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

  • Safety rallying call to English councillors after road death rise
    July 9, 2012
    English councils have been urged to protect the public on the roads by “whatever means is appropriate” after the first rise in road deaths in the country for eight years. Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said data obtained by the Foundation under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) showed there had been “no mass switch off” of speed cameras in England despite two years of Government road safety funding cuts. But Glaister fears an ageing national network of existing speed camera
    Read More
  • The father of asset management speaks on the development of the concept
    May 24, 2016
    World Highways caught up with man who developed the concept of asset management for roads in the 1960s. Dr Ralph Haas is still researching in his native Canada, and commenting on potholes. The e-mail was brief. “You won't believe this, but I think I'm the last person on the planet without a cell phone.” That was quite an admission from Ralph Haas, distinguished Canadian professor emeritus. He was one of several civil engineers in the 1960s who developed the concept of managing roads as an integrated
    Read More
  • Rural roads important to global development
    February 10, 2012
    Maryvonne Plessis-Fraissard highlights that the key importance of rural roads in the context of global development is only now being fully recognised, is not receiving enough attention and is facing vital new challenges
    Read More
  • Defective eyesight, a road safety concern?
    February 16, 2012
    Failing eyesight presents safety problems for Europe's older drivers. A new report highlights substantial variation in the assessment of drivers' vision across Europe, and recommends that Member States make moves to better assess drivers' vision. Checking the vision of drivers plays a valuable role in the EU's target of halving road deaths across the EU by 2020. The aim is to achieve this road safety improvement by legislative means that change driver behaviour, raise the technical standards of vehicles and
    Read More

Highlighted Content