hi all,

Please stick to the posted speed limits when approaching basel on the french highway from Mulhouse....
For the last months the french cops have been hiding behind the girders of the border tents with a speed gun on random occasions.

In the last weeks someone is there all the time and they do pull people over - saw some victims.


you have been warned.

It's 40km from Mulhouse to Basel. At 130km/h that'll take a tad less than 19 minutes. At 160km/h, 15 minutes. A saving of four minutes.

I'm not sure the word 'victim' is appropriate here. 'Stupid' seems more appropriate.

its more at the 80,60,40,10 section. ie if you can see the border point stick to the limits indicated.

Yes, I've had a number of friends / colleagues who have been nabbed in the past few weeks.

Part of the 'problem' is that they've changed the speed limits after the airport. The limit used to drop from 130km to 110km at Bartenheim, then down to 50km just ahead of the border. Now it drops from 110km at Bartenheim to 90km just before St. Louis, then again to 70km before finally dropping to 50km at the border.

The road here is wide and straight, and 70km feels painfully slow, particularly as this always used to be a 110km stretch of road. I can understand how people come sailing in at 90-100km and get caught for doing 30km over the limit...

This isn't a case of people driving like idiots, it's a case of the limits being lowered and the police taking an opportunity for some 'revenue enhancement.' Maybe this is how Sarkozy plans to deal with the Euro crisis...

Last week they were standing with their little radar gun right at the custom's post .. so by the time they had their little gun trained on you, you had to be pretty close up to the guards, at which point I am always going very slowly anyway. But if anyone is stupid enough to approach the border guards at speed, then well, can't feel too sorry about a fine.

I hesitate to comment, as some on here seem so sensitive about speeding, but four minutes might be significant to some people. And anyway, if someone's in a hurry and traffic allows, why would they only do 160?

The 'trap' in question is usually right in the border post, and I'm not sure how far back they can go with it, but it's a 70kph limit from about a km before the border, then goes down to 50 about 300m away, so I suspect that they're targetting people in the latter zone, but from experience it's clear that they're not stopping folks doing less than 70 or so and slowing down (I'm aware of the trap so don't do this, of course, but others certainly do).

I did once get done on that stretch by a car parked on the chevrons at the lorry-customs exit, doing just over 100 in what was then a 90 limit. Buggers then accompanied me across the border to a cash machine while holding my licence. I wasn't quite sure of the legality of this - had a Swiss policeman been around would I have been within my rights to ask him to demand they give my licence back? Not that I would, of course ;-)

Just to confirm..I've seen the French Rozzers with their radar 'guns' hiding behind the pillars on the bridge over the motorway just south of the airport.

Good to know that the crime rate in St.Louis and the Alsace is so low they can concentrate on nabbing people driving perfectly safely.

Those guys have to achieve a certain quota of fines per months... they can therefore get extremely overzealous...

Maybe someone can try to really "push their speed" and see how sensitive these French radar systems are. I'm guessing they're useless at anything over about 200, do please post your findings ......

Seems like the French learned their lesson from the Swiss.

I know it's the same everywhere.. but it still doesn't make it right. If the police really wanted to reduce the risks on the roads they'd be in unmarked cars and would pounce on all the idiots who drive dangerously.

Fines for driving 8km per hour over a motorway speed limit on a clear day with little traffic is just cynical and undermines the Police's credibility.

Surely that would only be a problem if they did not sign post it ?

I read that the Arisdorf tunnel now has functioning average speed cameras in force, and people were complaining in BaslerZeitung that they were being prosecuted for doing 100km through the tunnel when the variable signs were switched on saying the limit was 80! WTF?

Yes, you are technically correct. The signs are clearly posted and everyone should pay attention to them. However, I would argue that:

1. The speed limits are unreasonably low for the stretch of road and
2. Regular users of the road may not pay attention to every speed limit sign

I have to admit that I was pretty much hard-wired to think "110km/h in the outskirts of Mulhouse, 130km/h on the empty stretch, then 110km/h in the outskirts of Basel, until finally slowing to a walking pace at the border."

This is what I always did before, and it was in keeping with the posted limits at the time. And this is basically what the new limits are doing. But they've decided that I need 3km to slow from 110km to a walking pace, and I need to do it in three steps (110km, 90km, 70km). Previously you encountered a 50km/h sign around 500m ahead of the border and that was that.

I suspect the reason that they've reduced the limits is to slow traffic in the event of large tailbacks at the border (as often happens on weekends), but a variable speed limit would have been a better way to do this. When the roads are clear of traffic, which is the majority of the time, it means that you do the last 3km at an abnormally-low speed.

Yeah, but a variable limit costs money while the current approach creates additional revenue...

Undoubtedly this is the case. When the trucks are queued up, if the end one doesn't have his hazards on it can be a dangerous situation for the feckless, tired or inattentive driver.
It's also dangerous for the border guards stood there as well. I'm not surprised they want the speed reduced in good time.

What surprised me is the camera in the other direction about 1km after the limit is raised to 130 just past the airport. Must be for the idiots who gun it.

... but then everyone would be complaining about the "random" variable speed limits...

It's like the camera in the tunnel immediately after you enter Basel... it's a "tourist tax".

All the locals know it's there and slow down, and all the Dutch and Belgians go sailing past. Must sting, as it's only 5 minutes after they've paid for their vignette!

Seeing most speedometers are calibrated to overreport speed, if the police think they're 8 km/h above, the cars' speedometers must be showing a fair bit more than that.

And remember, not all speed limits are there just to annoy you. Just because you can't see a danger or a reason. that doesn't mean there isn't one.