Mandatory items for driving in France?

inabina

Hi all,
Can anyone confirm what U must have with you in the car when driving in France. And are they all available on Irish Ferries? I cannot find a definitive up to date list!

Thanks!!

CiniO

inabina wrote: »

Hi all,
Can anyone confirm what U must have with you in the car when driving in France. And are they all available on Irish Ferries? I cannot find a definitive up to date list!

Thanks!!

According to International Convention on Road Traffic from Vienna from 1968, every car in international traffic must be equipped as required in country of registration.

Paddy@CIRL

Spare bulbs, enough Hi-Vis vests for everyone in the car (these need to be in the passenger compartment), warning triangle and breathalysers. Think you might need a basic first aid kit too but can't think off the top of my head.

jayok

CiniO wrote: »

According to International Convention on Road Traffic from Vienna from 1968, every car in international traffic must be equipped as required in country of registration.

Err... I think he is looking for what they require in France.

Off the top of my head:

1. High-Vis vest inside (or accessbile from inside) the car
2. Breathalyzer
3. Warning Triangle
4. Spare bulb kit

christy02

inabina wrote: »

Hi all,
Can anyone confirm what U must have with you in the car when driving in France. And are they all available on Irish Ferries? I cannot find a definitive up to date list!

Thanks!!

Hi. I was in France in July. You need a high vis vest in the cabin for driver and also one for each passenger. Also a triangle and breathylyser in the car. I didn't see them on stena boat but then I didn't look. I got them on eBay. Its also recommended that you have a spare bulb kit. I didn't get asked to produce them at any stage.
Not sure how strict they are.

inabina

anything mandatory for the headlamps on the car?

Aka Ishur

Heya,

I just came back from there and this is what I understood as legally necessary;

You need -

Beam benders
Hi vis vest for everyone in car(which must be accessible without leaving the vehicle)
Reflective triangle. (If you are going through the UK be aware afaik it is illegal to deploy these on a motorway there)

Alcosense breathalyser - technically legally required but at the moment there is no penalty if you don't have one.

joolsveer

I have been driving in France a couple of times this Summer. I was advised by locals that the breathalyser is not required.

Aka Ishur

lol enough answers

Renegade Mechanic

Never fails to amaze me how France, a country where youre supposed to be able to change a blown bulb at a moments notice, created the Renault Modus. A car that you actually have to remove the bumper, then the lamps themselves, to change dip and head bulbs:rolleyes:

CiniO

jayok wrote: »

Err... I think he is looking for what they require in France.

They might require anything they wish from French registered cars, but they can't require anything else than required in Ireland from Irish registered car.

Exceptions are beam benders and warning triangle, which convention allows as exceptions. But fact that convention allows it as exception, doesn't mean that French law requires it from foreign car. It only give possiblity for French law to require it.

mathepac

Bring your original VLC, insurance documents, licence and carry photocopies of them as well. Get a list of main dealers for your car in the areas you'll visit / travel through as well as the travel insurance / rescue policy.

SniperSight

Just a heads up, and this is from a Gendarme, you should have a registration card.
Got stopped by a huge checkpoint driving to Le Mans this year, and the Gendarme was looking for one, said it was an on the spot fine without it, and even said and I quote..."so this car is stolen?" when I said I didn't have it.

I told him my insurance company said I didn't need anything, he said that I needed to provide proof it was my car, luckily I had an insurance document in the car which had my name, policy number and license plate number on it.
He said that was acceptable (to him, may not be to every Gendarme).

They were also gonna search the car, but when I opened the boot and he saw it was full to bursting with camping gear, he said not to bother to head on our way :-P

They didn't look for any of the other items eg. Vest, triangle, medikit and breathalyzer.

As regards the breathalyzer, I'm suspicios of how much its needed. I lost count of the amount of stores and pharmacies and petrol stations where I tried to buy them but could not find them ANYWHERE.
Seems odd that something thats supposedly law is soooo hard to come by.
If you were cynical you might think it was a money making scam by the ferry companies!

CiniO

SniperSight wrote: »

Just a heads up, and this is from a Gendarme, you should have a registration card.
Got stopped by a huge checkpoint driving to Le Mans this year, and the Gendarme was looking for one, said it was an on the spot fine without it, and even said and I quote..."so this car is stolen?" when I said I didn't have it.

I told him my insurance company said I didn't need anything, he said that I needed to provide proof it was my car, luckily I had an insurance document in the car which had my name, policy number and license plate number on it.
He said that was acceptable (to him, may not be to every Gendarme).

Because carrying your VLC with your when driving a foreign car is a must.
It's listed in requirements in Vienna convention I mentioned above.

SniperSight

CiniO wrote: »

Because carrying your VLC with your when driving a foreign car is a must.
It's listed in requirements in Vienna convention I mentioned above.

Wish my insurance company had of told me that :-P

ianobrien

Another useful trick is to scan the VLC, NCT, Insurance and your passport and email them to yourself. That way if the originals are lost, you can print out copies, making organising replacements much easier when over.

CiniO

ianobrien wrote: »

Another useful trick is to scan the VLC, NCT, Insurance and your passport and email them to yourself. That way if the originals are lost, you can print out copies, making organising replacements much easier when over.

That's interesting idea, which might be very handy.

Tropheus

I was over there a few years ago and all the above is correct. However, if you have factory xenons, the beam bender stickers don't work. Some makes have levers that switch them over to LHD. You'll need to check for your specific make of car.

blackwhite

CiniO wrote: »

They might require anything they wish from French registered cars, but they can't require anything else than required in Ireland from Irish registered car.

Exceptions are beam benders and warning triangle, which convention allows as exceptions. But fact that convention allows it as exception, doesn't mean that French law requires it from foreign car. It only give possiblity for French law to require it.

I think you've misinterpreted the Convention there.

You are correct that the car is required to meet all of the technical requirements of the country of registration, but it is wrong to say that that makes it exempt from the requirements of the country that it is being driven in.
The only exemptions are for technical requirements which directly conflict with the requirements of the country of registration. (i.e. if French law banned RHD vehichles, an Irish car with RHD could still legally be driven in France).

French law can require vehicles to carry or fit any number of things, and as long as that doesn't contravene a principal of Irish law then any Irish drivers bringing their cars to France are obliged to comply.

September1

CiniO wrote: »

According to International Convention on Road Traffic from Vienna from 1968, every car in international traffic must be equipped as required in country of registration.

This is not what this treaty says, it does not apply to all international traffic. It applies only to signatories of treaty. Ireland is NOT signatory of treaty, hence Irish cars MUST follow local regulations in other countries.

pheelay

On a similar note, equipment that's not allowed in France... it's illegal (since Jan 2012) over here to use a GPS (or other device/app) that inform of the location of speed cameras.

source

Al Capwned

CiniO wrote: »

That's interesting idea, which might be very handy.

ianobrien wrote: »

Another useful trick is to scan the VLC, NCT, Insurance and your passport and email them to yourself. That way if the originals are lost, you can print out copies, making organising replacements much easier when over.

Dropbox, or similar. No need to email them at all.

ianobrien

Al Capwned wrote: »

Dropbox, or similar. No need to email them at all.

But if you have them in your email, it's much easier to forward them on, for example a scan of your passport to the Irish Embassy in Paris if you loose your passport as it was nicked by a pickpocket in Nice or lost in the sand in a beach in Royon or.....

Also, I've used the "email the passport" to Hotel receptions when they look for the passport as the passport is mine and I'm not handing it over to anybody (they can look, but not keep it for the night as it's the only official ID I have!)

keithclancy

If your Irish then carry your Passport with you when Driving.

Driving License is not a valid form of Identification, so don't leave it at the hotel or something.