Driving under the influence of drugs is “a plague”, asserted the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, Monday, July 17. Following an interdepartmental road safety committee (CISR), Mme Borne has announced that it wants to return ” automatique “ license suspension for driving under the influence of narcotics. The Prime Minister said the executive intends to be “intractable” And “Seriously penalize addictive behavior”.
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, specified that eight points would be removed, against six currently, in the event of driving under narcotics or under alcohol. The prefect can for the moment decide to suspend the permit; “tomorrow he will have to”, he said. Offenders will also have to undergo a mandatory internship.
The period of suspension of the license (by decree) may be up to six months and be extended to one year in the event of an accident resulting in death or bodily injury, or refusal to submit to checks, said Mr. Darmanin. Currently, driving after using drugs means risking up to two years in prison and a fine of 4,500 euros. The suspension of the permit for a maximum period of three years is already provided for, with no possible adjustment outside the professional activity.
Mme Borne has also confirmed the creation of a new offence: “road homicide”, a name claimed by associations for the defense of road victims to replace the current qualification of “manslaughter by driver”. “Any driver who kills a person on the road and would today be prosecuted for “manslaughter” will be prosecuted tomorrow for “road homicide”she summarized.
“We detach [cette infraction] other homicides and unintentional injuries so that[elle] be specific”insisted the Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupond-Moretti. “Manslaughter is ‘recklessness’, the flowerpot that comes off your balcony and hits a neighbor and kills him”he explained. “Killing a kid when you’re under the influence of alcohol or [de] narcotics, it cannot be equated with this manslaughter. »
“Cosmetics”
The families of victims were “shocked by [la précédente] qualification “, argued the entourage of the Prime Minister on Sunday. The measure, for which no date of application has been advanced, “does not change anything in terms of repression. On the other hand, symbolically, we come to mark that we hear the unacceptable character [du mot] “involuntary”. “It is a recognition of the victims”insists Matignon, who hears ” better [les] to accompany “.
Associations and victims’ lawyers interviewed did not hide a certain disappointment, even before the Prime Minister’s announcement. “We thought they would go further than semantic change. Above all, we wanted more severe sanctions and accompanying measures., regretted Jean-Yves Lamant, president of the League against road violence. For Vincent Julé-Parade, a lawyer specializing in the defense of victims of road violence, the government’s proposal is a measure “cosmetic” Who “has no technical consequences”. “Is this a road safety measure? No “he decides, saying he doubts that “this influences the criminal policy of the courts”.
Worn for ten years by two families, the claim of a “road homicide” was taken up by the association created by the starred chef Yannick Alléno after the death in May 2022 of his son Antoine, hit by a driver.
By becoming “road homicide” by a modification of the penal code, the manslaughter committed by a driver will remain punishable up to five years of imprisonment and 75,000 euros in fine. The penalties incurred will remain increased to seven years in prison and a fine of 100,000 euros with an aggravating circumstance (driving under alcohol or narcotics, lack of a driving licence, hit and run, very excessive speed, etc.), ten years and 150,000 euros if several of these circumstances are met.
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A total of 3,260 people died on the roads of mainland France in 2022, a stable balance sheet compared to 2019, the last reference year before the Covid-19 pandemic. Among fatal accidents, one in five involves a drug-positive driver.
Automobile: end of the green sticker on cars from April 1, 2024
Gérald Darmanin announced on Monday July 17 the abolition, from 1er April 2024, of the green sticker affixed to the windshield of cars: “Everything will now be recorded by the insurance companies in a file” to which the police will have direct access during checks, said the Minister of the Interior.
This deletion has been requested for a long time by insurance companies which have developed since 2016 a file of insured vehicles (FVA). Police and gendarmes have had access to it since 2019. This file, updated ” in a few hours “, is already used around 20,000 times a day by the police, explained in 2022 Florence Lustman, the president of France Assureurs, the federation of insurance companies. Failure to present the green sticker during a check is currently punishable by a fine of 35 euros.