Advice about riding in Europe

sfcpiet said:
Without a very definite change of attitude amongst road users, nothing much will change.

piet
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Very true, Piet. Enforcement and proscription doesn't work with drug use - i think that realisation has partly dawned. Better driver training and genuine education are what will reduce the road toll. I always tell my kids 'speed (not the drug!) doesn't kill people, bad driving does'. It's relevant to them because I've been nicknamed 'old leadfoot' :ROFLMAO:
 
sfcpiet said:
Lothar,

Your remarks suggest you feel victimised by the actions of austrian police in particular. Their actions may be disturbing for you, but I'm pretty certain these are sanctioned by higher bodies to attain certain goals, such as encouraging more tourists to use the toll roads instead of clogging trunk roads and disrupting everyday life for hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. But their primary aim will still be to ensure the safety and well-being of all road users.

It's not like we are being persecuted. But, as long as a major part of the motorcycling community chooses to deliberately disobey rules and regulations, we can be certain that law-enforcment groups will be focussed on all of us. That is a very sad fact. Of course, I'm equally guilty of lane-splitting, speeding, excessive noise etc as anybody else, I'm certainly no Gutmensch. But I will not resort to complaining, no matter how perfidious the trap is I stumble into, I'll just continue to do my best to avoid them.

piet
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I'll take that offline, makes no sense to go on in public as you obviously are not reading what I write. Maybe it works better in German...?
 
sfcpiet said:
Without a very definite change of attitude amongst road users, nothing much will change.

piet
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The real income linked to the road isn't the state pulling in fines, it's the sale of vehicles and energy, be it petrol or electric.
Intelligence, not artificial, there's no such thing, would limit individual transport as much as possible in favour of public transport. We'd all have something to gain from that.
Paul
 
Laverdalothar said:
I'll take that offline, makes no sense to go on in public as you obviously are not reading what I write. Maybe it works better in German...?
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Well, I'm reading Lothar but as the French saying goes " il n'est pire aveugle que celui qui ne veut pas voir".
( no one more blind than he who doesn't want to see)
Paul
 
Paul Marx said:
The real income linked to the road isn't the state pulling in fines, it's the sale of vehicles and energy, be it petrol or electric.
Intelligence, not artificial, there's no such thing, would limit individual transport as much as possible in favour of public transport. We'd all have something to gain from that.
Paul
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Intelligent public transport for daily commute and hobby vehicles for leisure...
 
Beucars said:
Intelligent public transport for daily commute and hobby vehicles for leisure...
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There'll always be a need for individual transport but it needs to be reduced.
The car as a means of individual transport is a complete stupidity and certainly not a leisure vehicle. And yet, our whole way of life is centred on it.
Paul
 
Back to riding in Europe...
On my ill-fated Breganze trip in 2017, at first sizable village after crossing into Italy, police had set up a mandatory alcohol-breathalyser 'event' Cars had to wind the window down and blow, for bikes it was helmet off. I hadn't seen this before, or since. A common thing?
 
Only been stopped once in Europe, on a return journey from Breganze in December around 2019. It was late evening and had just crossed over the border from Austria into Germany. Pulled off the main road to look for somewhere to stay and presumably a bored police patrol, that was parked up on the exit, decided to investigate the van with the odd looking vehicle registration. He obviously had called for back up as when we were ‘invited’ to turn into a parking area on the edge of town we were met by two other patrol cars. It took about an hour, in the freezing cold, before they were satisfied we weren’t international terrorists or drug runners and just a guy from the IOM and a friend from the UK going home after buying a bike and collecting some Italian racing leathers. Quite a bit of interest was shown in my tyres, which although new, weren’t all weather rated, but no comment was made directly to me. I did have a set of snow chains in the van, but if they had wanted to, I guess they could have nicked me for not having the correct tyres fitted. However, they just waved us on our way, eventually.
As an aside, we obviously have the TT on at the moment, and a one-way, no limit, ‘race track’ over the mountain section of the TT course. Elsewhere, temporary speed limits abound and the cops will have a field day booking locals and visitors alike for exceeding these and other speed limits. Favorite spots are on sloping roads, where a real effort has to be made not to exceed the limit. These don’t tend to be in accident black spots but are easy to police and have a convenient lay-bye to pull in the errant motorist or motorcyclist. Ironically, The real accident black spots are on the mountain where there are no speed limits....
 
Haggis said:
Back to riding in Europe...
On my ill-fated Breganze trip in 2017, at first sizable village after crossing into Italy, police had set up a mandatory alcohol-breathalyser 'event' Cars had to wind the window down and blow, for bikes it was helmet off. I hadn't seen this before, or since. A common thing?
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Depending on the area, tourist area or not, there are areas were drink drive checks are more likely.
There are more roving checks in my experience.
Having said that, Spanish, Dutch and French police enjoy catching the Brits coming off the ferries so take it easy if you are having a few on the ferry..
 
Where they have these roadblocks it's usually a combination of police and customs officers. I remember all traffic on a motorway heading out of Portugal towards Spain being diverted into a disused service area a few years ago. It was a big operation but they did it quite efficiently, I suppose they are mainly looking for things other than motoring issues. I remember reading that they found over a million euros in cash dumped at the side of the road just before one of these pop up checkpoints. Gives you some idea of what is going on.
 
Not to bring up the Austrian discussion again, but the following roads (Straße) in Tyrol are monitored for loud vehicles.
It doesn't matter what your vehilce registration paperwork states, if the Austrian cops determine the vehicle to loud it will be impounded!
B198 Lechtalstraße from Steeg to Weißenbach am Lech
B199 Tannheimerstraße from Weißenbach am Lech to Schattwald.
L21 Berwang-Namloser Straße from Bichlbach to Stanzach
L72 Hahntennjochstraße 2. part from Pfafflar to Imst
L246 Hahntennjochstraße 1. part from Imst to Imst crossing Vogelhändlerweg
L266 Bschlaber Straße from Elmen to Pfafflar

No further discussion required, just a FYSA

Gerald
 
Customs are authorised to perform traffic stops as they see fit within approx. 10-15km from international borders here. Although most import wares and foodstuffs are generally tax-free, there still are limits on how much can be privately imported for your own use. This applies especially to alchohol, tobacco and coffee. These days they are far more focussed on human trafficking or smuggle of stohlen vehicles and are often accompanied by police officers.

The EU Schengen Agreement has made much of this malarky possible, but I prefer it this way than having to go through a check procedure at every border I cross, along with swapping currencies, etc. Only Switzerland these days that is a pita to enter at times.

piet
 
sfcpiet said:
Customs are authorised to perform traffic stops as they see fit within approx. 10-15km from international borders here. Although most import wares and foodstuffs are generally tax-free, there still are limits on how much can be privately imported for your own use. This applies especially to alchohol, tobacco and coffee. These days they are far more focussed on human trafficking or smuggle of stohlen vehicles and are often accompanied by police officers.

The EU Schengen Agreement has made much of this malarky possible, but I prefer it this way than having to go through a check procedure at every border I cross, along with swapping currencies, etc. Only Switzerland these days that is a pita to enter at times.

piet
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50 km from the border I believe in France, maybe 100.
Paul
 
Andy Bartlett and I got a once over from French customs on the way to circuit Val de Vienne, in the middle of France, so I think it could be anywhere!
 
I can't help, occasionally, hankering after the good old days.
In '91, coming back from Interclub Breganze do, which finished up in Corvara. I took the route home through Austria. Since I was doing the trip in one day, it's fair to say I was getting on with it (high speed cruising). I came upon a marked Austrian police car, generic three box, possibly a Fiat 124,. Spotted it from about half a mile back, eased the speed back and gently pulled alongside them. The non-driver gave me a big thumbs up and, after a minute, waved me on, in an "OK go for i!" motion. I hesitated but, then, the driver joined in. So I thought "What the hell?" Dropped a gear and gave it its head. As I scooted away, I could see two beaming smiles and thumbs up from the police car.
Whatever happened to cops with discretion?

Interclub Breganze Rally '91.jpg
 
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