Question 17679 — road safety

Summary

Ms. Béatrice Roullaud questions the Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories about individual entrepreneurs who are wrongly sanctioned by the administration for failure to designate the driver in the event of a traffic offense. Since January 1, 2017, article L. 121-6 of the Highway Code provides that, when a traffic offense has been committed with a vehicle whose registration certificate holder is a legal entity or which is owned by a legal entity, the legal representative of this legal entity must designate the natural person who was driving this vehicle at the time of the offense. If the driver who committed the offense is not designated, the representative of the legal entity receives an additional fixed fine (which may be increased) in addition to the initial fine. Article L. 121-6 of the Highway Code nevertheless targets people morals and only them. This text does not apply to natural persons. The Court of Cassation recalls this. In judgment no. 530 which it handed down on April 21, 2020, it specifies that the designation obligation does not apply to individual entrepreneurs provided that their vehicle is registered in their name (natural person). In this case, individual businesses or companies in their own names (craftsmen, traders, farmers etc.), the liberal professions (doctors, nurses, lawyers, architects etc.) and self-employed people no longer have the obligation to self-report in the event of an infraction. Despite this last provision, it appears that the administration continues to sanction individual entrepreneurs for failure to designate the driver. Without taking into account possible disputes by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, it publishes then an enforceable title allowing the sums due to be seized from the bank accounts. This rigidity forces drivers who are not at fault (since the offense has not been committed) to hire a lawyer to win their case or go to trial, the cost of which is sometimes greater than the sums owed, dissuading most injured people from abandoning this procedure. She therefore asks him what measures he intends to take. put in place to put an end to these additional fixed fines which are perceived as racketeering by individual entrepreneurs in good faith.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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1. 7 May 2024

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• Béatrice Roullaud · auteur

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