Alcohol breathalyser for motorists from July, official notice

IT'S official, the requirement to have a single use alcohol breathalyser in your vehicle comes in to force from 1 July, 2012.

The Journal Officiel de la République Française has published details of the new breathalyser rules, with drivers advised of the legislation from July until 1 November, 2012 following which fines will be handed out if drivers are not in possession of a kit.

All motorists will have to have a breathalyser, this includes motorcyclists, van drivers and travellers from outside France, with The Local website saying a fine of €11 will be charged to anyone not carrying the breathalyser.

Expect to see plenty of mention of the need for the equipment on travel routes across the Channel, as well as a likely increase in the presence of gendarmes over the summer period.

The alcohol breathalyser will have to conform to standard, expect to see that on the packaging, and also be valid to use as there is a 'best before' date on them.

And thanks to a reader of the site who highlighted the company, Contralco, a leading supplier of breathalyser kits to police forces, but also supermarkets and other distributors.

On the website you can learn a little more about the breathalysers, as well as information on drink driving levels in France; you are over the limit if your blood/alcohol level is equal to or exceeds 0.5 grams per litre (g/l).

The introduction of breathalyser kits in vehicles has been something promised by Nicolas Sarkozy for some time, and he will be hoping for a change in attitude towards drink driving and prompt an improvement in road safety in France.

Update: Alcohol breathalyser in vehicles pushed back to March 2013

Full text: Décret n° 2012-284 du 28 février 2012 relatif à la possession obligatoire d'un éthylotest par le conducteur d'un véhicule terrestre à moteur

Download Décret n° 2012-284 (.pdf)

Comments

[J Roger Clifford-Banks]

Take Big Brother's crystals out, and replace them with salt. That should do the job!

[Craig McGinty]

Or how about some sherbet ;)

[GinaJ]

Or indeed how about not drinking when driving?

[Phil Voice]

Donna and I had a very rare day off yesterday and combined a trip out looking for building materials for our terrace with a spot of lunch.

We were recommended a little routier type restaurant along the road from the reclamation yard we'de just visited (near Tonneins).

As we pulled up in the restaurant car park we noted three Gendarmes get out of their marked police car and walk in.

As we crossed the road to enter the restaurant also we noticed there was a further three marked police vehicles, two of them mini-buses.

Inside the packed dining room there was a whole table set aside for the police (about 25 of them).

All of the police were in uniform (some looked like high ranking brass). On the table, you guessed it, were full carafes of rosé.

[Karl Pitwon]

I am slightly confused about this whole issue and am getting information on it by people who I think have not a clue either.
You have to have one of these kits inside your car, do you use it to test yourself after you have been drinking, if this is the case, it is going to be an expensive process for the vast majority of the french nation, going on what I see of their drinking habits personally.
Or is it necessary to have them in your car just for the gendarmes to use on solely testing you if you are stopped.
My former question would make sense to me, that is to test yourself ( that's if you are in a fit state to test yourself personally). If you test yourself and are knowingly over whatever the limit is, but decide to drive your car regardless, the consequences if stopped, and the breathalyser used on you.......should be severe.
At the moment in France, what I see of the drink drive law here, compared to what it is in the UK, I find it quite farcical, for example I know of a neigh'bour here, with a known drink problem, stopped by the gendarmes, over the limit, given some paltry fine, but the joke is it seems he is still allowed to continue driving his car. Back in the UK I am sure if you are stopped and are over the limit, the last thing you can do is to carry on driving your car after the offence.

[Bazrob]

What about all those people driving the little French 'lawn mower' cars that don't require a 'permit de conduire' - their driving licences can't be taken away once they've already lost them!!

[Ned Ludd]

Has anyone actually managed to find and buy a breathalyser?

We have tried four local supermarkets and three pharmacies over the last few months, plus the big Leclerc in Boulogne - not a single one of them had a breathalyser in stock on any occasion.