breathalysers

  S

You can buy them here in Liguria (we are near the French border) from any pharmacy so I woul dimagine you will be able to buy them before you leave Italy.

That is the fine for not having one. Same as not having a bell on your bike. Foreigners will be exempt for some time. Not an official pronouncement but based on previous experience of French introduced regulations.

They cost peanuts so you may as well have them. Avoiding having them seems to me a bit like the naughty schoolboy who'll do anything to avoid obeying the rules. However ..... I tried 3 separate motorway services in France and none of them sell them. Seems you've got to leave the autoroute and make a special trip to a pharmacy in town. What's that about? TK

In all my years of driving through France I have never been stopped once. I carry my highViz vests, and spare bulb kits all of which I see as a necessary and safety based accessory, but carrying a breathalyzer kit, when I would never think of drinking on such a trip is just plain stoopid and unnecessary. French bureaucracy is renowned and this is yet another act that shows them as bonkers; I for one will not be carrying a kit and they are welcome to fine me. But I think you'll find someone will take this to the European Court of Human Rights as this law presumes that you will drink and Drive, so what about innocent until proven guilty??

Generally, I wholeheartedly endorse the "sod the French" attitude, but we did spend a few quid on a pair of breathalisers on the ferry the last time we returned home via France. I have no intentions of ever giving the flics any reason to stop me, but I only pick fights when I have some prospect of winning. My understanding is that the law is a cost-cutting exercise. If so, it seems pretty pathetic. Given that you can buy the things for around a Euro each retail, how many were the gendarmes getting through in a year? Do they just routinely give you a test whenever you're stopped for anything? Al

I knew nothing about this - but it seems totally bizarre that you have buy your own breathalyser to incriminate yourself or not.  Its like paying to have your own fingerprints or DNA available for the authorities to use when they like.  

We have just driven to the UK and back through France, without the requisite breathalyser. As said previously, the kits are not on sale in any motorway service stations (daft or what), and according to our friends who live in France, the maximum the gendarme can fine you anyway is 5 euros! So by all means buy them if you come across them but it is not worth stressing about!

t'encule le Flic !!

There is much talk on French expat forums about it. It is not due to costs but just a bit of job and bureaucracy creation. If you are stopped and breathalysed it will still be with a police kit. Having your own kit means that the defence of not being aware or of claiming spiked drinks is not likely to be valid. When they made it a legal requirement to use headlights in rain some years ago I was driving on the N10 south of Chartres and the flics had pulled in scores of cars for the offence, all were French.

There is much talk on French expat forums about it. It is not due to costs but just a bit of job and bureaucracy creation. If you are stopped and breathalysed it will still be with a police kit. Having your own kit means that the defence of not being aware or of claiming spiked drinks is not likely to be valid. When they made it a legal requirement to use headlights in rain some years ago I was driving on the N10 south of Chartres and the flics had pulled in scores of cars for the offence, all were French.

I can sympathise with any safety measure that is imposed for the greater good of the motorist; but as these Breathalyser kit are a) not Official b) not accurate c) operated probably in an incorrect/unregulated manner; therefore using one would still be inadmissible in Court anyway.  Lets face it the French are desperate to raise cash and this is a Bonkers way of doing it, and I couldn't see you being prosecuted for failing to have one, the only way this will work is on the spot fines, therefore a contestable legal decision; assuming you aren't pissed at the time !!

The new French regulation is not an arbitrary one. Actually, the law requesting to carry a breathaliser in the cars goes back to 1970 but it was never implemented. In 2011, and due to the statistics that showed that a third of all deaths on French roads were linked to alcohol consumption prompted the Sarkozy government to finally do the necessary so that breathalisers would become compulsory. The death rate was particularly worrying as the UK's rate was 17% and Germany's 10% and it was not limited to people with a regular high alcohol consumption. In the majority of the cases, people involved in accidents simply had that extra drink that made the big difference. Also, the regulations give the choice between disposable kits and electronic gadgets, which are certainly more accurate. Because we frequently travel on French roads, we have an electronic one, although we do not drink alcohol whenever we are driving. If anyone is interested in the real reasons for this decision by the French government, you will find plenty of information visiti

Having difficulties with this post. Anyway, what I wanted to add was that there is plenty of information available on google.fr... in French.

There is a grace period until November..so you don't actually need one (two) for 6 weeks or so. S

The grace period means that they are not going to fine anyone until the 1st of November, however, anyone involved in an accident before that date would be in a much better position by carrying a breathaliser in the car... and being able to demonstrate that he/she had not consumed alcohol before driving. The wording in French is important. In any case, the most important test will be the one conducted by the police.

The Bottom line here is the 'Consumption of Alcohol', if you Drink and Drive you better carry one and be able to demonstrate that you are below the limit when you started driving. If you have not consumed any Alcohol prior to driving and are either pulled over or involved in an accident, then this legislation is meaningless. The Fine being €11 is derisory and they fail however omit to detail how you should test for driving under the influence of Drugs, which is an even greater problem in France amongst the young......

There are loads on ebay for a few pounds. The latest debate among the hoop jumpers in France is if the NF on the kits is going to be acceptable as it seems that the guidelines show only certain ones to be so.