France Generalizes Temporary License Suspensions for Phone Use While Driving

Overview

• The interior ministry sent an instruction on 29 September asking all prefects to extend a temporary licence‑suspension sanction already piloted in about twenty departments.
• The suspension may be applied for holding or using a hand-held phone alone without any other simultaneous offence and is decided and notified by the prefect rather than taken at the roadside.
• Existing penalties — a roughly €135 on‑the‑spot fine and a three‑point deduction — remain in place while suspension lengths are set locally, typically about 15 days in pilot areas but reported up to one month or six months in some cases.
• Pilots produced hundreds of suspensions and local drops in observed phone use, the government cites a 12% fall in the Landes, and officials point to road‑safety data showing 3,515 deaths in 2025 and 695,360 phone/earpiece infractions that year.
• Drivers and local officials are divided: many accept tougher rules for safety while others warn longer suspensions risk job loss and mobility problems, and enforcement will vary with prefectural capacity so social and legal tensions are likely to follow.