French police badgeThese are the rules and regulations governing car and motorcycle driving in France, including important recent changes to the law.

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You have to be at least 18 to drive a car or a motorcycle over 80cc in France. A green card is not required for EU citizens but motorists from other countries should check with their local French embassy or consulate or motoring association.

Third party insurance is compulsory and it is advisable to inform your insurance company before you go.

Your driving licence, car registration papers (carte grise in French) and insurance documents must be kept in the vehicle. These must be the original documents; copies should be kept separately.

News for driving laws in FranceThe French government has introduced a scheme to reduce vehicle pollutant emissions in its main cities.

Known as Crit'Air, it requires drivers to display a windscreen sticker identifying their car's emission level. You can read more about the Crit'Air scheme and how to buy a Crit'Air sticker here. Failure to display the sticker incurs a fine and some older vehicles may be disqualified from circulating in cities at all.

Electric scooters (trottinettes électriques) have been a huge hit in France, but have caused increasing problems in major cities. In fact, in a 2023 referendum, citizens of Paris voted overwhlmingly to ban them in that city.

The French government has reacted by imposing a number of new restrictions on electric scooter users.

It is now forbidden to ride on the pavement, to wear earphones and to go faster than 25 kph / 15 mph (and the scooter itself must not be capable of exceeding this speed).

Riders must be aged at least 14 and the fine for taking an extra passenger on your scooter has been steeply increased.

More recently, another new regulation requires riders to wear reflective clothing after dark and to have reflectors on the scooter itself. Mighty fines await anyone who disregards the law, especially regarding speeding.

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EQUIPMENT ON BOARD

If your car has a right-hand drive, you should come armed with a car headlight beam converter in order to deflect your headlights away from the eyes of oncoming motorists.

In France dipped headlights should also be used during the day on days of poor visibility. Buy a car headlight beam converter online.

Motorists are legally required to carry one red warning triangle, stamped with the mark E 27 R, and one yellow high-visibility waistcoat or vest, stamped EN 471 or EN 1150, in their vehicles.

You should keep these inside the car, rather than in the boot / trunk, so that you can put the jacket on if it's needed before getting out of the car. Failure to carry these items is punishable by a fine.

Motorcyclists are also required to have a high-vis waistcoat on board (and one for their passenger). And motorcycle, moped, quad bikes and scooter riders should wear approved gloves, stamped 89/686 / EEC. Failure to do so incurs a fine for both the driver and any passenger, and the loss of one point from the driver's licence.

The measure is intended to reduce hand injuries in case of an accident. A helmet is also now compulsory for young cyclists under the age of twelve, whether they are passengers or riding independently.

To make things really easy, the AA has put together a very handy and quite reasonably priced Car Essentials Travel Kit for drivers in France.

AA travel kit for drivers in FranceIt's a neat yellow carrying case that contains two breathalysers, a UK plate (for British motorists, of course!), a high-visibility jacket, a warning triangle and beam converters for right-hand drive cars. Note that the old GB stickers are no longer valid.

It is compulsory to wear a seatbelt front and rear (when fitted). Children under ten must wear child seat belts or be strapped into a child seat and should not travel in the front unless the car has no rear seats.

The driver of a vehicle in which any occupant is not wearing a seatbelt faces the loss of three points from his or her licence, plus a fine.

Tinted front windscreens and front side windows are now banned in cars. Police claim it is more difficult to see if someone is driving without a seat-belt, using a mobile phone at the wheel - or even to see if he or she is armed.

Drivers with such windows will need to have them replaced, or else face a hefty fine and points on their licence. Slightly tinted windows (up to 30 per cent: how this is measured remains unclear) are still permitted.

A number of French cities, including (in the south-east) Marseille, Aix en Provence, Toulon and Nice are now low emission zones. This means that you will need to display a special sticker called Crit'Air on your windshield. It shows how polluting your vehicle is.

There are five levels, signalled by different colours, and individual cities will have permanent or temporary restrictions on which levels are allowed. You can buy your Crit'Air sticker for a very small charge from the official French government website.

DRINKING AND DRIVING

The French drink-driving limit is 0.05 per cent. In 2015 the limit for learner drivers or for new drivers who passed their test less than three years ago was reduced to 0.02 per cent.

This is effectively a "zero tolerance" policy. Apparently the allowance of 0.02 per cent is intended to allow for medicines or food products containing traces of alcohol (this is France, after all!) But drinking just one glass of wine will take you over that limit.

You are liable for prosecution if you are over, or just equal to the limit, and even if you refuse to take the breathalyser test. A recent law has greatly extended the powers of police to perform spot checks on drivers - even if no accident has occurred.

In 2012 moves were made to force drivers to carry a breathalyser kit, or éthylotest, in their cars. However the campaign was a bit of a fiasco, due to a shortage of supplies and subsequent problems with the reliability of the device as well as ecological concerns.

French breathalyser kit or etholtestSince May 2020 you are no longer required to keep a breathalyser in your own car. However bars and nightclubs do have, by law, to make them available for clients' use (there may be a charge for this).

If you still want to keep your own one handy, just in case, you can buy a French Government approved breathalyser kit (in a pack of two) online here before you go.

Bear in mind that one problem with the cheaper, chemical breathalyser is that it may give inaccurate readings and/or deteriorate when exposed to extremes of temperature, as is likely to happen when kept in a car in the baking provençal sun. Keep an eye on the "best before" date (date de validité or date de péremption).

The electronic breathalyser is more reliable. It costs a lot more and must be recalibrated each year but can be used repeatedly. You can buy an electronic breathalyser here.

If you read French, you can find out more about this law and others relating to road safety on the official Ministry of the Interior website.

BREAKDOWNS AND ACCIDENTS

In the event of a breakdown or accident the driver must put on the safety jacket and then place the warning triangle 30 metres / 33 yards from the breakdown to warn approaching traffic. Buy a red warning triangle and yellow high-visibility jacket online here.

Karl Lagerfeld French road safety adPictured: this very cool road safety ad from 2008 features the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld sporting the yellow jacket.

The slogan reads, "It's yellow, it's ugly, it doesn't go with anything. But it can save your life".

If you have a breakdown on a motorway, you cannot, by law, call out a garage or mechanic of your choice, but must make your selection from a government-approved list. These can be contacted from the emergency SOS telephones that line French motorways at two km / one and a quarter mile intervals.

The mechanic must be able to arrive within 30 minutes and repair the vehicle within another 30 minutes, after which you risk having it towed to the nearest layby.

The cost of calling out the mechanic is also regulated by the government, depending on the time of day, nature of the repair and size of your vehicle, and the official price-list should be on display in the mechanic's van and at the garage itself.

If you read French, you can find out in more detail what to do in the case of a motorway breakdown here.

If you have an accident involving another vehicle or vehicles while driving in France and all the drivers agree not to call the police, you will be asked to fill in a constat amiable (amiable declaration).

The idea is that each driver fills out his or her own copy of the form with a mutually agreed account of the incident for insurance purposes.

If you want to be extra-prudent, you could keep a form in your car, with your basic details already filled in order to save time in case of an accident. The form should be sent to your own insurance company within five days.

 

ON THE ROAD

The French have problems with roundabouts / traffic circles (rond-points). These are still regarded as a nasty foreign invention, yet there has been an enormous growth in their number over the last few years.

The confusion stems from the fact that there is a distinction in France between two type of roundabout: a rond-point and a carrefour à sens giratoire.

On a rond-point, the usual rule of priorité à droite applies. This means that vehicles on the right have priority - even if the car on the left is already on the roundabout and the car on the right is attempting to enter it.

By contrast, on a carrefour à sens giratoire, the cars already on the roundabout have priority. Approaching motorists are warned by a sign saying Vous n'avez pas la priorité (You do not have priority) or Cédez le passage (Give way).

You must stop at pedestrian crossings, even if the pedestrian has not stepped into the road.

When overtaking cyclists, you should leave a distance of at least a metre / 3' 3" in towns and 1.5 metres / 5 feet in the countryside between your car and the bicycle.

Speed limits for private cars without trailers are as follows unless otherwise indicated: 50 km/h or 31 mph in built-up areas, 80 km/h or 49 mph on all two-lane highways without a central barrier, 110 km/h or 68 mph on dual carriageways and most motorways and 130 km/h or 80 mph on certain toll motorways.

But do be aware that all these limits are lower in wet weather and certain roads or sections of road - for instance the A8 as it enters Aix en Provence - have lower speed limits too. To make things more complicated, some départements now have a higher, 90 km/h or 60 mph speed limit on two lane highways. (This does not apply to any part of Provence, however.)

There has been a major crackdown on foreign-registered cars speeding in France and changes in the law in 2017 have made it much easier for police to issue tickets, either on the spot or by mail. And if a car is very significantly exceeding the speed limit, police are now able to confiscate the vehicle on the spot and send it to the pound.

a7 autoroute France is liberally supplied with radar speed traps: and these are constantly increasing. A recent trend has been towards more radars at traffic lights and unmarked police cars which measure the speed of other vehicles around them.

It is illegal to use an alert system which warns drivers of upcoming speed traps. This applies both to Smartphones and to SAT NAV or GPS navigation systems which have radar traps programmed into their software.

The penalties for using this can be severe so if you have the feature on your SAT NAV, it should be disabled before your trip.

It is prohibited to use a mobile phone / cell phone while driving, and you could incur a spot fine and penalty points or even have your licence suspended.

This is enforced even if the vehicle is stationary and the engine switched off, unless your car has broken down or is in a designated parking space.

When parking on the street, you should not position the car facing oncoming traffic; this is illegal. Nor should you park within five metres / 17 feet of a pedestrian crossing.

Note that, since January 2018, local authorites enjoy the authority to set their own fines for non-payment of a parking ticket: in some cities it is as high as 60 €uros. You have been warned!

There should be no television, video, DVD equipment or anything similar which might distract the driver's attention in the car within his or her eyeline.

Another recent new law bans the use of headphones or earpieces, apart from hearing aids for the deaf. Using just one earpiece is also banned. This applies equally to motorcyclists and cyclists. In-car sound systems not involving headphones or earpieces continue to be permitted.

Drivers are warned against various other activities at the wheel. They are: rummaging in the glove compartment, eating a sandwich, applying make-up (even in a traffic jam) and listening to very loud music.

These won't earn you points on your driving licence, but they may incur a fine at the discretion of the police officer. Bonne route!

 

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