On my third day in Eurpoe we drove down to Delft to check out the Royal Delft factory (because it was too freaking hot to be outside and the
|
factory's site promised a/c, which was minimal but better than being outside). When we were done we drove back up to Amsterdam to get pictures of the Anne Frank House and the Homomonument. On the way back to the hotel I got caught by a speed camera doing 4km over the limit (80). The car I had would beep whenever I went over the limit and I would slow down. I can only guess that I got caught just after a change of the limit (speed limits changed frequently on the highways in Europe and the signs can be easily missed (they're round and smaller than our signs). I knew that there were cameras all over the place so I was happy to put up with the beeping when I went over (even if only 1km!). I got an email from the rental company to tell me to expect a bill and also to tell me they charged me a 25 Euro admin fee.
A few days later I got another email saying I had a 2nd violation on our last day in Europe. I wasn't surprised by this one because we got turned around by signage at the airport and ended up back on the highway instead of on the road to the car return garage. We had little time to get back because we had to check bags and were running out of time for the cutoff. So I did speed to get turned around and back to the airport. But, no, I did not get caught at the airport. It was on the highway between the German border and Amsterdam on the way to the airport. Again, I assume it was a change in speed limit. I was 8km over the 100km limit.
Got the bills. Not too bad - 33 and 58 Euro, respectively. I knew Netherlands fines are based on the number of miles over the limit and small infractions got smaller fines.
Fortunately, the back of the bill had German, French, and English translations. Pay this amount by this date and send to this bank with this routing # and account # along with this reference #.
I went to the URL provided in the letter to see if I could pay online or send a check. Nope, had to be a bank transfer.
Went to the bank today not thinking about a fee as my bank is pretty good with not gouging me with fees (they even refunded my ATM fees from Canada and Europe). $45 (!!!) for each transaction. So I ended up paying double what I expected. Ouch!
|