Monaco Supercars: Best to Race It on the Track, not French Roads
Tempted to go full throttle in a Lamborghini on French road. Beware. Drivers from Monaco have lost their “privilege” to speed with impunity on French autoroutes after Monaco recently consented to hand over the names of the worst speeders for prosecution. This meets a concern for safety.
Monaco likely has more supercars per square inch than any other country. But being less than one square mile owners have little chance to put a Ferrari or Lamborghini to the test. Monaco motorists have, however, been able to experience the joy of driving their sportscars at greater speeds in France, much to the concern of French authorities.
While France has arrangements with 14 countries including the U.K: to exchange data on traffic violations, French police have been unable to trace drivers with number plates showing the letters MC as Monaco has respected the privacy of its residents and declined to match plates to owners. Monaco is not in the EU and so is not obliged by the EU directive of March 2015 to allow France access to its vehicle register to process tickets when drivers are caught speeding by roadside cameras.
Nicolas Jacquet, the French prosecutor in Rennes, Brittany where all speeding infractions are documented, decided to pursue the worst offenders on grounds of safety. He located officials at the national centre for managing traffic offences (CNT) and requested that they to draw up a list of infractions committed by Monegasque supercars.
In 2015 they discovered that 11 vehicles had racked up more than 100 offences each, there were also 97 vehicles with more than at least 50 offences, and yet an additional 109 with 10 offences or more. Each infraction involved high speeds. 2016 was equally revealing. Apparently one driver had 384 offences registered against his car. The prosecutor highlighted that 37 motorists with infractions in 2015 continued speeding illegally in 2016. He requested that the 37 repeat offenders be questioned in Monaco.
Jacquet praised the new cooperation and concern by Monaco that people drive with care. According to the magistrate the solution will be through a bilateral agreement. In future the names of offenders will be sent to local authorities in southern France who will launch legal proceedings. Maximum speeding fines can reach €3,000
But, while Monaco motorists may see mail with eye-popping fines, they cannot be collected by the French courts unless drivers have French nationality or they are intercepted in the act in France.
And Monaco motorists still have special privileges: other countries do not have the power to dock points from their licences.
