france has one of the worst road safety records in europe, and so, since 2000 has attempted to improve this abysmal rap by severely cracking down on drivers that speed. this includes not only french drivers but also foreigners that may be visiting france. if you get caught driving over the speed limit by 40 kilometers (25 miles) or more per hour, your driver’s license will be confiscated right on the spot! if no other driver is in your car, you have to somehow get to where you’re going on your own. in addition, you may be facing huge fines and police will escort you to a bank so you can extract sums of up to 1,315 euros. you may also face jail time. if your license is confiscated and you’re not from france, you can get it back only upon departing for your own country. this obviously also means that if you’re alone, you cannot drive your car back to your country, which can cost thousands of euros to get your car to your country’s border.

i wonder if people driving these too slowly also get their licenses confiscated…

[via article: RAC Foundation]