Finally someone taking the subject seriously. Landes, so reports The Connexion, is planning to confiscate driving licences for six months for those seen using a ‘phone whilst driving.
October will be warnings, November cancellations.
About time.
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Hopefully this is correct info.
As well as the 6 month ban there should be a hefty fine as well IMO.
Under my glorious rule all cars would be fitted with a device that automatically limits mobile 'phones within a vehicle to a minimum specification whilst a vehicle is switched on. By this I mean internet access only for mapping apps, no incoming or outgoing calls, & incoming texts only (& then only read out over the car radio, not on screen).
I’m still working on what to allow passengers to access…
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Door handles?
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Even hands free?
I did not know that hands free with an ear bud is illegal in France.
In truth to hands free - I use bluetooth - it should be outlawed too. One is not concentrating completely what is ahead when talking on the phone. I try to avoid it saying that I’ll call back.
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Or indeed talking to one’s passenger.
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Passenger conversation is a very significant distraction.
I’m glad to read - I see so many folk texting and using handhelds whilst driving (often on the wrong side of the road) and the irony is that most ‘new’ cars are blue tooth enabled but not helped by these stupid large infotainment systems stuck on to dashboards.
I personally can’t listen to music and the radio when driving and turn off all unesseary graphic displays. (Prefer to listen to my occupants screaming in fear). 
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Particularly when said passengers are 10/11 year old boys every morning! I used to love my 1/2 hour drive to work, in silence, or an interesting podcast. No longer 
, I arrive at school frazzled before starting my day!!!
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Especially when they’re in the back telling you how to drive 
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For me, the troublesome point in the above quote is the use of the word ‘seen’. Surely this should read ‘successfully prosecuted’. If they really do mean ‘seen’ then such a situation is wide open to all sorts of abuse.
This has happened to me. A driver in a large 4wd driving straight for me on the wrong side of the road, phone in hand and looking down. I pressed the horn and she looked up. She swerved to miss me by less than a metre and almost ended up in a ditch. I stopped but she just drove on.
ouch! very scary 
It’s normally very obvious. The “London Dashcam” YouTube channel (run by a south London private hire driver) features many instances of drivers using phones hand-held while driving. The phone can be seen clearly in the dashcam footage.
I believe he has reported some of the more egregious instances to the Met police, but they don’t prosecute.
It’s quite an educational channel and terrifying how many people break the law on a daily basis.
My driving has become noticeably better since I started watching his channel as I have realised that getting impatient and angry at traffic holdups (and at idiots!) is pointless, and it’s better to chill out and just keep yourself safe.
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Not sure there’s a French equivalent…
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What would you have said or done if she’d stopped also ?
I’d have probably called her an idiot, taken a good look at her face and build etc., made a note of the car reg, colour and make and then reported her to the gendarmes. As it was, I saw the car, her and the phone for a second ot two and then she braked, swerved and was gone. I’d screeched to a halt and stayed there for a few minutes whilst I calmed down.
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