Re: Breathalyser kits
 

Amusing thought but the cheap d.i.y. breathalysers won't have any legal validity. Incidentally, would you risk your licence by relying on one of these cheapo breathalysers to tell you you are below the limit??

Re: Breathalyser kits
 

But the point is that they will be a legal requirement.

How can they not have any legal validity when people are forced to buy them?

Re: Breathalyser kits
 

I don't think so.

They may be a legal requirement to carry, but any checks done by the police will be the final decider.

Remember the blood alcohol level could be either rising or falling in the time between the two checks, so I imagine it's upto the driver to make due allowance for that fact after taking his/her own reading.

Re: Breathalyser kits
 

Oh, i agree entirely. The result from the kits will not be used to make the final decision.

However, I can see an outcry about this and future "European Court" claims being made along the lines of....."but, but, I breathalysed myself using one of the kits I am forced to carry in my car, and the result said I was below the limit and therefore safe to drive. It therefore cannot be my fault for causing the deaths of that busload of passengers through being drunk at the wheel".

And I would agree with that. The whole idea of forcing people to self-breathalyse is just asking for trouble. If the end result is that the kits are not accepted as a defense in court then it's a completely stupid law to bring in.

Someone will be making a lot of money out of though.

Re: Breathalyser kits
 

I don't see how these kits can be accepted as evidence in court - they are not accurate enough and there are too many variables and problems. For this reason but also (more importantly) because it will encourage drivers to drink and drive - I agree that it is a stupid law.

Re: Breathalyser kits
 

agree, only formally registered and regularly calibrated breathalysers will be allowable in a court of law.
considering it is well over a decade ago I saw £1.00 in the slot machines in UK pubs that were supposed to tell you if you were over the limit that were never accurate.

It is a law that comes from the devious French mind, fines if you don't carry one, fines and banning if you do and it is wrong. And all aimed at those driving through the country. Would be interesting to see how many Frenchmen actually do carry them, the same as those who don't carry a hi-vis jacket or three and one or two warning triangles.

And as to the Spanish who don't carry a spare set of glasses when driving ??

And what about the "flip-flop rule" ??

Re: Breathalyser kits
 

The smart money in France is on the whole idea of DIY breathalysers being dropped before the latest extended deadline of March 2013 but if it does come into force it is ONE per car not two. They are intended purely for self testing and the results they provide have no probative value whatsoever.

There are currently only 2 units officially approved to comply with the law.

They are the Contralco, the French company the main lobbyist for them sits on the board of and who is also a buddy of Sarkozy, and the Red Line manufactured in South Africa. There is a 3rd unit available in UK sold by AlcoSense but it's a re-badged Red Line unit.

Any and all other units, even if they do bear the NF logo, are not certified to be compliant with the law.

That itself has caused it's own problem with some other EU countries raising a complaint with the EU court right on the grounds that similar items supplied and used there will be deemed illegal in France, a clear breach of EU free trade rules. It's parallel to the Spanish rule requiring two warning triangles which now, due to EU court action, only actually applies to Spanish registered cars not foreign ones.

Re: Breathalyser kits
 

We got ours off ebay xxxxx

Re: Breathalyser kits
 

It might be worth keeping abreast of THIS THREAD

Re: Breathalyser kits
 

Yes and that someone is a relative of that runt that was running France until recently!

Re: Breathalyser kits
 

Repeating Ka-Ora's post there is a thread running on the France forum, suggesting that they will indeed be active from March.

Re: Breathalyser kits
 

Who is going to be stupid enough, if they have been drinking, to rely on on one of these kits to tell them that they are below the limit? If the gendarmes breathalyse you and you are over the limit, they won't be interested in your feeble excuses about having tested yourself. If you think you need to use one of these kits to test yourself - you shouldn't be driving.