Breathalyser in France?

Calais-down what used to be called the "corridor" to Belgium,Luxembourg into Germany to AUSTRIA. You miss all the toll roads and don't have the silly French rules apart from the first 15mins

I wouldn't be too worried... It's election season, and the likely winners have said that they will look to review these rules before they come into full effect, with the aim of scrapping them.

[embee]

Originally Posted by DarrenSV650S

Is anyone else getting fooked off with all this French crap? etc.

Well, yes and no. I'm like you, love riding in France, it has so many attractions it still outweighs the negatives. Off to the Ardeche in June for a bike meet.

If you look at all the nit-pick legal carp we have here it could look equally as ball-aching, number plate sizes, exhausts, tinted visors, displaying tax discs etc. But does it really matter that much? The French plod are usually a lot less picky than our dear souls in my experience, as long as you're not being a British ar$e they'll just look at the GB plate and wave you along. Of course if they are in a mind to give you a hard time they can, very easily, but generally it doesn't happen.

As an example, pull up at a roadside cafe for a break and just park on the pavement outside, as long as you're not in anyone's way there's no problem. Do that here you'll have some jobsworth on you before the exhaust stops ticking.

Relax, and learn to shrug your shoulders, it works.

Sorry bud, misinterpreted what you were asking!

Eh? You have to have breathalysers on you?

[garynortheast]

Since when did you have to carry a breathalyser with you? That's just plain bonkers!

I dont get it, these things are horribly inaccurate and throw up false readings for a huge amount of reasons, dont french police carry a digital one like all the road police over here? which would get used anyway if you were stopped rather than a plastic bag with salts in it.

[Nick_69]

Originally Posted by BBadger

I dont get it, these things are horribly inaccurate and throw up false readings for a huge amount of reasons, dont french police carry a digital one like all the road police over here? which would get used anyway if you were stopped rather than a plastic bag with salts in it.

U forget that the French government are idiots. They believe that it will stop people driving after a drink, even thou u still have to get pulled over by the police to get done for it

[Nobbylad]

I thought they brought that law in so that at least going forwards, everyone would know they were drunk before driving home lol

[embee]

I think it's effectively just a way of bringing the subject to the fore, by all accounts the percentage of serious accidents that involve drink/driving is very high in France so some way of raising awareness is probably overdue.

As far as I can see from what's been published, there is no requirement to actually use one. The more the driver has had to drink the less likely they are to test themselves anyway.

I suspect it will be a way to increase sentencing and thus act as a deterrent, if a drink/driver had the means to test themselves and didn't it will compound the offence. Remember that the French legal system works in a very different way to the English (and probably Scots) system, being inquisitorial.