ROAD LAW: LESS SEVERE PENALTIES FOR BEING FORCED TO DRIVE A VEHICLE FITTED WITH A BREATHALYSER

Driving a vehicle fitted with an alcohol test

Legal status

The article 111-3, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code provides that no person may be punished by a penalty that is not provided for by law.

According to the article 112-1, paragraph 3 of the same code, the new provisions of the law apply to offences :

-committed before their entry into force

-and for which no final judgment has been handed down

when they are less severe than the previous provisions.

Solution adopted by the Cour de cassation :

By prohibiting a repeat offender convicted of drink-driving, after having found that his driving licence has been cancelled, from driving licence, to apply for the issue of a new document within three months, the Reims Court of Appeal failed to take account of the amendment to the French Code of Civil Procedure. L. 234-13 of the Highway Code by Law no. 2019-1428 of 24 December 2019, which abolished the time limit for obtaining a new driving licence in favour of a ban on driving a vehicle not fitted with a safety device once the licence has been obtained.electronic alcohol ignition interlock systemThis new penalty of annulment is therefore less severe.

Cass. crim., 12 Oct. 2021, no. 21-80370

Here's another thing you need to know:

In what cases can a judge prohibit driving a vehicle not fitted with an EAD?

For example, a judge may prohibit you from driving a vehicle that is not fitted with an alcohol ignition interlock device (EAD: Approved device for measuring alcohol in exhaled air associated with the vehicle's ignition system).

It prevents the vehicle from being started if the legal alcohol level programmed into the device is exceeded). 

If you have committed one of the following road traffic offences (an act prohibited by law and subject to criminal penalties):

-. Misdemeanour (an act prohibited by law and punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment of less than 10 years) of driving while under the influence of alcohol (as measured by alcohol in breath or blood);

-. Driving offences obvious intoxication ;

-. Refusal to submit to alcohol checks

-. Recidivism (The act, for a person who has already been convicted, of committing a new identical or similar offence, within a certain period of time, which may result in a heavier penalty than that normally provided for) of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

-. Repeated refusal to submit to alcohol checks

-. Manslaughter or unintentional injury caused by driving while under the influence of alcohol.