Driving FAST! should I worry?
 

I was recently driving through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and I like to drive fast. I was regularly going faster than the posted speed. When I got back to the US I was doing some reading and found out that all of those countries employ speed cameras. Should I be worried about getting some sort of ticket? If I do what will the process be and what would be the consequences of doing nothing? I was driving a rental car FYI.

Most regions deploy speed cameras that will give off a bright red flash when they capture you, so you would have noticed. In Germany they have started using cameras with infrared light in tunnels, you won't notice these.

What usually happens is that the authorities contact the car rental companies to find out the drivers details. Hertz and some other companies will provide the data and bill you 20€ for the extra work. That will be the first indication for you that something is going on. Depending on the nature of the violation some authorities may stop pursuing further action once they notice that the driver is resident outside the EU. For example when I rented a Hertz car in Germany with my US address in 2007, I had a parking violation (parked in the handicapped spot at MUC P20, 35€ ticket on the windshield). I forgot to pay in time (7days) and the enquiry went to Hertz (20€) but nothing further happened.

Thanks, I guess I won't worry about being able to drive there in the future then, I just might need to pay a fine. Any clue how big the speeding fines would be should it come to that?

Germany: There is an useful table at this link. The fine is speed dependent and increases rather quickly. example: 20km/h too fast costs 35 EUR, 60km/h too fast costs 280 EUR and you are not allowed to drive for two months (they'd take your driver's license from you if you show up in the databases).

Austria: the cost is roughly similar to Germany. see here. Example: up to 20km/h too fast in a city costs up to 60EUR, 50 on the Autobahn. around 50km/h too fast on the autobahn costs between 150 and 300 EUR. There is no country-wide catalogue of fees and variations of up to a factor two are possible.

Switzerland: verrrry expensive. See here. Same examples: 16-20km/h too fast on normal roads will cost 250CHF (208EUR), faster than 25km/h on the autobahn will result in a law suit. Up to 5km/h too fast (3mph) already costs 20 CHF (16EUR) on the autobahn and 40CHF/33 EUR elsewhere. In other words: do not speed in Switzerland. And if you do, hope you are not caught.

Ouch! Thanks for the info, I have my fingers crossed!

What are the enforcement mechanisms employed against those outside of the country's jurisdiction (like the OP)? Do the various authorities keep a do-not-admit list? Do they issue arrest warrants?

For example, the US maintains a list of citizens from Visa Waiver countries who lose their rights to the Visa Waiver (and would therefore require a formal visa for admittance to the US) for a variety of crimes and misdemeanors. Some traffic violations would qualify.

No such thing that I'm aware of. Similar to the US, traffic violations are a state subject. Criminal offenses are a different matter, those may go into the SIS database which may be a reason to refuse entry into the Schengen zone: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/polic...g=en/#?lang=en

You might however run into problems, if you are caught on the spot a second time in a certain time and they have you with an open penalty. In this case, they could as far as I know to force you into paying this penalty on the spot as well with all additional costs. But I am not exactly sure about this procedures.

In some areas they use cars and video radar, i.e. they follow you and record you driving too fast and stop you on the motorway.
Usually they use cars like Audi A 6, BMW 3 or 5 series etc. and follow you. If you are driving fast and have a German car (model and license plate) following you, you should consider to reduce speed.

I would advise to make the payment and not worry about it anymore. You don't want an ugly surprise should you get stopped by the border police trying to enter the country with outstanding violations.

You aren't getting any points on your license and your insurance isn't going up because of it, so consider yourself lucky to just get hit with a fine.

And next time better behave on the roads like you would behave at home. I never experienced any relaxed highway cop in the US when it came to speeding and I never understood why certain human beings from the land of the free (unexperienced in driving fast) try to copy a formula I pilot on our roads.

I drive fast at home as well, I was not driving any differently than I would here in the US. I was driving in a manner that I considered safe, and I was usually not the fastest person on the road either.

My main concern with this thread was to figure out my chances of getting a fine in the mail from a speeding camera and what the possible ramifications of that would be for me.

If you were driving at 55 mph on the highway, don't worry.....

Most speed limits are there for a reason... and I find that this is particularly true for Germany where speed restrictions are generally well thought out (like the short stretches of 70 kph limit that you commonly find either side of junctions on Bundesstraßen). And speeding drivers, no matter how confident they are of their own ability, make the roads less safe for others whose reactions may be slower.

Last summer, I could not have broken the speed limit in most of Germany if I had wanted to. Almost everywhere we went was a construction zone. Spent 4 days driving 50kph with concrete barriers 6 inches from my door. Just glad someone had some smooth sailing.

I hit a few pockets of construction, but overall it was free sailing and a lot of fun!