Gendarmerie signs on Autoroutes

m11ldncam · Post by **m11ldncam** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:07

Just come back from a nice long trip down through France and a thing that has intrigued me for some time now struck me again this time.

Every so often on the Autoroutes you will see the sign "Prochaine Sortie - Gendarmerie". Obviously it is good to know where to go to if you need to get to these Police stations but I assume that there is probably a more important reason for these signs. One possibility I have thought is that if you have been stopped by the Gendarmes they will tell you to report to the next station with your papers and this is to assist you in locating it?
What brought this idea to the fore was that on the new A28 went past several speed traps, a joy to drive on this near empty new road with the temptation to put the foot down!!

This is probably a wild guess but if anyone does know the actual reason it would reslove another of lifes little queries

Thanks

Bryn666 · Post by **Bryn666** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:15

Probably is to do with that - if you break some traffic laws, your car can be taken off you, and presumably those signs tell the tow trucks where to go?

Brian_A3 · Post by **Brian_A3** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 14:24

On my recent trip to Le Mans I noticed these signs too. Luckily I thought they meant speed traps and on most occasions they did.

Not sure if that was just because the genardmarie new there would be a lot of boy racer Brits in fast cars. I saw plenty of Ferrari's and Porsche's getting pulled over.