Today, 5fordhams experienced another milestone of German living. Our first speeding ticket.
As an engineer, I'm in awe of the process. It's probably how my father felt the first time he went to a dentist that offered novacaine.
Speed limits here are reasonable. They post the speed that they want you to drive. Go faster and there is a 3 kilometer/hour grace limit. This is the thickness of the hand on my speedometer. In other words, if I'm going fast enough to see by my speedometer that I am speeding, I will get a ticket.
Enforcement is fully automated. This has the surprising benefit of eliminating all anxiety when you see a police car behind you. Police on patrol don't issue tickets because they have better things to do like help people, or give safe cycling classes to schoolchildren.
Cameras, some visible, most hidden (the camoflage netting is particularly hard to spot), are posted all over. Your first indication that you're speeding is a bright red flash. If you see the flash, you've got a ticket coming in the mail. You can choose to contest it but you will never, ever win because the cameras are calibrated and the judges here hate whiners.
My ticket was accompanied by a bank draft form. I took it to my bank, handed it to the teller and she paid it. Elapsed time, 3 minutes. She didn't even smile. She's obviously seen them before.
The cost is also reasonable. First offense was 15 Eu (about $21).
The best part of all. Piper fessed up as soon as I asked her.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I can just see the look on your face :-)
Post a Comment