Driving under the influence of drugs is “a scourge”, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Monday, July 17. At the end of an interdepartmental road safety committee (CISR), Ms. Borne announced that she wanted to make the suspension of the license “automatic” in the event of driving under the influence of narcotics. The prime minister said the executive intended to be “intractable” and to “punish addictive behavior more severely”.

The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, specified that eight points would be deleted, against six currently, in the event of driving under narcotics or under alcohol. The prefect can for the moment decide on a license suspension; “Tomorrow he will have to,” he said. Offenders will also have to undergo a mandatory internship.

The period of suspension of the license (by decree) may be up to six months and be extended to one year in the event of an accident resulting in death or bodily injury, or refusal to submit to checks, said Mr. Darmanin. Currently, driving after using drugs is risking up to two years in prison and a fine of 4,500 euros. The suspension of the license for a maximum period of three years is already provided for, with no possible adjustment outside the professional activity.

Ms. Borne also confirmed the creation of a new offence: “road homicide”, a name claimed by associations for the defense of road victims to replace the current qualification of “manslaughter by driver”. “Any driver who kills a person on the road and would be prosecuted for ‘manslaughter’ today will be prosecuted for ‘traffic homicide’ tomorrow,” she summed up.

“We separate [this offence] from other manslaughter and manslaughter so that [it] is specific”, insisted the Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupond-Moretti. “Manslaughter is ‘recklessness’, the flowerpot that comes off your balcony and hits a neighbor and kills them,” he explained. “Killing a kid while under the influence of alcohol or [de] narcotics, it cannot be equated with this manslaughter. »

“Cosmetics”

The families of victims were “shocked by [the previous] qualification”, argued the Prime Minister’s entourage on Sunday. The measure, for which no implementation date has been put forward, “does not change anything in terms of repression. On the other hand, symbolically, we come to mark that we hear the unacceptable character [of the word] “involuntary””. “It’s recognition of the victims,” ??insists Matignon, who intends to “better support [them]”.

Associations and victims’ lawyers interviewed did not hide a certain disappointment, even before the Prime Minister’s announcement. “We thought they would go further than semantic change. Above all, we wanted tougher penalties and accompanying measures, ”regrets Jean-Yves Lamant, president of the League against road violence. For Vincent Julé-Parade, a lawyer specializing in the defense of victims of road violence, the government’s proposal is a “cosmetic” measure which “has no technical consequences”. “Is this a road safety measure? No”, he decides, saying he doubts that “this influences the criminal policy of the courts”.

Worn for ten years by two families, the claim of a “road homicide” was taken up by the association created by the starred chef Yannick Alléno after the death in May 2022 of his son Antoine, hit by a driver.

By becoming “road homicide” by a modification of the penal code, the manslaughter committed by a driver will be punished up to five years of imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros. The penalties incurred will remain increased to seven years in prison and a fine of 100,000 euros with an aggravating circumstance (driving under alcohol or narcotics, lack of a driving licence, hit and run, very excessive speed, etc.), ten years and 150,000 euros if several of these circumstances are met.

A total of 3,260 people died on the roads of mainland France in 2022, a stable balance sheet compared to 2019, the last reference year before the Covid-19 pandemic. Among fatal accidents, one in five involves a drug-positive driver.