My husband and I were traveling in Austria, The Czech Republic and Germany October of 2010. We were driving a rental car from Munich that we rented through Avis. We have received in the mail since October traffic tickets that were speeding tickets that we supposedly got while driving on this trip. We have called Avis and tried to get to the bottom of this to no avail. Is this a scam? We do not recall any speeding on our part and Avis was no help to us as we tried to resolve it. The tickets were not in English and were very hard to try and make any sense of. Anyone else have this problem? Thank you.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32353 posts
Jane, I can't provide a definite answer, but suspect that the tickets are legitimate. Just curious, were they received from European Municipality Outsourcing? Receiving traffic (or other) tickets in a foreign language is one of the pitfalls of driving in Europe. Hopefully someone in the group will have a more informative answer for you. Good luck!
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
Europe uses a lot of remote camera for everything from speed to improper turns so it is not surprising you getting ticket. It would be hard to argue that the ticket not valid unless the camera system was not functioning properly. Don't know how you would attempt to prove that. Part of the problem is that we are not use to speed sizes in kilometers. If we see a 50 limited we do not instantly know that is 30 mph. I guess you got tagged on some slow speeds in town.
Posted by
Webster Groves, Missouri, USA
76 posts
Jane, I received a speeding ticket in Germany just before crossing into Austria in October, '09. Couldn't contest it because the ticket included a photo of my face. I remember a red flash from a van parked along the side of the road as we drove out of the town. Evidently speed cameras are used a lot in Bavaria where we were. I agree that there can be confusion when using km instead of mph. Good luck. Dave
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
I can tell you exactly how they probably nailed you. The signs that announce the name of the town you just entered serve a dual purpose. They also signify that the speed limit has just slowed to 50 km/hr. There may or may not be another speed limit sign to further alert you. Often, the speed camera sits just beyond the town sign, so you don´t have much time to slow down. I have to pass through one of these zones on my daily commute. Even though I know it´s there, my concentration has been distracted a few times and I´ve set it off. Yup, one of the joys of driving in Germany!