Motorist caught speeding at 136 km/h on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais

A driver was caught speeding on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais at 136 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, more than two and a half times the speed limit.

The man, a 34-year-old local, was caught at around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning driving at high speed along the famous seafront road in central Nice. He was found to have no alcohol or drugs in his system.

He was arrested by police and taken into custody for speeding and endangering others, while his vehicle was impounded.

After applying the technical margin of error, the official recorded speed was 129 km/h, still well above the legal limit on the Promenade des Anglais, a busy urban road used by pedestrians, cyclists, and scooters, and subject to very strict speed enforcement.

The road has also seen a number of serious and fatal collisions in recent years, with around fifteen people killed in road accidents there since 2023.

For this reason in July last year the prosecutor of Nice and the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes issued a measure stating that any driver caught travelling at more than 100 km/h on the Promenade des Anglais would be taken into custody immediately for endangering others, with officials at the time saying the road had become “an open-air cemetery.” 

The man was brought before the court on Wednesday morning, where he faces a six-point deduction from his driving licence, a licence suspension of up to three years, a fine of up to €1,500, a possible prison sentence, and the potential permanent confiscation of his vehicle, according to Ici Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

Another measure the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes took last year in an attempt to eliminate speeding in the promenade is the implementation of mobile cameras along the coastal line of the city, which change location frequently without the driver being informed.