60 km/h unless otherwise specified). The speed difference between them and the cars is far less than between them and the cyclists. Note: In The Netherlands road racing cycling is an exception, most cyclists go at a far more sedately pace than the men in lycra.
About the stickers: at this moment there is no need to have stickers at the windshield. Both the insurance and the technical check are available to the control authority via internet. It happens the same for your driving license, car ownership certificate, plate, etc. You can present those documents in your phone and they have the same value as the physical counterparts.
In Norway, the insurance is electronically linked to the car's registration plate and the owner of the car is responsible for the car being insured.
Parking on the sidewalk is probably a French thing. If you do that in Sweden you're going to be fined or get the car towed away.
it's strictly speaking not allowed in Germany either, except where it is explicitly authorized by a traffic sign. But it is often tolerated.
I suspect the exact same is true for France.
It's illegal in France too (except explicit signage), people just do it sometimes (not that frequent though), usually it's a local thing like everyone parks on the sidewaly on THAT specific street because God knows why
In Amsterdam it is legal to park your motorbike on the sidewalk, in other cities it is illegal as far as I know.
It's illegal to park on the pavement in Scotland aswell
hell one tyre outside of the parking space and its a good chance of a ticket in sweden
In Poland there is always a road sign saying there's a speed camera ahead, so most of the time people slow down until they pass the camera and then speed up again... But if you're not paying attention you get a flash in the eyes and then receive your photo with a ticket attached to your mailbox.
In The Netherlands, you need a moped or higher license to drive a 45km/h car iirc. They’re usually driven by people who for some reason don’t/can’t drive a regular car (often a disability or something) or people not old enough for a drivers license (16 - 18). There are also people who live in big cities and when most of their travels are within the city, they get one of those instead of a normal car.
On the speed cameras, most in-car navigation systems have a notification system for speed cameras, or you can use apps like “Flits Meister”. Also most speed cameras are quite visible, or sometimes there are signs that indicate there are speed cameras ahead. But mostly the area you live in or routes you travel often, you’ll know where they are after a while. The mobile ones are tricky though, but if you see one, you can report it’s location in an app like Flits Meister, and then other users will be notified when they’re near the one you (or someone else) reported.
For the roundabouts - in some european countries you have to use your blinkers to show when you're going out, (don't get me wrong, you always have to indicate at "your" exit) when you're out at the first exit, indicate right immediately, when you get out at the second, only indicate at the exit and when leaving at the 3rd exit, indicate left when going in and indicate right when leaving. That's not in every country
I'm from Latvia, the speed radar limit error is about 5km, if it is above that You pay depending on how fast You were going. Also our car registration as a laminated little plastic card, but now everything is in centralized database, so it is checked electronically, which speed cameras also do - so if You forget to pay for Your car insurance or do not have yearly inspections done, You get 500€ fine, max up to 5 times.
In Norway, signs inform you that you will soon come to a speed camera, and the same applies where there is a distance measurement. One camera records the time when you passed and the next if you spent too little time on the stretch.
In the Netherlands when you can't drive by Manuel, you can drive automatic driving lesson. The only problem is, when you succeed with the automatic gear lesson, you are NOT allowed to drive manuel cars.
But when you are driving manual, you are allowed to drive automatic cars.
In the UK, we used to have Tax discs on the car windscreen.
To make it cheaper, it’s ALL digital now.
Most speed cameras allow 10 percent margin of error as the speedos, apart from lorries aren’t calibrated.
Lorries are limited to 56 mph.
Hi Ian, I am Australian and recently returned from a 1-month road trip in France, which was awesome. I noticed a few other differences. The streaming of lanes on the freeways/motorways is different to what I am used to in Australia (which I think is similar to the USA). In Australia, everyone drives at more or less the same speeds in the different lanes and sometimes the outside lane can move faster than the inside lane. In France, the slow traffic is in the outside lane, faster traffic in the middle lane and fastest traffic in the inside lane. They are pretty courteous and will move from the inside lane to the middle lane if a faster car is coming up behind them.
Another difference relates to giving way. The give way or stop line is much further from the intersection than in Australia, where it is basically at the intersection. I think thus is because often the sightline are obscured by buildings that go right up to the intersection, so more room is needed for safe viewing. Sometimes, what seems to be obviously the main road in a town has give way or stop signs and a tiny cross road has priority. I think this also relates to difficulty seeing around the corner when there are lots of buildings crowded on the intersection. They also have intersections that don't have a stop or give way side but have a sign with an X on it and I think it means give way to the right.
We have not had physical toll booths in most of Australia for many years now; it is all electronically monitored and paid automatically, so it was surprising that they still have toll lanes where you pay with cash or a credit card. There were lanes for cars with electronic monitoring but they still had to drive through a physical toll structure.
The speed cameras were interesting. In Australia, they are often hidden behind bridges or even rubbish bins but in France, there are signs announcing that there will be a speed ce=amera in 46 km or whatever and then a reminder when it is coming up, so there is no excuse for getting pinged.
In Germany you can tell from the license plate whether the car is insured (front and rear) and when the car has to go to the MOT next time (only in the back). If you do not pay your insurance or vehicle tax, you will get a visit from the office and the seals (stickers) will be removed from your license plate and the car may no longer be driven on the road. By the way, everyone can tell from the letter combination of the first digits in which region or city the owner is registered.
Dotted line on the side is usually a bicycle lane... :)
In Italy there are the traditional speed cameras more common in urban centers but there are also average speed cameras too. The latter are installed in many highway sections even tens of kilometers long (about 40% of all highways is covered) and these take the time of entry and exit in each section and if the time interval is shorter than what is needed to drive that section at the limit speed you get a sanction, or more if your average speed is over the limit in more than 3 sections
In Germany speed cameras measure the speed of every vehicle and take a picture if the speed limit is exceeded. The authorities then deduct a tolerance (3%?) and then impose a fine (or more) if necessary.
The speed cameras in the Netherlands measure the speed of all vehicles. Then they subtract 3% off for 'measuring errors' with a minimum of 3km. If you then are 4km or more over the speed limit you'll get a fine. So on your speedo you'd be well over the limit by then. This process is fully automatic. Fines are about 10 euros per km over (give or take). It can be higher if you pass roadworks for instance. There are mobile checks where a camera on a tripod is used for instance to measure speed. Laser check are pretty rare.
-In Finland we don't have any toll roads, because using a car in here is expensive.
-We also have the small cars in Finland,that are smaller,then a Smart car is,but you need a moped license to drive them.
-In Finland you can park a car in the sidewalk only,if there is a sign,that allows you to do that.That sidewalk parking can be half of the car in the sidewalk or completely on it,but a sign will say how you should do that.With out a sign you must park a car next to the sidewalk and not on it and the front side of the car can be facing both directions of the road in both sides of the road,if it is not a one way street.
-In Finland we dont have any tax or insurance stickers in the cars fron windows,we did have tax stickers a long time ago,but not anymore.
-The Finnish cops will not reguire you to show,them any insurance or vehicle papers with you in the car anymore, because it is not manditory.You can have,them with you. You only need to have a valid drivers license.Finnish cops can see all of your cars information from the cop cars computer.
-Finland does have speed cameras in some places,but not every where.The speed fine can werry depending on the place,where the camera is,it also depends on how much money you get in a month(the same thing with the fines,that you get from cops) and also the speed cameras will also have tolerances on different places where they are and how dangerous the roads are in those areas where they are.
-Finnish cops also use unmarked cars to check speeds on the side of the road,with speed camera cars no hand held devices needed then,they do have them too in here.
-The crazy thing about using a mobile phone when you drive in Finland is this:You can't text or talk in the phone only hands free is allow,but you can drink,eat or do your makeup anyway,when you drive a car.
Here in Spain at least, apart from the fixed radars, when there is a mobile one (in a vehicle) it is usually a camouflaged vehicle or one that has no external signs of being a police vehicle and usually has the radar installed on the front of the car, practically integrated into the bodywork, in many cases
In Sweden we have cars that are called epa, a-traktor and moped car, the first two are often rebuilt and are allowed to go 30 km/h but that has recently change to 45 km/h you need a driver’s license for it and you have a triangle on the back that means that it goes at a slower speed. For the moped car is the same rules as the others, but are built by a a manufacturer and not a rebuilt if I understand it. They don’t necessarily have a license plate on them, I have seen them with a license plate and the triangle or just the triangle.
In Portugal, usually there's a 10% tolerance for the max speed allowed in the type of road you are driving
For Belgium some things are different. There are speed cameras all over Like the closest town close to where I live I easely count 39 speed cameras for a city of 100k people. Yes they are always on and will send you violation digitally to the police. And they have like a 6km/h margin under 100km/h and 6% over 100 km/h we have traffic lights on both side of the intersections close by and also across the intersection. If there is a specific turning lane that passes right of the traffic light and it has no extra light on that lane you can turn right on red but you have to yield offcourse. Only the right lane is for cruising (minimum speed needs to be 75 kh/h) the lanes to the left of that are passing lanes and need to be cleared after overtaking. Those small 25km/h cars need a drivers license here but one for mopeds. So you need to know the traffic rules and pass a written exam and a practical exam. Police still do random speed tests they can use a car with a build in speed cam in the front bumper so you can not see it when you pass or a tripod that is hidden behind a bridge pillar or guard rail. We also have speed enforcement zones where a camera registers you when going in and out of a zone and calculates your average speed. So slowing down for just the camera is no option there. There is offcourse the yearly car inspection for cars older than 4 years. Your car has to be safe to drive on the road so brakes,lights, horn ,tires, .. are annually checked.
In Sweden cops stand by the road with radar guns,, also alot of cameras... In Norway they calc you average speed beteween two cameras so you cant speed after just passed one.. Crazy
3:49 The dotted line usually marks a bike path (or rather side/protection strip), at least here in Germany. So cars on some streets are supposed to park on the sidewalk.
In Finland, you don't need registration, insurance, or inspection papers in your car. The police have this information already. Police cars have automatic license plate scanners also.
3:48 To clarify, those cars are NOT parked on the sidewalk (that is not allowed in France, 135€ fine if you do park on sidewalk). They are parked on parking spots, that are alongside the sidewalk.
5:18 The no-license cars are cars with extremely small engines (think the same engine as a moped, under 50cc). Since they have the same engine as those smallest motorbikes (that can be driven starting at 14 without a license), they are under the same rule, you can drive them without a license (but still need to follow a quick formation, so it's a kind of license...). The "Smart" car is NOT a no-license car, the Smart is heavier and with a bigger engine than those no-license cars.
7:30 For more up-to-date data, in september 2023, there were 42.986 roundabouts in France. Nice to see that you like them, they are indeed very nice and avoid putting a lot of traffic lights, so the traffic is more fluid with them.
11:55 Why would it be weird for the speedometer to only show km/h, and not mph? US is one of the only countries in the world still using miles, so unless it is a car meant to be sold in that specific foreign market, there is no point putting mph on the speedometer, it would only confuse drivers
In UK we have ALOT of speed cameras. We have something called the smart motorways which have variable speed limits depending on traffic and cameras that adjust with it. We usually are allowed 10% over the speed limit to account for mistakes and bad speedometers on older cars but usually if you aren’t being extremely silly you can get away with more.
To the speed cameras: I live near Freiburg im Breisgau in south western Germany and on the main road that crosses the city, there are like 5 (I think) speed cameras over a distance of around 5km. They only get you when you’re like 5 or 10 kph over the limit but sometimes you just don’t look at your asked and boom you’re caught. It happens from time to time but normally nothing happens when you go with the flow of traffic.
I think those cameras are mostly preventative because they’re not hidden at all.
in France, automatic speed cameras are indicated by signs, so it is more a way of making drivers slow down rather than flashing them constantly. Of course there are always people who get fooled.... we have a "points license", and depending on the excess speed we lose more or less points on the license.
The first country that introduced roundabouts at a large scale, was Australia. Later, many regular crossroads in Europe, either with traffic lights or just signs, were transformed to roundabouts.
The tiny cars you don't need a license for usually have a 50 to 80cc engine from a moped, which is kind of weird, because you do need a license to ride a moped when it goes up to 45kph, at least in Belgium.
In Finland, the police in a traffic stop only ask* for the driver's diving license. The automated license plate reader has already pulled the registration information and the mandatory vehicle insurance data from two databases. Some police cars are without a plate reader, in that case the only thing the officers have to do is input the plate manually and the result is the same.
* And of course the breathalyzer screening of everyone, I'd feel cheated if I ever exited a stop without the "a long hard exhalation into the tube until the machine beeps".
About stationary speed cameras : I live in south eastern France, there are lots of them here. They are put on straight roads where they can easily calculate speed. How they work is that when you drive above speed limit, they will take a picture. It will then take your registration plate, find out who owns the vehicle and send a ticket to your house.
The problem with this is that, 80% of the time, the picture does not show who's driving, so technically you can go to court and have it removed if the picture does not show the driver properly.
Police using speed camera is still pretty common because you can't put stationary cameras everywhere, as they tend to be expensive. Right now, it is seen as a massive scam as some places where they put cameras are not dangerous at all or have very few accidents. Patrols and routine checks have become rarer in the last decade, with speeding being the main focus instead of actually stopping cars and seeing if the driver is not drunk and has his license etc...
That's interesting. In Germany you get the ticket with a nice (read atrocious) picture of your face :)
Here in the UK there are 'instantaneous' speed cameras at certain spots and Average Speed Cameras on motorways. All are indicated by signs at the road side and are painted yellow for recognition, you can't really miss them. Also a GPS Satnav will indicated where they are, which, I believe is illegal in France.
Roundabouts were invented in France. Today France is the country with the most roundabout in the world, which leads to defects on the direction of the cars because they always turn in the same direction
That is wrong, roundabouts were invented in the UK. We see it in the video where he learns about roundabouts.
the tiny cars, at least in Belgium are called "four wheeled scooters" in the theory books and that kinda hints how they are treated in the law. Like a scooter.
Austrian here, too explain a few things that are different than France (because it's one country and not all Europe):
1) Cars are not parked on sideway BUT there are streets where the parking line is on part of the sidway - if it is, then you can park on the sideway, OTHERWISE don't.
2) For Microcars/Ligier IS mandetory to have a driving license. Here it's part of AM-driving license.
(so that what she said is only a France-thing)
In Austria every vehicle that drives more than 10km/h (=6mph) you need a driving license.
3) There was a debate in the EU (=European Union) that there will be a withdrawal from combustion engines till 2035. Because it is harmful to the environment and there is not infinite petroleum. Since then people started to buy more hybrid cars and automatic cars bacause of that. From 2035, vehicles with combustion engines that run on climate-neutral fuels (eFuels) will be allowed to be registered. So it's definite not 80% anymore. Last year there about 40% of new cars are with automatic.. I think it says all.
4) France has the most roundabouts in Europe: over 40 000 then followed by UK (~20 000) and Italy (~15 000)
5) It's prohibited to multitask in your car since it can lead to an accident. It can happen that your car insurance won't cover it if it proven that you did multi-tasking. Yet there are people that still think there above the law. (and those are usually the once that caused an accident).
HOWEVER you can talk on your phone with a hands-free device (like mobile phone holder and phone on speaker). Though if you put your phone on your ear and the police catches you, then you'll be adviced to be more careful and you have to pay penalty.
Maybe the reason you see less radar gun snipers behind bushes is that they now have devices in their cars which scan the traffic around them while driving around. So they can just be on patrol and watch for anything. If the device shows a speeder, they can decide if it is worth pulling him over or carry on with other work.
I have seen it in a TV show "The Germinator - A German Cop In Texas" which could be interresting for you, as it shows the view on daily American Police work from the eyes of a "foreigner insider"
In France, you have mobile radars and fixed radars.
Fixed radars locations are leaked on purpose to lower temptations for crazy speed. You also have road signs telling you approach one.
And despite that, there are tens of millions of euros worth of fine sent every year. On radars captures alone.
If you look cloesly in the video, you will see there is a white line marked on the sidewalk where the cars are parked. These parking spots are outlined to be half on/half off. In general it is not something you can do anywhere, but these do occur, especially ,as you said, in narrow streets where there is still need for parcking.
Spain (Catalonia in particular, in Spain there are diferences between regions):
- Park on the sidewalks is not legal, on small towns and narrow streets, police may look the other way if is just momentary and safe. I'm almost sure that's also the case in France, but yeah it seems to be more common there.
- Small no license cars, yes, they exist. But they don't have the popularity of france. They are classified as "4 wheel mopeds". Almost all brands are French.
- Speed cameras, absolutelly the same. And growing. Now we have the "average speed ones" which are trickier. They read you plates at the start and end of a sector of road, they calculate the time you took and with that, the average speed. If it's above the road speed limit, they send you a fine.
- Roundabouts: The default on intersections for all new roads from the last 20 years, and already popular before that. Lots and lots of them.
- I think only France in EU uses the green vignette. In Spain you need to have in the car the receipt of the last payment of the insurance. Is a strange method, not sure how it works but you could get an insurance, obtain the green card, and then cancel it... Which defeats all the purpose of having it on the windshield as they will have to check it.
- Toll roads? Catalonia is the pay-to-drive king of Spain, we have all kinds of them, normal ones, hidden ones (The government pay from the taxes) old ones, new ones, and removed ones.
Where I live in Europe, our registration licenses are laminated. We don't need papers for insurance as all the info is in the database, so Police officer can see all the info just by checking the license plate number ( it scans automatically with the cameras in the Police car ) and they can see it straight way.
Haven't seen any traffic Police car in years, though we have undercover Police cars, that look just like regular car ( hidden police lights ), so if you're speeding you might get cought ( mostly on highways ).
Cops do actually mobile radar as well here in France, but less often. Risk points are usually covered by either fixed cameras (well advertised) or a section of road is marked as "frequently controlled" (for example a 30km section) in which case they either have semi-mobile cameras in place or cops with vehicle mounted cameras (we don't really do speed guns here AFAIK).
Hey Ian, we used to have registration stickers in Australia but it’s all online now so you don’t have to display, but you do have to remember yourself when it expires. This lead to some issues at first but most people are used to it now. Also, our third party insurance is part of our registration so it’s compulsory. Further insurance cover like third party property or comprehensive is up to the owner. Most people have at least third party property.. Thanks as always 👍
In Portugal, windshield stickers have been optional for some years now. Cops can get all the information they need from the license plate directly from their patrol cars, so it became useless. Even car and personal documents are now in an official app on our phones, so you don't really need to carry it around.
Speed cameras are everywhere, but people basically know where exactly, so we tend to be more careful to not get caught. But if we do, it doesn't mean we're bad people. It just means we have to pay the fine. No stigma there, it could happen to anyone.
Non license cars are not exactly non license. We need the same kind of license we'd need to a small motorbike. It's just that people who use it (mostly old men and women) don't need to take driving classes).
Side parking is pretty common on Europe. The small and middle towns streets have very narrow lanes. We want on the same time to preserve the history of the town environment without affecting the traffic.
Here in Czechia are speed cameras almost in every village. There is some tolerance, but if you accidentaly go 60 km/h instead of 50, you know you will get your photo in the mail box soon with some fine as well 😂
regarding the speed cameras, there are fixed ones and there are flexible ones, who change locations every day.
These cars are called micro cars and can be up to 500cc and have motorcycle registration plates. They have some circulation restrictions as they were created to circulate exclusively in cities. Here in Portugal, we call these cars "pension eaters". Retirees who are older and have some weaknesses sometimes have difficulty renewing their driving license.So they opt for this type of car for their day-to-day life.
The general in this case was de Gaulle, who famously complained in 1962: “How can you govern a country in which there are 246 kinds of cheese? France is different by region.
There are mini cars (1 or 2 seats) here in The Netherlands, that are quite slow and also allowed on the bike paths. They are often used by people with disabilities.
Regarding parking, that differs a lot between countries.
As for the police taking radar...
We do have them in Norway, but it's usually a random inspection perhaps once or twice a year.
Often reported on the news.
Automatic gearboxes were little appreciated in Europe in the past due to their slowness and because they only had three gears. But in modern cars there are up to 8 speeds and automatic shifts are sometimes more efficient than manual shifts. The percentage of automatic transmissions for new cars is increasing sharply.
In germany there are two types of speed cameras. Stationaries and mobiles.
The stationaries are most likely installed at intersections, because they oversee red light infringements as well as speed infringements.
They take a photo from the front, because it´s mandatory to identify the driver as well as the license plate.
And then there are the mobile ones. Same technology as the stationay ones. Radar based measurements.
Usually the change location once or twice a day, sometimes they stay at the same place for days in areas where overspeed is an all day problem.
Some areistalled inside of police vehicles, marked or unmarked, the trend is going towards a trailer solution.
Small, heavily fortified trailers that are left at stategic locations. These trailers could withstand a bomb attack, given how unpopular they are with certain groups of traffic idiots.
In Berlin alone during the lats 3 years, we had 12 devastating attacs on traffic cameras. 3 times explosives where used to destroy those stationary columns, 2 times chainsaws where used, 4 times cars where used tearing them down with tow straps. The most common way to disarm both, stationary and mobile units is spraypaint.
Radar guns are getting more scarse every year. Measurements can be objected because of user error. So, it´s not a valid enough method to pass in a court.
Berlin has currently allmost 250 stationary and around 400 mobile units, soon to be upped to 500/750 units.
And yes, i got a handfull of picturese taken of me during the last 37 years of driving. Nothing big, just minor offenses. Except one, when the got me at 165 km/h on the GDR transit way. The GDR had a max speed of 100 km/h. I think, because that funny little car the GDR police, the Volkspolizei (poeple´s police), the "trabant" only managed to do 100 km/h downhil with tailwind (2 stroke with 27 hp, which was a governement given max power for every car engine).
In Finland any vehicle that goes above 25 kph (15,5 mph) on it's own power requires to be registered as a vehicle and needs a licence to drive it. Just a month ago electric scooters that weigh more than 25 kg (55 lbs) require traffic/motor insurance also. This is mostly to make companys that offer public e-scooters to have insurance, most scooters people would buy are not this heavy.
Fixed speed cameras in the Czech Republic: almost all are in a town or a village, off the top of my head I cannot remember one that is not. So the purpose is usually to force people to actually slow down to 50kph when entering the built up area. Czech villages tend to be compact and separated by a few km of road outside of village with 90kph speed limit so people tend to not slow down enough when going for example through a small village or be already at 50 when entering the town. These speed cameras are owned and operated by the town where they are placed. An office in the town hall processes sending tickets to the offenders and the money from the ticket goes into the budget of that town. Smallest villages are not equipped to do this paperwork so if they insist on having a speed camera for safety the processing and money collecting will be done by the nearest municipality that is big enough. All the small village gets is fewer cars flying through at a 100kph.
Physically there are two basic types of systems: radar based and camera based.
The radar based is just a bigger version of what US cops use and mounted permanently in a big metal box on a post by the road. If the radar sensor detects a speeding object it triggers a camera that takes a picture. There is IR component to the camera and even IR flash light so even at night the picture has more than enough contrast to read the number plates of the car clearly. Because of the sensor being slightly off-axis and other technical limitations it would be impossible to prove at a court that the measurement error was less than 3kph. They deduct this error from the measurement to give the driver the benefit of the doubt. So if you go 54kph in a 50 limit they could theoretically send you a ticket for going 51kph. Since your speedometer also has an error up, typically about 2-3kph on modern cars but up to 10% is allowed by law, your dashboard was showing between 55-60 when you passed that radar at 54. This coupled with the fact that most places will not bother with such low tickets means that accidentaly going just a tiny bit over 50 usually means you are fine. And if they send you a ticket for 55 your speedo was reading above 60 when you did it so it becomes harder to argue that it was just accidental. The fines are not crazy high unless you go really fast and that is never by accident. By "not crazy high" I mean something like the cost of half a tank of gas or maybe full tank of gas kind of money. Not trivial amount but if you can afford running the car this will not ruin you.
The camera based system uses two cameras connected to a computer capable of reading number plates. The cameras are some distance from each other and each is aimed at an area with a perpendicular line accross the road. When you pass the first one it will take a picture of you when your number plate is crossing that line. The second camera does the same at the second line. Each picture has a precise time stamp and the system knows the distance between those two lines. So it can easily calculate your average speed across that distance. This system can operate without the 3kph error. The error on it is a small fraction of a kph. But to unify what drivers expect and to not be flooded with issuing tickets for 50.1kph most places have the system set up with a similar tollerance like the radar one. It is a bit more strict as it is not just a single point on the road where you have to be under the speed limit - you have to watch yourself over some distance.
Personally I drive tiny old cars and not even every day. I aim to never be over the speed limit no matter what the limit is or if there is a radar or not. I sort of made a game for myself of how precisely I can hold the speed limit without looking at the speedo just by feeling and listening to the car (unlike modern cars I can hear my engine). To my surprise I found that in the speed camera areas measuring average speed I tend to be the fastest car there. People who normally always drive faster than the speed limit everywhere lack the skill to hold precise 50 easily so they go slower than 50 through the speed cameras 🙂.
14:31 Here in Norway, we carry any proof of ownership or proof of insurance. Heck, even our drivers license can be found in the DMV's app on our phone! The cops just scan a dynamic QR code to verify that the license is valid on our phone. The proof of ownership and insurance is in a central government system. If you own a car and you don't have an insurance AND you haven't turned your license plates in to the DMV, you'll get fined about $14USD PER DAY until you either turn your plates in or get an insurance. It's also not possible to transfer a car's ownership during a sale without the buyer having a valid insurance ready to take over from the previous owners insurance (if the car has license plates).
The daily fine of $14 will be sent from the DMV and if you don't pay, it may end up to be automatically deducted from your pay check (before you get your pay check money in your back account). This goes for every governmental fine you wind up getting (speeding, etc).