France mandates nationwide driver's license suspensions for handheld phone use at the wheel

Nationwide policy expansion

French authorities have extended administrative driver's license suspensions for handheld phone use while driving to all departments across the country. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez and Minister Delegate for Citizenship Marie-Pierre Vedrenne signed the circular on 29 September 2026. Vedrenne announced the measure in an interview published on 2 October in Le Figaro. Under the instruction, prefects can suspend driving privileges for motorists caught holding a mobile phone, even if no other moving violation occurred. Earlier departmental implementations often restricted suspensions to cases where phone use coincided with another offence, such as speeding. Vedrenne noted that a driver can cause a fatal accident overnight simply from sending a text message.

We want to make people understand that holding a phone at the wheel is, on its own, a sufficiently dangerous behaviour. The target really is everyday people.

Sanction terms and administrative process

The administrative suspension does not replace existing penalties of a 135-euro fine and a deduction of three penalty points from the driving licence. The sanction requires a formal citation prepared by national police or Gendarmerie officers during roadside checks. Prefectural authorities determine the suspension duration based on the police report and the driver's previous record, without requiring a judicial court ruling. Suspension periods range from 15 days to six months, with 15 days serving as the standard duration in territories that already enforced the rule. Drivers retain the right to submit observations as part of an adversarial administrative procedure before final notification.

Phone use is no less dangerous depending on whether you are in one territory or another. For a rule to be accepted, it must be clear, readable and applied everywhere.

Trial data and scope of the ban

Prior to the nationwide rollout, roughly 20 prefectures had already introduced local suspension rules, including Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, Pas-de-Calais, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres, Yonne, Ardèche, and Maine-et-Loire. Landes launched the initial pilot in November 2025, recording 300 license suspensions over its first three months alongside a 12% drop in observed mobile phone usage. The prohibition covers holding a handset, reading text messages, checking apps, or holding a device while stopped at traffic lights or queued in congestion. Drivers may still use smartphones for satellite navigation provided the device remains secured in a dedicated dashboard mount without manual handling during travel.

Road safety figures and local implementation

National road safety records show that 3,515 people died on French roads in 2025. Official road safety data indicates that handling a mobile phone triples accident risk, while reading messages increases the probability of a collision by 23 times by taking eyes off the road for at least five seconds. Individual prefectures have started drafting local orders following the 29 September ministerial instruction, including Aube under Prefect Pascal Gauci. Gauci pointed to recent fatal collisions in Aube where emergency services discovered illuminated phone screens inside damaged vehicles. Local prefectural decrees establishing specific enforcement procedures will take effect in the remaining departments during October 2026.