Phone use while driving Licence suspensions expand

Sep 29

Romain Gentils reports the Interior Ministry asking prefects to strengthen penalties for handling a phone while driving, with suspensions of fifteen days to six months. The anchor presents the measure as now nationwide, while the report says trials in about twenty departments will soon extend across France. Motorists interviewed that morning mostly support deterrence. In Vienne, the penalty took effect October 1; earlier checks warned repeat offenders and novice drivers of a one-month suspension, and a young driver worries about getting to work. The report distinguishes handling a phone from using a mounted device and says the €135 fine and three-point loss remain. It attributes a twelve-percent decline in phone use in the Landes trial to the Interior Ministry. The differing now/soon rollout wording is preserved, without promising an automatic roadside suspension.

France 2 reports the Interior Ministry asking prefects to strengthen administrative licence suspensions for handling a phone while driving, generally from fifteen days to six months. The anchor says the measure can now apply nationwide, while the package says it will soon extend beyond trials in about twenty departments. The report retains the €135 fine and three-point loss and distinguishes a mounted phone from handling one. Nationwide rollout and prefectural action are not shown as an automatic suspension at every roadside stop.