I think this is another of my “English vs French attitude to regulations” things Stella. I think law abiding English people have difficulty understanding the flexible attitude to laws on the Continent. This flexibility obviously varies from north to south in Europe, I’ll only comment on my neck of the woods.
I’m not advocating breaking the law, it’s more sophisticated than that, it’s being in tune with the local norms. For example planning permission, fosse septics, etc. etc. I play with a straight bat but so many people, from my GP, to my doctor neighbour to an ex-PTT neighbour, who all know what they are talking about, tell me I’m mad to slavishly follow the rules 
There are rules one must follow and there are rules one can ignore. The trick is knowing which is which.
I’ve see people whizzing around on bikes much heavier than mine (with lovely chunky tyres ) without peddling. An old fart like me sweating, pushing his pacemaker to the limit and slavishly following the rules is not the French way. I’d have no qualms upgrading my bike if possible. Nobody, including the Gendarmes, could ever detect the mod, nor give a damn