Tue 30 Jul 2002
New Souvenir
Posted by Ken Atherton under Daily Life, germany, Interesting Stuff
1 Comment
Late last week, I got a message from someone in the accounting department that they had received an item for me. One of the people in the office stopped by to deliver it to me. The item was a nice letter from the local government. Here’s an excerpt:
It was even signed at the bottom “mit freundlich grüßen [with friendly greetings], Herr Zipfel”.
“Great,” I said to the gentlemen bearing the letter. “I was expecting this.”
Ok, so that quote doesn’t convey the note of sarcasm that I expressed when I actually said the words. For those of you who didn’t get the gist of the above letter, here’s a simple translation: “You were speeding, and we caught you on camera.”
It’s true. I was, and they did. Here’s what happened:
One evening the previous week, we drove down to the local Wal-mart to do our weekly shopping. The stretch of highway that leads there from Villingen intersects with the Autobahn. When a secondary highway such as this one intersects with the Autobahn, there is often a part of the secondary road that is treated as part of the Autobahn. The Autobahn rules go into effect, and the speeds go up.
On the return trip from Wal-mart, just after the Autobahn section ends, there is a stop light. In the space of about 1 km, the speed limit goes from unlimited to 120km/h to 100km/h to 80km/h to 60km/h to dead stop (if the light is red).
Unbeknownst to us, the local government has recently installed a speed camera next to an overpass, just after the speed limit is reduced to 80. If you pay very close attention, they have added a little warning underneath the speed limit sign that says there may be radar in use in the area. Apparently that’s the compromise that happens in Germany. The government is free to use the cameras, as long as they warn you that they might be in use nearby.
So we were driving merrily along when– FLASH! At first I didn’t know what had happened. The sun was low in the sky, and I thought I had just been surprised by the sun coming out from behind the overpass. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I knew exactly what had happened: The machine was just making sure there was enough light to see my license plate. What I didn’t know was how fast I was going…that was a little worrisome.
I am required to get a German driver’s license since I am a resident now. The last thing I need is to get into trouble over speeding. Plus, it’s a little embarrassing. I haven’t gotten a speeding ticket since about two and a half months after I first got my driver’s license. Even then, I was over the limit in an area where I had missed the speed limit sign. Oddly enough, that’s basically what happened this time– also about two and a half months after we got here!
Here’s the good news, if there is any. 1. The car isn’t registered in my name. Thomson holds the lease. 2. Unless the speeding violation is severe, the government doesn’t even care who got the ticket, as long as it’s paid. 3. It turns out that I wasn’t going that much over the limit.
If you look at the ticket carefully, here’s what it says: we think you were going 88 in an 80 (whew– it could have been much worse). Since our equipment may not be that accurate, we will subtract an assumed amount of error from your speed (5km/h). Thus, we can say with confidence that you were going 3 (!!!) kilometers an hour over the limit.
Effectively, I got busted for doing (in American terms) 52 in a 50.
Once a week or so, someone comes to change the film in the camera. The film is processed, and they send a bill for each of the violations to the owner of the vehicle. That’s how Thomson got the ticket, and how it found its way to me.
So how much did it cost me? Well, here’s the amount that shows on the remittance form on my bill:
Yeah, that’s right, a whopping 10 euro. For that price, it’s a souvenir of our stay in Germany. Hopefully, it will be the only one!
