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Charente-Maritime Joins Three Departments in Immediate License Suspensions for Phone Use While Driving

The locally ordered suspensions complement national penalties to target a major crash risk.

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La mesure, déjà expérimentée dans plusieurs départements français, peut entraîner une suspension du permis de conduire durant plusieurs mois. Mais le préfet a l’obligation de faire respecter la règle du contradictoire.
Le téléphone au volant multiplie par trois le risque d’accidents et même par 23 en cas de lecture d’un SMS.
La suspension du permis de conduire en cas d'usage du téléphone au volant, instaurée dans les Landes, puis suivie dans deux autres départements, va être également déployée en Charente-Maritime

Overview

  • Charente-Maritime’s order takes effect Friday, May 1, with immediate license suspensions of 15 days to six months for handheld phone use and a €200 payment to a victims’ group.
  • With this addition, four departments now apply administrative suspensions for this offense — Landes since November and Pas-de-Calais and Lot-et-Garonne since February — alongside the nationwide €135 fine and three-point penalty.
  • Early enforcement data show Landes has issued 350 suspensions since November with a 10% drop in phone-use violations, while Pas-de-Calais reports 21 suspensions and about 420 warnings and plans stricter checks.
  • Authorities stress the policy is local rather than national, and drivers may still use a phone as a GPS if it is fixed to the car and not handled.
  • Officials cite safety research showing crash risk about triples during calls and can rise up to 23 times when texting, and Charente-Maritime links phones to 15% of its 2025 fatal crashes.