Nearly 7 000 drivers, mainly foreign diplomats and French officials including top civil servants and senior policemen, escaped fines after being caught by France’s new automatic speed traps last year.
The satirical weekly Le Canard Enchainé, citing a leaked interior ministry document, said the diplomatic corps was clocked over the speed limit 2 590 times, with the worst offenders being China (155 times) and Russia (124) and the best-behaved Brazil (16) and the United States (12).
Unmarked cars carrying police and government officials were caught 4 400 times. Vehicles registered to President Jacques Chirac’s Elysée Palace were let off five times, and those belonging to the prime minister four times, the paper said.
A ministry official promised greater vigilance ”as to whether speeding was justified” in future. – Guardian Unlimited Â