snowie Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 PJay - 2012-02-21 7:20 PM Hi Derek I had a look on the link, but can not follow it Could you point me to the correct one. please. Do they come in packs? Would one be enough, or should you carry more? As I assume once used it is no good again Thanks in advance Pauline Confusing isn't it? Do we have to have them (one?) so that we can check ourselves before driving ; just in case we had too much the night before? And if we need to have one with us at all times, we clearly need to have at least two? just in case of the above. Or; do we have to have them so that a policeman can stop us and require us to use our own breathalyser to test us; rather than carry lots of them himself? Has anyone thought this through? cheers (whoops; sorry!!) alan b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 snowie - 2012-02-21 7:39 PM PJay - 2012-02-21 7:20 PM Hi Derek I had a look on the link, but can not follow it Could you point me to the correct one. please. Do they come in packs? Would one be enough, or should you carry more? As I assume once used it is no good again Thanks in advance Pauline Confusing isn't it? Do we have to have them (one?) so that we can check ourselves before driving ; just in case we had too much the night before? And if we need to have one with us at all times, we clearly need to have at least two? just in case of the above. Or; do we have to have them so that a policeman can stop us and require us to use our own breathalyser to test us; rather than carry lots of them himself? Has anyone thought this through? cheers (whoops; sorry!!) alan b The French people I have spoken to are all asking the same questions!! Forgot to say that the testers are forecast to cost about a Euro in France but haven't seen any yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tugga Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 read on another forum that the date for carrying breathalysers will be put back to July, just in time to catch the tourists? Possibly because the french go to the polls in April so they may be thinking that if Sarkozy does not get back in, this may all go away. I don't understand why we have to carry them, why don't their police carry them like our police do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 griff 585 - 2012-02-21 4:24 PM Not living long in France.......15 years !!!!!!!!!! *-) Griff Fair enough apologise for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 tugga - 2012-02-21 9:20 PM read on another forum that the date for carrying breathalysers will be put back to July, just in time to catch the tourists? Possibly because the french go to the polls in April so they may be thinking that if Sarkozy does not get back in, this may all go away. I don't understand why we have to carry them, why don't their police carry them like our police do? Of course they carry them, the idea apparently is to check yourself that you are not over the limit before driving, perhaps the idea being that it may make the French more aware of their fondness for the grape at all hours of the day, rather than a nice cup of tea ! ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 PJay - 2012-02-21 7:20 PM Hi Derek I had a look on the link, but can not follow it Could you point me to the correct one. please. Do they come in packs? Would one be enough, or should you carry more? As I assume once used it is no good again Thanks in advance Pauline Pauline I think you probably clicked on the link in the 'quoted' park of my posting directly before yours (if you see what I mean!) as doing this fails to direct you to a suitable webpage. You would have needed to click either on the link in 1foot's original posting of 21 February 2012 6:36 PM, or on the link in my earlier posting of 20 February 2012 6:58 PM. Anyway, here's the link again: http://www.value-breathalysers.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_BreathScan_Disposable_Alcohol.html These particular "Mission" disposable breathalysers are not marketed singly - the minimum quantity that can be ordered is a 3-pack. This will cost £7.18 (including VAT & P&P) via the Valuebreathalysers website. There is a review of the product here http://drugs-and-alcohol.co.uk/index.php/category/breathalyzer-kits-uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Some general observations on the forthcoming requirement for drivers in France to carry a breathalyser kit in their vehicle… 1. It’s a FORTHCOMING requirement, with an original start-date of 31 March 2012, but (according to this Telegraph piece) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/9095573/Motorists-will-have-to-carry-portable-breathalyser-in-France.html the introduction-date has now been postponed to 1 July 2012. So there’s hardly a tearing hurry for anyone to obtain one of these things and, as most disposable ones seem to have a limited shelf life (2 years seems commonplace) no great incentive to buy one well in advance of when you legally need to have one. (Apparently there has been some panic-buying of disposable breathalysers in France, where people have confused the 1 December 2011 start-date of the mandatory requirement for there to be breathalyser equipment available in French discotheques with the later start-date for the vehicle breathalyser regulation.) 2. As the Telegraph article points out, “Any devices would have to comply with safety standards set by the French authorities.” My understanding is that the critical (and only) condition of compliance for a ‘French regulation’ breathalyser (either the cheap disposable type or the more expensive electronic multiple-use type) is that it has NF certification. http://www.marque-nf.com/Default.asp?Lang=English http://www.marque-nf.com/appli.asp?Lang=English&NumAppli=NF227 Disposable breathalysers with NF certification are being marketed in France under the brand-names “Contralco” and “Redline”. For example: http://www.norauto.fr/Acheter/Outillage-depannage/Ethylotest-chimique-CONTRALCO/169472-NorautoSI-.html I note that there are plenty of cheap electronic alchohol-level-testing products being offered on ebay, some of which have a readout set to the UK 0.08% BAC limit and some to the French 0.05% BAC. I’m doubtful that any of these are NF-certified and would comply with the French regulations. 3. It may be tempting to argue that the French breathalyser regulation is a waste of space (or that the French speed-camera regulation is daft and can’t be policed effectively), but the fact is that the French regulations exist and it doesn’t seem to be too difficult or expensive to comply with them. As far as I'm concerned, if you intend not to comply with the French regulations, just shut up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Derek Thanks for that, I did not quiet understand the different ones, Now I Do. i was looking late at night. There was an article in yesterdays Daily Mail, first time we had seen anything in print Pauline PS got all the other "Essentials" for France and Spain, so will have to get The Blower, though we will be back end of June this year , so could wait a while Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elamessa Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I can't get my head around this information. I can't find any official French government document that says this is law and the date it is going to be implemented. People can quote the media as much as they like but until it has been passed by the Counseil d'etat and by the General assembly then as far as I understand the French constitution it cannot become law. So until somebody can show me the actual law I will not be rushing out to buy one of these kits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 elamessa - 2012-02-22 12:01 PM I can't get my head around this information. I can't find any official French government document that says this is law and the date it is going to be implemented. People can quote the media as much as they like but until it has been passed by the Counseil d'etat and by the General assembly then as far as I understand the French constitution it cannot become law. So until somebody can show me the actual law I will not be rushing out to buy one of these kits. My understanding is that a French 'outline' alcohol-limit testing law was mooted back in the 1970s. This was formalised in mid-2001 (ie. it actually became part of French motoring law then) and I offer you the following reference and a link that may be helpful: Code de la route Article L234-14 (En vigueur depuis le 1 Juin 2001) “A compter d’une date et dans les conditions fixées par décret en Conseil d’Etat, tout conducteur d’un véhicule automobile devra justifier de la possession d’un éthylotest." http://www.coderoute.com/permis/19/infractions-et-sanctions/37/alcool.html Initial late-2011 (French) press reports of the date that the 1 June 2001 regulation would be implemented stated "in the Spring of 2012". This then became a tentative 31 March 2012 and has now become 1 July 2012. For all I know, there may be a further postponement. The present position is summarised here: http://www.monautoecole.net/dossiers-monautoecole.php?idarticle=14 There's plainly no need for anyone to rush out and buy a kit until the fine details have been published and the start-date has been set in stone by the French authorities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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