Website shares list of cars acting as speed cameras in France
Unmarked vehicles operated by private companies perform the role in many departments
Private unmarked cars are authorised to detect speeding drivers on all public roads
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A website has published a catalogue of the unmarked cars operated by private companies contracted to detect speeding vehicles in many departments around the country.
The police have used unmarked cars to detect speeding since 2013. These vehicles are in addition to normal speed cameras.
They are authorised to operate on all public roads, including motorways.
Since 2018, many regions have started using private companies to fulfil this role, as a direct replacement for the unmarked police cars.
Read more: Crackdown on speeders after rise in road deaths in three areas of France
Unmarked cars catalogued
The radar-prive.fr website has catalogued the common models of unmarked cars operated by private companies in each department of France.
It reveals that the role is typically entrusted to otherwise unremarkable vehicles such as Citroën Berlingos, Peugeot 308s and 508s, Ford Focuses and Mondeos, Volkswagen Passats and Golfs, Seat Leons and Skoda Octavias.
They are designed to be difficult to spot, but eagle-eyed drivers may spot their discreet cameras at the front and back.
In total there are around 400 such cars operating in Normandy, Brittany, Pays-de-la-Loire, Centre-Val-de-Loire, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Hauts-de-France, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Grand-Est, according to Le Figaro.
The system will spread to Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Occitanie and Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur in 2025.
Both the unmarked private and police cars use infrared cameras that do not flash.
Their margin of error is 10km/h at speeds below 100km/h and 10% at speeds above 100km/h.
Fines vary according to how much over the speed limit a driver is travelling, starting at €68 and a point deduction for offences less than 20km/h over the limit, rising to €1,500 and a three-year ban for offences more than 50km/h over the limit.
They can operate seven days a week and frequently alternate between departments.
Nonetheless, drivers are still far more likely to be caught by a static speed camera, of which there are around 4,000 in operation at any given time around France.
