Unmarked police cars catch 50,000
Drivers reading, shaving and even with their feet on the dashboard have been caught by gendarmes in unmarked cars
GENDARMES in unmarked cars have caught a driver rolling along with his feet on the dashboard, another reading a newspaper at the wheel and many thousands chatting on their mobiles.
Tests of unmarked police vehicles have proved very successful and senior officers say that each of the 400 cars notches up 140 contraventions a month – with mobile phone use being the No1 offence.
About 450 unmarked cars and motorcycles are being used and they are catching more than 50,000 offenders a month in an experiment that started in 2007.
Lieutenant-colonel Jean-François Valynseele of the Gendarmerie National said they were not interested in the numbers but in stopping people driving dangerously or carelessly.
So far 36% of offences have been of drivers using mobile phones while 10% were for driving without a seatbelt or without a crash helmet. Elsewhere, however, the gendarmes have caught a driver shaving while on the Péripherique in Paris.
The news comes as it was revealed that gendarmes had also been equipped with high-speed cars to catch speeding drivers – and had caught 17,500 in the first six months of this year.
Main offenders amongst non-residents were Germans, then Spanish and then Dutch.
Offenders can be fined, lose their licences and even their cars.
Last month several British drivers were caught between 194kph and 210kph and received fines between €750 and €2,250 – their cars, including two Bugatti Veyrons, two Mercedes SLR McLarens and a Ferrari F430, were not confiscated.
