EU rules in favour of two drivers in France in photo enforcement cases

The EU Human Rights Court has ruled in favour of two drivers who received traffic tickets from French authorities, but were not provided the means to contest them. Both men paid the fine required and one lost a point off his driver's permit. Both called for the reimbursement of the fine.
March 19, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The 1116 European Union Court of Human Rights has ruled in favour of two drivers who received traffic tickets from French authorities, but were not provided the means to contest them. Both men paid the fine required and one lost a point off his driver's permit. Both called for the reimbursement of the fine.

The EU court did not order that the fine or the point be reimbursed claiming that it was not competent in the matter of French driving law and that it could only review the fine reimbursement if the two drivers had been allowed access to judicial proceedings.

One driver claimed that he could not recognise himself as the driver of the vehicle without photographic evidence. The other said that he was not driving the vehicle during the infraction. An officer in the case threw out their demands and called for the fine to be paid.

In its defence, according to the French constitutional council, the lack of access to judicial recourse is not constitutional.

The EU court has also ruled that the officer exceeded his authority in demanding the fine.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • UK’s ‘first private toll road in a century’ being investigated
    August 5, 2014
    What is thought to be the first private road in the UK for 100 years has been opened by a businessman in a bid to avoid the hour-long diversion around road works on the key route between the cities of Bristol and Bath, south-west England.
    Read More
  • Swiss motorcyclists want constitutional protection
    March 15, 2012
    CI-Motords, a scooter and motorcycle users pressure group in Switzerland, has called for the right of freely choosing modes of transport to become part of the constitution.
    Read More
  • Drivers sceptical of EU vehicle control safety benefits, claims IAM research
    October 28, 2013
    Three quarters of UK drivers are concerned that the use of Intelligent Speed Adaptations (ISAs) will compromise safety, according to research by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). Last month, the EU announced that they were considering rules for new cars to be installed with Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) technology. The technology would be capable of detecting limits through cameras or satellites and automatically applying the brakes. Existing vehicles could be forced to be retrofitted with
    Read More
  • New speed camera technology for France
    August 28, 2012
    A new average-speed camera, which can measure driving speeds over several kilometres, will be installed near Besançon. By late 2012, roughly 20 cameras will be installed in France. Similar systems exist in Italy, the UK and Netherlands. Over a stretch of two kilometres with a 70km/h speed limit, drivers are monitored twice.
    Read More

Highlighted Content