France to Jail Speeding Motorists

Former Contributor
Fri, 17 Jun 2011

The French government is planning to introduce a raft of legislation in the name of safety that will not only affect motorcyclists in France, but other French road users as wells as riders and drivers visiting France. The reasons given by the French government is to reduce the number of road accidents.

These proposed French regulations could spread across Europe.

The legislation and action of the French Government includes:

a.. All electronic devices, even smart phones and GPS systems, will be banned if they are able to warn of radar speed checks.

b.. Sanctions are draconian and might go up to 30.000 Euros or 2 years prison for the sale of such devices, while its usage will be punished by a fine of 1.500 Euros plus the loss of 6 points of the French traffic account system. 4 million speed detection devices have been sold in France over the last few years.

c.. The removal of speed trap warning signs.

d.. Immediate jail terms for those caught doing more than 30mph (50kph) over the speed limit

The French, who appear to be very good at organising demonstrations, have announced nationwide demonstrations, under an umbrella organisation for all road users, "The Union des Usagers de la Route" on Saturday the 18th June 2011, to denounce the road safety policy of the government and law enforcement as inadequate and unfair. This association is calling government to demand the respect of drivers and citizens; a real road safety policy; refocus priorities and come to a constructive and intelligent long-term road safety solution.

The Union des Usagers de la Route no longer supports the increasing criminalization of ordinary citizens and refuses to be treated as such and reject the constant threat of disproportionate penalties.

Their representatives state that they do not want to be treated like children when all road users are punished for the irresponsible actions of a few and consider that the government has failed to take into account the real causes of road accidents. So if you happen to be heading to France this weekend and see a few thousand bikes riding down the road you may wish to join in.

Full lists of the demonstrations are available on the "The Union des Usagers de la Route" website and for riders coming to the UK the closest would appear to be "Demonstration 59" near Lille organised by FFMC59 www.ffmc59.org