Just received an email circular from Autobulbs Direct, in which it mentions a new breathalyser law in France this year, requiring motorists to carry a breathalyser conforming to the relevant standard, irrespective of how long they are in the country. AD are selling two for £5.99. Having googled it, it seems that, as from July 1st this year, any motorist entering France will be required to carry a disposable or electronic breathalyser. Until November, those without will be let off with a warning, and from November there will be an €11 fine. In France, the disposables can be bought in supermarkets, pharmacies, and petrol stations.
This link is to a page from the US Army, seems a fair summary:
tinyurl.com/74nbxhc
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Two for £4.99 here www.alcosense.co.uk I would think that the first garage or supermarket off the ferry/tunnel terminal sell will them for less than that.
Last edited by: Meldrew on Sun 25 Mar 12 at 13:30
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I am going over to Holland next month, via France - I will check Carrefour and some garages and report back
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I have just got back (this afternoon infact) from the Loire valley. No sign of these breathalysers in supermarkets or motorway service shops as of yet.
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Glad you brought the weather with you - been 'orrible here, Humph had to wear his waterproof galoshes (not really !)
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With 7 months to the deadline I guess the French are waiting until the last minute.
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Its a great law really isn't it.
You are required to carry an *unused* breathalyser, which they think will cut down on drunken driving. Can someone explain to me how that works then?
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The French think different viva la France.Good point Zero,unless the French coppers don't carry these alysers when they stop you for a check.
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Mrs H is alcohol intolerant, can't even eat a sherry trifle.... fat lot of help a breathalyser will be to her!
Sinmce they're only warning motorists till November it will be a point of principle not to carry one when we visit "les grenouilles" in June! Ditto for the threatened compulsory dayglo bits for our crash helmets.
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IAM (The Institute of Advanced Motorists) is advising motorists in France to have at least two breathalysers at all times, so that if one is used you still have one to produce for the police if you are stopped.
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>> You are required to carry an *unused* breathalyser, which they think will cut down on
>> drunken driving. Can someone explain to me how that works then?
>>
simple.
Monsieur Crapaud has had a few pints. "I wonder if I'm ok to drive?" puff puff puff. "Non!"
So he doesn't.
Meanwhile, Mister Rosbif says 'I've only had two, so I'm Ok...' and drives off, smashing into a station wagon full on nuns. And is discovered to be over the limit. Oops.
Efefctively, the gerdarmes are giving you every opportunity NOT to plead ignorance.
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>> Two for £4.99 here www.alcosense.co.uk
>>
The figures in the blurb in the link are rather suspect, methinks.
"If you drink four pints of beer and stop drinking at midnight, you could still be over the limit at 10am"
How?
If you drink two pints an hour and start at 10pm and stop at midnight, the alcohol will be leaving your body at roughly half a pint an hour. So by 6am; eight hours after you started, your body will be free of alcohol.
If, for the sake of argument, one would be over the limit at two pints, then you should be below the limit by 2am.
Is my maths up to scratch?
For the record, I am not suggesting that anyone should drive with alcohol in their body; or that anyone should drink up to the limit as indicated by a breathalyser.
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I found an on line calculator which included data on body weight and age and it didn't work but I did find this general comment on the rate of alcohol breakdown in the body.
Healthy people eliminate alcohol at a fairly consistent rate. As a rule of thumb, a person will eliminate between 7ml and 12ml of alcohol from their body per hour, with an average of about 9.5ml/hr.
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Depends very much on the strength of the beer you have been drinking. 4 pints of Carsberg Special Brew at 9% abv you almost certainly will be over the limit at 10 am the next day.
Alcohol does not the leave the body at a "half pint per hour" It is metabolised at the rate of .015 of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) every hour . Your BAC will depend on how many units of alcohol you have consumed
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Just found a site which works, after a fashion. Still not something to reply on in a pub as one contemplates a 3rd pint!
www.talktalk.co.uk/lifestyle/calculators/party.html
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For the majority of people three pints over the limit.One pint maximum with food in my opinion.
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Again depends ont the strength. For "session ale of around 3.8% probably not far out although wouldn't do it myself.. For premium ales around 6% apv I think 2 pints could put you over the limit.
One pint of ordinary ale would be my limit.
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It depends whether we are talking about fitness to drive home (obviously not fit} or the original question about how long does it take to metabolise alcohol ie if you have 5 pints and finish at midnight what time are you legally sober in the morning?
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Just been over and killing time in the ferry shop noticed their drivers kit included one and that they had breathalyser kits for around £5.
I could not remember when the law changed and SWMBO would not let me continue without getting one so P&O got £5.
The big supermarkets where I looked do have them for about 2 Euros (2.20 in Auchan St Omer) - in the motoring section.
The kit I bought and the supermarket kits both have two testers in them, and an expiry date about 2 years ahead so it is an ongoing purchase.
It will stay in the glove box and may even try it one day when I have had a drink.
Edit - They are marked as approved by French Police.
Last edited by: IJWS14 on Tue 5 Jun 12 at 08:35
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They're also available in the UK for about £5. tinyurl.com/bl7movq
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It's getting silly driving in France in my opinion.Next thing we need a trailer for all the safety gear to keep the Gendarmes happy.>:)
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For a mere €11 fine, I'll take my chances! I don't drink on road trips anyway.
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>> I don't drink on road trips anyway.
'When in Rome... ' I do. But prudently.
I am quite looking forward to having a couple of breathalysers to play with next time I am driving in France, although since they are one-shot only disposables one's experiments will have to be curtailed.
I wonder whether they overread systematically like car speedometers? That wouldn't surprise me at all. In this country or America they certainly would, but the French are a bit more grown-up than anglophones in some ways, so they may be accurate.
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I have driven in France plenty of time must admit never had problems with the police.
Gone of the country a bit.To many demands in the car, cost of eating and the French can't speak English.Sacre Blue..:)
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I'm thinking there could be a market for breathalysers that show you to be just under the limit regardless of what's blown into them.
Damn! I'll never be rich now I've given that idea away.
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>> It's getting silly driving in France in my opinion.Next thing we need a trailer for
>> all the safety gear to keep the Gendarmes happy.>:)
>>
You want to try it on a Sportsbike Dutchie where a Page 3 model would struggle to fit her working clothes in the underseat storage space.
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You're right gmac - then there's the silly reflective material law for bikers, completely pointless nonsense...
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The helmet one is the most ridiculous one yet, two reflective, diagonal strips above the eyes like eyebrows. 500€ helmet defaced for some stupid local law for the sake of 30 miles of road to get out of the place. Nah !
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>> The helmet one is the most ridiculous one yet, two reflective, diagonal strips above the
>> eyes like eyebrows. 500€ helmet defaced for some stupid local law for the sake of
>> 30 miles of road to get out of the place. Nah !
>>
I'm minded to wonder if it might yet be binned. If it isn't we'll be touring Belgium in future. Better beer there anyway.
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>> Belgium in future. Better beer there anyway.
You can say that again. Although to be fair, Belgian beer in good nick is to be had in France. Indeed I was introduced to the pure psychic nectar of draught Leffe blonde in the middle of Paris at least thirty years ago.
By a Belgian though.
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Don't mind the odd Kwak myself. Introduced to it when visiting some friends who live in Brugge.
Coachman's vessel it comes in looks like something out of a C18th Science lab but does the job of containing the liquid.
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I have a bottle nestling in my fridge......wait until the weekend though...:-)
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I need to stock up next weekend.
I've got 16 bottles of Früh (Kölsch) in my refreshment cabinet (aka the fridge) in my office. It's OK for a summer drink but I do like the Belgian beers for a change.
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Boycot them.When going to France all the Dutch and the Brits go in convoy.We all speed have a drink and chase their women.That will get us in the papers.>;)
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Funnilly enough Dutchie there is precedent for that, think William of Orange....
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There you are King Billy knew how to deal with them Hup Holland Hup.>:)
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Ik weet het Phil moet voorzichtig zijn.Ik pas niet in het doos.>:)
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Unfortunately, the only 2 words of Dutch I know are "pas op"!!! ;-)
Last edited by: PhilW on Tue 5 Jun 12 at 21:23
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>> Ik weet het Phil moet voorzichtig zijn.Ik pas niet in het doos.>:)
That's easy for you to say, Dutchess !
Ted
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>> Ik weet het Phil moet voorzichtig zijn.Ik pas niet in het doos.>:)
>>
wash your mouth out with soap!
language like that would get you smacked here!
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Would it Ian? It wouldn't be the first time boy!
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You have made some silly remarks to me Ian about past wars the Dutch have had with the Spanish.You live in South Africa I believe which has a strong Dutch history.I don't know anything about you and I really don't care.South Africa has moved on now and you have to find your own future.I have a opinion and so have many people on this forum.
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Interestingly, there is a battle site just down the road from me, where the British beat the ducth and captured the cape Colony.
Battle of Blaauwberg.
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Obviously a few hundred years of evolution have changed the meaning of Dutch words, Dutchie.
'doos' is considered very rude in afrikaans! It refers to a lady's bits and pieces.
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>> Boycot them.When going to France all the Dutch go in convoy.We all
>> speed have a drink and chase their women.That will get us in the papers.>;)
>>
Down here all the Dutch go in convoys of trailer-tents, caravans and motorhomes - stacked to the roof with consumables for their 3 week holiday. Well known for not spending money in the local economy. "Chase their women" - Plenty of jokes about Dutchmen & Dykes !
(sent from south of France, 34).
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...go in convoys of trailer-tents, caravans and motorhomes...
Touring caravanners are notoroious for not spending money locally.
The man in charge of tourism in Northumberland got into trouble a few years back when he said: "Caravanners bring a clean shirt and a £10 note, and change neither."
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Times at the moment arn't that good Iffy people will be carefull how they spend their money.
Our new adventure will be a week in Germany by coach across with the ferries.I have to brush up on my German.The missus eats only vegetarian food.Keine flesh bitte in plat Duits..;)
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Got a lift from a Dutch couple aged late 20s-early 30s down to the Spanish border with my then gf around 1960-61. We were 22-year-old whippersnapper hitchhikers.
They had a Renault 750 (few will remember those but they were good, swing axles and lots of louvres on the rear engine cover) which they drove in relaxed more or less flat out fashion, about 55 - 65mph but cornering with cool brio. They had a litre bottle of pink wine which they passed back and forth and shared with us. Like all Dutch people in my experience they spoke more or less perfect English. They were generally terrific and the proof is that I remember them to this day.
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I remember the Renault 750 A.C.I was eleven then at the Schipperschool in Dordrecht about ten minutes drive from Rotterdam.A bottle of pink wine driving along.God forbid if you was stopped by the Gendarmes..:) My uncle who lived in Hilversum had a good job with the radio station.He used to drive to Spain then and told us stories how he got there and what it was like.My mate Nico's aunty had one of the first black and white Tellies for us to watch.She was rich in our street>:) We had a telephone do,when the old man rang us from sea.People are people A.C none of us are perfect the least me.)
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New breathalyser law in France from July - Meldrew
