German Traffic Tickets?

EricZ · 09-23-05, 11:10

OK, so I have an interesting question for you guys. I recently spent about six weeks living in Germany. During this time, I had a rental car for about 3 days. Yesterday, I recieved a letter from the Bonn Avis office telling me that I had been identified as the driver who had commited an offense under the Road Traffic Act. Since I was never pulled over, I'm pretty sure it was a photocop that got me. I don't think that the offense was speeding (the strip of autobahn I drove had no speed limit), and I took it easy on surface streets. I can remember rushing through an intersection, and so I suspect it was running a yellow light. Does anyone here have experience with German tickets? I have reason to believe the fine will be quite steep. I am planning on paying though, since I liked driving in Germany and would like to be able to do so in the future. Any thoughts?

tom p. · 09-23-05, 11:34

One of my co-workers had this same experience 10 years ago. he said he ignored the ticket. Who knows the best response today?

(He didn't stop behind the painted white line at a traffic signal and a photo camera bagged him)

tlak · 09-23-05, 02:27

You should be able to receive nice photo of the car you drove and possibly your face.
I got one in the old country last May driving my cousins company vehicle car - photo was color

and definitely my melon was behind the wheel

I did not have problem since car was not registered on my name but my cousins and he had to pay for it. It wasn’t Germany and I think laws are different.

Siggyboy · 09-24-05, 05:12

I lived in Germany for a few years. They most certainly got a picture of you going through a yellow light...if you push a yellow light where they have a camera, you can expect a ticket. I got "geblitzt" on a yellow light there about two years ago while driving a rental car. I never got a ticket though, and only knew about it because it was getting dark at the time and I saw the flash from the camera.

If the ticket is for anything more than a minimal amount, I probably would just ignore it. Even if you plan on returning to Germany, I really don't think that a traffic ticket will be flagged on your passport information and they have no way to enforce it against you in the US. I'm sure Avis has some type of insurance etc. for that. Who would be demanding payment anyway, Avis or the German Dept. of Trans.? I wouldn't send any payment to Avis.