Licence points law examined

DRIVING licences could have all their points restored after two years with no new offences, MPs have suggested. Licences start with 12 points and progressively lose them for offences such as speeding, making them temporarily invalid when all the points are lost.

The measure, if adopted, would be more generous than the current three years, though not as lenient as the single year voted for by the Senate recently, when it passed Loppsi 2, a wide-ranging security law.

The National Assembly’s laws commission has been looking at the proposals before Loppsi 2 is debated by its MPs, starting next week.

UMP Party MP Eric Ciotti proposed the change to two years, saying it is more “balanced”.

The commission has agreed to a proposal, also passed by the Senate, that the period after which you can recuperate a single licence point lost for a minor offence should go from a year to six months. According to Senator Alain Fouché this will “avoid drivers losing their jobs after clocking up several minor speeding offences”.

The rule applies to people going no more than 20kmph over the limit, or committing other minor offences such as partially crossing a continuous white line. Senator Fouché has said the change would also discourage the illegal sale of points on the internet (ie. people offering to take the blame for others’ offences) and reduce the number of drivers whose licences have been invalidated, at present about 700,000.

The commission is considering an amendment proposed by several MPs that would permit drivers whose licences are not completely invalid but have accumulated points to pay for a driving safety course once a year, allowing for the recuperation of four points (at present this is allowed every two years).

In the UK, individual points are given for a set number of years, usually four. In France however, the rules state that lost licence points are all restored after three years (for more serious offences) as long as you do not lose any more points during this period. If you do, then the full loss period starts again from zero. In the case of a single point withdrawal, however, that point is recuperated after a year with no more offences.

Related story
Driving points rules relaxed

Photo: Fotolia - Camille Josse