French alcohol test kits

[3rensho]

I just read on the TCS website that France has postponed indefinitely the implementation of the requirement that motorists traveling thru their country have alcohol test kits in their cars. Their thinking is that the kits will provide little or no safety improvement (Doh!!) but, the interior ministry has appointed a panel to look more deeply into the matter. The requirement could possibly be reinstated if the panel finds some valid reason for their use. Leave it to politicians to find more ways to pi$$ off taxpayer money.

[brit single]

I just read on the TCS website that France has postponed indefinitely the implementation of the requirement that motorists traveling thru their country have alcohol test kits in their cars. Their thinking is that the kits will provide little or no safety improvement (Doh!!) but, the interior ministry has appointed a panel to look more deeply into the matter. The requirement could possibly be reinstated if the panel finds some valid reason for their use. Leave it to politicians to find more ways to pi$$ off taxpayer money.

Typical.... just bought 2 in readiness for my forthcoming trip...

[Opensauce]

They are only a couple of €s in French supermkts, usually found at the checkout so if you feel the need, buy them in France rather than more expensively on the ferry or in UK, but as pointed out, not a legal requirement at the moment. Kits need a French approval symbol to be legal so probably better to buy in France, anyway.

[addo]

Look on the positive side Graham mate - you're now able to drive drunk and feign ignorance. :whistle:






(Before some forum members don lederhosen and ascend the stairs of my castle with swords rampant and carrying aloft torches of burning pitch, I jest...)

[evdama]

Ive a mental image of a bloke barely able to stand up struggling to open the packet occifer....

[addo]

I knew a fellow who was so out of his tree on pyschotropic substances, that when asked by the breath-testing walloper to "count to ten" he - wild-eyed and sweating a tropical rainstorm from the anxiety of it all - instead was trying to blow into the machine like the early breathalysers. As this was years before satisfactory testing for other drugs, he received a stern "drive around the corner and sleep for a few hours" lecture.

[mikeB]

I visit France on a regular basis and last returned to UK on 15 Jan. I have been asking at all the supermarkets in the Charente region for a kit but they kept telling me they didn't have any in stock, but that the deadline had been postponed to end of March 13. It seems clear to me that the producers refused to make any more available until they had assurance of a continuing market, which has now, it seems, been abandoned. Another initiative not thought through properly. It would not have been effective in reducing drink driving anyway, in my view.

[Opensauce]

The French do have a totally different attitude to drink/drive than UK. Most of us, when we go out to a meal or to the pub whatever are very aware of drink drive limits & stick to one drink if we drive or we make alternative non driving arrangements to get home. The French simply do not have this train of thought, while they might not drive while totally p**sed most will drink their fill & drive. You see it all the time for example lunchtimes in restaurants, diners will have an aperitif then wine with dinner etc & drive afterwards. Not that much over the limit but certainly over. No ban for a first offence in France anyway unless you are totally steamin'.

[addo]

That's something I'd never read up on - good to hear a potted summary.

[ron]

I had no intention of buying them anyway.Being teetotal I was going to skip from Dunkirk to Belgium(about 8 miles) & continue on my merry way. I hate stupid laws.:thumbsup::thumbsup: