road safety fears “that people confuse removal of the vignette with removal of insurance”

Some “700,000 drivers” drive without insurance in France, according to estimates.

“We fear that people will confuse removal of the sticker with removal of insurance”, reacted Monday April 1 on franceinfo Florence Guillaume, interministerial delegate for road safety. Since Monday, it is no longer necessary to affix your insurance sticker to the windshield of your vehicle. The police have direct access to the insurance file and it will be even more difficult to escape their vigilance.

In France, it is estimated “700 000, including a seventh of two motorized wheels” the number of drivers who drive without insurance. “Mostly men between 18 and 30 years old, with fairly strong markings for mopeds,” she clarified.

franceinfo: This means that this little green sticker was no longer of any use ?

Florence Guillaume: No not at all. It actually served as a presumption of insurance.

“One of the first objectives of this simplification measure is that law enforcement will be able to directly check the insurance status of the vehicle on the insured vehicle file.”

Florence Guillaume, interministerial delegate for road safety

at franceinfo

There will no longer be any way to falsify the sticker or anything else. They will take the information directly to the source. The system is more secure since law enforcement will look for information directly in the file.

Do you fear that this will lead to a relaxation among motorists?

There is always a fear that people will ultimately confuse removal of the sticker with removal of insurance. We try to have a very strong message on this because, if you are not insured for civil liability, as soon as you find yourself responsible for a bodily accident or worse, fatal, beyond the mental burden , of the criminal charge, you will have an action from the Guarantee Fund of compulsory insurers which will certainly compensate the victims, but which will turn against you and demand the sum which was advanced for the victims. We can be out of several thousand euros, or even several hundred thousand euros in the event of extremely damaging damage to the victims. This is a situation in which you may find yourself paying very large sums.

How many vehicles are not insured in France today?

It’s always difficult to calculate a dark figure. What we are sure of is that we have around 200,000 people who lacked insurance. On the other hand, it is estimated that the number of uninsured vehicles in circulation is around 700,000, of which a seventh are motorized two-wheelers. Obviously, compulsory insurance is valid both for a car or for motorcycles, cyclos, etc.

What age group is affected by the lack of insurance?

We are still really above all and very markedly on a young profile. Uninsured people are primarily drivers up to around thirty years old, the vast majority of them men between 18 and 30 years old, with also quite strong marking for mopeds.

For what reasons ?

If we consider that our vehicle is not very expensive, we may tend to say to ourselves: “I’m not going to insure it, if it’s broken, I’ll never be reimbursed for what it means to me.” There is this confusion, even though it is really a third-party liability. It’s really about liability for damage you can cause to someone else. You have bad financial choices and, for a small part of the uninsured, a problem relating to the rule.

“In fatal accidents involving alcohol or drugs or high speed, we find a fairly significant proportion of uninsured people.”

Florence Guillaume

at franceinfo

We no longer need to have the green slip that went with the sticker in these papers?

Exactly. You don’t have to worry about affixing your sticker, renewing it when it expires, or getting your green card. Source control on the file allows you to have all the information directly. You do not need to bring absolutely any papers, except the registration document and your driving license which can also be dematerialized since February.