Road traffic offences

Road traffic offences can result in severe penalties.
It is important to make sure that you obey the Highway Code, because a traffic offence can be punished more or less severely depending on its seriousness.

A road traffic offence is a breach of the Highway Code. French criminal law distinguishes between two types of road traffic offence:

• the ticket
• the offence.

A road traffic offence is therefore a criminal offence.

The term "contravention" is used when the traffic offence relates to :

• parking
• speeding
• failure to obey traffic lights
• drink-driving with an alcohol level of less than 0.80 g/l
• telephoning while driving or using earphones, headphones or headsets
• failure to have a vehicle roadworthiness test, etc.

A road traffic offence is an offence when it involves :

• drink-driving with an alcohol level in excess of 0.80 g/l
• hit-and-run
• refusing to obey the forces of law and order
• driving after a withdrawal of licence
• a repeat offence of speeding at least 50 km/h within 3 years
• unintentional injuries caused by speeding of at least 50 km/h
• manslaughter for speeding of at least 50 km/h
• unintentional injury or manslaughter caused by drink-driving
• unintentional injury or manslaughter caused in an accident...

Penalties for road traffic offences
Committing a road traffic offence carries penalties. Depending on the type of offence, the penalties may be more or less severe.

There are three types of penalty:

• loss of driving licence points: this concerns most road traffic offences, with the exception of offences such as
• parking, failure to pass a roadworthiness test or failure to produce a vehicle registration document.
• payment of a fine: varies according to the offence and its class
• conviction for criminal offences: the most serious offences are dealt with by the police court, and misdemeanours by the criminal court.