French & Swiss cameras

Davidwf · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 12:46 am Post subject: French & Swiss cameras

As usual we are holidaying in France and Switzerland this year so I wondered if there was any way to be advised of the speed cams without giving the game away to M Gendarme should we be stopped.

What is their policy – do they look at the satnav or what….how would they know ?

Is it possible to have a sound and no icon maybe ?...I did consider changing the icon for something silly like a flower or animal …..
Any thoughts ?

DennisN · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:21 am Post subject:

I'll put my hand up to this. I used CamerAlert on my iPhone last summer in both France and Switzerland and simply had them working. Although I kept my eyes open, without being obsessive about it, I don't recall ever thinking I was in danger of being spotted. To keep myself ready, I also ran a full screen speedometer app and was prepared to switch apps to that one if necessary, with a simple double tap. BUT as it was a sightseeing touring holiday, we were on side roads for most of the time - I don't recall getting any Swiss warnings, but did get French ones.

See the notes on the download page for downloads of the PND database - Swiss and French cameras are not included, you have to specially select for them to be downloaded, so you do so in the knowledge that they are illegal. M Gendarme will surely only know you are a criminal if he is driving alongside you when a camera warning comes up? When you're stopped, there will be no sign of the database. I have not seen any reports of satnavs being inspected, and I remember Darren offering the opinion (I agree) that he would expect the vehicle to be fine-tooth combed if you have an accident or serious motoring offence, in which case the database will no doubt be the least of your worries. Changing the icons would be an alternative, but you've got a helluva lot of them to do and I'd imagine it's a one off job that lasts for the whole of your holiday until you get home to your computer unless you take a laptop with you.

I really do feel that, whilst they may say they'll be 'avin you, I've always thought they really have more important things to do than drive around looking for camera database offenders.
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M8TJT · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:42 am Post subject:

There is some info from Kent police here. Originally posted by JaTe yesterday. The last paragraph is the interesting one.

peterc10 · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:51 am Post subject:

I am not sure that the last paragraph in the Kent Police advice is correct. It contradicts everything that has been said here and elsewhere.
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M8TJT · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:10 am Post subject:

There's lots of rumours about it in loads of places but have you found anything more authoritive? If so, a link please.

peterc10 · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:17 am Post subject:

cloggienl · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:38 am Post subject:

I live in France and I haven't heard of anyone getting checked. As far as I know, the gendarmerie or police is not allowed to look in your satnav anyway but customs (douane) is.

I suspect that they don't really check anyway as they know that TomTom's own system (and the French bred databases) are now 'danger zones' which are allowed.

Remember that if you have a X20/X30 or XL based unit and you want the warnings to work, you need to wind back to navcore 9401 or earlier.

M8TJT · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:42 am Post subject:

Similarly I haven't persomally heard of anyone getting fined in a SPECS zone in UK but that doesn't mean that no one has. I suppose the confusion, if there is one, is about the translation of 'detector' or whatever the French use. Or is it specifically spelled out as GPS based database?

Davidwf · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 12:40 pm Post subject:

hmmm....I thought this might spark an interesting discussion Smile

In all honesty we do generally stick pretty much to the limits but it is always handy to be forewarned isn't it !

In response to the number of icons......you would only need to change one or two.

I de-compile and extract all the different types of mobile speedcams (Euro and UK) then re-compile it into one single file and likewise with all the fixed cams and the average speed cams so I only have 3 icons

M8TJT · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:45 pm Post subject:

I see an easy way out of it for them. Remove the last paragraph Rolling Eyes

Allan_whoops · Frequent Visitor Joined: Feb 18, 2006 Posts: 369

Slightly off topic but have TomTom reinstated notify when near POIs in France? That was disabled which is why the speed camera database didn't give an audible and visual warning plus any other POIs one wanted to know about such as tourist attractions etc.

cloggienl · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 7:49 pm Post subject:

Yquem59 · Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 9:04 am Post subject: Re: French & Swiss cameras

Andy_P · Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 6:45 pm Post subject: Re: French & Swiss cameras

[quote="Yquem59"]

Yquem59 · Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 8:58 am Post subject: Re: French & Swiss cameras

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