French app fighting speeding fines sees success
Flash Radar app boasts a 98% success rate in challenging speeding fines, offering a cost-effective alternative to traditional legal services
The new app makes it easier to appeal speeding fines
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A smartphone app launched last May to streamline the process
of challenging speeding fines has so far been downloaded 150,000 times.
The brainchild of lawyer Eric de Caumont, who specialises in
motoring law, Flash Radar allows users to upload a photo of their speeding
fine, which the company’s legal team then challenges for a flat €57 fee.
Mr de Caumont said: “In 98% of cases we have been successful
and no points have been taken from the drivers’ licences.”
He added that most users ended up paying the fine without
points, and only between 15% and 20% had the fine and the points scrapped.
The app relies on the appeal system, whereby people caught
speeding, after paying a sum equal to the fine (€135 for most speeding tickets)
can contest the facts by asking to see the photograph taken by the radar at the
time of the offence.
“In order to be sure that you were the driver of the vehicle
and to take your points, the law officer has to be able to identify you,” Mr de
Caumont told The Connexion.
“If you were not stopped at the side of the road by a law
officer, or if your employer has not named you as the driver of a company
vehicle at the time, the system relies on the photographs taken by the
radar, and 98% of the time they do not
clearly identify the driver.”
Similar services are already available, and The Connexion originally covered the Flash Radar app in May 2024.
Read more: Drivers in France can challenge speeding fines via law firm’s new app
Indeed, anyone can
contact a law firm directly and ask them to help challenge a fine. However,
this can cost between €200 and €500.
New French driving licences come with six points on them for
the first two years, after which they
have 12 points.
Most speeding tickets have one or two points taken off the
licence, depending on the speed limit and how fast the vehicle was going.
Training courses on the dangers of speeding, held over two
days, allow four points to be put back on driving licences but are not popular.
They are also expensive, usually costing between €220 and
€250 depending on where they are held.
Read more: How to spot an unmarked speed radar car in France
