My brother in law (Retired British Bobby) has moved to France last Sept, and he says French police appear to have some sort of national copmpetition to see who can set up the best disguised, best hidden or just plain devious speed trap.
He recently spotted a couple of policemen with laser-binoculars catching drivers on a clear downhill stretch of main road, you know the sort of gentle hill where you don't mean to go fast particularly, but find yourself going 10 mph faster than you thought you were doing....
The police weren't even on the main road, but behind a hedge in a country lane that ran parallel to it for a little while! They just radioed the speeders' details to another team up the main road who had cars queuing up to pay their fines.
He does confirm that French drivers will invariably warn you when you're approaching a speed trap, but don't bank on them spotting every one. He warned me to just play safe and observe the speed limits. Boring, but it's good beer money you're wasting.
DD