Sacre Bleu, Zut Alors, Incroyable!

[Mike Pass]

Our fun police friends from across the channel are at it again. In addition to the usual hiding behind bushes with a radar gun (with possible car confiscation and on the spot fines) and general regulatory strangeness they have a new one to inflict on visitors to their shores. Not content with insisting that we carry a warning triangle, a high vis jacket for each occupant and a spare set of bulbs but from 1st of July you will need to carry a breathalyser! Not only that but it must carry NF (Norme Francais) seal of approval. Legislation comes into force on 1st July but apparently the gendarmes won't start fining people until 1st November. How kind! Gives me a warm glow at such generosity. There will be a minimum fine of 9 euros.
Who thinks up this stuff? I fail to see any point or logic in this. Most french people I meet are great but there is a certain type of french bureaucrat that invokes rules to make your life harder. Remember the farce of the Minis being denied their Monte Carlo win by the rule manipulators.
Bon chance mes amis.....
Mike

 

[Jack]

Mike, can you spell REVENUE>>>

Bon Chance!

 

[Ron R.]

Guess I won't be visiting any time soon.

Maybe they're just trying to keep the foreign riff-raff (tourists) out. I suspect that they'll be successful.

 

[Cliff Beer]

French bureaucrats think that it's still the age of Napoleon, and that France rules the World. Consequently, making up silly laws that are uniquely french is just part of drill.

France is always sticking out like a sore thumb, as if to say "hey, look at me, look at me, I'm special!"

And rightly so. I'd count myself lucky to be retired in the south of France one day.

 

[Glenn M]

Seems a great idea to me Mike. Presumably if you're stopped and you've had too much vin rouge ( purely in the interest of entente cordial of course), if you haven't got a breathalyser all they can fine you is the 9 Euros. Sounds good to me!

Glenn

 

[Keith]

Aren't these the same people that leave you lying in the road if you cannot show the ambulance driver an insurance card?

Those of a certain age will also remember the Camion Pilote Francais's favourite trick of running off the road any unfortunate car with white headlights....

It's what makes them great!

 

[Ian Anderson]

Actually I believe you have to have 2 in your car.

Police stop you and you use one you have to have a spare or you are not allowed to drive!

I bet some French politician has shares in the company that makes these.

Ian

 

[Stephen Tonks]

Yes. I'm pretty sure you need 2. I bought a couple of packs from our local supermarket and was going to give one to my brother in law, who hasn't yet purchased. He then informed me you need to carry 2 in the car. My GT40 is getting pretty full of stuff I need to carry, I can tell you.

 

[Nick]

Mike,

Looks like we are still paying the price for Agincourt. I'm sticking with you as you are fully conversant with the lingo. Time for us peasants to start another revolution?

 

[Mike Pass]

Thanks Nick.
I am definitely a revolting peasant!
Cheers
Mike

 

[Max Walter]

Anyone know where you can purchase suitably approved devices in the UK?

Or is it a Google search?...

Max

 

[Nick]

Anyone know where you can purchase suitably approved devices in the UK?

Or is it a Google search?...

Max

Max,

Not sure about the UK but this was on another car forum I am on.

"they are 1,50 at service stations..2-3 euro in pharmacys etc "

 

[Mike Pass]

Try Ebay.
Type in "disposable breathalyser NF" or similar and set search to lowest price first.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Andrew Komosa]

I don't disagree, but let's not forget who is putting on the Le Mans Classic this year! I'd hate to upset the organisation... then you'd see some rules! Regards... Andrew

 

[David Scaife]

Now lets not be cynical;-
This is a way of cutting down on government spending as every time you are stopped for a drink/drive check you have to produce your own kit, one for the police & the other for your confirmation.
And increasing revenue…………….
Being under the limit you are allowed on your way, only to be stopped 100 yards (sorry metres!) down the road for a vehicle compliance check…………what no unused…………9€.. “That will do nicely Sir.”
Les Flics;-
“God I love my job”
(EU job satisfaction compliance directive………….Tick)

In the real world;-
How may times have you been stopped on the French roads?
At least once on every 120 mph trip from Calais to Le Mans!

Bon Chance.

 

[Stephane Goria]

Gentlemen,

I understand that this new law may look hard to understand or to accept from outside but also for french drivers.

This is why, I believe it could be usefull to understand the "why" of this new law.

In France, you are authorized to drive having drinking some alcohol but with a limit of 0.5g per liter of blood.

This , because of biological differences between every human being makes the things not clear or easy to respect : Is , for me, 0.5g reached after 1 , 2, ...5 glasses of wine...? Normally it is 2 but for women it can be only 1 and for "fat" men, it can be 4 to5...

So, there was a need to allow people to know, if they were in the alowance or not.

The basic of french legislation states that you have to be aware that you are doing a law infringement...so when a driver gets caught driving being drunk, and if he has a good lawyer, the defence is to said "sorry your honor, but my customer was that drunk that he was no more in position to be aware that he was outlaw, and as there is no way for him to know he is outlaw (no gauges, no control tools..) but only to remember how much he has been drinking wich he cannot remember as he is drunk, thus he cannot be prosecuted"...and so the guy is released....If there were no human lives involved, it should be very funny but unfortunately dramatics acidents happens every day, not later than yesterday in Paris, a small boy of 11 years killed by such kind of people...

So the governement said : "ok, let's say that it will be an obligation to have a way to measure if you are breaching the law or not" and then there will be no room for lawyers going into this "awareness" defence...thus the obligation to have an alcohol tester in your car....

This being said, I totally agree with this law not because the alcohol tester would be useful in a car (it is of no use), but just because these people driving with that much alcohol in their veins that they kill people can really go to jail wich is the place where they have to be...and stay...

The other way would be to prohibit any drinking before driving but not doable in the country of wine....so personnally I now drink only 1 glass if I have to drive wich drives me to focus on very very good wines in my glass rather than bulk ones. This, I hope, may drive the producers to raise their quality levels, so a global quality enhancemnt can be expected....This last sentence is obviously a big dream, we'll see how it goes even if in the last years, since the alcohol authorization is lowered from 0.8g to 0.6 to 0.5...it seems that you find better wines in restaurants...

Stephane

 

[Mike Pass]

The point we are making is not against stopping drinking and driving which I am fully in agreement with. We all have legislation about the level of alcohol which is allowed when driving.
My complaint is against having to carry breathalyser kits. The people who are going to drink and drive will still do so whether they carry the kits or not. So the rest (the majority) of us are once again penalised by a crude approach to legislation. Everyone is made to pay for the sins of a stupid minority.
I find it very doubtful that making people buy and carry breathalysers kits going to stop drinking and driving if the risk of injuring or killing others and yourself combined with the already existing penalties won't work.
It's just overbearing and bad legislation.

Just my 2c...

Cheers
Mike

 

[Keith]

Stephane, I do not think anyone here disagrees with the need to control drinking alcohol and driving with the often devastating effects this nefarious activity can have.

The new law en France may deter the 'fringe' drink/driving group but I think it will do little to deter the hardened repeat offenders who have little or no regard for the sanctity of human life, and then there is the increasing issue of 'drug driving'

Severe custodial sentences are now the norm in the UK for causing death whilst intoxicated - but still it happens.

I do not understand how the inclusion of 2 breathalyzer kits increases the potential for successful prosecution save to 'remind' the driver of his/her responsibilities under the law. Despite the actuality of a law which permits a driver to drink an 'unspecified' amount (body weight, food consumption etc) the message has always been 'DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE'.

Everyone is breathalyzed after any kind of accident or stopped for any minor traffic offence in the UK regardless of 'blame' - if you're over you're guilty and will lose your licence for at least one year. There are very very few (if any) defences against conviction. Yet it still does not deter the hard core of offenders and so I see little scope for an improvement in this situation by the breathalyzer kit strategy in France.

The only sensible solution of course, is 'zero tolerance' - there are quite a few countries that excercise this strategy and it leaves no room for doubt.

However, the drinks companies are a powerful lobby in the UK, and I cannot see this happening here anytime soon.

 

[Keith]

Ooooops! Must type FASTER!!! :laugh:

Message is the same though. The breathalyzers may be a political move to demonstrate that someone is 'doing' something but it's a band aid at best.

 

[Cliff Beer]

It's real simple, if you drink a bunch of alcohol you shouldn't be behind the wheel. If you've only had a little then you're probably still capable of operating a vehicle.

We're not children. Everyone knows the above is the basic principle here. If you screw up and drive a vehicle after drinking a lot of alcohol, well, you should be penalized for that so as to discourage that behavior (yours, and others) in the future. Said another way, if you drink a bunch of alcohol and thereby lose your sensibility about whether you're in suitable shape to drive a car, that's your own damn fault and you need to be penalized so you learn how to act responsibly in the future.

If you treat people like children well, guess what, they'll act like children.

Here in the US we don't let the government nannies run the show and they know it. After all, we might just pick up a gun and shoot 'em. Or at least vote 'em out of office next time around. I ain't carrying no breathelizer in my car. Ever.