Another Update on Breathalyser Kits in France

On the 2nd July we added a post saying "Breathalyser kits now obligatory in cars in France - check your hire car"  advising that it is now the law to have one of these kits in your car in France.

There had been a great shortgage of these in the south of France according to an article in "The Riviera Reporter". I personally hired a car earlier this month and although the car hire reception had a sign up saying this was the law in France from July, no kit was in the car and I could not buy one locally, experiencing the same problem as detailed in the Riviera Reporter article.

I was told when I returned the car to the depot that that particular car hire company would not be supplying quite, probably leaving it till later in the year when the new law will probably be greatly enforced.


Breathalyser kits on sale in Halfords, England





Earlier today, I visited my local Halfords and saw that they were selling these at £5.95 each which is around.€7.60 - quite a high price, but maybe for peace of mind to save hunting one in France or risking a €11 fine. 

If you can find them in France and I expect by now there are more supplies, they actually cost around €2.   

I didn't buy one as I already had one that I bought back in April in France and no doubt there will be plenty of these for sale and the cross channel car ferries.

The reason for going into Halfords was to make sure I am 100% legal for driving in France. I already carry a warning triangle, first aid kit  and reflective jackets and the sooner it becomes mandatory in Britain and Ireland to have these the better (but not breathalyser kits) and bought a spare set of light bulbs and headlamp beam adaptors.

They say the bulbs are handy to keep in the glove compartment, however with the usual amount of stuff people accumulate including car service records, the breathalyser for France, there is probably not a lot of room for the light bulbs as well!

According to the information on the Halfords pack, "If you are driving a right hand drive car from Britain or Ireland to mainland Europe you should convert your headlights. British and Irish headlamps are specificaly designed for driving on the left hand side of the road and consequently, when driving on the right in mainland Europe your headlamps will shine into oncoming traffic.

This will severely dazzle other road users, is dangerous, illegal and must be prevented at all times" It will cost you £9.99 to buy a kit and be legal and don't foreget as soon as you cross the channel back to take them off!

More tips for driving in France on this blog