Traffic fines compared
Which European country has the most expensive traffic fines?
Verdict
Italy. Commit the same six offences in four countries and pay on time, and Italy costs €1,151.40, Germany €980, Spain €750 and France €450.
Spain's tickets carry the biggest face value, €1,500 for the six, but half comes off if you pay within 20 days. Germany gives no discount, and a month's driving ban starts at 31 km/h over in town. France is the cheapest for everyday offences and the hardest once you cross two lines: 50 km/h over the limit, or 0.8 g/l of alcohol, and you are in a criminal court.
Rankings of "Europe's strictest countries" usually compare each country's headline fine for speeding, which tells you little: one country's headline is the worst a court can impose, another's is the fixed fine for 10 km/h over. Here the offences are the same everywhere: one bad day at the wheel, six tickets, priced from each country's own traffic code. Every figure links back to the country page where it was checked, with the law it comes from.
| # | Country | Paid on time | On the ticket | Driving bans | Discount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italy | €1,151.40 | €1,305 | 2 of the six | 30% off the minimum if paid within five days, except where the licence is suspended |
| 2 | Germany | €980 | €980 | 1 of the six | no discount for paying early |
| 3 | Spain | €750 | €1,500 | None | half off if paid within 20 days, also on the spot |
| 4 | France | €450 | €676 | None | €135 fines drop to €90 and €68 fines to €45 if paid within 15 days |
Six offences: 15 km/h over on the motorway; 30 km/h over in a 50 zone; phone in the hand; alcohol between 0.5 and 0.8 g/l; a child without a child seat; into a low-emission or limited-traffic zone without the sticker, registration or permit. Fines as checked on 1 October 2026.
The six offences, country by country
The amount on the ticket, then what you pay if you settle it in time. "Up to" is the legal ceiling. It only comes into play when a court or the authority sets the amount itself, for instance after an appeal; pay the ticket and you never meet it.
| Offence | France | Germany | Italy | Spain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motorway, 15 km/h over | €68 €45 paid on time | €40 | €173, up to €694 €121.10 paid on time | €100 €50 paid on time |
| Town, 30 km/h over | €135 €90 paid on time | €180; at 31 km/h over, €260 and a month's ban | €173, up to €694 €121.10 paid on time | €300 €150 paid on time |
| Phone in the hand | €135, earphones too €90 paid on time | €100 | €250, up to €1,000, and a ban of 15 days to two months | €200 €100 paid on time |
| Alcohol 0.5–0.8 g/l | €135, up to €750; the car can be immobilised €90 paid on time | €500 and a month's driving ban | €543, up to €2,170, and three to six months' suspension | €500 €250 paid on time |
| No child seat | €135, up to €750 €90 paid on time | €60 | €83, up to €332 €58.10 paid on time | €200 €100 paid on time |
| Zone without sticker or permit | €68 (Crit'Air) €45 paid on time | €100 (Umweltplakette) | €83, up to €332 (ZTL), for every time you pass the camera €58.10 paid on time | €200 (ZBE) €100 paid on time |
| Total on the ticket | €676 | €980 | €1,305 | €1,500 |
| Total paid on time | €450 | €980 | €1,151.40 | €750 |
The basket stays inside ordinary tickets on purpose: no crash, no drugs, nothing a court must decide. Push any of these offences further and the order changes.
The worst case in each country
| Country | Speed | Alcohol |
|---|---|---|
| France | 50 km/h or more over the limit is a crime: up to €3,750 and three months in prison | From 0.8 g/l of alcohol it is a crime: up to €9,000 and three years in prison |
| Germany | More than 70 km/h over: €800 and a three-month ban | Alcohol a second time: €1,000 and three months without driving |
| Italy | More than 60 km/h over: €845 to €3,382 and six to twelve months' ban | From 0.8 g/l of alcohol it is a crime, with up to six months' arrest; above 1.5 g/l the car is confiscated |
| Spain | More than 190 km/h on a 120 road: €600 | Above 0.60 mg/l of breath it is a crime: three to six months in prison or a fine, and one to four years without a licence |
France is cheap until it is not. Its everyday fines are the lowest of the four, but since 29 December 2025 driving 50 km/h over the limit is a crime there, and the 0.8 g/l alcohol line has been one for a long time. Italy reaches the same place with suspensions: a phone in the hand already costs a ban of 15 days to two months, so the five-day discount does not apply to it.
The radar detector, priced on its own
A detector that warns you of speed cameras is illegal in all four countries, and the fine for carrying one is so different from one country to the next that it would swamp the totals above.
| # | Country | Carrying a detector | Paid on time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italy | €825, up to €3,305, and the detector is confiscated | €577.50 |
| 2 | France | up to €1,500, and the detector is confiscated | No fixed amount |
| 3 | Spain | €200; a jammer costs €6,000 | €100 |
| 4 | Germany | €75 | €75 |
Warnings from a navigation app are another matter: Spain allows them by law and its traffic authority publishes the camera locations, France lets an app warn only of a stretch of road, not of a single camera, and Germany bans the warning function on any device while you drive.
The number of rules to know before you cross the border
| Country | Things to sort out | What they are |
|---|---|---|
| France | 9 | Crit'Air sticker · Hi-vis vest and warning triangle · UK sticker (UK-registered cars) · Driving licence · Registration and insurance papers · Motorway tolls · Winter kit · Child seats · Radar detector |
| Italy | 9 | ZTL old-town zones · Motorway tolls · Warning triangle and hi-vis vest · Dipped headlights outside towns · Radar detector out of the car · UK sticker (UK-registered cars) · Driving licence · Winter tyres or chains · Child seats |
| Germany | 8 | Green Umweltplakette · Speed-camera alerts off · Warning triangle, hi-vis vest and first-aid kit · UK sticker (UK-registered cars) · Driving licence · Motorway tolls · Winter tyres · Child seats |
| Spain | 8 | Low-emission zones (ZBE) · Motorway tolls · UK sticker (UK-registered cars) · Warning triangles and hi-vis vest · Radar detector out of the car · Driving licence · Child seats · Winter tyres or chains |
From the checklist at the top of each country page. Each country page has the full rule for every line.
Italy and France have the most to remember. In Italy it is the ZTL old-town zones, dipped headlights by day outside towns and winter tyres from 15 November; in France the Crit'Air sticker, the vest kept within reach and a ban on any earphone. Spain's list is short but has one slow item: Barcelona can take 15 working days to register a foreign plate for its low-emission zone. Germany's one sticker is the green Umweltplakette for its city zones.
Paying a fine as a visitor
All four countries can ask a driver who lives abroad to pay on the spot or leave a deposit, and in Spain and Italy the discount still applies when you do. Camera fines follow the car home: the EU countries exchange registration data, Italy has up to 360 days to send the notice abroad, and a German fine of €70 or more can be enforced in your own country. In a hire car, the rental company pays the fine, charges it to your card and adds a fee of its own.
Questions drivers ask
Which European country has the most expensive traffic fines?
Of France, Germany, Italy and Spain, Italy. The same six everyday offences, paid on time, cost Italy €1,151.40, Germany €980, Spain €750, France €450. On the ticket, before any discount, Spain is highest at €1,500, but it halves its fines if you pay within 20 days.
How much is a speeding ticket in Europe?
For 15 km/h over the limit on a motorway: Italy €173, Spain €100, France €68, Germany €40, before any discount for paying early. Italy's figure is a minimum: the ceiling for the same offence is €694.
Do I have to pay a traffic fine from another European country?
Yes. Police can ask a driver who lives abroad to pay on the spot or leave a deposit, and camera fines follow the car home through the EU's exchange of registration data. Italy has up to 360 days to send the notice abroad, and a German fine of €70 or more can be enforced in your own country. In a hire car the rental company pays, charges your card and adds a fee.
Are radar detectors legal in Europe?
Not in France, Germany, Italy or Spain. Carrying one costs from €825 in Italy, up to €1,500 in France, €200 in Spain, €75 in Germany.
How the comparison was made
- Every fine comes from the country pages on this site, each checked against the country's own traffic code and ministry pages: France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The zone fines come from the low-emission zone pages. The build of this site stops if a figure here no longer matches the country page.
- "Paid on time" is the lowest legal amount: France's reduced fine within 15 days, Italy's minimum less 30% within five days, Spain's half within 20 days. Germany has no reduction.
- Speeding is counted at 15 km/h over on a motorway and 30 km/h over in a 50 km/h zone, alcohol at 0.6 g/l for an experienced driver, and the zone fine for one entry. Italian fines are per camera passage, so two trips through a ZTL are two fines.
- Points are left out: they are only taken off a licence issued by the same country.
- Only the four countries with a full page on this site are ranked. More will join as their pages are written.
Next on the road
Sources
- Service-Public: speed limits and speeding penalties (checked 29 December 2025)
- Service-Public: great excess of speed is now a crime (24 December 2025, updated 7 January 2026)
- Service-Public: drink-driving limits and penalties (checked 27 August 2026)
- Service-Public: non-resident drivers, immediate payment or deposit
- Sécurité routière: radar detectors and navigation alerts
- Sécurité routière: phones and earpieces at the wheel
- Sécurité routière: child seats (leaflet, PDF)
- ANTAI: fixed, reduced and increased fine amounts by class (PDF)
- Service-Public: seat belts and child seats, fine up to €750, usually €135 (verified 3 October 2025)
- Service-Public: paying a traffic fine, reduced and increased amounts by class (verified 11 January 2025)
- Service-Public — Vignette ou pastille Crit'Air (certificat qualité de l'air)
- StVO § 21: child restraints
- StVO § 23: phones, and devices that warn of speed checks
- StVG § 24a and § 24c: alcohol and THC limits, zero for new drivers
- Bußgeldkatalog (BKatV), Anlage and Tabelle 1: fines and driving bans
- Polizeipräsidium Westpfalz: security deposits from drivers living abroad (27 August 2026)
- Bundesministerium für Umwelt — Umweltplakette und Umweltzone
- Codice della Strada art. 142 (ACI's current text): speed limits, 150 km/h sections, rain, trailers and speeding fines
- Codice della Strada art. 173 (ACI's current text): phones at the wheel, after the 2024 reform
- Codice della Strada art. 186 (ACI's current text): drink-driving limits and penalties
- Codice della Strada art. 172 (ACI's current text): child restraints and the anti-abandonment alarm
- Codice della Strada art. 45 (ACI's current text): radar detectors
- Codice della Strada art. 202 (ACI's current text): the 30% discount for paying within five days
- Codice della Strada art. 207 (ACI's current text): foreign-registered vehicles: paying on the spot or a deposit
- Codice della Strada art. 201 (ACI's current text): 360 days to notify drivers resident abroad
- Codice della Strada art. 195 (ACI's current text): fine amounts and the suspended inflation update
- Codice della Strada, art. 7 comma 14 (sanzione ZTL)
- BOE: Traffic Act (Real Decreto Legislativo 6/2015), consolidated: fines (art. 80), points (Annex II), speeding table (Annex IV), non-resident deposits
- DGT: alcohol limits and fines, December 2025 campaign
- DGT: types of offence, and the 50% reduction within 20 days
- Ordenanza ZBE Rondes de Barcelona, régimen sancionador
Fines are the ones in force on the date above. Points on a licence are left out: they only apply to a licence issued by the same country.