“I wish we had common sense.” Traveling this Sunday to Corte in Corsica, Gérald Darmanin resumed his proposal to remove the 12 points from his driving license for those who drive under the influence of drugs, 9 days after the traffic accident caused by Pierre Palmade in Seine-et-Marne .
He said he wanted to be “tougher on those who drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol”, as he had said moments earlier on Twitter. Stressing that we want to focus on both suppression and prevention.
“Drugs are prohibited in our country. I am not one of those who seek excuses for those who take them,” said the Interior Minister from the island of beauty, describing people controlled while driving as “potential murderers.”
A “reflection is underway to do the same” with people who drive with a high level of alcohol in their blood, said the minister’s entourage, interviewed by Agence France-Presse (AFP). A “threshold” will be “to be defined, for example, greater than 0.8 g/liter of blood. All of this still needs to be discussed,” the delegation added.
“My job is to protect the French”
Based on the traffic accident involving Pierre Palmade, which left four injured, including the comedian, he added that there were “tragedies, pregnant women who lose[aient] their children, a six-year-old boy who is[ait] to the hospital”. An allusion to the accident that occurred on a road in Seine-et-Marne on February 10.
Before concluding: “My job is to protect the French. We are never tough enough on people who get high before driving.”
Currently, driving under the use of drugs is penalized with the loss of six points. Additional penalties can also result in a permit suspension for up to three years and a permit cancellation with a maximum three-year ban on applying for a new permit.
This modification of the legislation can pass either “by regulation, decree, or by parliament, more appropriate without a doubt because it is a strong measure,” the Ministry of the Interior explained to BFMTV. The minister also wants to reclassify these fatal accidents as “road homicides.” “On the other hand, it allows us to put our finger on a reality. We do not change the amount of the penalties, already high because if it is a fatal accident with aggravating circumstances, you risk 10 years, but the denomination does”, we explained.
A reflection on the removal of points “a few kilometers away”
From Corsica, Gérald Darmanin also said that it was necessary to stop “disturbing those who go to work in the morning and at night and in a few kilometers they will deduct points from their permits”.
“You have to keep the fine but put an end to the point deductions for speeding less than 5 kilometers / hour,” he hammered.
Last summer, the Beauvau tenant had stated that the reflection “continues[vait]”On the project of not deducting more points from the driver’s license for motorists guilty of “minor speeding”.
Source: BFM TV
