A lot has been said about British having breathalyzing kit going to France
This is what i have found:
Foreign police officers have no right to give a fine, if it turns out that the driver(British) does not have required equipment in their country(France). This is clearly said the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, to which all EU member states. The Convention was signed November 8, 1968 year, and GB ratified it.
List of countries which have undertaken to comply with the Convention is very long. It was signed by representatives of 150 countries (including the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, France, Russia, Ireland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Italy and the UK).
Vienna Convention on Road Traffic clearly states that "the police has no right to punish foreign drivers for the lack of equipment resulting from the Road Traffic Regulations in force in that country, if the vehicle is equipped as required by the country in which it is registered"
The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic applicable since 1968 provides that compulsory car equipment should be specified by the country where the motor vehicle in question is registered. When driving across any signatory country (including the Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany france etc) the police of the relevant country should not assess the car equipment pursuant to national legal regulations.
However, practice is different. Particularly in Austria checks focus on obligatory equipment specified by Austrian laws – a missing reflecting vestis frequently subject to fines.. The duty to put on a reflective vest applies when a driver exits the motor vehicle on motorways and roads because of a road accident, leaves the vehicle in order to install the alarm triangle or is outside the vehicle for any other reasons while being on a highway or motorway. The location of a reflecting vest is not specified by the law. The obligation to have a reflecting vest applies only to a driver (§ 102 par 10 Kraftfahrgesetz –KFG)
in conclusuion i wouldn't accept that ticket
if fined I would get a good lawyer
Post last edited on 05/07/2012 12:08:19
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For an €11 fine - you must be joking! However arguing the point would be interesting - as would the night in cells for obstruction of police carrying out their duty.....?
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but surely you can see the common sense in the 'law' why would you not want to be visible when exiting your car if you have decamped in an awkward position.
I politely suggest you get your bee out of your bonnet, its hardly a travesty having to spend a few pounds on a breathalyser kit and a couple yellow jackets from poundland.
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Pav80, you are a lawyer's dream. You pay them a few thousand quid for the sake of €11. So technically you win the case, but it will cost an arm and a leg to prove your point. The law may well have been amended since 1968 and this section may not still be in force.
If my understanding is correct on the spot fines in France are really a sort of deposit against a future court appearance and you are perfectly able to challenge the fine/deposit in court if you so wish. However the likelihood of that happening would be pretty rare as clearly, even though those fines can be higher the cost of a challenge is far, far higher as you would need to employ a French/English speaking lawyer. If you loose its possible the fine could be increased. If any European country is breaking to law as you suggest its hard to imagine that cases have not been taken to the European Court of Human Rights and I have certainly heard of none.
The problem is actually finding the blummin kits in France.
We travelled 2000 miles this holiday, lots of stops and certainly visits to supermarkets to buy two of the required breathalysers. No luck anywhere. Saw lots of signs saying that they were 'on order.'
A French friend has said that the company making the kits lobbied the government hard for this change in the law (CEO was a personal friend of Sarkozy too) and she thought it had the whiff of 'scandale' about it.
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It doesn't matter what the law actually says, unless you can speak fluent French, then how on earth will you get your point over.
We were stopped by Italian police, and given an on the spot fine, and the more we argued (in English) the more the fine went up and the more they looked around the car to find further 'transgressions'! In the end we shut up and paid up, but by then the fine had increased many-fold and we still had to pay. If we'd not argued in the first place we might have got away with a much smaller fine.
It's quite threatening to have two gun-toting policemen getting more and more angry! I wouldn't like to quote the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic to them in their language nor would I expect to win the argument!!!!
Why do we have to provide them anyway. Are the French police that hard up they dont have the funds to carry them in the cop car. Plus there is always the argument and the legality of the calibration of these shop bought breathalizers. Would it stand up in a UK court..... no I dont think so either...
The accuracy and legality isn't an issue (also you need them to NF norm) as if caught drinking and driving there would still be an official test - the idea is to self test, if over the limit as shown on the kit ideally you would then NOT drive so then not be caught.
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Topic: alcohol testing in France
