Ardèche latest French department to suspend driving licences for using mobile

Drivers caught using their mobile phones while driving in Ardèche will face immediate licence suspensions, as the department becomes the latest to crackdown on the dangerous behaviour. 

The measure will come into force from June 1, and see drivers have their licences immediately taken and suspended for up to one month.

Ardèche will become the fifth department in France to authorise immediate licence suspensions for using mobile phones behind the wheel.

It was one of several measures announced by prefect Benoît Trévisani during an interview with the local branch of media outlet France Ici, following a deadly period on the department’s roads.

In little over a week, eight people have died in road accidents in Ardèche, including five young people in a single accident on May 1 in Vernosc-lès-Annonay. Three other fatalities, and at least six serious injuries, were also recorded.

It brings the total number of road fatalities in the department this year to 19 – the same as throughout the entirety of 2025.

In 2024, 25 fatal road accidents were recorded in the department, with last year’s reductions initially seen as a hopeful downward trend.

Measures to reduce accidents

Police and gendarmes will have the authority to immediately suspend a licence roadside, if they catch a driver on their phone, as is the procedure in the four other departments that already have such measures in place – Lot-et-Garonne, Charente-Maritime, Pas-de-Calais and Landes.

The length of suspension will be at the discretion of the Ardèche prefect, and come on top of other penalties such as fines and points being deducted from the driving licence.

Mr Trévisani announced a ‘zero tolerance’ plan for road safety in the department in December 2025, which contained measures including more checks and controls on accident-prone roads, as well as the opening of a new ‘road safety office’ for the department. 

“We have taken action, we will continue to do so, and for me, road safety is not an optional priority. These accidents… are not inevitable,” the prefect said to France Ici.

“We've already done a lot. Increased checks, reassessed the scale of administrative penalties, [and] we've suspended 527 licenses,” since the start of 2026, Mr Trévisani added. 

While citing that “a speed inappropriate for the roads,” was the main reason for most fatalities, the prefect added that driver behaviour was sometimes a factor. 

“The roads of Ardèche are well-maintained… The department is doing important work to maintain these 3,800 kilometers of departmental roads. 

“These are winding roads, due to the department's geography, and drivers must adapt their driving to them.”

Work to identify accident black spots in the department will continue, and the prefect may apply for state aid to reduce risks in these areas.