UKC

I apparently got two speeding fines on a trip to Siurana in October. Roughly in the same spot from and to the airport.  Be careful.

I was barely over the speed limit so feel a bit cheated (114km/h in a 100 and 110km/h in a 100km/h)

Another strange thing is that the payment website doesn't work it gives the following error:

You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MariaDB server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 1

Did anyone have a similar experience?  I'm wondering if it is genuine.

I got a speeding fine last year on the way to Riglos. I first received a letter from the car rental company and then the Spanish police. It was quite simple to pay online. If you had a hire car, I would have thought they would inform you that they have passed on your details to the Spanish police - and charged for the pleasure, 40 Euros in my case .

Got done last year, exactly the same.

Annoyingly, by the time the speeding fine letter came through it was too late to pay the reduced early-payment fee.

The first one would also result in a fine in the UK - it's more than the usual 10% + 2mph over!

I've found the best solution to avoid both speeding fines and feeling cheated about speeding fines is to not speed.

I've had a couple of speeding tickets whilst driving in Spain. The website has so far always been clear and easy to use. It even still applied the early payment discount (50%) even though it took me about 2 months to pay up.

If the website isn't playing maybe just give it a few hours and try again.

You were caught speeding, why feel cheated about that. I remember feeling a bit silly and thinking I really should try to stick within the limits, but being cheated certainly didn't feature.  You haven't been cheated, you've been caught!

In reply to:

What would happen if you didn't pay these fines? 

Extradited 

If they don't give you an alternative way to pay then obviously you can't but I'd recommend taking a screenshot to prove it.

If they do give you an alternative then I guess you should use that.

I don't imagine you're under any obligation to tell them their website is down.

Many years ago a couple of policemen turned up at the flat I lived in looking for someone who'd not paid a fine. It might have been abroad or it might have been in England but I don't think it a good idea to assume they won't chase you up, eventually, in which case you'll want proof that you made a reasonable attempt to pay.

In my experience there is no tolerance in Spain, the offence is absolute. I've got a feeling that the same applies in France.

We picked up a speeding ticket near Tarragona. It took almost 6 months to come through but it arrived by international signed for. 

It stated we were doing about 90 in an 80 zone, and that this was a "severe" offence. The fine was 50 euro.

It seemed legitimate enough that we paid it.

I got a ticket for speeding in Mallorca and found the on line payment anything but simple !

International living and travel 101: just obey the laws of the country you are in. Simple. Basic. Obvious. Respectful. Realistic.

Not sure - but many years ago I had German police turn up at my office in Germany looking for the driver of a company car in Switzerland that had been speeding (it was my girlfriend ). The took me to the station and laughed while they showed me the equivalent German fine for the same offence (if they could have been bothered charging for it).

EITHER the Spanish Inquisition OR a new Armada

I've found the best solution to avoid both speeding fines and feeling cheated about speeding fines is to pass them on to Mrs Num Num

My brother blundered twice into a traffic free zone in Lucca while trying to find the hotel. Nothing happened until the following year when he again hired a car from Avis and a couple of weeks later received two fines from the previous year in the post. He lives in the USA but I advised him to pay up if he ever wanted to visit Italy again.  

Quite common - I've seen a Swiss speeding ticket a colleague got which was for 111 in a 110 limit.

My point was more that that isn't a "little bit over" - it's enough over that in the relatively lenient UK it would likely result in a fine and points.

I drive a lot in western Europe and had a slightly 'part of the cost of motoring' attitude to speeding fines (50e to knock 2 hours off a Paris to Madrid drive seems a fair price to me and yes I know speeding is a mortal sin). Then I got caught in Norway and wow! did that hurt. 

This to me says the site is insecure and possibly open to an SQL injection attack. Would you want to put your card details in here?

A more enterprising person, may be able to exploit the DB insecurity and either dump the entire DB along with card data, or just amend the "paid" column from "no" to "yes".

you might get.... fined?

I'd recommend you keep away from Australia. They fine you for an excess of 1 kph. If you're using cruise control set for 100 kph and get onto a slight downhill you could be for it. Driving from Melbourne to Mt Arapiles there are some very bored police around Stawell and they know just where those little downhills are.

Thanks for the constructive comments. The others......well the less said about those the better.

This reminds me of an ancient UKC thread from many many years ago where a guy was moaning about speed humps damaging his car's suspension.

E

That reminds me of when I was in my early 20s, one of my mates, who had a Mini managed to roll it and seriously claimed that it wasn't his fault, "because the road bent"

Do you think this was a constructive comment?

”I was barely over the speed limit so feel a bit cheated”

Spain have zero tolerance on speeding now, you can be fined for being 1kph over the speed limit. It's changed the attitudes of local drivers to speed dramatically - I imagine in a few years the statistics will encourage the rest of Europe to do the same.

Germany has 3km/h for anything up to 100km/h limit, 3% for anything over.

I believe that Norway has some of the highest speeding fines and lowest speed limits. It also has the lowest death rates for driving per 100,000 inhabitants, per 100,000 vehicles and per 1 billion km. (wikipedia, ignoring micronesia and monaco...)

i.e. the safest roads in the world despite the fact that the roads aren't in a great state, are quite challenging (windy and hilly), little road illumination, and often covered in snow or ice.

Reasonable evidence that strict speed limits and high fines are effective in reducing accidents.

That's the accuracy tolerance, luckily up to 20km/hr over the fines are only a warning fine so basically minimal, around the €10-20 level and you don't get points.

The SQL syntax error is due to a bug in the online payment system. You should look up the detals of the relevant authority (independently) and email them to avoid fees building up.