View Full Version : German Traffic Tickets?
EricZ
09-23-2005, 12:10 PM
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.
09-23-2005, 12:34 PM
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)
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
09-24-2005, 06:12 AM
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.