French ministers 'found speeding'

The government is trying to improve road safety

Cars carrying two French ministers broke the speed limit while taking them to inaugurate a new speed camera, according to a French motoring weekly.

Auto Plus magazine says both cars were doing 100 kilometres an hour (60mph) on a road near Paris where the limit is 70 (43mph).

The French centre-right government has been cracking down on speeding drivers in recent months.

A spokesman for the transport minister did not deny the incident.

According to Auto Plus, Transport Minister Gilles de Robien's car was travelling at 103 k/ph on a road south of Paris.

The Peugeot 607 carrying Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy - a tough law-and-order figure - was clocked at 103 k/ph.

Both were driving to a Paris suburb to unveil a new radar speed trap last month.

'No excuse'

Mr de Robien's office said the minister "did not contest the facts that seem to have been revealed".

"The fact that he was running late on this particular day and being escorted by a security convoy is no excuse," his office said.

Mr Sarkozy's office said in a statement that he was "verifying the conditions under which the speeds were recorded".

It added that the "minister's vehicle was travelling in a secured environment behind two police motorcyclists who set the speed of the cortege".

The radar initiative is part of a campaign by the government to try to improve safety on French roads, where about 8,000 people die every year.