advice needed on traffic tickets
Steve Wright
Each of the past 4 days, the postman has delivered a letter from my favorite nation. Sadly, each letter has been the notice of a 100 euro fine for speeding. Each time, a camera caught the rental car doing about 125 in a 100 kmph zone. I'm guilty, but I find it interesting that each time I was going with the flow of a pack of autos. I wonder if 100 people got the same tickets I did, or if this is a new revenue source to jam on visitors? Each ticket is from approximately 2 months ago, so I also fear that maybe there are 10 more citations headed to a family already smarting from the ungodly US dollar to euro exchange rate. I'm wondering if anyone on this list has fallen into my situation and if they've had any success in squirming out of these fines. In Florida, we have these Ticket Clinic place that you pay less than $100 US and they get everything tossed out on a technicality. Anyone on this list aware of a English-Spanish fluent firm that does similar work in Spain? I know I went over the limit, but I kind of feel like I already paid my tourist tribute when the weak dollar added at least $2K to our expenses for a 2-week trip in late May/early June. So if there are any other "Ugly American, weasle out of your bills" lurkers on this list, please do share advice. Steve Wright |
Steve Wright
Roger Warwick
Steve Wright
Roger,
Thanks for the advice.
I can't tell you how many times my wife and I have picked up valuable information from your posts.
This has to be one of the most focused and intelligent groups on the NET.
--Steve |
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Steve Wright |
| --- On Mon, 7/28/08, Roger Warwick <ro...@gomadrid.com> wrote: |
Webmasters
One of my staff recently got fined 150 euros for apparently not wearing her seat belt properly, apparently it had slipped half an inch down her shoulder, quite ridiculous and the number of complaints from unhappy motorists has risen quite dramatically over the last 3 years or so. Many motorists feeling intimidated by the guardia and afraid to question the decision.
Always remember that Guardia should never ask for cash, all fines should be able to paid at a bank or via post and if asked for cash on the spot it is most likley going to the beer fund
It can be questioned altho that comes witha lot of hassle and usually not worth the effort required. Even tho we would like to for the principles of the wrong doing. .
We all know the saying all coppers are b****ds and that rings true here in Spain as much as anywhere i know unfortunately. we also have seen a lot of evidence of racisim at various ocasions, even high profile events such as the England Spain International football and the F1 world championships so the fact that it is often non-spaniards should come as no suprise either.
Roger Warwick wrote:
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Steve Wright
The irony is that I'm a writer and my body of published work on Spain has provided tens of thousands of dollars of free publicity in major publications.
Couple that with our last 4 trips alone and we've easily fueled the economy of espana to the tune of more than $100,000.
Racking up hundreds of euros in fines (and hiding from the postman lest he deliver some more fines from the provinces) is a helluva kick in the butt from the place we've adopted as a second homeland.
I feel like walking into the consulate in Miami and telling them you have two choices:
1) You can find a way of politely telling the mother country to consolidate these into one ticket.
2) You can expect fewer stories of praise and those that are published will come with huge warnings about over aggressive traffic enforcement that leads to more dollar loss.....ie, headline "plan on turning your $5,000 US into half that buying power with euro excange rate + overpriced urban hotels + several hundred $$ in camera-generated speeding tickets.
I don't mind paying my way for one miscue, but I really don't feel like contributing largely to the latest fund to extend the autopista west right through Las Alpujarras and turning that last bit of unspoilt territory into Andulica corrupted by faux villas, non Spanish white wines golf course communities and full english breakfasts. |
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Steve Wright |
| --- On Mon, 7/28/08, Webmasters <webm...@conference-coordinator.com> wrote: |
From: Webmasters <webm...@conference-coordinator.com> |
sue james
I'm horrified to hear of your fines and worried that the same could
happen to us as we regularly drive rental cars and often find ourselves
exceeding the speed limit especially on the Autovias, where, as you
point out lots of other drivers are driving at equally high if not
higher speeds.
I've been caught out on speed cameras in the UK but have never noticed
any in Spain - are there any signs to indicate where they are in operation?
I do hope you manage to overturn the fines - it seems very hard to face
a series of them when you weren't aware of the danger in the first place.
Sue
Roger Warwick
On the main highways, there is often an indication on the overhead
electronic information panels that a radar is up ahead, but the exact
location is very difficult to know unless you have some recently
updated GPS device with the radar option.
And the Interior Minister has just announced the implementation of 190
new speed controls on Spain's highways ...
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Otros/190/controles/velocidad/carreteras/nacionales/elpepuesp/20080729elpepunac_7/Tes
Roger.
Steve Wright
There probably were signs.
I've been thinking about that a lot and I halfway remember some kind of postings.
The thing is, my mind is of course divided among thoughts of: "how long will it take to get there?, Am I keeping pace with the rest of the aggressive drivers? How do I convert kilometers per mile in my head to know if I'm getting good fuel milage on the rental? Do I want to park at the Alhambra and shuttle down to the City or vice versa?.....:" so maybe I didn't know the camera/radar warning.
I confess that my espanol is not the greatest and I admit that that's not my problem -- that I have to obey the laws of the land I'm in. I just think the nation should maybe issue one fine to a tourist and cosolidate the others into warnings. It's not like I ran over somebody or caused damage.
In fact, I think if I'd not kept pace with the flying Spaniards, that might have caused an autopista accident!
All I know is that despite my intense love for espana, this 500--plus-euro kick in the rear two months after returning home is starting to make central and eastern Europe look a lot more attractive for future travels.
travelprague or travelbudapest google group anyone?? |
--- On Tue, 7/29/08, sue james <sue....@InfomaxGroup.co.uk> wrote: |
From: sue james <sue....@InfomaxGroup.co.uk> |
sue james
And it certainly no way to encourage tourists to return
Sue