France's Big Brother Speed Trap

Electronic detectors raise millions of euros in speeding tickets

Catching speeders the old-fashioned wayPhotograph by Alain le Bot/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

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By Mathieu Rosemain

October 24, 2013 at 7:59 PM UTC

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This article is part of the October 28, 2013 issue of businessweek.

French drivers call it “la guirlande de Nöel”—“the Christmas wreath”—but it heralds anything but good tidings. Near the town of Saint-Julien-en-Genevois on the Swiss border, an automatic radar detector emits a bright flash like a sparkling Christmas light each time it catches a speeder. It nabs a lot of them: A total of more than 250,000 in 2011 and 2012, French motoring magazine Auto Plus reports. “These radars are just cash machines to fill state coffers,” says Laurent Hoff, a 39-year-old engineer who has been “flashed” twice by the Saint-Julien detector while driving his Renault Scénic minivan above the 50 kilometer-per-hour (30 mile-per-hour) speed limit. The damage: €90 ($122) in fines and two points on his driver’s license.

France's Big Brother Speed Trap — New speed detectors are credited with cutting traffic accidentsSebastian Bozon/AFP/Getty Images